Research Fingdings-4

Forum

Source: http://www.forums.sgclub.com/

They are one of the largest Singapore online forums which provide a participation in our vibrant community.

So we can make use of this forum to introduce more about CCF, such as

• We can making use the blogs in the forum to blog about the Latest events and programmes  on going and people could read about it and leave testimonial yet create interaction.
• We can also create a group in the forum and let people who are interested to join in as members in our foundation group.
• Inside the gallery we could upload some of the photographs taken during the events, also the photos of the communities members and volunteers.
• The chat box allow us to chat to whoever online in the forum, we can also create our own chat room and chat among ourselves and with our group members as well thus create a space for interaction.
• The directory is mean for the favorite places among people but we can make use of it by upload our foundation’s location and also events venue to all the people who may interested to participate.

This is one of the example which we could make use of in improving the CCF on their popularity and traffic flow.

Research Findings-3

American Red Cross

Statics’ of American Red Cross

Recently, American Red Cross has been the number 14 most talked about organization in the World and the number 5 most talked about organization in North America. This ranking puts American Red Cross among the 50 most talked about organizations in the World with 0.15 % of all top news stories.

The news coverage has included top stories from 23 different countries in 7 world regions. This represents a total population exposure of 3,648,365,206 people.

What do they provide?

We can see that there latest statement is on Feb 2010, which is currently updated, it is constant enough to keep their clients updated .

Research Findings-2

Children’s Cancer Association

http://www.childrenscancerassociation.org/

What is their priority?

• Social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, Blog
• Web 2.0
• Youtube Video about cancer children.
• Testimonials were keep updating business bureau.
• They are proud to won national recognition and numerous awards for their important work.
• Their news and event have broadcast, so more viewer will be attracted.
• Blogs, Alliances, community supports.
• Lots of programs and events for both local and national.

This shows that the organization is successful as they have things which the CCF is lacking of to boost their popularity.

Research findings-1

About the organization

Who are they?

Mission & Vision To improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their families through enhancing their emotional, social and medical well-being. Vision 2012 To become a world-class provider of resources and psycho-social services to children and families impacted by childhood cancer.

What do they do?

• Casework & Counselling
• Therapeutic Play
• Parent Support Programme

What do they provide?

• Core Services Casework & Counseling
• Parent Support Programme
• Financial Assistance
• Bereavement Programme
• Educational Talks/Workshops
• Tuition & Befriending Programme
• Childhood Cancer Transplant Programme
• Back-to School Programme
• Social & Recreational Programmes
• Social Research & Sponsorship of Health Care

What’s lacking?

• No links to their social networking tools
• Alignment of web page

• Web page using web 1.0
• No video
• Testimonial has not been updated
• Local organization support
• No broadcast
• Very few events Programs only in local
• Alliances

Reflection on New Media Landscape

Lionel Chin is the co-founder of Ripplewerkz, which is an all in one design house which offers high quality Web, Blog, Print and Corporate ID development. Boasting an impressive portfolio of projects such as Nuffnang, Prominent bloggers/Celebrities (eg. Allan Wu (The Amazing Race Asia), Wong Lilin (Mediacorp), Nico Chua (FM 933 DJ), Lunch Actually, Airtrade and The Eurasian Association (Singapore) etc, the name Lionel Chin certainly resonates in the digital industry.

5 Key Points

• A good portfolio is a must

Having  good portfolio ensure the client to know us better and understand our skills and ability through the experiences we gained. We will more opportunities to task on as our portfolio speaks for us.  

•  The working environment of the outside world is very different from the school life

As we are still the students study in school, even if we are failed our work is still accepeted, however in the reality of the working environment of the outside world, we are not going to get a failed grade but to redo the whole thing until it is acceptable. Sometimes it is also hard to accept the fact that our work may be rejected even for a second try. As the expection of our client is very high, we are failed to hole  the position if we do not meet their expection.

