Effective Writing G6

Think about how many different places you've input personal information on the Internet and you'll quickly realize, they're far too numerous to remember.
Besides social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, varying levels of personal information are solicited across a broad swath of websites including banks, shopping or auction sites, government agencies, employers and any place we register for 'free' services. You've probably also handed over control of your information by routinely clicking the 'I accept' box, without reading the long terms and conditions text about how your information might be used. Or if you did read all the terms you still checked 'yes' to gain the service anyway.

All the personal information we routinely input to websites as well as over the phone or via paper forms still used in a variety of ways like applying for credit cards or confirming product warranties – ends up in electronic databases. Our information has become a valuable commodity, vulnerable to cyber theft and legitimately purchased behind the scenes by companies to pitch their products or services to us. Credit card usage and store 'loyalty' cards track our every purchase ;whether we want them to or not.

With the great technology advances that are driving this new era of Hyperconnectivity , why is it so difficult for individuals to protect the privacy of their electronic information? Why isn't it simple to have personal 'identity agents' that we control to ensure no one sees details of our lives unless we choose to let them?

As the world increasingly becomes more hyperconnected we need to look at the bigger picture and put in place the simplest technologies possible spanning a multitude of situations that are unlike anything we've ever experienced in the past. Simplicity always trumps complexity and that will prove to be essential with identity assertion in the new hyperconnected world.

Therefore, I believe that privacy is very much still relevant, and should never be compromised in today's hyper-connected world.


Rekka

As we all know, our winning team are not Singaporeans, but they are all China-born players who has now become new citizens of Singapore. I believe it does not matter if they were China-born players, the most important thing is the winners represented Singapore and won the Championship for Singapore.

They have made our nation proud.

Rekka

As regards to my topic, my answer is yes! Flyers are the new chewing gums.


You can see lots of flyers lying around everywhere; especially under void decks. Many companies uses flyers as their promotional materials but what if they over do it and ends up no one is interested in reading them? it simply ends up on the grounds or dustbins. Well just like chewing gums which was banned many years ago due to littering and pollution to our nation, now flyers are taking over it! They are found lying everywhere and are keeping our nation unclean!! what has happened to us being green??

Its commen nowadays that there are many flyers being post to our mail boxes. All these flyers are left as junk mails. It will then end up lying on ground floors. Thats how chewing gums were before, people chew on them, and once they are done with it, they litter them onto the grounds. It than ends up creating our nation unclean. Well, then finally it was banned and no more littering of chewing gums. But now flyers has taken over it. Should we ban it too to avoid pollution to our country?

Well if we choose to ban it, it would be unfair for the compines in Singapore as they are in the need of promoting their products. Many companies find flyers a great way to reach out to thier target customers. Therefore it'll be unfair to them if we choose to ban flayers. Well the only thing we can to is to avoid littering in our nation. After reading those flyers, we should throw them in dustbins instead of ground floors. Its easy to do that! isnt there dustbins everywhere in Singapore for us to litter our unwanted stuffs? yes! so make use of it.

All in all we should all learn to keep our country clean and green!:)


Rekka:)

Of Course!!!Privacy is still relevant till today.Every single human needs privacy,unless u are not.
However,hyper connected world of online social networking has invaded our privacy.Examples include Facebook,Friendster & Twitter. These networks allow you to make new friends by viewing each other profiles.Sometimes we might reveal some of our particulars(contact,email,address)  when using those networks.This is when the invasion begins! Companies get hold of our information and started spamming advertisement,promotions to us.This is totally too irritating and nuisance! Daily calls is even worse. I can't understand those people who disclose their contacts.Aren't they finding troubles for themselves?

I admit that social networks benefit us in making friends.However,we should not disclose too much information about ourselves to the public.Celebrities has the least privacy as their schedule are always invaded by paparazzi.What they do today may affect their popularity the next day.However we are different from them. We have the rights to choose whether to reveal our privacy.

Reading my messages without my permission is one of the invasion of privacy that i hate most.This is totally ridiculous! Why do you want to read someone messages whereby u can read your own??? Curiosity? This are excuses.Till now, i still can not find out the root of this problem.Anyway, pardon me for any harsh words that i used.

Overall i still think that privacy should always be relevant in our lives.Lets take the precaution of disclosing too much information about ourselves.!=)

hello!!!! Are you guys in the worldcup fever???

