Bonus Mission #2: 2nd Life is a Game!!! not...

First Life...Second Life...What about the Third?

After going through the Second Life website and reading a few Second Life related websites, I personally feel that Second Life is definitely not the traditional computer game that we are familiar with. In fact, Second Life is described to be a "rich, persistent alternative world." (Levy, 2006)

Unlike any other computer game, Second Life requires players, or what Second Life users refer to as residents to build up their own character. This is distinctively different from a game where people simply assume their characters from a set of players that have already been programmed into the game. The adopting of a character and then customizing it shows that it is more than just a game. (Levy, 2006)

In addition, one can virtually start a business and upkeep a thriving economy on Second Life. I feel that this is the most important factor that does not qualify Second Life as a game. It is what differentiates it from the rest of the computer games. Anshe Chung, is probably the most famous resident on Second Life when she appeared on the front page of Business Week as she made her first million on the "game"! Second Life participants are able to trade in a virtual economy using "Linden Dollars" and they can be converted into U.S dollars at about 300 to the real dollar by using a credit card at online exchanges. Chung, for example made her money through property in Second Life. According to the Business Week, Chung's firms now has currency holdings worth $250,000 in real U.S dollars. Chung's business on Second Life has been doing so well that she has just opened a 10 person studio in Wuhan, China. Thus, Second Life cannot be considered as a game because it has come to a stage where the virtual role playing economy is so strong that residents have to utilize skills and services from the real world.
Another distinguishing factor of Second Life from any other game is the policies that have been set to protect the resident's creations. This is definitely a unprecedented change in online games.(Business Week, 2006) Second Life is also different from any other normal computer game because it allows its residents to build anything online. These can range from clothes to houses and my lecturer Kevin Lim has even built a chair on Second Life!

The functions of Second Life can be used for entertainment, leisure but much more than that. As Second Life is not like any other game, companies and businesses have been using Second Life as a model for their real-world businesses. Businesses have adopted practices in Second Life, such as training of workers, product design and development till the marketing of the final product. Companies such as Rivers Run Red, a British branding firm for example has gone to the extent of entering Second Life and working with real world fashion and media firms to create new designs. Thus, businesses are now able to take designs and happenings in Second Life and apply them into the real world today. Therefore, Second Life has become more than just a game, people have used them as templates for businesses. (Business Week, 2006)

In conclusion, it is a matter of time that people start realizing the abundant opportunities of Second Life and discover that Second Life is not only fun, but practical in the real world as well.

Reference:

Levy (2006). "World of Warcraft: Is It a Game?" Retrieved April 3rd 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Business Week: My Virtual Life (2006) Retrieved April 3rd 2007 from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm

QotW8: Blogging Ministers

Instead of focusing on one particular minister's blog for this week's contribution, I would like to talk about the "P-65" blog.(http://p-65.sg/) This blog was adequately chosen as I have visited it a few times and because a particular entry in this blog has a strong personal and sentimental value to me. (this, I will elaborate briefly later on)

The "P-65" blog has a rather catchy tag-line, It's Where We Talk" and it is composed by 12 Members of Parliment (MP's) that were born after Singapore's independence. Various issues are being discussed in this forum, everything from Parliment-related issues, such as the recent GST hike to less weighty issues that revolve around the minister's personal lives, like for example practicing for the hip-hop item during the Chingay 2007. The politicians will first post an entry about a particular issue and citizens can freely leave their comments or suggestions regarding the topic. After a brief lookup on this blog, I found that the first blog entry was posted on October 3rd 2006 last year. It was a post by Christopher de Souza on the subject "Street Soccer Boots" A check on Technorati shows that the "P-65 blog" has 38,943 as it's rank status, and has 301 links from 101 blogs. (updated 7 days ago) Although this blog is run by 12 different politicians, I will focus on one individual, Mr Teo Ser Luck, examine some of his blog entries and discuss about the reader's comments.

Mr Teo Ser Luck is a member of the Pasir Ris Punggol Grassroots and Community and the Parlimentary Secretary to the Minister for Community Development Youth and Sports. Due to his appointment, his blog posts often revolve around youth and sports related issues. His blog discusses youth issues, such as how to bring about the best in them and sports topics, for example sports excellence and the grooming of the sports industry in Singapore. However, a check on the comments left on this blog always reflect the same few names. Familiar ones include "El" and "Easternwind", both are probably the most active visitors to this blog. The comments left by the visitors are really nothing out of the ordinary, and we see comments such as "I agree with you on that" etc. Therefore, I would say that the tone used is very mild. From the majority of the comments gathered, it seems that most people agree with what the politicians say rather than disagree with them.

