Blog by Tomo

This semester was mainly about finding a topic to research about and gather information, as well as sharing the information with others through an essay. I would like to write briefly about what I think about "how" it is important to have these skills in the future. In the world today, it is reasonable to consider the internet as our major platform for gathering information. When we see documents and essays by others, we can almost always see from the works cited, that most of the sources are from the internet (webpage, article and etc.). Moreover, the world today is centered around not just the internet, but all informational platforms. Since the breakthrough of the informational revolution within our world, the value of an individuals information has decreased, and the need for information from multiple sources has been common for many tasks. As we can see from the changes of our world, the ability to gather information has become more valuable in the world today. Furthe...

There are many exciting new tools to work with online these days. However, if you are like me, you would have wondered why new apps and tools are produced even today online from companies like Google and Atlassian. This is, from my point of view, the tool to "work together online" is advancing in the world today. For an example, when Google Docs was released, it wasn't popular until a certain update came along the new product. Unlike the other updates Google made on Docs, the update that made Google Docs become popular was the tool to edit and work online with others online. The reason why we go online to work or do games or whatever is because we have someone to think with, and the "turning feel" we get when we get ideas and comments from others is fun and exciting for our brain. It's like getting inspired easily, but for free. Then, here is the conclusion I run into. The theory of working together is not only positive for your grades and performance...

-- Class Log-- In class today, we were showed how to use Zotero and its great features for collecting and crediting sources. Zotero was made by researchers, and its open source (yay!). There was a problem about "installing" on the school PC. I believe you can install and use the app without getting permission (plus, you can launch the app from USB drive) by installing a "portable version" of Zotero. With the portable version, you can carry the app with the USB and launch it with any device without re-installing. The DOWNLOAD LINK . -- Dev Log-- From the fact that Zotero is open-source, i believe as a developer myself, creating a new Japanese article reading plugin for Zotero will be a great help for many users here in Japan. Also, I believe integrating the whole app format to whole web app will help in cases of device support and the time that it takes to sync the data. Although this can be easily made, I don't have the permission to use Zotero'...

When we write an essay with a topic you chose by yourself, the topic must be debatable. As for my case, my topic is about the internet. Especially "net neutrality". My topic is: "The internet should be an open-source platform for any user to develop and use". As a web developer myself, my point of view would be "developer". Since the topic I am going to give out is on a serious debate on the United States congress and other countries (I believe), my essay must contain more then one perspectives and point of view for thinking. Why? That is because, with a lot of supporting statements based on several point of view and reasoning, my main claim will be protected from the arguments made by the opposite side. Writing this topic with a strong supported claim will be important for me, especially because this topic is held as a main topic for the United States congress. As a web developer, I would like to write with a strong statement regarding to my topic.

In the United States, peer editing documents is a very common method for enhancing documents. Fun Fact : Google Docs was designed to enable this because Microsoft Word did not have this feature. As said in class, "we can not find our own mistakes". This idea has become popular in the business world of "writing documents". As a result, over the recent years, there are now startups and companies which focus on these features. For example, Grammarly is a company that made the chrome extension that auto-corrects your writing on the web. Fun Fact : I create my blog posts with the help of Grammarly . Peer editing is a powerful method that can be used to edit and enhance your document. Because can not find our own "minor" mistakes, utilizing the free services online may be a great choice to make.

 There were many things to be fixed on my presentation. I would like to write down some major mistakes on my presentation.  First of all, my voice was shaking. The "voice" in presentation really effects on how you look and how listeners "see" your whole presentation itself. As for myself, having a "shaky voice" resulted into giving the listeners an image that I am not confident with what I am saying. Being bright and all would be better for my presentation. In addition, using more exaggerated body language would be better.  I also lacked "standard body language", such as how you should hold out your arms. Although the listeners were not able to see my body language because of the desk (Because the room was JUST HORRIBLE). However, I think I should have not spoken at an fixed area. I should have done the presentation like Steve Jobs (Like how he walks around the stage).  Other mistakes comes with presentation slide style, the format of my pres...

VR Minecraft For a few weeks, I've been developing "VR Minecraft" to test the limits of the sensors included in the phone. (Especially iPhone) Heres the link to the project: https://prazma.github.io/vrminecraft Note: The link will be available during (10/20 - 11/5). I will repost a link to share the details of the program. How to Play (How it Works) I have added a program where the camera detects your hand gesture to detect your actions in the game (such as placing a block, destroying a block, opening the menu and closing the menu). Using GPS (geolocation API on HTML5), the player is able to move in the game (as well as Jump, with automatic jumping program as seen on Minecraft PE). Technology We code with: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PrazmaScript (PrazmaScript is a custom language I built out of JavaScript Library. Initiating hand motion capture can be done with the code snippet below) var gestures = []; //make an empty array to store gestures gestu...