零分的迷思

每年約有2萬會考「零分生」，其中日校考生佔五千多人。「零分生」年年大批出現，是否說明我們現行教育體制存在著問題呢？

由於每個人的學習能力、志向、興趣及潛質各有差異，所以教育制度應從不同的層面、角度去發掘及培養孩子的潛能與性格方向。可惜現在的教育制度，正正在打擊著學生們的信心，產生大批的失敗者。我想，一個充滿著失敗者的社會，也不會是一個穩定的社會。一個穩定健康的社會，應是由擁有不同才能的人所組成吧！

政府現在的教育策略是希望09年高中改制之後，應用學習(Applied Learning)課程全面展開後，學生可修讀最多兩個職業導向課程。理論上，日後「零分生」將會大幅減少，因為不適應傳統學科的學生，可以在應用學習課程中得分。因此從教育體制上改變「一刀切」模式，實行多元化教育，文法中學與職訓中學並舉，是正確的方向。

可惜家長迷信文法中學的信念始終根深蒂固，家長仍可能不讓孩子選修應用學習課程，勉強自己的子女修讀傳統科目。政府欲利用應用學習課程減少「零分生」的如意算盤，仍未必可以打響。

其實，移風逆俗，改變社會風氣和家長的盲目迷信，才是我們要面對的浩大教育工程。

再見皇后

皇后碼頭清場前一天(七月三十一日)，我和幾位學生於灣仔聽完講座後，便順道乘電車往中環看看實况。對於皇后碼頭的歷史，我不太了解；我的學生更從未踏足皇后碼頭。正因為不了解，我更不希望媒體主導我對事件的譯讀。我總覺得從翌日報章所看到的報導，很大機會是傾斜於「警民衝突」，要進一步了解政府「非拆不可」和本土行動「保衛皇后」的理據，媒體的報導是不足夠的。

果然，翌日(八月一日)電視新聞整天都是播放着警方如向用鐵鉗和消防雲梯逐一破解了示威陣。明報標題也是「鐵鉗雲梯破陣，警10小時過三關」。

台北前文化局局長、名作家龍應台教授2004年在香港大學演講，談及中區警署應否拆卸，西九龍文娛中心應如何興建的問題時，指出香港需要解決的不是技術問題，而是對城市定位及將來如何面對歷史的問題。也就是說，天星鐘樓和皇后碼頭是否可以保存，不是道路和排污渠是否可以改道遷就的問題，而是要問這些地方對於我們認識自己、認識自己從那裏來，是否重要？

龍教授在她的文章《香港，你往哪裏去﹖》中指出，香港的價值觀被「中環價值」所壟斷。她認為「中環價值」把經濟效益視為「所有決策的核心考量」，「開發」成為一種固執的信仰，從不懷疑。於是「舊的，老的、矮的建築，狹窄的擁擠的老街老巷，要讓位給玻璃和鋼筋的摩天大樓，變成昂貴的公寓大樓或者寒光懾人的酒店商廈。」龍教授果然一語中的。

天星鐘樓、喜帖街、中環/灣仔舊街市、域多利監獄、藍屋、赤柱古警署、西港城商場、中區警署、美利樓、卜公碼頭等等……，有的已經倒下，有的只剩軀殼，變成餐廳、超市；是因為「中環價值」成為唯一的價值壟斷的例證嗎？新高中通識科的目的是希望學生有「能力」從所掌握的知識，加以批判，建構自己的見解。「集體回憶」不是最重要，最怕是我們「集體唔識」。

英文的粗口 "Fxxk"字的創意

英文的粗口雖然只有一個單字"Fxxk" ，運用它的人可真創意無限，靈活多變，例子如下：

Transitive Verb -> John fxxks Shirley.
Intransitive Verb -> Shirley fxxks!
Adjective -> John is doing all the fxxking work.
Adverb enhancing Adverb -> Shirley talks too fxxking much!
Adverb enhancing Adjective -> Shirley is fxxking beautiful.
Noun -> I don't give a fxxk!

英文的粗口雖然只有一個單字，沒有廣東話粗口那麼多詞彙，但人們卻可以演化出那麽多的變化。所以我認為最有創意的其中一種東西就是英文的粗口單字"Fxxk"。有機會再談廣東話粗口的創意。

How does the culture of the internet differ from the culture of mass media?

Traditional media like television is hierarchical, top-down, and randomness of content was minimized. Internet is then just the opposite and Internet has been one of the most rapidly adopted communication technologies. The Internet now brings together over 30 million people on-line worldwide, inviting an average of 150,685 new users per day, or 1.74 per second. By 2000, 250 million people will have access to the Internet (Killen & Associates, 1996) .

It is the fact that internet is the new era. From my perspectives, there are two major differences between the culture of the internet and the culture of mass media. The one is: the internet is more interactive that viewers have the right to select what to receive, but the old media like TV and radio is top-down that you have comparatively limited choices. The other is: the internet almost circles the globe, and virtual location in cyberspace depends more on information than physical geography, with its users connecting through thoughts and interests across any and all boundaries.

It is the fact that the Internet has become a revolutionary tool for communication among the computer savvy individuals of the modern world. In contrast to the traditional form of communicating face-to-face, a majority of Internet users utilize the feature of computer-mediated Communication (CMC) ways to talk to their various relations.

