The pros and cons of E-business from a consumer's perspective

There are various disadvantages to buying goods online. At the same time, a consumer can suffer from this experience. Here I shall examine these and see if the positives outweigh the negatives, or vice-versa.

An advantage the internet has that physical shops cannot compete with is the sheer variety of goods it offers. No matter how big they are, shops and retailers have limits to the amount of stock they can hold. Online, the products at the consumers' fingertips are limitless.

Another plus is the information that can be provided digitally in regard to these products. The person trying to sell you the product can only tell you so much, and may use propaganda to make you but underwhelming goods. With the internet, you can discover the reliability of these products from numerous sources.

Another plus point is accessibility. When shopping online, sites such as Amazon can keep a record of your buying history and recommend products that may be useful or enjoyable to you.

The online shopping community can also be a place to get verdicts and recommendations, both for products you are seeking and others you may not be familiar with. It is a great way to find new friends who have similar interests to you.

Buying things online is also hugely convenient. No longer does one have to drive large distances and spend ages looking for what you want. Now a great variety of products can be bought from one's laptop, no longer needing to leave the house. Furthermore, items can be found for a cheaper price than they would be in a shop.

There are several downsides to this, however. Buying objects online requires giving one's personal details and credit card information. If their systems are hacked, your funds may be at great risk. Another disadvantage of this is that giving such details can make consumers very nervous and feeling vulnerable.

An advantage of physically buying something is that the consumer knows that their purchase has no chance of getting lost. This is not the case when buying things online, which can sometimes prove unreliable.

Overall, buying online can prove very helpful when all goes to plan.

My experiences in DKIT so far

Studying at Dundalk Institute of Technology has been nothing but a benefit for me. I had previously studied journalism in Griffith College, Dublin. But while I'm proud of that accomplishment, it hasn't really gotten me anywhere.

Before I started this course, I had no job and was bored to death most of the time. When I heard about this course, I immediately set about trying to get a place on it. I was delighted upon being told that I was something of a perfect candidate.

Not only would this course give me something to do, it would teach me a host of new skills. I learned so much about journalism in Dublin, but I needed to adapt to the media of the modern world. Newspapers are dying and the Internet is the future, and the more I know about that the better off I'll be.

While some things have taken me a while to get used to, I have really benefited from this course. Even though it only runs two evenings a week, it covers so much material and I now have a greater understanding of the world of media than I had before. Colin, John and Seamus really know how to make it accessible, so I really have to give credit where credit is due.

The most interesting part of doing this course has been the people I've met. They come from various walks of life and have numerous levels of experience when it comes to this topic. A lot of them put absolutely everything into their work and seeing them at it never fails to impress me.

My exposure to media

I have always had a fascination with popular culture. It's the reason I became a journalist in the first place. Though I don't get paid writing for Pulp Interest, it allows me to follow my passion of giving my opinion on music, films, books, TV series etc.

I access these forms of media through services such as Netflix and Spotify, and I visit the cinema and read quite often.

I always want to stay up to date with various types of news, and I do this online, on the television and by reading newspapers.

I also have accounts on various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+, which connects me to my friends and people I am a fan of. I even have apps for these of my phone so that I can access them when I am out and about.

Overall, I would say I am very exposed to media.

My thoughts on the Star Wars Episode VII cast

When I first heard that Disney had bought Lucasfilm and would be making a new Star Wars trilogy, I was sceptical. Mainly it was because of how disappointing the prequels were, but then I heard that George Lucas would not be creatively involved, which gave it the chance to be a lot better.

Upon discovering who would be the creative team behind it, I got very excited. I was a huge fan of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films and Michael Arndt wrote Toy Story 3, which in my opinion is the best animated film of all time. 

But like everyone else, I wondered who would be in the film. How many of the old cast would we see? How many newcomers would there be? Today we got some answers, and here are my thoughts on them...

Mark Hamill - Needless to say, Hamill's star has faded since he hung up his lightsaber. In the 33 years since he last played Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, he has mostly done voiceovers and direct-to-DVD films. The highlight of this was his portrayal of the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and the video games Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Could returning to his most famous role be a second coming for him? At any rate it will be interesting to see an older and wiser Luke.

Harrison Ford - What can be said about this man that hasn't been said already? He's a juggernaut, a legend in every sense of the word. I could list the numerous well known films he's been in, but is there any point? Hopefully seeing him reprise his other most famous role will be a lot more satisfying than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!

Carrie Fisher - Other than her roles as Marie in When Harry Met Sally and Angela in Family Guy, Fisher has mostly done the odd cameo here and there. She is also known for her bestselling autobiography, Wishful Drinking. I haven't seen her in anything for a long time, but I am interested to see how this much older Leia will differ from the one we saw in the original trilogy.

Peter Mayhew - I was surprised to hear that he would be returning, due to his recent health issues. But it is exciting to know that we will see Chewie again and it just wouldn't feel right if it was someone else in that suit.

Anthony Daniel and Kenny Baker - No Star Wars film would be complete without C-3PO and R2-D2.

John Boyega - I haven't seen him in anything, but this actor who made his name in Attack the Block is currently having his profile raised by his appearance in 24: Live Another Day. I may have to look into his work...

Daisy Ridley - Completely unknown, so I haven't seen her in anything. She seems to be the only female in the main cast besides Fisher. I'll wait until I see the film, but casting an unknown could be a work of genius.

