Final Entry: Why Blogging and Face-to-Face Classes work together

This week marks the end of the AY2009/10 curriculum. This week also saw the last seminar for GEK1036 Cross-Cultural Communications and Discourse, a module I took for my GEM. I said it in my first blog entry and I'll say it again in my last blog entry: I believe that I made a great decision selecting this module among piles of other possible modules for my GEM. GEK1036 (specifically Dr. Deng) also gave me an opportunity to tap on a hobby that I've been meaning to start on: blogging. Blogging is a hobby that is perceived differently by many people, but I'd argue that blogging is generally treated for either two purposes:

1. Hobbyist diaries - posting photos, random rantings, casual socialising, etc. Think Xiaxue's blog, for one example. I find her blog loathsome because it has no values for reading. That's why I don't follow it at all. She is right about something: people hate her because they care enough to do so.
2. Critic columns - making provocative/controversial statements that matter to people, posting constructive criticism, forming visceral theories, etc.

I'd say that as a blogger (or prospective blogger), I lean closely towards the second category, and I have a strong view why blogs is more valuable if treated like the latter category. You see, blog is generically a medium for communication. For me, blog is another channel to reach the masses readily. For blogs to catch the attention of the readers, it SHOULD (I won't say MUST) be based on content that sets people thinking. This type of blog has information that is potentially or perhaps even more valuable, than the information you can study from a textbook or institutionalised teaching. What drives the latter category of blogs is opinions. Opinions speak for themselves, and they make lives more controversial, emotional... and interesting. Opinions are valuable assets in life itself  for me, because that's how I form an impression of people.

Think about it from this perspective: I recognise a person from his/her looks, but that's about it. Looks can be forgotten very easily, anyway. What makes a stronger impression on me is that person's opinions. Opinions colours the person's personality and the moment I can remember that person for his/her opinions, is the moment I actually start respecting him/her. Opinions are feasibly shared to other people through blogs, and I respect people who actually blog regularly on matters that stir people's emotions.

Then, there is the former category of blogging: The hobbyist diary. People who blog as hobbyists are not necessarily bad, but I believe that blogging is undervalued if used in this way (please note that I do respect that people are entitled to how they want to treat their own blogs eventually). It's because blog is communication, and communication is not really highlighted if the blog is used as a hobbyist diary. Chances are, people would just drop by the blog and give some superficial comments about posts. To me, it's fine but it doesn't justify the amount of effort I usually put in my blog entries, if any. For people who have been following this blog (including Dr. Deng), they would know that I'm naturally verbose, and to me this is a good thing. Typing doesn't hurt my fingers as much as writing, so I have the liberty to be verbose. I am not necessarily underappreciating hobbyist bloggers; I know some who really puts in insane amount of effort in making good blogs. I just find that the majority of hobbyist blogs don't fascinate enough for me to follow them as much as those who treat blogs as critic columns.

How is this tied to GEK1036 itself?

Dr. Deng stressed that he wants to see our sincere opinions on the idea of including blogging into our CA for the module. Simply put, he wants to know if it is a good or bad idea. If you must know, I'M ALL FOR IT. It's not necessarily because I naturally like blogging, but it's also because blogging is complementary to face-to-face seminars like forks to spoons. I believe that for a module that encourages INTERACTION, it's great to have a blog for several reasons:

• It's an alternative outlet for ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION

I've already explained the importance of opinions to me, so I'll further elaborate why is it important in the context of GEK1036. Here is my take on GEK e-Reflections: it's an alternative venue for people in the class to say something supplementary or complementary to what we learn in class. Whatever the students may say in the blog doesn't have to be directly linked to the topic discussed; it can also be something like "thinking along the side". Some people may have not realised this, but some of these side comments/opinions can be valuable to readers. For instance, people who have read my Men VS Women Theories may find my entry intriguing (I can't ascertain about this; hope they really do). It wasn't a significant contribution on my part; it's just something that I had been thinking about when I had a hard time sleeping at night. Seriously, that's what spurred me to write that particular blog entry!

• It's an alternative outlet for EXPERIENCE SHARING

It's somewhat linked to the first point, but I feel that this deserves to be separated for its own merit. Speaking about my Men/Women Theories, what also drove me to write that extensive entry is my personal experiences. These experiences, I'd argue, are better expressed on my blog because it's something possible since it's not something I would spontaneously recall during class. The classes can be very engaging; so engaging that I can't possible share all related experiences I have in my life. This is where blogging comes into play. Dr. Deng gave us the privilege to post an entry per week, which isn't a demanding requirement. Really, I can honestly say that I don't really feel like I put so much effort into this blog (contradictory to the entries I've written, perhaps). It's just a visual representation of what I have in mind, sequentially and spontaneously as I type. I type entries such as this as I think, and what I think include my personal experiences and how I can relate some of them to the topic of the week.

