Future of the Internet - In Healthcare

I was wondering what to talk about since we're supposed to write about the future of Internet in our last blogpost. I surfed the net and decided there's an industry I would like to narrow down on with regards to the future of the Internet - Healthcare industry!
Why? Mainly because it affects all of us. At some point of time in our lives, we will definitely require healthcare of some sort.

The future of healthcare is a subject that has been under intense speculation and debate in recent times over various platforms. Following a launch at the Medical and Compamed trade fair in November 2009, a company known as Ergonomidesign will be presenting and demonstrating a future application with relation to Life Sciences.

The application, known as "Helping Hands" (a Natural User Interface developed on a MS Surface table) enables us to experience how we will manage our healthcare in future. This concept actually combines the benefits of ubiquitous computing with a merger of healthcare services with Internet service providers. This merger brings many benefits to us. Alike applications in the mobile world currently, pharmacies would be able to sell a variety of healthcare devices containing embedded software that synchronizes with relevant devices and our body automatically.

By the year 2015, vast amounts of personal data will constantly be uploaded in real-time to the "Cloud" - for others to use, share and benefit from. Through embedded sensors in our clothes, wrist watches, necklaces, shoes etc. it will be possible to constantly monitor our biometric data. These vast amounts of data pushed to the Cloud, is accessible to a network of 'smart objects' e.g. mobile devices and 'smart' homes, furniture and environments. Our biometric data will be accessible everywhere, constantly - to us and those who we have granted admission, e.g. our doctors, family and relevant networks. The Cloud also allows constant access to contacts and services in our vast directory of doctors, fellow-patients and other daily health-care programs such as diet, exercise and prescription medicine.

This is expected to be accessed both on computers and from mobile devices, hence making it much more convenient for patients to monitor their health and at the same time communicate with their doctors who can also monitor it from the hospital at the same time.

elderly and the internet

As the population in Singapore age, the technology gap between the Internet and the older generation increases. Although some might argue that they know how to use the computer, many a time we realize that what they mean are the really basic programs such as microsoft word.

I personally have come across many people from the older generation and their ignorance towards the Internet. I'll take my previous workplace as an example. Even though it was a media company, many of the older employees who are 50 and above are not well versed in using the Internet. It was only then did I realize that the problem is not just with the older generation who are uneducated. These employees are educated and have been in the media industry ever since they stepped into the working world. I found out that the way they learn the computer or any technological system for that matter, was to literally write down and memorize the steps to go about doing something. They even apply the same method of learning when it comes to the Internet. For example, for the two older employees whom I have worked hand in hand with during my internship, they will be writing and drawing out a rough sketch of the webpage when I teach them how to access certain pages. However, once they get to a different part of the website, they totally have no idea what to press next.

Many of the younger employees, including myself, found this very perplexing. We wanted to teach them how to use the Internet effectively and efficiently but it was really difficult to do so. I began to search for information regarding teaching the older generation about the Internet.

After much thought, I decided to try my hand at devising a simple plan to try to teach them how to be more infocomm savvy. Instead of telling them what to press when on a certain website, I started asking them to try randomly clicking on different tabs and read the tabs on their own(they are literate so of course this works! :P). The only instruction I give them was what information it is which I want to find and encouraged them to apply the same application methods used when they are using the internal video archive search on the company's system. Initially, they were unable to find the stuff but slowly, they began to be able to find the infomation I asked for. It took double or triple the time the average Singaporean would need when finding something using an online search engine.

Why are there so many problems with the older generation using the Internet?

I feel that it is mainly their mindset which hinders their learning of new things on the Internet. Many would tell me that they are old and the system is new so "it is impossible for them to use it". This was quoted by some of them. Hearing this made me feel that we have to change their fixed mindset totally before we can actually teach them about the Internet. Even though the government has pumped in millions to encourage the older generation to take lessons on infocomm, I feel that the fundamental problem of their conservative mindset must first be changed.

This might be solved by first educating the older generation about the benefits of the Internet and the convenience of using them, such as paying bills online and so on. By allowing them to apply the Internet in their daily lives, it will help in changing their mindset on the Internet being negative and hard to use.

By solving this problem, I feel that there will also be societal advantages. The older and younger generation will be able to understand one another better. There will also likely be more common topics between the young and old.

Internet and Journalism

Here's a video I found on Youtube. Do take a look at it. It's about what is citizen journalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZpMRclwI

I personally feel that citizenship journalism is an important alternative to traditional journalism. Although it might not be as objective as traditional journalism is, in fact it might be extremely biased, when reporters or journalists are unable to be at a particular place at a particular time to see what happened, citizens themselves are important secondary tools to provide information on what actually happened. By sharing with journalists or reporters about what happened, it is already a form of journalism.

