Updates

CIT’s media producer, Prakash Perumal Haridas was featured on the article; ‘The algorithm does it for you’: Why social media users are ditching 'boring' Facebook and Instagram for shiny new toys, by CNA.

Prakash was reached out by a journalist from the CNA Digital team who wanted to understand why some Singaporeans were making the switch from mainstream social media services to alternative options.

Prakash made the switch from Twitter to Mastodon in early November 2022. Mastadon is a network of privately operated servers. Prakash told CNA he likes how Mastodon focuses on the content more than likes and retweets, which was “different and quirky” for him.

After using Twitter for about 12 years, Prakash has found a new authentic network to connect with other Singaporeans from different walks of life. He mentioned that this is a new experience he did not have on Twitter.

Prakash also engages social media to fine tune his skills as a Media Producer. “Social media platforms allow me to learn new skills related to graphics, animation and video post-production. I get to be more efficient in troubleshooting common or obscure technical issues. They allow me to discover new ways of creating from other fellow creators around the world” he added.

With his new found experience and skills, he recommends Mastodon to fellow NUS Staffs and Students who are opened to trying out new platforms, motivated to find their own content instead of relying on algorithms to feed them content, to build and engage with a community and comfortable to join in or start a conversation.

Prakash also mentioned that, “Mastodon is led and moderated by admins and each instance will have its own rules for users to abide by. This helps with establishing ground rules for how people are meant to behave and help to reduce online abuse”.

In a nutshell, Prakash encourages everyone to pick and engage with social media platforms that encourage meaningful connections, learning useful skills and absorbing the intended content instead of indulging in the idea of ‘likes and shares’.

Click here to read the full article:

‘The algorithm does it for you’: Why social media users are ditching 'boring' Facebook and Instagram for shiny new toys

The University of Queensland hosted the 2022 Asia-Pacific Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT). Doctoral students from Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, North-East Asia and South-East Asia took part in the competition. Contestants were required to present a 3-minute thesis in a video format with only one PowerPoint slide to showcase their research communication skills.

CIT was approached in May 2022 by Professor Rafi Rashid to provide videography and editing services for 3 contestants. 3MT’S specifications were abided during the production period of the videos. For a high quality resolution, Sony PMW-500 camera was used to film the contestants along with Sennheiser EW G4 Wireless microphones for clear audio output. Students filmed at CIT studio, against a green screen. The background colour was changed to white in post-production to seamlessly blend with the PowerPoint slides.

CIT team is proud to have produced videos for Wharton Chan’s “Lab-on-a-Chip? Sounds Amazing!” and Philippe Vachon’s “Stopping Inflammation: a BAT Angle”, both of which won the Top 2 Prizes in SG 3MT National Competition against students from NTU and SMU.

Out of the two winners, Philippe Vachon qualified to the grand finals of 3MT. He was the only Asian amongst the 9 Asia Pacific finalists who were selected out of the 57 contestants from around the world. CIT also proudly produced Devyani Pande’s “Governance of Autonomous Systems” for the National round.

“When I approached CIT around May for the competition, they accommodated to all my requests efficiently! The team made the studio available right away, upon my request. They even ensured that all the filming specifications of 3MT’s were met when I emailed the details a day before the filming date! Upon viewing all other submissions from different countries for 3MT, I must say that NUS’s videos produced by CIT were the best in terms of production quality. My experience working with CIT from start to finish was a very good one! I hope to collaborate with CIT for all other future competitions and beyond.”

Professor Rafi Rashid
Integrative Sciences & Engineering Programme,
National University of Singapore

Click on the link to view the entry of Finalist, Philippe Vachon:
https://nusgs.nus.edu.sg/news-report-vote-philippe-vachon/

The National University of Singapore and the University of Paris are pleased to introduce their new MOOC on city governance: Governing Diverse Cities in Europe and Asia.

This massive open online course introduces key issues facing European and Asian cities to govern their diversity.  It explores a range of urban experiences, such as global cities that have become magnets of multiple types of migrations; cities that have welcomed large numbers refugees; cities that have mobilized diversity as an asset for regeneration in a context of economic decline; cities that have been confronted with the issues of racism, xenophobia, inter-ethnic tensions, and  refugee inflows; cities that have developed successful initiatives to create convivial urban spaces and foster interactions among populations of different backgrounds.

This course introduces the different facets of urban diversity and the challenges it represents for contemporary cities. It provides tools to compare the governance of diversity in different European and Asian cities. It looks at the role of different levels of public institutions, private actors and civil society in the management of diverse cities. It analyzes the resources and opportunities that diversity represents for cities and explores initiatives to celebrate diversity, and make it contribute to lively neighbourhoods and urban development.

Please join us today to learn more on this fascinating topic of diversity governance in European and Asian cities !

https://www.edx.org/course/governing-diverse-cities-in-europe-and-asia