E-learning in today's context is no longer as novel a concept as it used to be back in the past. I remember the first time I used e-learning was in secondary 2 back in 2001. We were asked to do and submit assignments on an e-portal, and our subject teacher would be online to take any questions that was posted on the class forum for a certain period of time. The whole hype of e-learning was infectious and soon many schools in Singapore were jumping onto the e-learning bandwagon.
Presently, e-learning is almost mandatory at institutions teaching tertiary level and above. Technology has become so essential to aid our learning that traditional book learning is no longer as effective now. Let's take COM125 as an example. Part of the requirements of the module is to create this blog and find out more things about topics relevant to the course. After every class, we are encouraged to go online and find out more from the weekly discussions. By making blog postings and commenting on our classmates ideas, we are able to develop our thinking and add value to the overall learning experience.
I believe that e-learning will continue to change in the future. We might even have computer avatars that function as a teacher and are able to communicate actively with the user. The brick and mortar institution known as 'school' might need to be changed as learning might be more independent. With the power of the Internet, knowledge is at our fingertips, and we can learn from the comfort of our home. Now that would be really cool right?:)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
E-business through Game websites
Hi once again! After discussing about e-businesses online during lecture I thought I would like to touch on a gaming website called Viwawa. With online gaming being the latest trend, many smaller firms are also adopting this model to capture a fraction of the market share and run their businesses.
Basically, Viwawa is a casual online gaming portal where you can play traditional games like, mahjong, bridge and other group games via their web page. The concept of the company is to allow friends to play these games through the web, providing a brand new experience for users. To spice things up, they allow users to create virtual avatars known as 'wawas' and you have to use points or cash to dress up your character. Monthly competitions on who has the nicest wawas or who is the top seeded player in a particular game also yields monetary incentives for players and is a pull factor.
This is a picture of the avatar I use in the game
The company was set up in Singapore, and at peak period, we see as many as 10,000 people at one time playing games in the server. This might seem like small numbers compared to big Multi player online games like World of Warcraft, but for a local initiative I think this is a good effort and my friends and I enjoy a casual game of bridge once in awhile. Being the typical Singaporean, I must admit I play this because I do not need to spend a single cent as I can accumulate virtual points. (although it takes longer) However, that being said I would like to touch on how Viwawa sustains their operations online.
In order to draw in revenue, the company allows banner advertisements to be posted by companies on the sidebar, and also from game cards that can be bought online or physically at the convenience store. Recently, with a growing fan base they have also branched out into producing physical merchandise like ez-link stickers and t-shirts which can be purchased online. The forum on the site also allows interaction with the game designers and the users feedback are taken into consideration. Hence, we can see how their business model works through the website.
I hope to see more interesting e-businesses develop in the future and I believe the next decade has more surprises installed for everyone!
Basically, Viwawa is a casual online gaming portal where you can play traditional games like, mahjong, bridge and other group games via their web page. The concept of the company is to allow friends to play these games through the web, providing a brand new experience for users. To spice things up, they allow users to create virtual avatars known as 'wawas' and you have to use points or cash to dress up your character. Monthly competitions on who has the nicest wawas or who is the top seeded player in a particular game also yields monetary incentives for players and is a pull factor.
This is a picture of the avatar I use in the game
The company was set up in Singapore, and at peak period, we see as many as 10,000 people at one time playing games in the server. This might seem like small numbers compared to big Multi player online games like World of Warcraft, but for a local initiative I think this is a good effort and my friends and I enjoy a casual game of bridge once in awhile. Being the typical Singaporean, I must admit I play this because I do not need to spend a single cent as I can accumulate virtual points. (although it takes longer) However, that being said I would like to touch on how Viwawa sustains their operations online.
In order to draw in revenue, the company allows banner advertisements to be posted by companies on the sidebar, and also from game cards that can be bought online or physically at the convenience store. Recently, with a growing fan base they have also branched out into producing physical merchandise like ez-link stickers and t-shirts which can be purchased online. The forum on the site also allows interaction with the game designers and the users feedback are taken into consideration. Hence, we can see how their business model works through the website.
I hope to see more interesting e-businesses develop in the future and I believe the next decade has more surprises installed for everyone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