• Social Media tools is important

We need to learn how to make use of the Social Media tools to advertise ourselfs. As being a freelancer web designer, we need to show the quality of the website we can do for the client.  Besides that Social Media tools also generates the traffic for our websites, it ensures the updates are noticed by the client and also easily apporach the costomer market and build up a regular customer base.

• Good to tart with a freelancer and progress into the agencies

From what the speaker says, being a freelancer web designer’s is whereby you can do the work individually and it is cheaper as to start a business and the better we are as more experiences we gained. We will become more confident as we join the agency later on and we can work more effectively with the help of our colleagueas to produce a quality work.

3 things that inspires me

• It takes time for us to adapt the working environment and we need to build a strong fundation of skill and keep ourselves up to date all the times in order to servive in this “keep changing”world.
• We need to learn how to advertise oursleves in making effective use of social media (RSS or Twitter).
• Generates traffic for our website is important as we need to learn how market our website to the public to make sure it apporaches the costomer easily.                

My opinion on the usefulness of having a guest speaker share his expertise, experience and “tips and tricks” of the trade.

I think it is very useful to have a guest speaker to share his experinces and some good advises with us. As it provide us a opportunity to interact with the guest and gain knowledge from his speech. His speech also clear my doubts and curosity towards the working world. As a successful web designer he rised many significant points which could be very useful for those who dream to be a web designer in the future  when they faceing the same situation. From his speech i have learned how the industry is today and what are the “tips and tricks” we need to keep in mind when we steps in the working world. Therefore i think the having aguest speaker is useful in overall and i looking forward for more speech like this.

Non-profitable organisation

The Non-profitable Organization I choose for this topic is the Operation Hope Foundation(OHF)

INTROUDUCTION

Operation Hope Foundation(OHF) is a Singapore based charity dedicated to transforming the lives of orphans and the poor through relief and development projects in third world countries.

VISION

To mobilise volunteers and resources to make a measurable difference by building a minimum of ten orphanages and community centres by 2014.

 MISSION

To transform the lives of orphaned children and the poor in third world countries by building and operating orphanages and community centres thereby creating a better future both for the children and the surrounding.

CORE VALUES

We are a Christian charity, motivated by God’s love and compassion. 

1. We welcome all, regardless of colour, creed or faith.
2. We serve the poor with kindness, dignity and respect.
3. We apply and uphold the highest standards of honesty, accountability, transparency and professionalism in all that we do.

Sources: http://www.ohf.org.sg/

This website is a very useful one, it has information divided respectively and with photos showing the activities they have organised in the past and what they are doing in the present days. However it has no e-mail address provided but a discussion forum which may not be as convinient for contact. It will be perfect to have one for the audience’s sick.

I like the website overall as it has news and events updated consistently and also calender of up coming events. It also making use of new media tools for example they publish their own books and sell them online  to creat awareness of the public. 

THE 25 CENTS MEAL AND THE $50 BUFFET

A SENSE OF GOD AND A FEELING OF HEAVEN

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?

They also send out  a monthly e-newsletter update to all donors and supporters of their activities and events.

 

Apart from that the website even has a button of  Share this which links to many popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, My space, Blogger, WordPress, Yahoo,Youtube ect. which they are easily approach to the world wide-audience and getting support from all of them.

Sharethis

Youtube

From this we can see this organisation is very successful in reaching out and get response in world-wide. However, I believe not many of us actually have heard from them so it is still not as popular to be aware of.  I think there are some ways this organisation could be done to gain more popularity.

1stly, they should sell out the books which they are publishing not only online but also in the market so it can reach out to the non-web suer audience who do not online reading but physically reading books in the library or buying books to read.

2ndly, they could also send e-mail besides e-news letters to keep the supports up to date as ones would like to check e-mails more frequently.

3rdly, they could  send monthly or yearly magazines to people’s house creat awareness among them.

Lastly, they could work with Mediacorp to advertise their organisation through broad cast commercials or news papers to increase popularity and gain support.

I believe those Non-profitable organisations like  Operation Hope Foundation(OHF) could make use of new media networking tools to creat awareness among world-wide people and become more successful in getting more people’s support to creat a better life for those unfortunate, poor and needy’s  people all over the world.

Reflection on National Archives

 

Background of organization

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation’s record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.

source: http://www.archives.gov/about/

who are they?

The United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents.  

source: http://www.archives.gov/about/info/whats-an-archives.html

What do they do?

NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential proclamations and executive orders, and federal regulations. The chief administrator of NARA, the Archivist of the United States, not only maintains the official documentation of the passage of amendments to the U.S. Constitution by state legislatures, but has the authority to declare when the constitutional threshold for passage has been reached.

The NARA preserves and maintains these materials and makes them available for research and records important events in American history.Conservators are specialists who preserve documents, photographs, and other historical records. They spend many hours slowly and carefully cleaning and repairing damaged and delicate materials. Conservators are especially knowledgeable about chemicals, tools, and methods used during conservation treatment.  

Records managers work with Federal Government entities such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Army to make sure they are creating records that reflect the work they do. The volume of paper and electronic files created by the Federal Government, which employs more than two million people, is tremendous. Records managers also make sure that agencies are storing their records properly and are bringing the most important ones safely to the National Archives to be attended to by archivists and conservators.

source: http://www.archives.gov/about/info/whats-an-archivist.html

What type of services they provide?

Office of Regional Records Services (NR) which manages 25 million boxes of Federal records in 17 records centers nationwide. 

 Federal Records Centers - The Federal Records Centers operates under the authority of Pub. L. 106-58 on a reimbursable fee-for-service basis.

Regional Archives - Regional archives provide the public with free access to the significant historical records of Federal agencies for purposes of education, genealogy, history, and research, as well as to facilitate publications in all media. Records in regional archives document the rights of citizens, the actions of Federal officials, and the national experience from our founding as a nation.  

Records Management Program – The Records Management Program ensures adequacy of documentation and appropriate records disposition for Federal offices.  Our services are offered outside the Washington, DC, area, through appraisal and scheduling of paper and electronic records, interpretation of records control schedules, guidance on program implementation, and records management training.  Much of this is provided through the Targeted Assistance initiative, in which NARA staff partner with agencies to resolve existing records management problems or plan for future solutions. The Records Management Program has offices in nine regional centers and three satellite cities.

Education Programs - Presidential Libraries provide a broad range of educational opportunities for students of all ages. Each Presidential Library offers programs designed to introduce students to American history and the Presidency and to inform teachers about the use of primary source documents in teaching history.

Do they use any Social Media & Web 2.0 technologies for public communication & education?  

The National Archives currently utilizes social media and Web2.0 technologies in attempt to better communicate with the public.On June 18, 2009, the National Archives announced the launching of a YouTube channel “to showcase popular archived films, inform the public about upcoming events around the country, and bring National Archives exhibits to the people.” Also in 2009, the National Archives launched a Flickr photostream to share portions of its photographic holdings with the general public.  The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has launched some Web 2.0 technologies and has signed agreements to create NARA sites on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr.  NARA is using these tools and sites to create new ways of communicating with the public and look forward to your feedback.

source: http://www.archives.gov/social-media/ 

 

RACO 2009 Blog

Facebook of US National Archives 

 

National Archives on Flickr

RACO 2009 on Twitter

 

National Archives on YouTube

Repost:

Article: Facebook Most Widely Used Network

Among Businesses 83% of businesses have a Facebook profile The majority of the online population, technology and especially “social media” has led to more diverse networks than we’ve ever had before.

As we all know participate in social networking services such as Facebook which is a very well known and widely used social networking site, we could interact with people from different backgrounds, different races, different political parties all over the world. While that is not the only thing we can do, this network tool also enable us to promote our business, advertising our company or even self-promotion, ect.

According to a new study by “Business.com”, Webinars and Podcasts are the most popular social media resources for business people as many people used turn to such channels for business information.

However, today people are using Facebook as the primary social network on which consumer-focused companies maintain one or more profiles to provide information and share among themselves. The percentage of respondents is even much higher than of Twitter.  The Business-to-Business companies also maintain a presence of profile on both social sites of Facebook and Twitter and the percentage of using these social networking site for business information also increase tremendously. All this shows that Facebook has now become the new widely used and popular social media resources, it provides more than what we usualy expect and opens another door for the market as well as the companys to enroll their staff in a more effective way and efficient way to get things done. 

This figure shows the consultants and marketers are the most active users of social media as a resource for
business information, as which proves there is a great demand in the bussiness market and there is still potential to be  progressed and improved on in the future.

“We are constantly analyzing trends to determine exactly what tools business professionals leverage most for purchasing,” said Ben Hanna, Ph.D., vice president, marketing, Business.com http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/11/05/facebook-most-widely-used-network-among-businesses

Overall, in my opinion, to promote the business in making use of the social network media is a new trend which many of us could benefit from. Not only could easly get the latest updated information but also we share it among other participants whoever interested. Doing business is just like making friends, we could understand the company’s situation by background by studying their profiles. We are actually making money and socialize at the same time! Advertising our business through Facebook also increase the popularity of our product as it provide us with a platform whereby our product could be seen and commanded by people all over the whole world. How amazing it is! It seems like all of us including the business people, are finding value in social media.

Communication Process

Communication plays a significant role in our life, sometimes there are ineffective communications occur which results in misunderstanding and inoformation is not correctly recieved.
Let us now look at what is the process of Communication how does it works effectively.
A general model of the communication process is Shannon’s Model of the Communication Process.

This modle of communication process covers the main element lead to an effective and sucessful communication.
However due to some problem which interfers the process result in failure in sending over the message, we need to work out how to reduce the interference.

• Clear message. If the messenger uses words unknow to the reciever, expressions typical or an area, the reciever might have trouble decode the message.
• Stay toned. The tone used to say a simple sentence can lead tones of meaning, if in a bad mood to send the messeage, the reciver might preceive what is being said in a different way than when in a good mood.
• Correct channel. If the wrong channel is used for the content and intent of the message they might get lost.

Those are only a few examples and they need to be taken into consideration when communicating. Being aware of all the steps in the communication process, and of the possiblities for interference at each step, is important for effective communication.

Literature Review

Article 1:

Facebook Most Widely Used Network Among Businesses

83% of businesses have a Facebook profile

The majority of the online population, technology and especially “social media” has led to more diverse
networks than we’ve ever had before. Participate in social networking services such as Facebook which
is a very well know and widely used social networking site, we could interact with people from different
backgrounds, different races, different political parties all over the world.
While that is not the only thing we can do. This network tool also enable us to promote our business,
advertising our company or even self-promotion, ect.

According to a new study by Business.com, Webinars and Podcasts are the most popular social media
resources for business people,many people turn to such channels for business information.
However, today people are using Facebook as the primary social network on which consumer-focused
companies maintain one or more profiles to provide information and share among themselves.
The percentage of respondents is even much higher than of Twitter. Business-to-Business companies
also maintain a presence of profile on both social sites of Facebook and Twitter and the percentage of
using these social networking site for business information also increase tremendously.
All this shows that Facebook has now become the new widely used popular social media resources.

This figure shows the consultants and marketers are the most active users of social media as a resource for
business information, while the IT professionals have the lowest participation rate.
“We are constantly analyzing trends to determine exactly what tools business professionals leverage most
for purchasing,” said Ben Hanna, Ph.D., vice president, marketing, Business.com

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/11/05/facebook-most-widely-used-network-among-businesses

Overall, in my opinion, to promote the business in making use of the social network media is a new trend
which many of us could benefit from. Not only could easly get the latest updated information but also we
share it among other participants whoever interested. Doing business is just like making friends,
we could understand the company’s situation by background by studying their profiles.
We are actually making money and socialize at the same time! Advertising our business through Facebook
also increase the popularity of our product as it provide us with a platform whereby our product could
be seen and commanded by people all over the whole world. How amazing it is! It seems like all of us
including the business people, are finding value in social media.