• It's an alternative outlet for RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

This is based on my personal experiences I have as a Japanese animation reviewer. Japanese reviewers are usually passionate people who follow Japanese animation closely and have very strong opinions on them (really, if you are a discerning watcher, you'd know what I mean). Their opinions and the desire to share the opinions with each other inspire them to be naturally bloggers. Here's a surprising finding: These bloggers feel like they really know each other, even though they've never met before. I submit reviews to NHRW and my moderator Sorrow-kun usually edit my reviews. We've been doing this for the last 4 years, and through his editings and opinionated entries on the forums, I feel like I know who he is. I feel that we're known each other for years, and yet we've never met each other before. He's based in Brisbane, Australia and if given the chance I'd love to meet this respectable blogger who've been buffing my writing skills and rendered me a discerning Japanese animation watcher. This also applies to the other reviewers/bloggers on my site; geographical barriers or not, we feel that we are familiar to each other because of our opinions on common interests. These interests are capable of being shared through blogs themselves (plus, forums as well).


What do I want to see more in e-Reflections for GEK1036?

Blogging to me is all about sharing (and perhaps criticising) opinions between bloggers and readers. So, the important implicit requirement for such blogging style includes receiving frequent comments for the entries. Comments serve as important tokens for bloggers because they feel appreciated that their heavily invested entries didn't go to waste (read: go unread). Eventually, people blog for others to read, and giving lots of comments demonstrates that your entries matter to the readers a lot. Blogging takes effort. Giving comments takes effort too. The longer is blog, the more effort is put. The longer the comment, the effort is put too. It's a complementary exchange of appreciation. Do you know how much I want to receive compliments to my blog? Seriously! If my blog entries don't get any comments, I feel like I'm writing for no reason. It's disheartening for bloggers like myself who writes long entries just to share my experiences and opinions, and not receive any form of appreciation from readers. It's all about communication and unity (COMMUNITY).

My last words...

Dr. Deng wanted to implement blogging/e-Reflections into the CA of GEK1036 because, as quoted from his own blog, he wants to make this module enriching and reflective for the students. Blogging is indeed a wonderful way, and I feel that this should be maintained for future students to come. Blogging is not to be seen as a chore; it should be seen as an opportunity both for Dr. Deng to have an impression of you, and for the blogger to embrace reflective thinking and opinion forming. Blogging is gone to waste the moment bloggers don't really put in much effort with their entries, or they completely ignore their readers for captivating topic discussions.

As a token of appreciation, I would like give generous compliments to Dr. Deng and the rest of the students in GEK1036 for making me a better person in terms of reflecting and sharing my experiences and opinions. This module is the one I keep looking forward to attend every week  in the semester, and it's one of those modules (along with Japanese language modules) that I don't feel like it's a drag to attend at all. I know that each time I enter the CELC building, I know that I will exit the place contented and rejuvenated with all the laughter and personally enriching learning I get. Thank you, Dr. Deng and fellow friends. I've had a blast taking GEK1036~!!!

Entry 9: CMC = Computer Mediated Communication, or Calling More Creativity?

In this week's seminar, we discussed how information technology has transformed (or deformed, depending on how you see it) how we communicate to each other. New terminologies such as letter homophones (OIC, brb, tl;dr, ROFL, *pats Nazrul's back*) give way for creativity and this is perceived by a handful of people to be the main cause for the decline of the English standards all over the world. Despite what these people say about how technology degenerates our proficiency, computer-mediated communication (CMC) is here to stay, whether you like it or not.  My fundamental belief stands: Technology is simply the medium of communication and blaming it for the fault of our proficiency decline is simply deft irresponsibility.

If anything, I believe that we have benefited more from CMC because on my part, it promotes a lot of unrestrained creativity (and yes, creativity is not always a good thing. I'll explain why). CMC is just like writing a letter or sending a fax document: It's all about the methodology. CMC is meant to be used or misused depending on the user, and I think that if the user's language gets deteriorated over time, there's only himself/herself to blame. Enough about this; like last week's blog entry I shall once again give my visceral theories as how CMC has introduced certain "creative" phenomena in how we communicate to each other nowadays:

• Theory #1: The "GREY AREA"

When using technology to communicate between two parties, the technology acts as an invisible "barrier" between them. This "barrier" is both a good and bad thing, and it depends a lot on how each party uses it to their own advantage. Have you ever experienced how your friend always respond that he/she is "on the way" (i.e. OTW) to a destination? You as the recipient would usually assume that your friend is arriving in a few minutes, but how many times have you gotten wrong on this assumption? Here's my advice: You can't make any concrete assumption when the response you have isn't concrete in the first place. "OTW" has a lot of intepretations: being 5 minutes away from the destination is a valid situation to respond with "on the way", being 30 minutes away from the destination is also a valid situation; heck, even just getting out of bed and preparing to leave the home is considered "on the way" too!

More importantly, why does this happen (so frequently)? What enables it to happen? It's the technology that acts as a intermediary. It's the same phenomenon when you conduct a mass discussion on MSN or Skype. When you have 5 people gathered on an online chatting room to discuss something, do you really  believe that all 5 people are seriously at the front of their screens? Not gonna happen. In fact, just look at the people currently on your MSN windows? Even though their statuses say that they're "online", they have as well be physically "offline". Their "online" status simply means they're "online" in terms of the technological intermediary, not in person. Or, he may be physically "online" in front of the screen discussing... while mentally "offline" with Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, myspace, Second Life, etc.

• Theory #2: The "CLOAKING DEVICE" (highlight to see)

Because of technology in CMC, anonymity is achievable. Anonymity in itself is a double-edged sword; it's both a good and bad thing. I don't want focus on the bad aspects of anonymity because it won't flow in this blog entry, which deals with creativity anyway. In creative sense, anonymity serves well for many users. Case in point: in the last few years, Japan has seen a rise in a number of live-action movies adapted from the works of anonymous writers who claim to be first-hand experiences of their lives. Examples of such popular recent movies include:

1. Koizora (Love Sky) - a love story about a high school girl who fell in love with a delinquent, and the hardships she experienced falling in love with him.
2. Densha Otoko (Train Man) - an otaku (Japanese geek) who gets to know one of the women who got harassed while on a train.

Koizora is adapted from what is known as a mobile phone novel (keitai shousetsu, 携帯小説), a popular mode of communication where anonymous writers write about their extraordinary experiences and share them through phone mails. Densha Otoko's premises are pretty much the same: it was originally written by a unknown otaku who claimed to helped out a group of women, and gradually gets to know one of the women he likes. He then continually asked for advice through online community forums, for some so-called Love 101 tips.

The fact that these authors are anonymous play an essential role in making this phenomenon feasible. Anonymity gives these writers a sense of security and nonjudgement from the readers that their work shall never be judged based on who wrote them, but simply what are written. In a simpler example, some people may find it harder to ask questions (intellectual or asinine) in person, and resort to using CMC to ask instead. I used the above examples instead because it illustrates how creativity can be expressed through anonymity. People always form first impressions in their minds about the creators or writers of certain works (bear in mind that I won't use "first impression" and "judgement" interchangeably; the two are related but entirely different things) , and this isn't always a good thing. Readers' impressions can quickly change for the worse if the real author of Densha Otoko - the man who claimed that the events are true - turns out to be say, a high-flying businessman.

• Theory #3: The Birth of "EMOTICONS" Σ(ﾟДﾟ)!!!

You may use it in daily life, or at least have used it once. I know I use it all the time. "Emoticons" (emotion icons) crop up along in daily CMC and it's fun to use it (although excessive use of emoticons is personally disgusting). Why do people use emoticons when they can clearly spell it out in words? Actually, that's the point: some things can't be pointed out in words, and they are called "nuances". These nuances can't be explained in words because communication is not about verbal cues after all (remember the nonverbal cues?). Communication holistically is about understanding both the apparent and non-apparent cues between parties, and sometimes in CMCs, what you see in your chat logs aren't everything. It can also be about "reading between the lines." LITERALLY.