Personally i think that world cup is very exciting! however we should not neglect about the social ills caused! It is true that worldcup promote social ills and it is difficult to get rid of it.Alternatively, we should do our best to reduce it by drinking lesser beers,gambling....=)



Sean

Flyers; sounds like a piece of paper in the sky. Floating around having fun. Makes everything so peaceful. Nowadays, if flyers were in the sky, singapore would probably be filled with papers in the sky. Almost at every train station, you will have People giving out flyers to advertise for either some hair salon, tuition center, new food outlets and etc. This flyers might be really helpful to some people however, to others, it is really irritating when these people giving out flyers just force them into your hands even though u rejected it.
Just today morning, i just came across this experience. My friends and i were waiting for people outside Yio chu kang train station. We were sitting down at this bench-like thing when this guy approached us and offered us flyers. To be helpful, a few of us just gracefully took it. However, when 1 of my friend rejected the flyer, that old man just grab a whole bunch of it and left it on my friend's lap. How rude is that? Luckily for that man, my friend wasn't that bad and just kept quiet.
Man, these days, singaporeans just keep getting more and more rude. Let's just hope that we do not bump into any of them anymore. And for the human resources manager who hire them, please hire your workers properly and instruct them to be more polite.

Have you heard about this news!? Facebook has been banned in Pakistan! Some of you might think it is atrocious, some of you might think this is crazy. However no matter crazy or shocking this news is, it is going to happen until May 31st!
The only reason why this common website has been banned is due to a facebook page called "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day". This page is mainly about a where people who have an account in facebook will draw a face to represent Mohammad. In pakistan, these sketches are known to be an act of blasphemy by Muslims. I personally think that this order by the pakistan goverment is a little to harsh as typical people only take it as a joke.
However, i do not blame the goverment for making this harsh measure as some of the muslims might find it offensive. Like an old saying goes, "Prevention is better than Cure". Prevent a crusade from happening is a wise decision made by the goverment. Hence, yOu can look at the matter from two different angles and yet, they both have their good points and bad.
 

Woah! This topic seems interesting....Flyers- are they the new chewing gum? Well, i think they are.It is very common nowadays to find your letterbox flooded with JUNKS regarding selling of flats,air-con servicing....I often glance through the flyers and take home to sell to the karung guni! I admit that its really a bad thing to do but its really uselss for me.On the otherhand,i am also recycling the paper!=)Even worse,people just throw the flyers on the ground or dustbin upon seeing it,treating it like chewing gum!However,there are other people who might want to service their air-con,benefit from the flyers.We can't think of ourselves,we must also consider about other people!So, to resolve the problems of flooding your letterbox,i often lock the flap!Do it now if you are the same kind of person as me!=)

But these companies are very clever!They came up with an alternative way,by giving door-to-door flyers.Now, it becomes flooding in my house!Till now,i still can't find a resolution to prevent flooding in my house!Even if i close my door, they will still flood my corridor!!!! So if anyone of you know any ways to resolve it,PLEASE tell me.Thanks alot!=) Again, there are still other people who need these"Golds".So,i don't think that there is a need to ban flyers even though it is irritating to me.Companies give out flyers to advertise their products. Whats wrong with it??!!! Is it a crime to do so?

Eventhough i grumble in the first few paragraphs,i still don't mind these flyers.=) In fact i don't feel that they are like chewing gum.=)

Yes!Finally,our table tennis player had done us proud.Singapore's trio Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Bei Bei won China 3-1 in the finals at Moscow,ending China's 19 year reign.It was the first ever gold medal for Singapore in the history of the World Championships,their last gold medal was in 1924.However, there were many discussions about their win.


Some say it was China A team and B team competing with each other as Singapore team was make up of former china people.It was foreign talent not OUR own Singaporeans who won it.It is like buying world class players from other countries and claim that we are the CHAMPIONS!There was NO GLORY! It was better if our local talent won the championship.


