Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Teamwork
For our project this year, we were assigned to choose our own groups. I found this very beneficial as I knew a few of the lads in my course. I thoroughly liked this idea, as there was no awkwardness in group meetings and we could always rely on each other to get the work done when it needed to be. I grouped up with Eoin O’ Dwyer and Torin McGlynn. We all chose to work under the heading of ‘Social Media for Social Good’. This was a topic in which we were all interested as it is such a heavily debated topic in today’s world.
For our research question, we chose ‘Does Social Media Have a Positive Impact on Society Today?’. We all agreed that this was a good research question as it is such a heavily debated topic. We felt that we would get a lot of mixed responses from it.
As a group, we did the majority of our work on a platform called Miro. This is a platform which lets everyone work simultaneously. It was very handy, as it is easily accessible and allows you work as a group, which is what it is all about.
We also created an anonymous survey for our data collection method, created our literature reviews which then lead to creating our low fidelity app.
For our presentation, we put all of our work together on Miro and decided on making a recording to present. I felt as if all went well, only our literature reviews needed some touching up on. We took note of this and made sure not to make the same mistake again for our final reports.
To conclude, I enjoyed the whole process and learned a lot from it all. If I was to go back and do it all over, I would have broken up our presentation so that we all had a part to say, instead of one person recording it. I thoroughly enjoyed the group work and feel like I have taken away some important aspects of academic writing. This will be very beneficial in the coming years.
Design Method – User studies
For our groups project this year, I created an online survey to do with the subject “Does social media have a positive impact on society?”. This was our research question in which we had chosen. We chose this research question as we felt that it was straightforward and easy to understand, for anyone who took part in our user studies.
I created this survey on a platform called Google Forms. I created the survey in such a way so that it would be easily accessible, enjoyable to partake in and also it wasn’t too long, which would save people’s time. As a group, we felt as if a survey was the best way of getting responses as they are very straightforward and only take a short amount of time to complete. The survey was also anonymous, which meant our results would be more accurate. If the survey was not anonymous, people who were partaking may have felt some pressure answering certain questions. We felt it was better to keep their identities hidden.
Personally, I think our survey went very well as I obtained a lot of information and got some great results. All of our answers were truthful, as the survey was anonymous. This led to us having accurate results for our final report.
My third blog post
The topic that my group and I covered for the video project was the ‘The Biodiversity Garden’. I really enjoyed the making of the video, it was something different and something I was not used to. When I was first told about having a group assignment, I was nervous as I prefer to do my own work myself instead of in groups, as I do not have much experience with group work. Thankfully, I was paired up with two other hard working students and it turned out to be a very enjoyable experience!
My role in the making of the video was to shoot and record all of the footage. I really liked this job as it suited me and it is something I am particularly good at. I have experience with recording and shooting certain shots as I was the camera man in my secondary school. I tried taking as many shots as possible from a lot of different angles so we would have a big variety of footage to choose from while editing the video. I had a lot of fun while doing this job.
Overall, I really liked this assignment and would love to do something along the lines of this again. The assignment was difficult in terms of having to get transport into town to video the footage. I also thought it would be hard as I didn’t know who the people were who I would be working with, but in the end they were spectacular group mates and we all put in hard work in the making of the video.
Abstract
This paper discusses ‘Social Media’ and its advantages and disadvantages towards the society in which we live in today. It includes some of the problems caused by social media but also the advantages of social media, while also looking into the effects social media has on different people and their age groups.
Climate change
The climate is seen as the normal weather in a specific area. For example, the temperatures in the Amazon are always high and it is raining almost every day, while on the Antarctic it is always freezing and almost no rain falls. When the normal temperature and the amount of rain in a specific area changes, there is a transition in the normal weather. This is climate change. Not only in specific areas climate change is observed, all over the world the consequences of climate change are felt.
Climate change is happening all over our planet and is destroying our world. We know climate change is happening, and we know that it is caused by our actions. The Earth’s atmosphere is heating up, faster than it ever has. In some cases weather patterns, climates and natural environments are changing quicker than wildlife or people can adapt. Global temperatures have been rising for over a century, speeding up in the last few years, and are now the highest on record. This causes negative impacts such as the melting of Arctic sea-ice, prolonged heat-waves and rising sea-levels. This has drastic effects on our planet and something needs to be done about it, before it is too late.
By releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels for energy, farming, and destroying forests, these carbon emissions are causing the greenhouse effect, trapping heat and making the Earth warmer, faster than could happen naturally. The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet’s atmosphere warms the planet’s surface to a temperature above what it would be without this atmosphere. We know how we can change this. We need to cut man-made greenhouse gas emissions drastically, phase out fossil fuels and move to renewable energy. We can use less energy and be more efficient in the energy that we do use, and we need to tackle deforestation and eat less meat. If we all work together and do these things, we will eventually recover our planet after a short time.
I try to take as much action as possible on climate change.All of these things that i do are very easy but make a big difference. If i can do these things, so can you.
Unplug. Can you use energy more efficiently at home? Unplug items when they aren’t in use, by goods with high energy-efficient standards, and consider making the switch to renewable energy.
Travel smarter.
Transportation is now one of the largest sources of carbon emissions. No matter where you live, travel by car or airplane contributes heavily to our shared carbon footprint. Take public transit, biking, or walking when possible – it’s good for your health, your wallet, and the planet.
Organise. Consider the communities that you are a part of, whether its your neighbourhood, your school, your town or football team. Collective action can have a major impact – and major influence – for change. Consider how you can gather support by gathering a larger group for action!
If we do all of these easy things, our planet will be safe.
New post
This is my first new post
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Jack's blog 