Bikini-teacher should be banned from blogging?

Recently, a controversy erupted on the mainstream press as well as in new media about Gwen, a micro-bikini-clad teacher who entered racy pictures of herself in an online bikini contest. Touting herself as an ‘Ah Lian’, Gwen blogs about her tattoos and piercings and partying ways, all very un-teacherlike accessories and behaviour.

That calls to mind the question of whether there are some people who should not keep blogs. I mean, those in professions such as the teaching profession are supposed to be good role models and who are supposed to help uphold the morals of society. What if they blog and spill the beans on their personal lives and what if these are deemed more undesirable. What if their students read about it? Where do you draw the line between personal and professional lives? When is it okay to blog about your professional life in your personal blog?

So, many questions. No easy answers. 

Many have gotten into trouble before for blogging about work. Remember Otto Fong who ‘out-ed’ himself on his blog? He’s since left the teaching profession.  One wonders how long Gwen would stay in the profession. One thing’s for sure, her blogging ways would have to change if she were to stay on.

Cyber Wellness in Gaming

On a few occasions in the past, I’ve talked about gaming and how gaming addiction can be very destructive.

This morning, I received an emailer about Cyber Wellness in Computer Gaming. It’s a talk and sharing session organised by Samsung in conjunction with the WCG coming up.

In this era of interactive digital media (IDM) and with pervasive gaming taking place, I do believe having such talks and sessions is a step in the right direction. As people are equipped with the tools and technology, they should also be equipped with the neccesary education to guide their behaviours and choices.

I’m placing the info from the emailer here – perhaps, if you have a gaming addiction, or know of someone who has it, you would want to attend the session.

Wondered why you’re hooked on computer games? Discover the reason now and get practical tips on handling common excesses in gaming!Goodie bags will be given to the first 30 sign-ups!

Speaker from TOUCH Community As the Assistant Manager of TOUCH Cyber Wellness & Sports, Jiow Hee Jhee has eight years of experience in the cyber wellness arena, conducting training and designing curriculum for youths and other groups of people.

Sharing session by Top Gamer Samuel Tan, one of the country’s Top Gamers, was previously part of Singapore’s top DotA team, Zenith. Gaming competitively since 2005, Samuel will be sharing his experiences with regard to game addiction and how he has managed to balance competitive gaming and his studies.

Gaming as lifeskills for the future

There’s no doubt that gaming has captured the hearts and imagination not only of  children, but adults as well.  

In an interesting article entitled Gaming? It’s no child’s play, we are told the virtues of gaming. Very much like what Marc Prensky (the guy who popularised the terms digital natives and digital immigrants) has said in his book, “Don’t bother me, Ma. I’m learning”, gaming has come a long way in shedding its image of schoolboys hanging around LAN clubs and playing games, to becoming an activity that is seen to have educational and lifeskills training!

There are currently an estimated 100 million gamers worldwide, according to Mr Eric Lesser, associate partner, IBM Institute for Business Value. And according to two studies conducted by IBM, MIT, Stanford University and Seriosity (a software start-up), “online games can help tomorrow’s workers become better corporate leaders as the workspace becomes more distributed, collaborative and virtual in nature.”

It seems that playing massive multi-player online role playing games can actually help you to pick up interactive and communication as well as leadership skills as you interact, collaborate and compete with thousands of other gamers, on a global basis!

And with things being played out in real time, players need to make snap decisions and adapt to the ever changing environment. And such skills honed in the virtual game worlds can have real benefits and it’s suggested that employers of the future look out for people who have played games as they have picked up those requisite skills.

Hm..so it’s no longer taboo to put gaming or playing games as one of your interests in your resume!

But of course, the consequences of  ‘game over’ in the virtual and real worlds have vastly different consequences and that’s something players need to be made aware of.  “Leaders in the future will need to be able to tolerate and manage informed risk to be successful in an increasingly fast and complex environment,” said Mr Lesser. 

In another interesting article, Avatars without borders, we learn that the creator of Second Life and IBM have joined forces to enable people’s animated online personae, aka avatars to rmove freely from one virtual world to another.

Currently, avatars are stuck in the world they inhabit, so an avatar in Second Life has to stick around Second Life worlds. Given that people spend so much time and money customising their avatars, getting new wardrobes, hairstyles, gestures, etc, they don’t really want to repeating the processes in multiple virtual worlds. This creates an obstacle to the full potential of the online universe to allow for avatars to socialise, advertise, do business and make money. 

“We don’t think the future of virtual worlds is going to involve a lot of ‘siloed’ experiences competing against each other. The future is going to involve going from one world to another, ” says, Mr Yoon of Linden Lab. According to Gartner research firm, 80 per cent of the people using the Internet will have alter egos in virtual worlds by 2011. IBM also has its vision of a “3D Internet” that includes companies using virtual worlds for tasks such as recruiting, meetings and employee training. Hm..imagine your avatar going for an interview online in your future virtual company! Better start practising your online interview skills! And make sure your avatar can fly straight!

So, once again, the gaming and virtual worlds are having more and more impact on the real world we inhabit. It’s no wonder some are beginning to not know where to draw the lines.