However,there are also other positive views on it.Taken from a blog:"This women team was playing for SG and sang our national antem in Bahasa Malay!!! Spare a thought for them! They’re one of us and please make them feel that way. They indeed played a good games and bring name to our country. And don’t forget that majority of our grandparents or great-grandparents are not born in SG neither!" 
i totally agree with the above view.After all, they were trained in Singapore! Without them,Singapore would not have won the championship! This won brought up the standards of table tennis which inspires more youth to learn this sport,producing more local talent.


overall i still think that our table tennis team had done us proud.For those who agree with me,lets give them a round of applause.=)

"It is human nature to 'act out' if one is unsure of the proper behavior for any given situation. During one's teen years, it is even harder to feel sure of oneself, as teens are in that confusing and uncomfortable position of being between childhood and adulthood. Teens need manners as social tools, to navigate their way through the differing social events they will encounter as they grow up into mature adults."

"Suddenly, you're almost and adult! It happened so fast that you- and your parents- can't understand it, but all at once you are faced with a whole new set of problems. More then anything else, you want to emerge from constant supervision, to become independent, and to choose a social life of your own. And yet, because you are constantly confronted with new situations, you need the guidance and support of your parents. You are, in a sense, betwixt and between, and while the condition brings the fun of entering an adult world, it brings the trials as well. Etiquette, by giving you guidelines on how to act in almost every situation involving contact with other people, provides a bridge. Not only a bridge between you and your parents, but a bridge between your old childhood world and the world (that) you are entering."




Kids, as well as adults, respond well if they have choices and options 'manners' will vary from place to place, 'etiquette' is simply defining what those manners are, and that manners are our way of showing respect for one another, then teens should be shown respect and taught how to show it back. Teens prefer to have things spelled out so that they will fit in.  Teens had never considered that manners would be a top priority in a bottom rung of our society. Pointing out to them that manners are expected at every level of society, teens listen up. When it comes to teens, give them specific choices and the information they need to make their decision."
Lessons in etiquette, even small ones, are best begun at a young age.  I feel that teens are in need of etiquette lessons in school.

Michelle

WHY????Tell me why!

What happen to youngsters nowadays? 13-14 years old smoking, video taking their classmates being beaten up,and just laugh along! What is this?! In public, you can hear foul languages coming from teenagers and also showing disgraceful behaviour. Well,this is part of my topic today. Are teens in need of etiquette lessons in school?

Definitely YES! But the problem is,will teenagers bother to listen? What should be done so that teenagers show RESPECT & RESPONSIBLILITY in everything they do? Firstly, teenagers can't learn these disgraceful behaviours by their own.I am sure someone have taught them! Perhaps,some parents did not discipline their child well or they uses vulgar languages too often resulting in the child learning from them.Anyway,NO offense to Parents!

Also, parents should have more interaction/discipline with their child,telling them more about etiquette behaviours! Maybe some teenagers are influenced by their bad peers! To prevent this,parents should take note of the friends that thier child makes.Well, nowadays in secondary school,there is a new lesson called "Character Education". It teaches students on RESPECT,RESPONSIBILITY and other moral values. To make the students listen in class, marks/grades is counted for this lesson!. Teachers should try to make the lessons interesting by showing pictures,videos(of disgraceful behaviour).Although this can't solve the problem of teenagers being disrespectful, it helps to reduce the percentage.

I sincerely hope that with this measures carried out,teenagers(including me) can have better social behaviour.----> allowing seats to elders on trains and buses, reduce usage of foul languages in public, no fighting,help others who are in need, no littering! =)

Over the past few years, Pakistan have been addicted to facebook. Including former President Pervez Musharraf, who recenctly began using the website as a way to update his "fans" about his speaking engagements and his new political party. Facebook had been a comment social networking around pakistan, but now it has come to an end for Pakistans. It is ban now due to a user-generated contest page that encourged members to post caricatures of Prophet Mohammed.

The Lahore High Court in Pakistan  instructed Pakistani Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to ban the site after the Islamic Lawyers Movement complained that a page called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” is blasphemous. The website consist of critisism and  protest against Islamists who threaten violence against individuals that attempt to depict Muhammad. It suggested everybody create a drawing representing Muhammad, a prophet of Islam, as a protest against Islamist efforts to limit freedom of speech.

To my point of view, I feel that banning facebook in Pakistan is unfair just because 1 or 2 person's mistake who created that facebook account. It is unfair for others in Pakistan who is using it to communicate with their family or long lost family relations and keeping contect with their love ones who are living else where. But for the mistake that this 1 or 2 people did, i feel they they should take serious actions on them because its making people whos leaving there to be worried and scared about whats going to happen next, eg: terrorism.

