Confessions of an Amatuer Blogger

This blog was originally started as an assignment for my Digital Media Across Asia module and what started as something I felt like I had to do in order to pass a course, become an exploration in the digital/social media phenomena and I've enjoyed all my experiences with the blogging and other social media tools that I was introduced to. So as a final post for class and Prof Netzley I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet but looking at my posting patterns, it's going to be hard! See 'Note to Prof' at the bottom

First of all, thank you Proffessor Netzley for giving us this option as an assignment. I used to think a "blog" was an oxymoron in itself, because as a non digital/social media follower (or maybe I'm just slow at following these trends) I understood it as an online diary, so here was my logic:

Diary = journal, often kept to oneself.
Online = a cyber space that everyone can access
Question: Why put your secrets somewhere where everyone can read them? can you understand the confusion I had?

But now, I understand that it's not just about keeping an online journal. Blogging may have started out that way, but now it's evolved and has become more of a source for information as bloggers often write about one specific topic, be it social media, fashion, games, food, politics or sport, there are blogs out there for everyone.

My blog was supposed to document about my experiences during my one year student exchange in Singapore and I tried to keep it consistent and not digress too much, but from my tags, I know I went off track a few times. Perhaps the reason for this was that I started it too late? I wanted to reveal the culture differences and the "weird and wonderful" things about Singapore but they no longer seemed weird to me after the first semester. So instead, I blogged about anything new that I came across and where I did encounter some cultural differences, I found myself having to explain the whole concept before going into the actual topic of the post in the first place.

Was my blog a success?
I'm not exactly sure to be honest. I'm still completely new to digital media so I feel I don't have the required knowledge to judge, that's where you come in Prof haha. As I got used to writing again the posts became easier and I began to understand what I'm supposed to actually write about, and tried to keep it related to Singapore as much as I could.

The first time I realised that my blog is actually out there in the open for others to see was my World Wide Rave submission and David Meerman Scott left a lovely comment and linked my entry on his site. The second realisation was when I had friends both in Singapore and England telling me they read my blog and wanted to post comments but couldn't do so due to the comment moderation settings (I've changed it since but I think it still doesn't work? No idea why). Then the 3rd was when Ang Mo Girl became a follower of my blog (but I'm not sure whether it was because I followed her blog after she found me on Twitter?) I was thinking "someone outside of class and is not my friend is actually reading my blog?!"

I've had over 20 views since I posted the Cambodia video but I'm not sure whether they were direct from my blog or random searches via Youtube. To me, that number seems quite a lot so I consider that as a small indication that people actually read my blog and take a slight interest in it... But from what I've learnt in class that number is probably minuscule when considering what uploading a video on the web can actually do.

Ways in which it wasn't a success was probably my post topics. Ideally this should have been a platform for exchange students or other people coming into Singapore to read and find out more about the country and it's culture and be used as a source for advice for exchange or living in a different country. I don't think I've really provided that type of information, but I've explained why I think that already. However, maybe it can be seen as a source for something else?

Twitter
It took me a while to figure out Twitter and it's purpose, but over time I began to see the fascination with it. I figured I could try and incorporate it into my blog somehow (after all it is a microblogging tool) and put it at the top of my blog to be used as 'micro posts'. I think I've built a better network on Twitter than I have with my blog. I was surprised when bloggers around Singpore such as Angry Ang Mo, IZ Reloaded and a few others started 'following me' on there (I'm still trying to figure out why I was 'followed' in the first place), and I think there's the possibility Mr Brown might have read a post or two? Maybe that's just wishful thinking?

The Future
I've had a great time exploring the blogosphere and it's helped me realise a new area of interest I could go further into and how much it can actually help with people's daily lives. I'm still in Singapore for a while yet and I will continue posting about my time here until I leave. Whether I'll continue after I return to England, then for the purpose of this being an exchange blog, probably not, but maybe I'll start something new or turn it into something else?

Note to Prof: Thank you for introducing me to something new and interesting.
Sorry! I know you said to keep it short and sweet but I just couldn't help myself =)

Goodbye SMU?!

So I'm nearing the end of semester 2 at SMU and it's hard to believe that my time here is almost up =( Last Thursday it was the exchange students farewell party at Timbre, and Friday was Starry Night (above) marking the end of classes for the semester with live music and cheap drinks just before students start mugging for exams.

This second semester has gone by a lot quicker than last semester, it definitely doesn't seem like it's been 13 weeks since classes started again and all of a sudden they've finished! I didn't want to think about the end of my exchange in Singapore and it's almost impossible not to now. I've met a lot of nice people here, both locals and other exchange students from all over the world and each of them have made my experience here very enjoyable and given me a lot of memories to take back. Along the way I've also experienced a few problems (mainly to do with my estate agent and my accommodation. Advice for future exchange students: DO NOT USE ERA AGENTS!!!) and I've learnt a few lessons the hard way, being so far from home puts the real world into a completely different perspective. When you're pretty much left on your own you learn a few things about yourself. I never realised how naive I can be, I found out that I'm not as culturally aware as I thought I was, and, as the Singaporeans put it, I can be really "blur" at times.

I've experienced the SMU culture and have been taught in a completely different type of education system. The way SMU operates makes complete sense when you think about how it shapes its' students. It's no wonder that the University has such a high graduate employment rate, their students do stand out from the crowd a little, with compulsory 80 hours of volunteering and the requirement to do internships before you can graduate really put the graduates in a good starting position for the working world.

Before I came here I remember reading that when SMU first started back in 2000 it used to be a University where the "not so brilliant" or "NUS rejects" would go and the University would aim to make them become "better people" (or something along those lines). But now, I really don't think that is the case anymore. Students always talk about the competitive environment here and it's no wonder, along with their "Kiasuism" almost everyone is fighting for that grade A (but the profs constantly remind them that grades aren't everything, which I think is entirely true, but if I was a full time student here, it's incredibly hard to believe when everyone else has the "must get an A" mentality). But that's not to say that SMU is all work and no play, there have been no reports of suicide just yet and I haven't met a student who has regretted coming here.

With regards to experiencing a different culture... it's definitely interesting yet confusing at times to understand the culture of Singapore. In my module Intercultural Communications, my professor was explaining that Singapore doesn't have a unique culture because there isn't anything that's distinct to Singapore (ironic when the tourism board promotes the country as "Uniquely Singapore") , but there are things that people will say is very Singaporean like the use of Singlish and their love for food (they will travel to the other side of the country for good food). I guess the ethnic diversity in Singapore means that all the cultures are fused together, so could it not be said that Singapore's culture is a hybrid culture?

A local friend said to me "Singapore is the most non-Asian country in Asia" and to a certain extent I agree. It's very westernized so apart from the fact that it's mostly Asian populated and there's a variety of languages spoken here, there aren't that many differences to England... But then again, if you go to the heartlands (i.e. Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Katong and a few others) it becomes less westernized and you can find the true Singaporeans there.

Anyways, I still have time to figure it out because I might be sticking around a little longer.
=)