307494


 * September 5, 2010**

I made a slideshow using www.slide.com showing one of the UNICEF protected Biosphere's that we went hiking on last semester.

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Here is a collage of the pictures of my friends and I when we went to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn last year.

I made this one using PhotoVisi



I wanted to use this as a background for my blog but it would make it too messy and hard to read so I'm just going to upload it as a regular post.


 * August 31, 2010**

So I met today with Mr. Ritzel and he helped me with the embedding of html directly on my blog. I've used MicroPoll and Animoto on my blog now.

The poll is to see whether or not the nature and outdoors of Switzerland is one of the factors when people decide to visit Switzerland.

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The animoto video that I made details the beauty of hiking in Switzerland.

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I also used the advanced design functions that www.blogger.com offers to customize my blog a little more.


 * August 28, 2010**

So I finally got my blog up and running.

Right now it only has 2 posts on it. An opening post and another post that I made about the red foxes that live in the vicinity of Luzern but also are indigenous to Europe and many other continents.



http://experiencingnatureinswitzerland.blogspot.com/


 * July 30, 2010**

Long Tail Topic: //The Natural Environment// //of Switzerland: Experience it while studying in Luzern//

Usually when one thinks of Switzerland, the first things that come to mind are the beauty of its environment. My project will aim to emphasize this natural beauty that the country naturally exudes. For students studying at IMI, they can easily experience all kinds of outdoor activities and environments. As Luzern is located conveniently in central Switzerland, travelling to any part of the country is relatively simple. In addition to that, the area boasts sights such as Lake Luzern and the many mountains of the Alps. Hiking and even camping for those interested is only a stones throw away. There is even wildlife living among the fauna in the area. There are foxes that live in the nearby area that I know of. Even the close encounters with the cows are not something that people are usually exposed to.

For some people who grew up in the city, experiencing the countryside is something that they will never forget. Additionally, the temperate climate of Switzerland may be appealing to many. For those who come from extreme places such as the snow and cold of Russia or the heat and humidity of Singapore, the mild temperatures of Switzerland are comforting to most. All these possibilities will be supported by experiences and stories from current and previous students of IMI.

I plan to have stories of different experiences from current and if possible, previous students of IMI, ideally supported by pictures. These experiences can be aquaintances with the foxes, hiking in Thun, skiing at Rigi, going for a swim in Lake Luzern or even just going for a stroll after dinner.

I think that this will help to promote IMI's image with Canadians because Canadians value very much the closeness and importance of nature and wildlife. Even those that grew up in the city such as myself know how to appreciate and enjoy it.




 * July 28, 2010**

Wow, Prezi is really fun to play with and it can be really used for a lot of things.

here are links for the prezi video we made in class:

http://prezi.com/za4dbl-d-0on/your-big-break/


 * July 26, 2010**


 * Record of Long Tail Idea emails with course lecturer:**


 * Hi Mr. Ritzel**

In regards to the long tail ideas. I'm thinking of working along the lines of the idea of studying amidst an environment which is very connected with nature. Switzerland has many natural sights and scenes that people who appreciate photography, outdoor activities such as hiking or camping, or even sports activities like skiing or sky diving. Switzerland has all these to offer. This may work for my home country of Canada since Canada is also a place of such natural environment.

However, I'm not sure if this fits in the idea of 'niche market' since the idea of nature tourism is growing to be quite a large one.

Please advise.

Thanks

Vincent

Reply:

yes i think it fits in the question is more on how you link it to study at imi

first i hope and expect that you really have something to say about the topic means have you been wandering around the campus and have you experienced nature have you seen and asked beyond the obvious and are a kind of "expert"

if yes then go for it

find you own little nature stories around the campus

what is growing, which animals are around, there are for example foxes (ask students who know or are here longer)

interview students about it, see what is more important for them nature, lake and mountains or luzern and mac donalds , starbucks and shopping make some cool images from nature around the campus, like a encyclopedia of flowers and animals which exist in and off campus (please without scaring students with spiders and snakes :-) )

make sure that you go a bit deeper than just talking about clean air and clean water

if you can do this this can be a realy cool project

make sure you find a local blog page you can start your presence, local means YOUR nationality this helps to promote your project webwise

lor


 * Hi Mr. Ritzel,**

Thanks for the feedback. I think that I will go with this long tail idea.

I think that my past knowledge with camping and other outdoor activities may help me to understand the nature around the area. I will look into researching the fauna and undergrowth that populates the area.

Is it ok if the pictures that I use aren't necessarily taken by me or have me in it? (e.g. photos from experiences of other students)

Vincent

Reply

sure ok to use othe pictures, just make sure those others are ok with itread careful the update project description on the wiki so you dont miss one point regards lor


 * July 19, 2010**

Based on the questions that we worked on in groups last class, here's what our group came up with.

1) How much IT is part of your "normal" life? Varying number of hours of IT usage per day ranging from 3-6 hours with the average at roughly 5 hours. This amount is even higher if considering before we came to IMI.

2) How many emails and users in social networks (facebook, etc.) do you have? The average number of emails we had was around 5 but some people had even 6. Users in social networks is even greater numbering at more than 10, sometimes 20 since social networks include forums and BBS as well.

3) Do you chat, facebook, skype, twitter? All of us use all of the above with the exception of twitter.

4) Do you game, if yes what? All of the group members game regardless of gender. However, the genres and types of games played varies greatly between gender. The females in our group mainly play facebook, online flash games, cellphone and computer built-in games. The guys on the other hand play the more hardware intensive games such as First-Person Shooter, Real-Time Strategy, Mass-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. However, the guys tend to play both online and offline games using all types of hardware inclulding TV game consoles and not limiting themselves to computers and cellphones.

5) Do you have a smart phone? If yes for what do you use it? As a smart phone can be considered a phone that can text other users otherwise known as SMS, as well as being capable of running JAVA applications, most of us did have smart phones. While some of us used it for connecting to the internet, the majority of us used it for SMS, listening to music, taking photos, and playing games on top of the basic functions required of a cellphone.

6) How has the internet changed over the last 2 years, how has it changed the way we work, study, live? What do you see as current next trends to come? The internet has changed vastly. Every member of the group agrees when it is said that we have grown to be very dependent on the internet.

7) How has Web2.0 or social networks changed travel and tourism? Give samples Though we haven't seen this for travel and tourism related searches, one of the examples that come to mind when thinking Web2.0 is the tagging function. This function allows a user to search almost continuously for topics of interest and other topics that may be related or even completely unrelated to the original topic.

8) How do you think IMI can use facebook as a business tool? IMI can and is already using facebook as a tool to increase it's visibility to users around the world.

Courtesy of:

307344 Hosaena Mulugeta Sande 308274 Pia Marie Ametsbischler 306632 Luke Noh 308313 Gregorios Psillakis 308352 Kin Poong Chen (Randall) 308266 Siripon Jansuk 307494 Vincent Wong

Enjoy!!


 * July 15, 2010**

Here's a link about the Bio-CPU that was mentioned in class.

@http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/01/21/algae-computers.html

algea seem to bear the answer for many questions of mankind's future:

as food @http://vegetarian-issues.suite101.com/article.cfm/microalgae_as_a_superfood_source

and also as fuel @http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=algae-biofuel-of-future

Cheers!