However, I would like to inform others that not only national related issues and policies are being discussed on the blog. Stories that touch and revolve around the life of anyone of these 12 politicians are posted on the blog too. I would like to highlight this particular entry, "My 2 Mentors" posted on October 7th 2006. It was extremely heart-warming to read this blog post by Teo Ser Luck as he talked about his 2 mentors that helped him and gave him invaluable advice when he was working in the private sector. Though it was something that was personal to him, he chose to post it online and share his thoughts with others. I felt touched by his action simply because the mentor "Chan" which he referred to in his entry was my beloved uncle who passed away of cancer last August. Knowing that he appreciated my uncle as his mentor was heartfelt.

Putting personal matters aside, I am very glad that our local politicians and members of the public have taken to blogging to voice out their comments on national issues. Though I feel that there is still much room for democracy, I am glad that our people and even politicians have broken out of their comfort zone to share their views. That is indeed a VERY important first step. Blogging will definitely increase a country's democracy, as in the case of USA, the improvement in technology has enabled the expansion of knowledge, freedom and it will also democratize culture. (Carey, 1989:144) Though we still have a long way to go to achieve democracy through blogs, I believe that the government has identified and realized that blogs will play a very vital role in our citizen's lives in the future. Thus, the government has "prepared" herself by setting a new division- New Media Unit by the personal relations communication department of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Arts(MICA), to offer advice to the government on Internet public communication. Even the rise of local bloggers, such as Mr Brown who comments on national related issues are drawing hundreds of listeners each week. However, we must all realize that in order to attain success in greater democracy through blogging, bloggers must never mix their personal feelings with the proper issues, they should focus on the rationality of the content alone. (Calhoun, 1993:13)

Hence in conclusion, I believe that blogs will bring about greater democracy in Singapore. However, we are still in the infancy age and have a really far way to go. However, it is comforting to know that our local politicians and citizens have taken such a serious attitude to blogging. Hopefully, all will work out well in the future.

References:

Carey, J.(1989) "Space, Time and Communications: A Tribute to Harold Innis", in Communication as Culture. New York: Routledge: 12

Calhoun, C.ed. (1993) Habermas and the Public Sphere. Massachussetts: MIT Press.

Giam, Gerald (2006). "Review- The politics of Singapore's new media in 2006." Retrieved March 23rd 2007 from http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006/

QotW7: Twit Twit: An Online Community

"A Twitting Success"

When everyone was logged on to "Twitter" instead of paying attention to our Communication 300 class on Thursday, I knew that "Twitter" was an instant hit with the class. Almost every student was so excited about adding new friends into our community, to the point that I encountered problems when logging into the page!

According to my lecturer, Mr Kevin Lim, "Twitter" is one of the latest online communities that have been introduced in the United States.Though "Twitter" might still be a little unfamiliar to some Singaporeans, we must not fail to realize the emergence of an online community is not a new fad in Singapore or in any country around the world.

In this age of vast internet usage, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has dominated our everyday lives. According to the Online Services, online services has grown to more than 40% from 1993 to 1994 and they have reportedly more than 6.3 million subscribers. (Online Services, 1995) There is also an estimated 25 million CMC users worldwide. (Calem, 1992) An online community is a very popular avenue where people can gather, communicate and make friends with people of similar interests. According to Rhinegold (1993), a virtual or online community is defined by "social aggregations that emerge from the internet when enough people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace."

The following examples show that "Twitter" is a classic example of an online community. After playing around with the program, I managed to add my friends into my community and we started to communicate with one another. Firstly, "Twitter" can be considered an online community because my classmates and I had a shared goal and interest that served as the primary reason for all of us to belong to a community. Secondly, we managed to engage in repeated and active participation between our friends and our conversations were often intense, including some shared activities between everybody in class. Lastly, we also had a shared context of social conventions, such as the use of a similar language and protocol. (Whittaker, Issac& O'Day, 1997, pg.137) Hence, all of the above characteristics support the claim that "Twitter" is an online community.