It is interesting how major news agencies in the world such as BBC and CNN are turning to the Internet to spread breaking news. They have their online news websites, facebook accounts and even twitter accounts.

With every breaking news comes a post or a tweet on twitter. It shows how journalism is merging with technology. We see victims of earthquakes and tsunamis using whatever technology they can find or access to spread the news about what exactly is happening at wherever they are.

According to some friends in disaster stricken countries, there have been cases of victims getting help by posting their location online. I was really surprised upon hearing this. I've always felt that it is probably a useful tool in spreading news. However, never has it struck me that it can be used as a emergency tool to ask for help!

In addition, with citizens themselves posting online in the event of a natural disaster, we can get a clearer picture of what is happening on scene before reporters, journalists, cameramen and soundmen actually gain access to these places. Furthermore, it is known that governments do request the media to cover some of the truths in order to prevent panic in their own people. Hence, it is difficult for people from other countries to gain a true picture of what has happened and to decide how much help or aid to send to that country if the need arises.

With that said, however, I feel that many citizens who post their take on occurrences online do not verify their facts before writing about something. This results in inaccurate reporting. Also, many do not take responsibility for what they post online, thinking that once they remove a post, there won't be any trace of it left online. Therefore, I think that we still need time to educate the general public on taking responsibility for whatever he or she writes on the Internet.

Internet and Politics

In the last presidential elections in America, we see a very good example of how politicians are beginning to make use of the Internet for their political campaigns.

Barack Obama was particularly known for his effective use of the Internet to rally his supporters and make his policies known to the masses. President Obama's use of the Internet was mainly targeted at people aged between 18-29, which is also the group most reliant on new media for political information for the election. Obama's campaign managers were well aware that they also have to cater to the needs of these younger people in order to capture their attention in the campaign. Obama built support by connecting with his supporters and would-be supporters through the use of MySpace and Facebook. He developed trust from these supporters, which led them to rally their local communities.

In addition, the campaign was also extended to computer games, which also caters to the younger voters. Campaigns were incorporated into the games, where gamers can see certain information about Obama, including signs asking people to "Vote for Change".

Furthermore, Obama's policies were all being posted online for easy access. Updates were even being sent to subscribers of his political party by means of text messages and emails. We could see from interviews that Obama's campaign was strengthened by McCain's comparatively limited use of the Internet. Although McCain also did a lot of speaking during the campaigning, he did not capitalize on the benefits Internet could possibly bring and hence, lost the support of many young voters.

This is not only seen in America. According to reports, in the upcoming General Elections in Singapore, the People's Action Party is also making use of the Internet by posting activities which their upcoming candidates are involved in. This include texts, photos and even videos of events organized in the various housing estates. They have also extended their use by using Facebook instead of only their party's website. At the same time, other parties such as the Workers' Party and the Singapore Democratic Alliance are also using online sources to garner support. This also includes their policies and photos of what their members are doing to help the community. This will definitely reach out to more of the younger voters, who might be voting for the very first time to make informed choices when the elections come.

Apple's Multimedia Marketing Strategy

Compared to many other brands, I would say that Apple's marketing strategy is one of the best.
I will be focusing on how Apple did marketing for the iPhone.





As with all Apple marketing, the iPhone marketing strategy is very clear, simple yet clever. With the plain and simple Apple icon, Apple focuses on the pure innovative style of their products without all the "fluff".

The first 4 iPhone commercials flaunted the convenience and usefulness of a single product with the functionality of not just a phone or a music device, but a product that can, among other things, listen to music, watch videos, make conference calls, check e-mail, browse the web and even view maps.

Not only does Apple utilize television for their marketing strategy, but they make full use of their website by posting videos online and publishing a handful of press releases that could have been issued in one single document. Apple often uses this tactic to build up hype and leave the consumer wanting more.

The official iPhone website does more than just provide information about the product. The website provides top tips and tricks for the use of an iPhone, as well as a huge focus on applications. Almost the entire iPhone page displays images of applications and provides the "App of the Week". The website also contains sections which are titled "Apps for Everything" and the "Top Apps". This is a great marketing tool for both current iPhone users and consumers that have an interest in purchasing the iPhone. This effective use of multimedia in the promotion of the apps will create a stronger source of revenue for Apple. As consumers see top-rated applications, they are more likely to download the application, rather than search through more than 25,000 applications to find an application that is of value to them.