Rekka

The furore over a competition encouraging users to publish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on facebook has caused the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to issue a block on Facebook until the 31st of May . Pakistani muslims stepped up to condemn the user-generated contest for blasphemy, as the depiction of any prophet is strictly prohibited in Islam (favorable or not).

The Facebook group “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” has generated heaps of criticism in the predominantly Muslim Islamic Republic of Pakistan – Muslims faithfuls set up online campaigns and other forms of protests to grab the attention of the authorities. The page has been censored in India as well by Facebook.

Numerous controversies have sprouted up over the years over drawings of Mohammed, including a Danish cartoonist who sparked backlash in multiple Arab countries after drawing multiple cartoons of Mohammed for a book cover. The debate over whether or not images of Mohammed should be drawn have raged on for years, but when Pakistan banned Facebook due to groups which posted such pictures, the debate was reignited. One group, succeeded at attracting over 100,000 members and more than 11,000 photos of Mohammed.

While Facebook obviously hopes Pakistan will restore access to the site, it’s difficult for the company to constantly monitor groups which post Mohammed cartoons. Facebook most definitely has a team to filter through any offensive photos, however images depicting Mohammed have never been on the ban list. . It will be interesting to see if Facebook decides to ban similar remaining groups and pages.

Michelle

hihi again.=) 

Well, personally i think that it isn't a good decision to ban facebook.Even if facebook is banned, other people could also post it on internet.In fact all other islamic countries have acknowledged it and did not ban facebook except Pakistan.This is only my views on it so please don't get furious if you don't agree with me.=(

For people who don't know what is facebook. I shall explain to you! =) Facebook is a social-networking website.Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by workplace, school, or college. However, one should respect each other religion and know what to post and not to. So lets show our Respect and Responsiblility to bring about a peaceful SOCIETY ! =)

Smartphones. A crucial and important gaget used mainly for communicating in this modernise world. This device is being used by almost all of mankind. Some, to the extent might even be addicted to this small invention. Using a smartphone is not a big issue. However, the prompting question by many is where to draw the line of using it.

As you know, this smartphone (commonly known as a handphone) is a huge distraction in our lives. For myself as a student, this small little contraption is very important to me. It allows me to send SMS, MMS, take pictures, listen to music etc. It not onlys entertains me but it also make it much easier for me to talk to my family and friends during any part of the day. On the contrary, my lecturers and tutors find it really annoying when i use it in class. To them, it is a plain act of disrespect and a gigantic distraction to them. Therefore, they think its a great place to draw the line of the usage of my smartphone. i find this really contradicting because i am 100 percent sure that at least 1 of my teachers use it in a meeting with their superior. So now that they are in our shoes, they will know how we feel. This vicious cycle will continue down the working worldt. Hence, i don't find it an appropriate question to ask as there really isn't a line to draw. It all depends on where, when, why and how is the phone used.

Basically, drawing the line is just being naive as different people have different purpose of using it. If the phone is used for fun and games, then they have crossed it. However, if the phone is used for a real purpose ( family emergency) then i think that that really is not a problem.

Gabriel Tan. Group 6.

Today's smart phones are both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, they certainly have made business communications easier and faster. On the other hand, people have almost become lost in them. With instant access to email and the internet, we are losing ourselves to cyberspace and forgetting the world around us. When we lose touch, we become less productive, we lose our personal interaction skills and we end up offending the people around us. So how do we reap the benefits of our smart phones while keeping successful business relationships with co-workers and customers?

The answer is to know the proper use and etiquette of this new technology and to integrate it into your everyday business behavior.

We’ve all been quite attached to Cell Phones for a while now. It’s time for us to learn some of the rules–or commandments–of phone etiquette. Phones have changed. People have changed. It’s high time for the two to be in sync with one another to a degree at which we can all be comfortable.

Most importantly, remember that if you are looking at your smart phone, you are not listening to the person speaking or paying attention to your surroundings and you could miss something important or be perceived as not being interested.

At the end of the day we should be a master, but not a slave to it. If your use of the phone is going to bother someone around you, then be a master of it and turn it off. Don’t use it.

Michelle

Hello there,

I am here to share my opinions on the: