Week 11 Lecture

Lionel Chin is a freelance web designer under the company call “RippleWerkz  Studios”. They had help to design a few famous people’s blog such as Xiaxue, Allan Wu (The Amazing Race Asia), Wong Lilin (Mediacorp), Nico Chua (FM 933 DJ).

He said creating a website takes around 2-3 weeks of working days which i think is quite fast.

He also mention that it is better to work as a freelance web designer rather than a employee. By designing a web can earn up to 10k which makes me quite shock as i always thought they could only earn around 500 bucks and each website is not sold page by page. 

The guest speaker is very encouraging and he inspired me alot. He share alot of his own experience with us and taught us alot of things we never knew before. This will want us to work towards our goal more and i hope to become as successful as him.

(Offsite): The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Anyone who has cleaned out a family attic knows the importance of keeping family records. You may have military records from relatives who served in one of the World Wars—or even the Civil War. Or pictures of your great-great grandparents on the day they became American citizens. Or the canceled check that paid for your first home.

Now imagine the task of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)—the nation’s record keeper.

Many people know the National Archives as the keeper of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. But we also hold in trust for the public the records of ordinary citizens—for example, military records of the brave men and women who have fought for our country, naturalization records of the immigrants whose dreams have shaped our nation, and even the canceled check from the purchase of Alaska.

In a democracy, records belong to the people, and for more than seven decades, NARA has preserved and provided access to the records of the United States of America. Records help us claim our rights and entitlements, hold our elected officials accountable for their actions, and document our history as a nation. In short, NARA ensures continuing access to the essential documentation of the rights of American citizens and the actions of their Government.

The National Archives was established in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt, but its major holdings date back to 1775. They capture the sweep of the past: slave ship manifests and the Emancipation Proclamation; captured German records and the Japanese surrender documents from World War II; journals of polar expeditions and photographs of Dust Bowl farmers; Indian treaties making transitory promises; and a richly bound document bearing the bold signature “Bonaparte”—the Louisiana Purchase Treaty that doubled the territory of the young republic.

NARA keeps only those Federal records that are judged to have continuing value—about 2 to 5 percent of those generated in any given year. By now, they add up to a formidable number, diverse in form as well as in content. There are approximately 9 billion pages of textual records; 7.2 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings; more than 20 million still photographs; billions of machine-readable data sets; and more than 365,000 reels of film and 110,000 videotapes. All of these materials are preserved because they are important to the workings of Government, have long-term research worth, or provide information of value to citizens.

Reference: http://www.archives.gov/publications/general-info-leaflets/1.html

Postnatal Depression Support Group

From its humble beginnings in 1994, Mother & Child has grown and now offers the most comprehensive range of prenatal and postnatal services and courses in Singapore. No one offers more support to your new family than we do. Conveniently located in Tanglin Mall at the end of Orchard Road, Mother & Child is also a great place to meet mums to be, mums, and couples in exactly the same situation that you are in.

We offer classes for newly pregnant women, prenatal classes for couples, classes for mothers of newborns, and well-baby clinics. We also offer developmental assessments, breastfeeding consultations and play classes for babies. Our first aid and CPR classes are for mums and babies, for couples, and for maids. We also offer yoga and massage for pregnant women and for new mums. Many parents-to-be take their Prenatal Birth Education Classes with us to maintain continuity of care and support through the prenatal and postnatal periods.

Our team of professional nurses, midwives, health visitors, maternal and child health nurses, first aid instructors, yoga instructors, massage therapists, office staff and related service-provider-partners are here to provide the necessary information you need to feel comfortable and confident with your delivery, newborn, infant and toddler.

Mother & Child also offers a free informative , humorous and insightful e-newsletter (with more than 1000 subscribers, mostly expatriate) We welcome you to register for our free newsletter by phoning Mother & Child or online here. Please stop by our retail store and office in Tanglin Mall for a chat!

Reference: http://www.motherandchild.com.sg/postnatal/postnatal_services07.htm

In order to create more awareness for people, they can advertise this support group on media for examples twitter, facebook and friendster. These popular websites can help to increase their popularity and let more people know their presence and join their group.

Literature Review

The App Store is a service for the iPhone and iPod Touch created by Apple Inc. which allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store. Some of the applications are free to be downloaded while some are not. As of November 4, 2009, there are over 100,000 third-party applications officially available on the App Store, with over 2 billion total downloads within fifteen months.

Short as it is, the article mentions the key advancement and shortfall of the iPhone, mainly its applications function, affectionately called ‘apps’. I would not exactly say that it is a one-sided report, but purely a statistical one on the outstanding financial achievements that the vast variety of apps brought about.

On the whole, the article is a ‘yawn’. Didn’t say anything that we don’t already know. She probably can answer her own question on what is your favourite app to add a dash of personal touch. Haha.

I do not own an iPhone, but i do have the iPod Touch which works just the same except for the phone part. Just like what one of the tweets says, basically you can get almost anything out of it: fun baby torture games, stabbing-fingers-till-you-see-blood game, apps that make no sense to serious and useful ones like dictionary and transport stuff which I secretly adore. You know you have to pray to God when you took the correct bus and reach your destination in one whole piece. Appmen.

Here is the link of the article: http://mashable.com/2009/11/04/app-store-100k/

 

My New Media Terms