Another reason why people use the website often is because it is very user-friendly. All the various categories are clearly slated and arranged in a way easy for the consumer to access information on the particular category. All these described above can be accessed on the iPhone itself by iPhone consumers. This provides the convenience, which is definitely a factor of consideration for most people who decide to purchase a smart phone. Hence, we can see that Apple has indeed thought through the various factors before deciding on their multimedia strategy.With relation to the applications, users can also search for and access multimedia content such as music and videos easily and download the ones which they want. This adds on to the revenue of Apple.

Cyber-crime - Have you experienced it?

Every single time we use the Internet, we are actually opening ourselves to possible risks of becoming the next cyber-crime victim.

According to a new study carried out by Symantec consumer division Norton, revealed that 70% of Internet users in Singapore have fallen victim to cyber-crimes, including computer viruses, online credit card fraud and identity theft.

Despite the prevalance of cyber-crimes in the recent years, the study showed that about 71% of internet users do not expect cyber-crime criminals to be brought to justice. Many have experienced such cyber-crimes and choose to keep quiet about it. This is being termed as the silent digital epidemic.

Although cyber-crime can be prevented with security softwares, along with the use of multiple passwords and the regular updates of these passwords, we cannot be totally free from cyber-crime because many such criminals operate from other countries.

In 2007, one serious case of cyber-crime was being reported and the criminal was nabbed. The Singapore hacker, Lin Zhenghuang, 21, was charged with posting a fake bomb threat on a technology website after successfully hacking it, and 60 counts of illegally accessing nine wireless networks between July 2005 and February 2006. This resulted in 180 years in prison. To add on to that, he was fined US$6500 for each charge. He has been charged with violating Singapore's Computer Misuse Act.

From this case, we can see how serious cyber-crime can be. In fact, I feel that the Internet might be used by terrorists in the near future to recruit new terrorists and to change people's opinions and perspectives. This could result in serious wars. We might have anti-virus programs and softwares, but how are we going to fight against cyber terrorism?

Governments at all levels should require its contractors to have advanced security measures in place. This is because the federal government is usually the nation's largest consumer. If it steps up its cyber-security requirements, most companies will follow suit. This serves to enhance cyber-security of business and government networks online.

Internet tools

There are so many different kinds of Internet tools which one can use to search for things online. The two search engines I use most often are Google and Bing.

I use Google mainly to search for articles if I decide not to use the university library resources website to do so when I have to write a research paper. In fact, Google has a special engine called the Google Scholar, which I feel is almost as good as the university's library resources site. Google Scholar is especially useful whenever we have to churn out a research paper. As compared to a normal search engine, it is more convenient and helps to save the time spent looking through hundreds, thousands or even millions of search results. This is so as it sieves out just scholarly articles or articles which can be used for academic work. In this way, it also reduces the chances of us reading unnecessary material.

The search engine I use most often is Bing. Bing is a search engine from Microsoft and was formerly known as Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search. Somehow, I feel that Bing allows me to search what I want more easily and with greater accuracy. I used to try Yahoo to look for things such as entertainment news and for korean language help. However, when Bing started, I decided to try it out and realized that the information found by Bing is more accurate than the information I found using Yahoo, especially the language tools. In addition, I also feel that Bing is more current and since it has a partnership with Mediacorp, it enables us to access news and entertainment even more easily because its new homepage(xinmsn) contains a variety of different links, including news links and video links.

Due to some equipment constraints, I am unable to do a brand new video. However, I'll describe my previous experiences of making a video.

My previous experience of making a video was during my internship where I needed to go out to take certain shots and later collate them to become a short video. It was interesting because there were many aspects which I had to take into account all the way from taking the shots to editing the video itself. I had to keep in mind how to link a particular shot with another so that the different shots will be linked and that it'll be easier to put in transitions between the different shots during the process of editing as the shots cannot change too abruptly. It was quite difficult at first because firstly, I used an editing program that was different from the usual Microsoft Movie Maker. It was a graphics machine and I had to familiarize myself with the operations of the different keyboard such as cutting using a particular key and to input the points where I wanted to link the different shots. However, it was indeed a good experience in making a video.

Learning on the Internet

I'll start with a quote I believe in.

"To know that we do not know, makes knowing worth knowing."

E-learning is becoming rather popular as there are more and more information on the Internet. However, how can we be very sure that the information we see on the Internet is reliable? How do we know the information is accurate and not biased? How much can we really learn from the Internet?

Even some universities are introducing e-learning. One example would be the University of Manchester. They have introduced the e-learning platform where their students will form e-learning communities and there are e-learning bulletins where their professors will post up notes and where they can discuss certain topics.

Does e-learning really work?

