Entry #7- CMC

Hellooo! This will be my last post here since our submission date of this blog is due in just a few days’ time! :D

Alright, let’s see! This week’s topic will be on Computer-Mediated Communication, also known as CMC. This is no “alien issue” to us yes? Haha.. ‘cos some of us uses this form of communication everyday! Be it.. Facebook, MSN, e-mailing, gaming, Skype-ing, etc.. All these mentioned are perfect examples of CMC.

For instance, take me for example. My computer will most likely be on the minute I return home. Initially, it wasn’t much of a choice as most of our assignments require us to use the computer. However, as time passed, I found using the computer had already become a habit for me as it not only allows me to do research for our projects, kill time while surfing the net, it also allows me to stay connected and be updated with my friends’ lives with the help of MSN and Facebook. Something I like most about CMC? You don’t necessary have to interact with people directly to get to know information about them. An example would be entries on their personal blogs.. Or their updated profile and photos on Facebook! I’m sure you guys “track” some of your friends’ whereabouts through them, right? (Don’t bluffff~) LOL.

Like what Ms Hui said in class, some people tend to reveal more about themselves behind a screen. For instance, I know of people who chat online almost every single day for hours! Some even through their personal gadgets such as handphones etc. However, you rarely see them talking face-to-face. It leaves me wondering sometimes thinking, “are they really close to one another?” I guess this issue can be linked to one of the sub-points under the influences of CMC, which are under Personal Identity:

- Anonymity
- Interactive, but not transactional
- Text-based
- Information is ‘traceable’

Since you’re communicating behind a screen, you can make yourself into anyone you like and nobody will come to know it. ICQ, public chatrooms and so on are websites where people may “pretend” to be someone else in order to increase their appeal to others. A boy becoming a girl, a 40-year-old becoming a 20-year-old and many many more. Some encounters may even be as awkward as the example stated in class regarding a father and a daughter that took up different identities online and ended up having an arranged meeting with one another. Embarrassing!

Another interesting fact under personal identity would be that it is all text-based. A person can be a shy and quiet person . Someone who doesn’t talk much in person. But when he is online, he can turn into someone who’s exactly the opposite… Friendly..warm.. interactive.... I’m someone who doesn’t differ much in person and online.. So, my question is, which one of these characteristics that this person adopt differently, should we say, is the person’s “real” self?

Entry #6- The Sixth Sense?

Just a couple of days ago, I was pretty amazed by this video shown to me by a friend. Coincidentally, it links back to what we have covered in our comms lecture, which is- Technology! Before we carry on any further, watch it!

Your thoughts?

Have you wonder what's it like if one day you do not have to do much thinking? *Tadaaa* That day is nearing~ Looking at this creation! It's like a "personal thinker" for lazy people, don't you think so? Haha..

With this new "device" costing a mere 350 bucks and has functions that literally helps you to "think" and makes you trouble-free when it comes to deciding items, may sound convincing.. Helping you do all the thinking and decision-making, no effort needed to be put it when it comes to researching on stuff, etc..

However, on a second thought, do you really think this is something we really desire? Mm, I beg to differ actually. Why?

The most direct effect of having something you can rely on, is you being dependent on it. In this case, when this tiny little creation can work most things out for you, the likelihood will be that you will have the tendency to slowly rely on it overtime, and gradually become lazy to even make small decision such as what cups would you want in your kitchen, etc. No kidding okayyyy~ And then, will your mind deterioriate as it is not used frequently. After which, it may cause your memory to worsen and this may cause your efficiency on things to decrease! Sounds scary to me~ :/

Secondly, did you take note of one of its function of which it helps you to "label" people? Initially, I found it trather intriguing as that enables you to know more about a person in just a couple of seconds. BUT, coming to think of it, if I were to put myself in the other person's shoes, I'll feel that it's rather intrusive.. giving each individual no personal space. And, so will the interaction between two parties decrease 'cos, when u already can find out all about a person without opening your mouth to talk to them, why do otherwise? Oh well, at least this is what I think for this particular function. Frankly speaking, I don't like it!

Last but not least, let's all be frank shall we? With this thingy available, won't we take all things for granted? Meaning, we will not appreciate it when someone helps us check stuff like our flight timings, take a photograph, and so on as we would be thinking "iyoo, why so kay-poh when this genius thing of mine can do it all in one click".. Right people??

So, I'll still prefer to stick to my regular cellphone, laptop to access the Internet and my close ones to do stuff for me. :P Hahaha, sorry for being biased here though.

The question now is, does the advancing of technology benefit us necessarily? Tell me what you think! :)

Entry #5- So, is this why we are like that?

Let's talk about culture today!



From the notes:

• Culture are "templates for living"


• Tells us who we are, what groups we belong to and, how we live our lives

Even without me saying, most of you guys already have an idea on what culture is, no? Without further ado, let's jump straight to what I want to touch on, which is, the characteristics of culture, NOW! :)

The characteristics of culture include:

• Culture is learned.

It is obvious that we, as humans, cannot choose which family we want to be in before we're born. In the family in which we're destined to be in, has its own existent family members (e.g. grandparents, parents, siblings etc) and their way of life. Hence, after becoming a member of the family after birth, the adults/members of the family slowly nurture us and mould us into the way (in their opinion) they were brought up when they were young. In another way, teaching us about their beliefs(e.g. religion), habits(how things are managed at home) and many more, that can be ranged from the dialect or language they use for communication (e.g. some of us may speak Cantonese at home), the way they communicate in the family(e.g. verbally and non verbally/mannerisms) where certain gestures or usage of words can only be understood within the family and not by others, etc.. that we know nothing of initially then slowly as we grow up, we find certain character traits of ourselves resembling those of our parents. Well, do yours? Perhaps this is due to the fact that we learn how things are done in our own family as we grow up and every family's culture differs from one antoher. Hence, we can only say our family work in "similar ways" but not the "same". 'Cos no family are exactly identical. Am I right to say that? :P

=> In short, we follow the set of rules that are set within our family and abide by them as we grow up.

• Culture is shared.

Like, duhhh, isn't it! I do not know if I'm right to say that no culture belongs to an individual. It is rather shared among many people of a certain part of the world in which the culture belongs to a single community and not to any single human being. Am I right or wrong? Reason for me saying so is due to the fact that though our family may be different in one way or another, there are similarites that we resemble on a whole with other families. For example, people in the same religion group such as Christianity, have common beliefs and teachings written in a bible where their personal set of rules are adopted from there. And since bibles all have the same content, likelihood will be that there can be more than a family who form the same set of values and beliefs. However, the only difference would be that the method those values and beliefs are brought to the people around them, varies.

• Culture is dynamic.

Culture is dynamic becuase people are dynamic! Since a culture consists of people that belong to it, it is constantly reformed by those individuals. Alright, do you have any "policy" or "rule" at home that you do not like?If yes, the probability of you bringing the "policy"/"rule" to your next generation is almost zero. Why? 'Cos when you start your own family, YOU and your partner will be the ones who'll be setting the rules! And since you and your partners come from different families, you guys will compromise with one another with some rules from his/her family and some rules from your family. Like this, a "new" culture is formed. Agree?

• Culture is multifaceted.

Just as there're dynamics to one culture, it is also true that a person can belong to more than one culture at the same time. That is to say, culture is multifaceted. As each individual, we are never defined by just one characteristics, isn't it? In addition, we belong to many different cultural groups at any given time.

Take me for an example! I am an undergraduate student and I am also a member of my family, a Chinese, a musician, a female, (the list can just go on and on)... I can easily fill this page with a list of different culture groups I belong to and so can you! Like me, a friend of mine, is too, an undergraduate, member of his own family, a musician, a female and so on.. However, though we share the culture of musicians, she belongs to the subculture of the guitarists ,while I belong to the subculture of the pianists. See the difference? And yet we all belong to the subculture of the performing group in which we perform!

• Cultural identities are overlapping.

Lastly, the overlapping of cultual identies simply refers to the core values that are very important to us in a particular way and using your itto justify your own actions or behavior. A silly example would be when asking someone why he or she does something in a particular way, he or she would probably answer you, "'cos I'm brought up this way what~~". (I'm not sure of how true this is though.. just my own personal thought) Hee :P

After discussing about the characteristics of culture, does it help you understand why sometimes you behave in a particular way and not the other? Or, why the way you respond to something may be different from your friends? Mmmmm, though not culture may not be entirely the reason to your behavior, but it does play a big part right? :D

Entry #4- Good old days.

Helloooo my friends! Time for a new post again! :D

So, this week's all about Group Communications. Before I continue, let me just add in a couple of snapshots, ok? :)

Snapsot One

Snapshot Two


Snapshot Three

Snapshot Four

Snapshot Five

Snapshot Six

Snapshot Seven

Snapshot Eight

There you have it. These images just popped into my head when it comes to Group Communications. Yesss, I loveeee these people so so much! :D

For instance, Snapshot One was taken back in my secondary school days. Yup! They're my girls and we all belong to a group commonly known as "IJ Girls". Does it ring a bell to any of you guys? Haha.. Those were the days when life was full of unexpected events. It was all about girlfriends doing all the silly stuff together like gossipping, going against the school rules, having girls' talk over the phone, etc. We even discussed on issues such as when to "pon" school and all. Haha, miss those days soooo much~

Of course, most of us would probably not only be in a single group right? Project groups in school, clique of friends in school (primary, secondary, tertiary level and all). For me, one group that contributed part to my group memory was the people I met in my music school. (Snapshot five and six). It was interesting how we, from all over singapore gathered together, unknowingly.. with the passion for music and gradually becoming a social clique where we would spend the whole day together filled with fun, joy and laughter. Cliche, I know.. But it's that way! :D

And sadly to say, social groups alter quite frequently for all of us, am I right? Not saying we cut off contact completely from our old peers, but joining and creating new groups as we carry on with our lives. Just like now! In UB, most of us have our own clique of friends whom we define them as our "closer peers" as compared to others, am I right to say that too? :P And some of us may even find that we dont react or behave like what we do in our other social groups.