In terms of emoticons, there is one thing I admire about the Japanese when it comes to CMCs: they're wonderfully creative with their emoticons. Their emoticons are radically different from Western emoticons possibly because they used the ASCII system to create their icons. Seriously, their icons are quirky and indirect, but at the same time, once you get the message, it smacks you right in the face with the punchline. Try looking at some of the Japanese emoticons usually made by 2ch members, and see if you can visualise the message:

（´-`）.｡oO( ... ) = wondering
ε=ε=ε=┌(;*´Д`)ﾉ = running
＿冂○ = bowing down in defeat or disappointment
!(★｀⊇´)-○))☆)ﾟoﾟ)/ = getting punched in the face

In a more extreme case (based on what I learned in my Japanese linguistics class), teenagers in Japan (I don't know if they still do this; perhaps they do) use emoticons as a form of "exclusive communication", where it's something only in-group people would understand. Let's face it; adults or people from the earlier generation would not use emoticons in their conversation (I think some are even against emoticons) and naturally, they won't understand them either. Teenagers use them among each other as a way to distinguish themselves from their parents. It's their way of being "cool". Sometimes, even Greek symbols to deftly disguise their Japanese texts are even welcomed because in that way, older people would not understand them at first glance. Yes, emoticons are a form of cryptography: it's about ciphering and deciphering texts, and the key in conveying the messages often lie in the teenagers' understanding itself. For instance, the text below is a genuine Japanese message that is written using 2 Japanese writing systems plus special symbols and Russian characters. I actually forgot what it meant; I used to remember it back in Japanese linguistics class （´-`）.｡oO( ... ).

ぉﾚ£∋ぅ⊇〃
飯食∧〃ﾅﾆ？
(≠ょぅﾚ£
ち⊇＜Ｕﾅょﾚヽ
τ〃Йё！！

• Theory #4: The (R)evolution of "FORUM DYNAMICS"

Online forums are the cornerstone of CMCs because it exemplifies many aspects of CMCs that are not practical or possible to do in face-to-face context. These aspects include forum jokes, "memes" (a phrase used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, Googled) and online flaming. Forum jokes that are practical only in CMC may come in the following manner:

Posted By: AC, 09:00:23HRS

@nutcase23

*shows a picture of K-On! season 2*

What do you think? Watching it?

Posted By: nutcase23, 09:00:25HRS

*burns K-On! poster, and flushes ashes down the toilet*

Forum jokes are not like real-time jokes because of synchronism. It's not something that happens at the moment itself and additionally, since your quotes are explicitly shown on screen, they can be tangibly reused in the form of "quotes". "Memes" are something more exclusive to CMCs because of how communities are possible now with the help of technology. These "virtual communities" create virtual jokes and concepts that are almost viral in terms of how fast they spread from one party to another. If you are a Japanese animation fan, you should understand the following messages:

"People die if they are killed."

The point of the line above is not the grammatical blunder; rather, it's the result of deplorable English translating or the awkward dialogue at the hands of a certain anime series. This "meme" is being used in anime community circles to illustrate how poor translation and subbing can backlash and be made into a laughing stock or worse, a new humourous phenomenon. Oh, just so you know, the line is taken from this scene:

• Theory #5: The reinvention of "WORDS"

epic: extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope
fail: to fall short

-- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Because of CMC and the flexbility that the CMC allows for people to communicate among themselves, certain words get a huge makeover on the kind of impact they now have mentally and socially. Take the words "epic" and "fail". Their proper definitions are stated explicitly above, but CMC has influenced and extended their meanings in such a way that they even change the way some people talk to each other IN PERSON! What kind of nuance is at play here? Look at the following and ask yourself what is the implication the creator of the posters are trying to say:

CMC has influenced the meanings of "fail" and "epic" (I'll just use these two words for the moment) in such a way that besides their definitions, they add more comical nuances to them. "Epic", in CMC, may connote something grand in scope, comic effect or extent of blunder; "Fail" may connote the warranted ridicule some subjects are entitled to get based on their asinine responses. There are a whole lot more examples to show how CMC has influenced some words in the lexicon, but these two words are the mosr prominent in many forums... at least to me.

Whether people love CMC or love to hate CMC, it's inevitably a new change that people brought to this world and something we embrace in our daily lives. Choices are in our hands to decide whether CMC plays a personal imporant role in one's lives; as an anime reviewer and an active member of various forums, it's an indispensible skill for me to understand and learn day by day. The one thing people may fail to realise is that, like all cultural studies, we all belong to at least one certain group of people. You may think that "Oh, I don't do these things. I'm completely neutral", but the thing is, you are not. Neutrality in CMC is actually a group in itself, if you think about it.

People cannot be neutral because we are inherently biased (remember this quote I made?). If you claim that you communicate neutrally in CMC, it simply means that you communicate in a plain way. Here's a poser: Because people are naturally biased, their wish to achieve a mode of complete unbiasness has led to the creation of technology (CMC) itself. Yet, it's not unbiased... only because the unbiased technology is being used by biased people eventually.

P.S. This may be the second last entry of this blog, seeing how this module and semester is coming to an end. Stay tuned for my final blog entry, coming soon.