I would say that e-learning is a really useful tool and the best alternative to classroom learning. However, I strongly feel that there are certain areas of study which cannot be very successful if students were to learn solely online.

Two examples include Medicine and Veterinary Science. If these students were to solely rely on e-learning, they will be unable to gain the practical expertise to perform their duties in their future career in the medical arena. In fact, I feel that it would be highly dangerous if they don't have any practical experience as this will bring risk to the patients, be it human or animal, that they are treating.

However, e-learning is definitely useful if used as an addition to classroom learning. It can act as a supplement to what the student learnt in the classroom as there is a myraid of information they can tap on online.

How will the future digital classroom look like?

I think it might be even more advanced than the following setting below.

I feel that there are 2 possibilities of wherhter technology will be a success in the future.

One, it might advance so much that we do everything electronically. We might even stop travelling around to school, to work and to do our daily routines. There might be technologies developed to enable us to access anything and anywhere, without being limited by whether the place has an Internet connection or Wifi.

Second, it might turn back. We often hear that if there is always a limitation to how much we can progress. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that we might turn back to primitive ways if the problems of technology escalates in the future.

E-marketing

Why some e-commerce succeeded?

1) Far reach - Internet allows businnesses to reach not only those within the country that it is based in. People from around the world will be able to access the website as long as there is internet connection.

2) Removes element of inconvenience - Cardless ID innovations and the introduction of online payment methods greatly reduce the trouble of having to go to an ATM to make bank transfers.

3) Internet is a good marketing weapon - Even if those who see the product may not be interested in it, if they have friends who are interested in a particular product, they might help you to market the product to them.

Why some e-commerce failed?

1) Insufficient planning - Some businesses merely followed the trend of setting up online commerce in addition to their original business without much planning of how the business online should be organized and maintained.

2) Not up to date - Companies that conduct their business online should always keep it up to date and man their website on a daily basis, or even once every few hours. Not replying to emails sent or the comments posted by the public on the website has led to the failure of many online businesses.

3) Bad advertisements - Some small and private businesses do not put much effort into designing the website or they might not even have the expertise to design the website in a way which would attract customers. For example, many a time, many shopping blogs end up with photos posted everywhere and on a haphazard way on their blogs. This will actually work to the disadvantage of the business itself.

E-marketing - how to make it a success?

I would like to link e-marketing to politics in this post. Most of us would have seen how the new media(Internet, computer games, etc.) was being used in the last American presidential election. As the Internet serves to reach out to a large audience without the audience having to be at a particular place at a particular time. In this aspect, political parties can tap on e-marketing as a tool to promote their party's slogans, believes and plans should they get elected.

To make this a success, these political parties or individual candidates themselves have to encourage active comments by the public on what they are currently doing or what the public wants from them. They will then have to give a reply to the public and not just make it a monologue. In my opinion, other than public campaigns and walkabouts, this is probably the only way which the public will be able to come into contact with the candidate.

Social Networking

A relatively new social networking site: Foursquare

I came across this while using another social networking site, Twitter.

Foursquare is a location-based social networking website. This service is available for users of GPS enabled mobile devices. Users can check into the venue that at a particular point in time and choose to have their "check-ins" posted on their Twitter or Facebook accounts or both.

If a user checks into a location more than anyone else for the past 2 months, they will be crowned "Mayor" of that venue. This will continue until someone else checks into the location more than the current "mayor".

It is useful in that it allows you to find out where your friends are at a particular point of the day. I have a group of friends who wanted to give a particular friend a surprise birthday party and that friend happened to be using foursquare. So, they used foursquare to find out where she was and successfully surprised.

Some celebrities also use this social networking website as a tool by which they can interact with their fans. When they visit a certain restaurant or attraction in another country, they "check into" their location on Foursquare. This serves as a way they can indirectly communicate with their fans as their fans might comment or ask about the place.

This also leds on to my next point. Businesses can use this as a tool for marketing their product(s). For example, if a celebrity happens to visit a restaurant and enjoy himself or herself, the restaurant manager could always take this chance to request if he or she could help promote the restaurant by taking photos and posting online or request that he or she "check-into" the location on Foursquare if he or she has an account. This helps in promoting the business and would definitely bring more business.

Comparing this to Twitter, I feel that Foursquare is indeed useful in helping in marketing business more than twitter. However, I feel that this inevitably leads to a loss in privacy. If we were to "check-into" whatever venues we are at everyday, it might attract people who mean harm. Celebrities using this might also bring trouble to themselves.

Furthermore, with Foursquare, you have to "check-into" a location before you can actually post something you might want to say at a particular point in time. This means that you won't be able to post a status as and when you want just like what Twitter allows its users to do. Hence, I feel that Foursquare is rather limiting in its usage.