In conclusion, since it is often difficult to maintain relationships over long distances nowadays, and physical seperation has reduced the strength of a person's membership in a community, I am certain that the advantages of an online community will aid people in maintaining and strengthening friendships between one another. (Gergen, 1997; Jones, 1997; Rhinegold, 1993)

References:

On-line services continue to boom. (1995, January 14). Rocky Mountain News, p. 59A. Retrieved March, 15, 2o07 from http://www.rhinegold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcvil.html

Gergwn, K. (1997). Social Saturation and the Populated Self. In G.E.H.C.L. Selfe (Ed.), Literacy, technology, and society: confronting the issues (pp.pp.12-36). Upper Saddle River: NJ: Prentice Hall. Retrieved March, 15, 2007 from http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/7%20Handbook%20v1.7Final.pdf

Whittaker, S., Issacs, E., & O'Day, V. (1997). Widening the net. Working report on the theory and practice of physical and network communities, SIGCHI Bulletin, 29(3), 27-30. Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/7%20Handbook%20v1.7Final.pdf

QotW6: I need MY privacy!!!

My Private Online World

In this age of vast internet usage, everything has literally gone online. Many of us are currently taking online courses, most of us shop online and most of us communicate with one another via the internet! Due to the increasing amount of time that is now spent online, people have begun to participate in many different kind of social networks, such as blogs and forums. Through these avenues, we can come together with people of similar interests, make new friends and discuss about topics that we are highly enthusiastic about. However, when communicating online, how do we necessarily know that the other party that we are talking to is actually who he described himself to be? How can we safeguard our online privacy while maintaining our active participation in online networks?

As sociologist Thomas Mathiesn puts it, we are experiencing an "omnipticon" in the internet age. We have to be aware that there are many people watching others, and even though we do not know who is being watched exactly, we cannot be oblivious to this fact. In addition, due to the nature of online communication, we often interact people whom we will never meet face to face. Thus, there is a tendency to market ourselves as someone who is popular and trustworthy. After all, who will actually know if that is your true identity? (Rosen, 2004)

I have been a member of several forums, such as femalefirst (www.femalefirst.co.uk) since last year. Though I fully appreciate the benefits that I receive from communicating with others, I am fully aware of the importance of protecting my privacy online. Therefore, I have taken the necessary measures to protect my online identity. Thus, I have adopted the following measures to ensure the privacy of my online identity and to guard myself against unwanted intrusion, such as cyber-stalkers.

Firstly, I try to be prudent about not revealing any personal information to any third parties when I am communicating with others in the forum. Web browsers can also be configured to create a pseudonym instead of using a real name. Therefore, I never go online with the name "Pamela" or "Pam", but choose another nickname. In addition, I often find many sites that offer prizes and rewards in exchange for personal data. However I never exchange my personal data and I have been taught not to respond to spam mail, even if it is to remove it because it will only show that there is someone at the receiving end and this will make your online presence a more valuable commodity to others. I have also developed an alternative email address when participating in any forums in order to avoid falling into the evil hands of others. (Hyman, 2002)
There have also been other tips that have been given to me, such as using strong passwords to protect my personal information and to to change my passwords regularly. ("staysafeonline", n.d.)

Practicing the above methods have allowed me to protect my online privacy so far. Hopefully I will not fall prey to all cyber-privacy crimes and let my online experiences such as participating in forums always be a pleasant one.

References:

Rosen, Jeffery (2004). "The Naked Crowd" Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

Hyman, Gretchen (2002). " EFF Issues Update on Online Privacy" Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/1365961

Eight Cyber Security Practices to Stay Safe Online (n.d.) Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.staysafeonline.info/practices/five.html

Female First Website www.femalefirst.co.uk

QotW5: Are You Really Who You Are?

What is your Online Identity?

In the age of vast internet usage, the context of human communication has been altered. With the birth of instant messaging and forums, we can now indulge in "many-to-many" interaction, one that is not affected by geography. Many people have since formed communities and forums that are based on their common interests such as sports, technology gadgets etc. These forums enable people who share a similar interest to discuss issues on a common platform with no regards for their physical location of their members worldwide. (Lackaff, 2003)

However, with this rapid advancement in technology, many problems have also surfaced. Given the unprecedented abilities of the internet, data can now be easily moved around and altered!(Massum and Zhang, 2004) This means that one can easily change the content that they see online or even alter the information that has been posted by others. This problem then boils down to the question of one's reputation on the internet and how one is actually able to maintain his or her own online identity.