Adam Driver - Great actor. Really liked him in HBO's Girls, playing a character who is disgusting and not very likeable to begin with, but is revealed to have so much more depth as it progresses. I must admit that while I liked the show's first season, it went steadily downhill after that. Even so, he was still enjoyable to watch and I look forward to seeing him in this.

Domhnall Gleeson - Big fan of him. First saw him in the hilarious TV series Your Bad Self  before he had some memorable supporting roles in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, True Grit and Never Let Me Go. But he didn't really get his chance to shine until he starred in the independent Irish film Sensation about an unconventional romance between a young farmer and a prostitute.

Oscar Isaac - So far I have only seen this actor in the amazing Drive and the godawful Sucker Punch. In the latter he was let down by an appalling script, but in the former he was able to flourish and flesh out his character, a sympathetic family man who made a lot of bad decisions. He has received a lot of acclaim for his role in Inside Llewyn Davis, which I may have to watch now.

Andy Serkis - There were never any rumours about this, but it makes perfect sense. Serkis is the king of motion capture, so it's easy to assume that he is going to be playing a non-human character. Considering the way he has brought to life characters such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Kong in King Kong and Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, that is an exciting prospect. But he is an excellent actor and it's hard to know what kind of character he will play.

Max von Sydow - Perhaps as big a legend as Harrison Ford, he has forged one hell of a career over the course of the last six decades. It's very interesting that they put an iconic horror actor in each Star Wars trilogy. First Peter Mayhew, then Christopher Lee and now Max von Sydow, well known for his role as Father Lancaster Merrin in The Exorcist. But will he play a villain like they did? We'll have to wait and see...

Citizen Journalism and Internet Censorship

We currently live in a time where just about anyone can be a journalist. You don't need a qualification and you don't even need to get paid for it. All that you need is an email address.

In the age when blogging is so prominent and widespread, the presence of social media allows anyone to report the various events taking place throughout the world and offer their opinion on them. The internet has made the world smaller, allowing us to communicate directly with people we will likely never meet in real life.

As seen in the above photo, through websites and apps such as Twitter, Instagram and Flickr everyday citizens can share information as it happens and this can soon spread worldwide. Anyone can now collect, report and analyze information, publishing it as they see fit. Due to these technological advances, citizens have been able to report massive news stories faster than traditional reporters, as was the case with Occupy Wall Street and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Though there has been much argument about how much access the general public should have to this information...

Internet censorship is a sensitive subject, without a doubt. There are both positive and negative factors involved, with some using the concept to protect children from inappropriate content while others use it to control access to free information in certain parts of the world.

Parents are often in support of internet censorship because it prevents their children from being exposed to unsavoury and even damaging things like pornography and bigotry. Those who oppose internet censorship would suggest that parents simply monitor the sites their children are visiting, but as parents will tell you it is very difficult if not impossible to constantly oversee someone's internet use.

Multiple countries such as Iran, China and Saudi Arabia have restrictions when it comes to accessing certain information. In Myanmar the government allegedly keeps internet cafes under constant surveillance with computers that automatically take screenshots every few minutes. China has an advanced filtering system known as the "Great Firewall of China" which searches new web pages and restricts access in real time, while in Cuba there is no longer any such thing as private internet access.

Several organisations have been founded with the sole purpose of ending internet censorship including the OpenNet Initiative, Reporters Without Borders and the Censorware Project. These groups work to increase awareness of the effects this issue is having, with instalments in several of the world's top universities.

While citizen journalism has it's advantages in that it allows for wider and faster coverage of news stories, a disadvantage is that in does diminish the credibility of legitimate reporters. People have every right to view and take advantage of this information, and while preventing children from viewing inappropriate content is essential, keeping adults from making accessing important is not only doing them a huge disservice but it borders on dictatorship.

Will Netflix make TV irrelevant?

In the last few years, Netflix has been a preferable alternative to buying DVDs and watching TV series week by week.

With Netflix, one can watch films and TV series at the click of a button at the price of only €8 per month. No longer do people have to spend €40 on boxsets. Rather than waiting for a film to come on the television, they can watch it at any time. Gone are the days when one had to wait a week to watch each episode of their favourite shows.

But what does this mean for the future? With the popularity and efficiency of Netflix, will this mean the end for traditional television?

That's not to say that Netflix does not have it's limits. It only provides certain films and TV series in specific regions. HBO is notorious for only having one programme on Netflix (Rome). However, it has recently added True Blood to the site. Will we soon get The Sopranos, The Wire and Game of Thrones on Netflix?

Netflix has even began creating it's own original series', such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, to critical acclaim. They have even recently signed a deal with Marvel Studios and will produce a five season anthology that will be part of their cinematic universe.

An extremely efficient factor of this is that one can watch an entire season in two or three sittings. Might it be the case in the not-too-distant-future that just about every TV series will be streamed at the earliest convenience? It certainly seems possible.

Mobile Commerce

Overall, I would say mobile commerce impacts my life on a minimal level. While I have used the internet to buy things, I have always done it on my laptop rather than on my phone. However, I never leave my house without my phone. While calling and texting are it's most important functions, it's apps can be a very useful part of everyday life. By syncing my Gmail and Facebook, I can stay on top of my social interactions while on the go. In conclusion, while I am not utterly dependent on my phone I would say that it has impacted my life for the better.