Just another WordPress.com weblog
Just opened my pictures, a.k.a photo collections in these past one year, and lots of things have been going on. It’s true that a picture can speak a thousand words. Memories are flowing in a blink. Sometimes I miss those moments, but I know they will never be the same twice. Through sad and happy moments, through the pictures, I can gather myself round again and continue the journey…
A quote says “you’ll never know the worth of water until the well is dry”. It’s true perhaps. This quote becomes a reminder for us to always remember, be thankful and happy of what we have now. Not only that, take care of the things we have with good intention is one way of doing it. Disappointment comes late called regret. This reminds us that we should not regret about things we have done. “What if” questions are useless when things have happened. So, try to learn from the quote…
Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations as in determining policy or interpreting events. Today I feel a kinda racialism treatment. I don’t understand why because it’s a country where lots of people from different culture live together. I don’t know whether it’s the people, the culture, or the policy. It’s been twice and it’s just the same. Not friendly at all. Hmm.. so far, since I’ve just travelled around South East Asia, I wanna say, this is the first country I don’t want to drop by anymore. The point is it’s not as great as ”they” say… very disappointing… Bad experience, bad travel…
It’s been six months of creating, writing, and managing my own blog. There are ups and downs. I’m not a kind of person that update blog everyday, but I still check once in a while 
And if I want to write, then I’ll write. Others such as social networking, social messaging, online chat and wiki, I’m very getting use of them. Little by little, these tools become parts of my “online” activities. I would say it would be a habit for most of the people who use those social tools. Some people who already get the benefit of social networking might enjoy and feel as part of these communities. They also give contribution for others. Meanwhile, some people who haven’t get one will feel a little bit disappointed and might leave the communities.
Six months is long enough. I get a lot of benefit from using those social tools. To communicate, keep contact, get idea and information, learn about stuff I’m interested in, and sometimes just share things I feel or do. The more frequently I use the tools, the more I get the benefit. It’s worth to try. Once you get the “rhythm”, you’ll know. Anyway, these virtual social networking is getting “real” to me.
I often read about people use Twitter as part of company’s promotion, service, etc. I never use it before, but I tried Plurk. My friend said, basicly it’s the same as Twitter, but in Plurk you can add response to your friends/fans saying. First, I don’t have any idea of how using Plurk-kinda thing in business. But it just crossed my mind, it can be used as part of communication tool in a group project, like chat facility, then your friends comments on what you’re doing or saying. Anyway, can’t think of anything else..
A feature that is used to describe a big picture of something can be called a dashboard. What’s in a dashboard? It depends on users’ need. For example, sales dashboard that is used by management contains summarized information of revenue and target comparison of one fiscal year, sales per region, cost, etc. Most dashboards will use graphs, charts, indicator, or other visualization tools that is eye-catching and easy to see. Some allows drill down, and some only show note or description of graphs or charts. It’s a mixture between data, visualization, and summarization. The important factors are need to be defined to be shown in a dashboard. Usually, KPI or Key Performance Indicator will be included in it. Summarized target and actual comparisons are included also. I think dashboard is quite a personalized tool in an application. Maybe we will never see the same data or dashboard from one application to another. That’s good, because each application or users might need different thing.
Dashboard design is challenging. First, know your users. Second, analyze the summarized important information needed. Third, create good information visualization. Give necessary details if needed. Good infovis here means simple and easy to see at a glance. I read this site about infovis which is quite interesting http://www.perceptualedge.com/. Four, evaluation. It is necessary to ask users about the implemented dashboard, from the data and design point of views.
Laskar Pelangi, an Indonesian movie inspired by an Andrea Hirata’s novel with the same title. A simple story which is not that simple, entertaining, touching, meaningful. I like the movie a lot, a recommended movie to watch. The story is about a teacher’s love about her job and 10 kids’ stories during their elementary school in a same class. And I like the soundtrack sung by Nidji also. Check out the video.