In my point of view, everyone plays a different role in a group. And, everyone changes their roles in different groups they're in too. Get what I mean? Hmmm, another fictional example would be.. In school, Jane (an imaginary friend) may be a project leader where she leads and does all the organizing of meetings. However, among her friends, she's the one who always has to be called for gatherings. In short, give-and-take kind of character to fit into different group she's in.

In conclusion, I feel that being in a group makes one feel special in a way that he or she can actually link themselves to the group they belong to, in times of making any decisions. In good and bad ways I would say? Good would be having people that can keep you company at most of the times, helping you make decisions, etc. Bad would be having to make wiser decisions as an individual as some of those individual decisions would bring about different effects to the people in your group such as causing misunderstanding and so on.

This entry is just what a group is to me. So, can you share some of your thoughts about this topic too? Enlighten me! :)

Entry #3- Is that so?

Frankly speaking, I was kind of surprised when I came to know that this week's topic was about Interpersonal Relationship, as some of us may find this topic rather personal in some context. However, I must admit that it is, in fact, interesting.

When's the last time you feel attracted to a person? Was the attraction reciprocal? Pause for a second. Try make yourself recall on how it all came about and how it all come to an end (if any).

If we were to link back to the 10 stages of Knapp Model of Relational Development, the "coming together" part will be Initiating, Experimenting, Intensifying, Integrating and Bonding, and the "coming apart" part will be Differentiating, Circumscribing, Stagnating, Avoiding and Terminating. Though I think that these 10 stages would likely be the phases of which the majority would go through, I have no doubt that there may always be exceptions.

Apart from it, I'm curious as to which part of these stages happen to appeal to you the most? For me, it's the first stage- Initiating.

When I was reading through our lecture slides once again, I realized it wrote there:
- Screening and filtering
- Self -presentation
- Cautious and "safe"

What I found fascinating was actually the very first point- "Screening and filtering". How do you "screen and filter" someone? As a matter of fact, I think that it differs for both genders.

I'll just start on the process of how we (girls) may carry out this process of "screening and filtering" since I am a girl myself. :) I'm sure most of the girls out there have their own group of friends whom they share most of their thoughts and feelings with. And, this would include sharing information about their recent crushes or eyecandies that they've met. Right, girls? :) From there, their friends will then start helping the individual to analyze a few aspects of the guy which include his appearance, character and most importantly, helping her to look out for the guy's response towards her. For instance, whether or not the guy is showing any signs of reciprocal feelings towards her, and so on.

The reason as to why I found this particular process fascinating is due to the fact that though this process of "filtering and screening" a person is just the very initial part of everything, you'll be surprised to know that, this is too, the stage where most you find out the most about your crush or eyecandy. Despite of not knowing the reasons as to why this is so, I would reckon that it is due to the effort that we're willing to put in in wanting to know more about a particular person, such as adding someone on your MSN list or facebook account, exchanging your cellphone digits, asking your friends who knows him, etc, just to get to know the person more. Silly I know. But, this is in fact how it starts out for most of us, isn't it?

On the other hand, I tried asking one of my guy friends as to how guys would start checking a girl out. He said they too, have a couple of friends whom they share these girl issues with and, they would too, start "observing" the girl in their own way. (Sorry! I have no idea as to which ways guys would turn to as that friend of mine said that it's a "secret" -_- Haha. Anyone of you boys out there who are willing to share?) One of the difference I found was that they do not do it in an obvious manner, where some girls are likely to.

Apart from that, let me share something that I found rather unjust, that is, guys can actually "observe" up to more than a girl at a time! Afterwhich, they will then choose someone whom they think that has the best characteristics of all. I know that everyone has his or her own freedom of choice, however, isn't it still relatively hurtful if the girls whom they are observing find out that they are being judged upon like the animals for sale in a petshop?

So, why don't you people out there tell me aout your thoughts about this issue? Feel free to comment whether or not is it a positive or a negative one. :)

Entry #2- Murderers?

Hi all, I received an interesting email last weekend. It is regarding a concerning issue on a recent sport in Canada called "Hunting". The pictures below were attached together with the email, illustrating how this particular "sport" is carried out. Before I continue, spare a couple of minutes to have a look at them.

