Finally, it’s over!

After one year of studying New Media Design at BCIT in its famous boot-camp training style, we’ve finally reached the finish line. It has been a long, hard year. Although we all knew BCIT is well known for its heavy training, this was one bite that was quite difficult to swallow.

It was funny when the last day of class came; some of us actually felt a sense of loss in a bittersweet twist. I guess it was then, we started to see what we had achieved. It made us realize that we were actually walking away with something precious and valuable – which possibly will result great opportunities!

I’m especially thankful to my dear family. Without their support, I couldn’t possibly make it this far. Friends that have allowed me to ignore them for such a long time, and still cared about my well-being, are the keepers.

For this reason, our grad show has become something very special to us. Please, come visit us if you’re in the area of Vancouver, BC. There are students from Design Essentials, 3D Animation, and New Media Design participating in BCIT’s Digital Arts 2008 Industry Night. Check out the link below and see some of our students’ work.

BCIT Digital Arts 2008 Industry Night

 

Cyber weddings

Since dating online has become popular and part of the culture, online weddings will soon seem logical for people who can’t be at their actual wedding.

You may wonder, “Why would I want a wedding over the web?” For one thing, it saves time, money, and requires less planning. You could have your wedding anywhere in the world as long you have an Internet access. Anyone, including your annoying relatives or friends would be welcome to witness your wedding online without any disturbances. For modern couples, they don’t even need to be with their future spouse during the wedding ceremony. For most people they just love the idea being able to have a wedding in a designated location without much hassle or effort. The guests can always recapture the moment by watching the video or DVDs again if they miss it.

The fun part about having a cyber wedding is that it is viewed via live broadcast. It is also cheap (about $500 per ceremony), easy and cool. If you have all the equipment: a computer or a laptop, a high-speed Internet connection, a digital video camera, in addition to reserving your web space and setting time of broadcast, you can just about do it yourself. Of course I would suggest letting the professionals take care of it. So relax and enjoy your wedding.

One thing you may want to keep in mind is that you need to have an internet connection active during the entire wedding. Your guests viewing your wedding over the internet also need to have a high-speed connection in order to view the live web cast without running into trouble. The only thing you can’t get is probably the traditional group wedding photos and in some cases the real kiss for the bride and groom.

Well, for some people they probably would really miss the plans of preparation and the big celebrations with their loved ones and friends. I also think when people rush into having a quick romantic wedding usually the divorce rate for these couples will more than likely be higher. Any decision that is not based on well thought out and serious planning usually would not be able to weather through the difficulties of marriage.

This fast growing Internet business may also cause some illegal activities internationally. Since there are no obvious laws in some places there will be people who use it to setup false marriages for purposes of immigration.

Our culture has certainly changed to a cyber driven society. Ordinary people could rock the whole world by broadcasting their very own personal episodes and perhaps generate more income for theses dot com companies as well.

It’s okey to be a dinosaur

Technology has significantly advanced since I was a child. Can you believe surgeons today don’t even need to be in an operating room to perform surgery? Pretty soon we won’t need gas to drive a car. But, do you think living in high tech society is a better thing to do?

I work with computers all day long, and go online quite a bit; I sometimes think I am still living in the dinosaur age. I say this because I haven’t had the opportunity to experience the power of the Internet. People like me are only getting a glimpse of what we can potentially do with this power.

A few weeks ago one of our instructors showed us a clip, “Shift happens”, from YouTube. I found this clip scary because we have relied on the technology so much each day. When we live in a world filled with the most technology and information, we are also generating two groups of society: one who keeps on absorbing the advancing world around him or her, and one who seems to “fall behind schedule”. These two groups of society are becoming even more separated by the growing amount of advancements.

Assuming the Internet stopped working for a period of time, how are we going to cope with this tragedy? Many will have nervous breakdowns, for they have not learned how to live without it.

I firmly believe that training our next generation to live without such advanced surroundings are important to the society and to them. To live a real life by learning to appreciate nature, to focus on face-to-face communication, and to learn real life skills, is far more important and valuable in one’s journey, than living for technology. After all, we’

re flesh and we can accomplish far more than what any computer could do. We have made technology – technology has not made us. But to live to the fullest of our lives, our surroundings, and to our friends and families, is probably the greatest achievements and satisfaction one could ever seek for on this planet.

Next time when you feel “behind schedule”, remember, it’s okay to be a dinosaur.