Openlog - A Uni Blog

... I feel somewhat under pressure today... for reasons I will not disclose. It mostly has to do with getting ahead of myself, when I should just sit back and relax (as if) about it (alright, maybe just... not worry so much... which is a lame and inadequate answer...) - but I guess I really am a woman worrier. Or am I woman warrior? Oh Mr Phillips, I am confused. xD
(I apologise for all the ellipsis, but it reflects my current frame of mind...)

Tuesday = Introduction to Information Systems.

Lecture was pretty much about Business Information Systems. I think I might need to look up more information on this topic, although I guess it all depends on the level of detail they go into in consecutive weeks - more stress though. Ugh assignments....

Speaking of which, lecture we did follow the sheet this time, although most of us are still under the impression the tutor cannot really speak properly. Well, I have nothing against his accent... but I'm just not sure what he's wanting part of the time. Urgh. >_< Still at least we have a GROUP formulated now! Yet, we have no name... and we were supposed to send our group details to ... our lecturer? I forget so I need to find that, wherever it is! *gets a stressed feeling...*

Also in the group, there are two second years, and two first years (a boy and a girl in each), so I feel a little intimidated. Just a little.... or a lot.

Haha. Well... I might as well. This way I can look back too, and I won't lose it.

REFLECTIONS

a) What I learned ...
... useful?
About what people felt were ethical and unethical? During the Case Studies where we voted, I found it useful to see what professionals had to think, even though I had my own strong views and code of ethics.

...interesting?
The Code of Ethics for the ACS? We had such trouble trying to come up with our Codes because they were so specific, however, the Code of Ethics for the ACS is simply written and covers a large amount of aspects. Although it allows interpretation in different ways, it's still fascinating how it can be so simply worded and yet apply to so many situations. (I feel that useful and interesting really do cross over however.... Both this and the point mentioned before are both interesting and possibly will influence our professional behaviour.)


... good?
Can I be general and say everything? Everything is very relevant to what skills we will need in order to be a professional IT person, and therefore good for me and my future. There was nothing I learnt during the lesson which I would define as 'bad'.

b) One thing I found ...
... useful?
I think this appeared mostly in the form of the video. I reflected on the way I present and decided that perhaps there are things I need to work on too, as ... scornful as we may have seemed about the man's presentation. That's not to say anyone performed badly however, since I watched everyone presenting their case studies and they were all very good.

...interesting?

Monday = Communications for IT Professionals

Well, it was to the workshops this week, and I think I was looking forward to this a lot more than the 3-hour lectures (although 3 hour workshop also is a bit =A= by the time you're finished, heh). It also helped that I was relieved that I was in a Band 1 workshop of course.

The tutor introduced herself, and I remember the first reaction I had was to look at Julie next to me and exchange glances. Her surname sounded very Japanese. She did an example of how she wanted us to introduce ourselves also and ... well I guess we found out we were (somewhat) right. (Though to what degree I have no idea, of course....) I'm such a Japanophile. Or I just like Asian things, really.

We then tried to define ethics with the person next to us/the people around us.

Ethics:

"Morality and actions, What we perceive to be right or wrong, Sense of personal responsibility - consequences of actions, Personal conduct based on respect for others, Principles and values you choose to live by."

We also talked a little about Ethical Dilemmas and moved onto the case studies. I found myself pretty opinionated on this topic. I think I have a strong code of ethics... sometimes. I'm not really sure. I feel these things are wrong, but when push comes to shove, I think sometimes these things get ignored. By not having this kind of real life experience, I suppose we can't really know. However, from experience from my own projects, say in HSC Year, I'm quite a perfectionist and will try to make the system as good as I can get it - so I think I can uphold my personal code of ethics well enough.

We tried to come up with codes of ethics afterwards and although our codes were a lot different to other peoples', I felt they were rather valid. Although our group was the only group that presented with only three codes, I had six written down in actuality, however, we kept arguing that it could already be explained by another dot point and thus we were only left with three. I felt some of the other people's points seemed perhaps a little too general, however maybe we were the ones thinking too specifically? I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, however.

We had a short break then watched a segment of a Youtube video where we were supposed to look carefully and pick out what we felt was good and bad about his presentation. My whole group agreed wholeheartedly that his presentation overall was pretty bad, but probably definitely in stronger words. It was true however, overall he was uninspiring, looked confined and bored... I think it's alright to be informal in your presentations sometimes, depending on who you are presenting to, and depending on what kind of message you are trying to present (you want to create a relaxed interested interactive air, right?), so it's not necessarily a bad thing he said 'Hey, guys', but his lack of enthusiasm was the real problem.

We looked at presentations skills and worked on Case Studies then, and each of us picked a 'role' in the group for the presentation and tried to build up our points. I don't think I did too badly, though I could have gestured more, I suppose. The thing is that I'm not necessarily bad at presenting, I just don't like to volunteer myself up for it. At High School, generally I'd be with people who'd rather not have to present, so the responsibility would fall with me (Sorry if anyone is reading this....). While I can't say I was magnificent at it either, at least I do have experience with it and am willing to present if no one else is? Or at least I find myself a lot of enthusiastic now unless I'm feeling unwell ... like somewhat recently...

Afterwards I had to go meet sponsors for lunch. We went to that cafe in the UTS building that's next to the ABC (oh I forget all the numbers and everything, yikes).Luckily I didn't have to pay I guess, since I don't have a lot of money these days. We chatted with the sponsors while eating. Felt like some of it was going over the top of my head. I should look up more on stuff - but I'm not really that much into the business side of this course. Perhaps that's not a good thing to say. I acknowledge that no matter what I do, it will have something to do with business, of course, however, if possible would like to do more programming related work,  or the like, depending on how everything goes - and depending on what Masters I might decide to do later?

I still want to work at the ABC eventually. My dad works there, and I really enjoyed work experience there, but I still don't know what I could do there. Perhaps I could work on the web stuff or their TV stuff, but I don't really know if I'm in the right course for those occupations. So I need to find out more about the jobs availiable at the ABC then, I suppose.

Went with my dad to a move after everything. He got free tickets from work so we watched The Last Station. It was quite interesting. ^_^