Picture 1

Picture 2
Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10

Picture 11

Pictur 12

A related article of this can be found on http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-555209/Shock-pictures-Is-Canadian-government-means-humane-slaughter.html.

Agonizing, isn't it? In the email, it also appealed to people to write in a petition on a linked website to stop the killings of these innocent seals.

This email would be a perfect example of nonverbal communication. It demonstrated nonverbal communication by making use of pictures to convey its message to its recipients with the extended help of some usage of words for further enhancement. Needless to say, no usage of verbal communication is present.

A characteristic of nonverbal communication would be that it is subjective to individual. Hence, each of our perception towards this email of appeal regarding the sport, "Hunting" , would be different.

During lecture this week, we were questioned on what attracts us to a person/thing on first aquaintance. So, what is it about this email that attracted you initially? For me, it was the dainty image of the baby seal, thinking that it is just be another email circled around, filling with photos of adorable animals. However, I was wrong. Instead, it was filled with macabre and revolting images of those animals.

From my point of view mentioned above, we can relate to the nonverbal channels which include:

• Making Initial Judgements
• Relational Information
• Emotional Expression

Making Initial Judgements

Making initial judgements would be the process of us "picking up cues" about something that we already know linking those cues to what we have in front of us. For instance, like what I've demonstrated above, would be linking my impression of baby seals as cute to the first picture I saw in the email that I have yet to read.

Relational Information

3 kinds of relational information (liking, status, and responsiveness) are exchanged nonverbally during every interaction.

The relationl information that is found in this email would be "liking". According to our text, liking is "indicated through facial expression, eye contact, proximity, and the like". The close-up pictures of baby seals in the email are examples of liking. Why? It may be ridiculous to say that seals have facial expressions. However, it is astonishing to realize that in some of the pictures above, we can literally feel what the baby seals are experiencing through their facial expressions and eye contact that are captured in the pictures themselves. Wondering what I'm referring to? Take a look at Picture 8 and Picture 10. In Picture 8, fear is captured in the eyes of the seal. In addition, the feeling of sorrowfulness is felt seeing the bloody tears that flowed out of the seal's eyes. Amazing, isn't it?

Emotional Expression

Most of us are able to feel for people, don't we? When we see one of our friends in sadness, some of us would want to go forward to give that friend a warm embrace, right? Another example would simply be how we feel after seeing those pictures above; We want to play a part in helping the seals! And, this fits into what is commonly said, "actions speak louder than words".

__________________________________________________________

From my point of view, I reckon this activity should be banned. Moreover, I anticipate that this issue would be brought to more attention by the public. Perhaps, even the mass media can be put into good use to spread the message out to the whole world so that less innocent lives would be taken away from "our" hands.

SO! What are your thoughts and feelings regarding this "sport"?

Entry #1- McDonalds

So, what are thoughts that are running through your minds right now if I were to tell you, the title of the clip shown above is called “New McDonald's Commercial 2009”? Would you think that it is just a prank by someone or would you think that it is really a commercial by McDonalds' itself? Regardless of which it is, it does not matter at all as that is not the focus of this entry.What would you think when the name “McDonald's” comes up to you? Did you think of the “good and tasty burgers”? Or, did the words “unhealthy” and other negative words pop into your mind?

As McDonalds is not an unfamiliar name to us, we all know deep within that the food there are in fact unhealthy and harmful to our bodies. However, do we still consume the food there? The answer is, yes!

As quoted by Seiler & Beall, “Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information in order to give personal meaning to the communication we receive.”. And from it, it is clear to see that though the food at McDonalds has always been said to be harmful to a person's body, it does not stop you and me from consuming it. Agree? That is because, each of us chooses to ignore the message that “the food at Mcdonalds are harmful to our body” either consciously or subconsciously through the process of “Selection” which is defined as “how we attend to or select information in our environment for processing consciously or otherwise.”

In the short clip above, the interactive model is present where there is a communication between the sender and receiver to-and-fro the message channel(the internet) and feedback(the people who commented on the clip) are shown.

Noticed it? The short clip also uses pathos as a mean of persuasion. How it did it? It uses characters such as young children to appeal to parents who are concerned about their child being obese. And later on, it also featured McDonald himself carrying a bomb which signifies danger. Photos of obese women were also placed into it, raising our awareness (especially the females who are constantly aware of the way they look.) to how we might possibly look like if we were to consume too much of McDonalds.

Lastly, for my personal opinion, I would say that this clip makes me more aware of the food that I will consume at any fast food chains the next time round. This is because, I do not weight! Haha. Oh well, who does anyway? But, nonetheless, I would not stop myself from having McDonalds as like I always say, “food is life” and “life is food”. Wouldn't life be miserable if one refrains him or herself from having the food that he or she is craving for?

*ps: Alright, I know this isn't exactly a good entry or anything near it. But, I'll try to make better entries the next time round. Happy Chinese New Year in advance to all! :)