Reflections of an innocent child's brain : )

Now. I have to reflect and talk about my own reading preferences and strategies when I see printed materials and digital materials.

Call me old-fashioned, but i'm a fan of the dead tree format. In layman's terms, i like paper books, the kinds that's been around for centuries. I prefer reading them because i like the feel and touch of a real book around my hands, i want to smell the kind of smell you get everytime you open a freshly-printed new book, and i'm just used to buying novels to read whenever i'm bored.

I prefer to read science-fiction/fantasy novels and books about warfare i.e. treatises, field manuals, handbooks or historicals on miltary-related topics. Even the ones you get online. Don't get me wrong, online sources like wikipedia are chock-full of information and fun articles, and will always teach much more hard nkowledge than a simple book, but whenever you read those online things, you have to stomach their politically-correct, non-biased feel and also their rigid format. I also don't like to squint my eyes for long periods of time at a monitor, with or without the zoom function.

When reading something, i don't stick to any particular strategy. People who see me reading will most probably think i'm a lunatic out to destroy things. That's just it; i'm not your model image of a prim and proper reader. I can read anywhere, even while waiting for the bus, while i'm using the computer and waiting for something i want to finish loading on the screen or even using my whole sleep time. As long as that book ain't one of those boring school stuff : ) I laugh along with the funny texts i see when i read, i mimic the speech patterns (my own imagination), i make-belief the actions the characters do, i spend minutes just to comprehend a particularly interesting description, wanting to imagine the whole scene before moving on. I read aloud what i read all the time, and if i'm in a hurry but that article is too interesting for me to properly read right now, i skim through the whole text and look for the meat so that i can get "the big picture".

If there ever was a reading strategy, thought or method to my style, i guess i just gave the full, non-censored account. It's hard to tell people how i really read when most of the actions are not according to the norms of modern, politically-correct societies. I might well end up being diagnosed as "clinically insane" by some shrink and get shipped to Tanjung Rambutan : )

Week 6 Dawns

Another week, another bunch of definitions. Man, i sure would like the exams if it was this simple : )

Ok, first up! (Just to be on the safe side, i'll back each word up with an extra definition if its possible)

Hypertext:
1)machine-readable text that is not sequential but is organized so that related items of information are connected

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

2)A hypertext document consists of non-linear text with links to other text or documents. One navigates through hypertext by following the active links in the text.

www.uic.edu/depts/adn/webclass/glossary.html

Hyperlinks:
1)hyperlink - a link from a hypertext file to another location or file; typically activated by clicking on a highlighted word or icon at a particular location

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

2)hyperlink - Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another.

www.csu.edu.au/division/student-admin/glossary.htm

Hypermedia:
1)a multimedia system in which related items of information are connected and can be presented together

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

2)A type of multimedia hypertext that involves graphics, sound, and video, as well as text.

www.thecomputerfolks.com/h.htm

Online Reading:
1)The cognitive process of understanding a linguistic message in the realm of the internet

Digital Literacy:
1)Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology.

http://www.techlearning.com/article/2602

Reading Strategies:
1)Methods used in reading to determine the meaning of a text. Examples are: rereading; substituting an appropriate familiar word for an unfamiliar one.

www.oise.utoronto.ca/eslinfusion/Home/Background_information/Glossary.html

2)the varied processes a reader uses to make meaning from written language (eg, context, grammar, word patterns, and letter sounds).

www.middleboro.k12.ma.us/ReportCardWeb/ReportCard/Glossary/GLOSSARYw.DOC

5th Week After-Action Report: Part 3

Before i forget, our 2nd major task after "the search" as mentioned in the previous two posts was using online translator engines to translate an article to another language.

Using Google Translate, here's an example:

(We got this from a BM news website)

The original article:

Seorang juruteknik ditahan polis selepas membuat laporan palsu mendakwa dia disamun, kelmarin, semata-mata bagi melengahkan majlis perkahwinannya yang dijadualkan bulan depan.

The translated text:

A technician was arrested after police allege he made false reports disamun, felt solely to delay marriage ceremony scheduled next month.

Like the search engines, the translators also have flaws. Using only cold logic, they cannot fully comprehend the flexible nature of language, such as failing to translate "disamun" to "robbed", and not giving completely grammatically-correct results.