Today, computers users can listen and watch both live and recorded news and sports reports from sources as ABC, CBS, ESPN, and NBC. Also, there are over 2,400 radio stations around the world that are already sending there programming out by way of the Internet, allowing people to tune in with the click of a mouse. This new technology boosts their ranks of listeners and also allows them to sell more advertising. Next, unlike printed version, one positive effect that the Internet has had on journalism is the ability to get information out to audiences quicker.

However, sometimes the positive things could also be the negative things. Much of the information that is on the Internet is not as accurate as the information that can be obtained from a newspaper or a news broadcast. In the United States, it is virtually impossible for the government to regulate the Internet because of its enormous size. Besides, I think many people are still more comfortable with the traditional forms of mass media. People are more comfortable with sitting down and reading the newspaper or a magazine or turning on the television to see the news. Most people do not turn to the Internet when they want to learn about a recent news story.

As a secondary school teacher, I have found that students are eager to CMC. Not infrequently, my students enjoy chatting through ICQ or MSN, playing online games and joining online groups. It seems that participants disclose more than they do in face-to-face situations.

Actually, CMC has become a revolutionary, novel, and widely popular form of communication. As opposed to talking directly to someone, CMC allows individuals to communicate in enhanced, desired, and controlled environments. Individuals are capable of targeting not only whom they converse and socialize with, but also how they want to be perceived. On the other hand, face-to-face interaction can be perceived to be more “daunting” because there is no such wall of security in contrast to the computer mediated tool.

Not allowing students to use CMC tools is something impossible. The more practical way is to make use of it and that may help arouse students’ interests in learning. Furthermore, guiding students to conceive, analyze and judge information from the internet is a must. Most importantly, students must learn how to create their own works and communicate with others by expressing their own ideas.

Online Fans Club: Understanding the Psychology of the Online Community

A community is a group of like-minded people. You are probably part of several different communities – the town/village where you live, the place where you work or study, a group of friends with whom you play sport or other hobby activity, and your church fellowship.

A community of people usually has most of these characteristics:

• shared interests
• shared values
• shared problems/enemies
• mutually supportive
• intimacy
• physical face-to-face interaction at specific times

A successful online fans club, more or less, is the same as a real community, and sometimes the groupness and conformity of it is even more noticeable than you expect. Maybe one of the reason help create the group’s conformity is that time and location are no longer relevant and you can share as much or little of yourself as you wish, without being judged.

Actually, online fans club which permits visitors to contribute content is potentially building community and a high level of trust. The more or meaningful content you contribute, the more scores you obtain for getting permits to view or download bonus pictures or videos from the authorized administrators. That helps encourage you to get sticky to the community.

To have a sense of community, a website needs to be welcoming and non-condemning. It must meet people where they are, and demonstrate an understanding of their feelings and problems. They must feel that they somehow 'belong' to the site, and can also offer their own feedback and opinions as well as receive advice.

By the way, it is discovered that some psychology and sociology theories can be applied in online fans club’s community, but some cannot.

Hyperpersonality theory
Chen and Gaines (1998) argued that developing a positive self-image is one motivation for participating in reciprocal Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) relationships because it allows you to publicize your expertise, position yourself in the virtual community. It is quite true that online fans club participants always contribute content towards their idols when they come across their idols’ news. It seems that they are the experts in this particular field. They are willing to share that may help them to enhance their self-identity and image.

Cues-filtered-out theory
Cues-filtered-out theory assumes that CMC relationships lack social or context cues. It may easily lead to antisocial or impersonal behaviors and increase in uninhibited behavior patterns such as flaming in online interactions. However, the above-mentioned situations are not noticeable in online fans club. Maybe they have already built up the sense of belonging to the community that few of them want to ruin the orders. Or the system management team is efficient enough to delete any unwanted messages posted when found.

Social Exchange theory
Social Exchange theory in CMC means that people contribute content because they want to receive a benefit (get something to exchange). Actually, the benefit is not necessary a real object. The reciprocal rewards can be some feedback messages that show people’s appreciation, praise or respect the content contributors. These interactions then make message posted cycle continue.

Para-social Interaction/relationship (PSI) theory
Horton & Wohl (1956) implicated agreement between the performer and viewer that they will pretend the relationship is not mediated – as though it were a face-to-face encounter, just like a media friend. However, the situation is not noticeable in online fans club because, unlike TV, there is not a role player or actor in online fans club. But the active participant will show their sorrows after the recovery of the online fan club’s server down. The situation is just like a person who meets his buddy whom he doesn’t meet each other for a long time.

Social Identification/Deindividuation (SIDE) theory
Postmes, Spears, and Lea (1998, 2000) stated that online participants will assume that other people are similar to themselves and that they share comparable norms and characteristics. SIDE theory seems more applicable to online fans club. Basically, online fans club participants have similar norms (they have the same idols). When communicators share a common social identity, they appear to be more susceptible to group influence, social attraction, stereotyping, gender typing, and discrimination in anonymous CMC.

All in all, Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) has already developed maturely. A large population of people is familiar with CMC. The phenomena of groupness, conformity and polarization are not infrequent in online fans club. In fact, the successful one has formed the sense of belonging to the virtual community, just like a community in the real society.