An online identity that I am going to discuss about, is something that I have come into contact before. For all basketball and NBA enthusiasts, I am sure this website realgm.com (www.realgm.com) will definitely ring a bell in their heads. Realgm is a website where all basketball enthusiasts come to get their daily dose of the latest action and information on the happenings in the basketball world. In such a site like this, a forum cannot be excluded because this is the best place where basketball fanatics can gather and discuss about their common passion.

A forum like the one I mentioned above is the best place to establish one's reputation and online identity. This is because the individual can choose to be annonymous and develop their reputation based on the quality of their ideas and comments rather than on their wealth and social status. (May, 1994) The reputation and their online identity are often the motivating factors that push people to actively participate in forums and online communities. (Donath, 1996) As mentioned above, I would like to talk about this particular member that participates actively in the "Charlotte Bobcats" forum. He goes by the user-name "fatlever" and is a significant contributor to the forum. If one were to scroll through the entire forum, one will find that he is a moderator for the forum and provides good comments and insights to many of the basketball games. His reputation has been built based on his intelligent and interesting remarks and it is further enhanced when he contributes information that is admired by the group which he participates in. In this sense, I would personally say that "fatlever" has a certain reputation in the Charlotte Bobcats' forum. As "fatlever" follows the games religiously, has constant access to these games, he has become a significant contributor and is touted to be extremely knowledgeable in the basketball scene. Other members in the forum take his comments very seriously and many even ask for his opinion on issues such as the upcoming game score, the most valuable player (MVP) , the biggest surprise and disappointment etc. A check on the profile of "fatlever" shows that he has been a member since June 2001, posted 5491 posts so far and an average of 2.63 posts per day. This shows his high level of participation and reputation that he has in this forum.

However, with the advancement in the virtual world, a host of other problems such as identity theft have been born. This is the simple fact, "if I can pass as you, I can wreck havoc on your reputation either online or offline." (Donath, 1996) One can always take someone else's online identity and ruin the reputation that has been built by the other party. In the virtual world where face-to-face communication is absent, it is so simple to be able to pass off as someone else after getting hold of the person's user-name and password. According to reports, there has been a sharp increase in online and computer-based identity theft through means such as the use of keyloggers. The number of keyloggers have increased by a startling 250% between January 2004 and May 2006. Keylogger is a malicious software that tracks the typing activity of a computer and captures the passwords and private information of the user.(Prince, 2007) In the case of "fatlever", his reputation on the Charlotte Bobcats' forum might be tarnished if someone manages to get hold of his user-name and password and then assumes his identity to post information that is irrelevant to the forum discussion. This can be easily done if "fatlever" is a careless individual and accidentally reveals his personal information and details online. More than often, careless actions such as forgetting to close your login page with your personal details after usage at a public computer terminal will grant others access to your user-name and password. A person with the personal information of "fatlever" can then assume his online identity and start posting information, and others will think that the posts have come from "fatlever" himself. In this scenario, there is a high possibility that the reputation of "fatlever" will be tarnished after people start posting comments under his user-name.

In conclusion, one must be aware that our identity and reputation in the virtual world is build on information that we reveal online, rather than matter in the physical world. (Donath, 1996) Therefore, just as it is easy to compose information and build our reputations online, we must be aware that it is just as easy to commit identity theft and ruin one's online reputation completely.

References:

Donath, Judie(1996). "Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Lackaff, D. (2003). "Norm maintenance in online communities: A review of moderation regimes unpublished master's (preliminary) thesis, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://lackaff.net/node/20

Massum, Hassan and Zhang, Yi-Cheng (2004). "Manifesto for the Reputation Society" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue9_7/masum

May, T (1994). "The Cyphernomicon: Cypherpunks FAQ and more" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.oberlin.edu/%7Ebrchikind/cyphernomicon/

Prince, Brian (2007). "Report shows spike in Online Identity Theft" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2084453,00.asp.

www.realgm.com

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewforum.php?f=53

QotW4: "It is better to give than to receive"

Giving and Receiving

Ever since the time of the hunting and gathering societies, a hunter's status in his tribe was not based on how much kill he ate, but it was determined by what he brought back and gave to others. To many, success is defined by what one can offer to others and taking pride in our valuable contributions to others. (Pinchot, 1995) Thus, the emergence of a gift economy is not a new idea or concept, instead it has its roots deep in human nature.