5th Week After-Action Report: Part 2

The second category was: learning websites for grammar

Browsing through the engines, what we got were, again divided by engine type:

Google:
1)www.nonstopenglish.com/
2)usuarios.multimania.es/englishweb/grammar.html

Bing:
1)www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/grammar_challenge/index.shtml
2)www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=Grammar.DutchGrammar

Yahoo:
1)kent.k12.wa.us/curriculum/writing/.../Bib/Grammar.htm
2)www.uni.edu/becker/chinese2.html

Now before you start wondering, why do grammar sites also have Dutch and Chinese? As the lecturer pointed out, search engines are not 100% accurate. They search according to several complex factors, so websites that turn up in the results section might meet the engines' criterias but not ours. That's all. Man i'm wasted! Ciao ; )

5th Week After-Action Report

For the 5th week of our tutorial, me & my partner, Suz, had to search for certain websites using different engines, namely, Yahoo, Google & Bing.

Yahoo is not a search engine per se, rather, one of its components, Yahoo! Search, is. The main Yahoo site is a web portal.

Bing, formerly Windows Live Search or MSN Search, is a search engine, or in Microsoft's own terms, a "discovery engine".

Google needs no introduction here, so i'll get on to the creme de la creme.

Our search had two categories, the first one was: learning websites for four skills. Our search turned up with:

Google:
1)http://free-english-study.com/speaking/speaking-beginner-level.html
2)http://www.keyskills4u.com/
3)http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills 4th.htm

Yahoo:
1)http://english-link.net/
2)http://www.iknowthat.com/com -this one needs to be registered with first!
3)http://www.worldstrides.org/Main/default.asp

Bing:
1)https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/netacad/2009/12/16/the-fabulous-four
2)skills.library.leeds.ac.uk/learnhigherleeds/index.htm
3)http://hi2en.com/

That's basically the first category of searches, divided by search engine type.

The 'How' of this Advert

The 'How'. Obviously, people will start getting curious about how i did it right? Here's a few pointers:

1. I started out using Power Point as it's a flexible program to mould all the pictures, formats and words. First I searched all the pictures I needed online and then pasted them in. After that was done, it was just a matter of manipulating their angles, inserting the advertisement texts and voila! Its a virtual copy of the dead tree advert!

2. I got the pictures from the Net.

3. I saved the file in JPEG format so that it could be posted in my blog.

4. I type with all 10 fingers. Its faster that way : )

5. I didn't change any, leaving all the default settings on. I guess that means spell check and grammar check were on.

6. Yup. My lab partner, Suzzane aka Wong was a great help! She pointed me on how to save and edit my advert to make it more...attractive ; )

7. 3? I'm still a rookie at all this.

Making an Advert!

Week 3.

Today's lab would be us reproducing adverts that we found in the paper. I love vacation stuff, so i thought i would find something that involved going places. Turns out i did find that something, with a twist too. It's for a mobile phone competition. Oh well. Here's my take on the paper version in all its glory! Enjoy!

Definition

What would the modern world be without a clear definition eh? No 'gray areas' whatsoever, which is still too much, if you look at whats happenin' in the whole world. Soldiers need clear mission parameters, mission objectives clarly defined, or the next minute the bullets start flying, they'd find themselves violating a few hundred clauses in the Geneva Conventions and draw flak from human rights commissions worldwide all for defending himself against an 'unlawful combatant' or 'freedom fighter' aka 'terrorist'. Depending on which camp you're in, your vernacular would definitely use one of those three terms. A lecturer of mine once said, the American English is full of colloquialism, well, its not just that part of the globe, its the whole globe.

Now, what has definition got to do with my post here? Our professor, Dr. Norizan told us to track down a few word definitions. I'll have at them right this minute!

1. Information Technology: the branch of engineering that deals with the use of computers and telecommunications to retrieve and store and transmit information
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

2. Information Communication Technology: Information and communication technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the manipulation and communication of information. The term is sometimes used in preference to Information Technology (IT), particularly in two communities: education and government.
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2009/material/IDI2009_w5.pdf

3. Internet: a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP).
ir.telecomegypt.com.eg/Glossary.asp

4. Computer Mediated Communication: any communicative transaction that occurs through the use of two or more networked computers.
McQuail, Denis. (2005). Mcquail's Mass Communication Theory. 5th ed. London: SAGE Publications.

5. Netiquette: The etiquette of online communication and the use of the Internet.
www.businessabilities.ca/

6. Web browser: a browser is a program that lets users look at and interact with various applications and files on the Internet. An example of a browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer.
att-promotions.com/glossary.php

7. Navigating the web: the act of directing one's voyage on the internet.
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Ave

Hi! As the first post, i'll just going to keep it nice and simple. One-Eyed Chris is now the owner of this little piece of online real estate created for a lab project. Let this be the dawn of something new, since i'm not a fervent believer of blogs.

Yet.