Say hello to social media!

In this technologically advanced era, the introduction of many forms of social media can be overwhelming for some, especially older folks who might not have grown up in times where technology is readily available. Yet now, we are able to tap on all these social media to communicate with our friends, even from abroad!

Honestly, I am personally one who use social media a lot. I check my online accounts on my laptop quite a number of times each day and even on my iPhone while on the go. And I often think, "What would really happen if these things disappear overnight one day?"

So, I decided I would talk about 3 different social media platforms I use and like the most.

Firstly, of course, there's Facebook!

Facebook was not originally called Facebook when it first started. I won't go into too much details about the origins of facebook and such in this post because I'll probably talk more about it in my post next wk. But just briefly, it was known as Facemesh at first and later on became what we all know today, Facebook.

It's a website where we can add friends into our online social network, and share our photos, status and comment on each other's photos and statuses online. Quite amazingly, it has helped many find friends they have not had the chance to meet for years. Also, when friends do updates, even if you don't have the chance to meet him or her in person, you still can keep yourself updated with what he or she is currently doing recently.

Next would be Twitter!

Twitter is a microblogging site. Similar to Facebook, users can do status updates and even upload photos on their status. However, users are only limited to using a maximum of 140 characters in each update, hence the name "microblogging".

One reason why I like Twitter so much is that it is much less complex as compared to Facebook. At one glance, you are able to see all the status updates of the people you follow and you can reply your followers' tweets.

Most news agencies have also started using Twitter so that users can access live updates of news while on the go, either on their laptops or smartphones. This will also in a way encourage the younger generation to read and find out about what is happening in the world around them as it is more convenient than bringing a newspaper around and easier to read.

Last but not least, it's Weibo!

Weibo is actually similar to Twitter and performs almost the same functions as Twitter. However, the only difference is that it generally is an alternative to Facebook and Twitter in China. Facebook is banned officially in China, which inevitably led to the creation of a similar website as it is a country with many people who are well-versed technologically.

The only difference between the above 2 social media platforms I named and Weibo is that Weibo is predominantly in Chinese. Chinese language is used for most of the content uploaded. When I first found this website, I was really amazed because due to their similar layout to Twitter, it is more user friendly than Facebook and yet it has the conciseness of Twitter. Hence, in a sense, it combines the strengths of both Facebook and Twitter.

Not forgetting, for those of you out there who have China, Taiwan or Hong Kong artistes as your idols, most of them actually use Weibo as a platform to communicate with their fans. So do try out Weibo if you haven't. It's as good or even better than your usual Facebook and Twitter.

What is Internet???

When asked in class how we would answer if our older aunt asked us "What is Internet"

The usual definition of Internet we would give or hear would probably be "The Internet is a collection of computers connected to form a global networked environment."

After much thinking about it, I think I would give a simpler explanation which the older generation can visualize more easily. My reply would probably be "The Internet is something which we can use to communicate with people from all around the world in the shortest possible time, and even see them on the computer using new and advanced applications."

You might or might not agree with my definition, but one thing for sure is that Internet has changed our lives in one way or another.

We once only had the option of writing letters and sending by post or even using doves to send long distance messages to the other party. Why I say that the Internet is something that we can use to communicate with people from all over the world is that we now have changed mostly to use the Internet to send electronic messages to one another from one country to another and it reaches in just a single click. The speed precedes all past methods of communication if face-to-face communication is not available.

Next up, what we usually hear when someone mention Internet is the World Wide Web(www).

Honestly speaking, before taking this module, I've always thought that the Internet and www share the exact same meaning. A check on Wikipedia before doing this blogpost made me realize that www is a system of interlinked hypertext documents that are accessed via the Internet. In other words, www is not the Internet! That's something new!

Here's a photo I found on the web.

It's actually a datacenter housing some www services!

Since we've already covered the advantages of the Internet in our first 2 lessons, I shall talk about the disadvantages of the Internet here on my blog.

After looking at the photo above, I can't help but wonder what will really happen if all the datacenters in the world housing our www services crash. The Internet no doubt has brought about many positive changes in our lives, allowing us to advance. However, it has made us dependent on technology. If we are unable to use the Internet at all, what will be the alternative before something even better than the Internet is invented? Businesses, countries' economies would all be affected if the Internet cease to exist just for a day or two.

In addition, the advancement of the Internet has also led to a loss of privacy. Gone are the days when you can really be anonymous on the web. Photos and information go on the web the moment it happens, no matter whether you want it or not. One example would be facebook. The moment something happens, posts and photos can go up almost immediately.