The gift economy can be viewed as an outlet where people can come together "to learn, to understand, to change and take charge of the world." (Pollard, 2005) It is a platform where people offer information without the expectation of any direct return. The gift economy is viewed as a sharp contrast when compared to the traditional commodity economy where price is the main driving factor. There are several motivating factors that fuel a gift economy. Some feel that they have a certain reputation and prestige to upkeep after contributing valuable and trusted information on a certain subject forum. (Rhinegold, 1993) Others might feel a sense of efficacy in which one claims that their information provided affects a particular environment and it boosts their image as a person with efficacy. (Bandura, 1995)

We must be aware that the emergence of online gift economies have been rampant in these recent years. As an increasing number of people communicate online, many groups and forums have also been established for people who share similar interests or belong to the same community. The low cost and the easy distribution of information are also the driving factors behind the online gift economy. People who are intrested in photography for example, might be a member of the online photography society or a die-hard soccer fan might have an exclusive membership to a soccer-only forum. At these forums, people can post their queries and thoughts online, and people of similar interests will help them out, all without a monetary cost.

Having a keen interest and eye for fashion, I belong to several fashion forums such as the "Female First" forum ( http://www.femalefirst.co.uk) where ladies can post their fashion dilemmas or any interesting bits of fashion news online. People will then respond by giving feedback to the receipient or comment about the piece of news that has been posted. However, I would like to discuss about an online gift economy that was introduced to me by a friend.

"Time Zone"(www.timezone.com) is reputed to be the world's leading English language website that offers information about watches to watch enthusiasts all around the world. It is even quoted to be "The world's watch information resource" In this website, one can scroll through the numerous watch forums that are offered. There are public forums where people can post general comments and questions and it boasts a specific brand forum where more than 20 of the world's most reputable watch brands can be found. Therefore, if one might have a question about a particular brand of watch, he or she can go directly to the brand forum and post a question there. An example will be the author "garyny" going into the Cartier brand forum and asking if it is difficult to exchange the bracelet of a Cartier watch. He then received help from a member "hpg1971" regarding that post. Therefore, this is a classic example of a gift economy where one received help from another person and does not expect anything in return. People also contribute news and articles into the community articles of the website, watch reviews, industry news and interviews. Many contribute information voluntarily to these websites in order to share their interest with others and they often do not look forward to any rewards or returns. There is even a French and Japanese language forum that is catered for the Japanese and French members. Therefore, should anyone have any queries about any watch, they can always proceed to Time Zone to have their doubts cleared by others- all at no monetary cost!

In conclusion, we must realise that though money is what drives the economy, not all economies in the world are based on stretching and maximising one's personal gain, in fact some are founded on the basis of giving. (Pinchot, 1995)Therefore as what author lewis Hyde wrote in the book, "The Gift: The Erotic Life of Property", one's gift economy status is with accordance to those who gives the most to others.

References:

Kollock, Peter (1999). 'The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Pinchot, Gifford (1995). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

Pollard, Dave (2005). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/04/17.html

www.femalefirst.co.uk

www.timezone.com

Rheingold, Howard. 1993. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. New York: Addison-Wesley.

Bandura, Albert (editor). 1995. Self-Efficacy in Changing Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Goodbye Crazy Horse :(

Bye Crazy Horse

I managed to catch one of the last performances at Crazy Horse last Friday night. The 400 seat-theatre was more than 70% filled, and i suspect that the rather huge turn-out was due to the fact that people were rushing to catch it before it officially closed on Sunday night.

After leaving the venue at Clarke Quay, i thought to myself why this concept of a cabaret did not take off in Singapore.Were people still not open to this idea? Personally, i enjoyed myself throughout the entire performance. The decor inside was plush and luxurious, with velvety deep-red and gold being the main color theme. The girls danced really well, the lighting was good and i found the whole show really artistic. Or was the price holding people back? Some complained that the price of the tickets were a lil too expensive, with VIP tickets going at $185 (inclusive of a std. drink) for a show that lasted only around...less than 1.5 hours. Whatever the case, i think that its a real pity that the Crazy Horse cabaret had to close down after making its debut in Singapore slightly more than a year ago. Hopefully, if a similar business concept comes to town again, we'll be much more open and receptive of the idea :)