Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Sasom

After leaving UCSB for Thailand, I have decided to dedicate my energy into building an online marketplace for authentic collectibles starting with sneakers. The platform is called https://sasom.co.th. Sasom (สะสม) in Thai means "to collect", or "collecting" valuable items that are meaningful to you. From a very young age, I loved collecting (from pokemon figurines, to yugioh cards, to books, and now sneakers and watches). I always cherished the deep meaningful connection I had with each item that I had collected. Because of this personal factor, as well as the limited supply nature of collectibles, it is to no surprise that their prices tend to increase over time, just like any other commodities, or stocks.

Although each collectibles category tend to create diehard fans and a thriving community of like-minded enthusiasts, the subculture that emerged as a result tend to grow and hit a plateau. Perhaps this is due to the hobbyist nature of each collectibles rather than the galvanizing monetary opportunities. Once a category of interests are able to evidently generate monetization opportunities, it tends to naturally attracts the mass. This was manifested in the cryptocurrency market as well as the sneaker reselling market. During the bull run of the alt coins in the Q3 and Q4 of 2017, people became diehard fans of each alt coin company brands, and tried persuading their peers and strangers online to buy the cryptocurrencies that they advocated. Most of these people, I believe don't even truly know what the companies that they ecstatically raved about were trying to build. In comparison, the sneaker subculture truly went mainstream, when Kanye West's Yeezy boost 350 line became the highly coveted, most desirable sneaker worldwide. With the endorsement of celebrities, coupled with its' comfortable boost technology and extremely limited supply, the Yeezy boost 350s resell prices skyrocketed to as much as $2000 per pair, and even higher in Asian countries. Ridiculous prices created newfound materialistic value, which in turn elevates one's social image once obtained a pair. Entrepreneurs and resellers rushed into the market, creating a hidden, tiered subculture (covered in another article). As mentioned above, the nature of subcultures, and collectibles communities are often complex and nuanced, so it is difficult to acquire the mainstream recognition. 

My vision for Sasom as a platform is to become a launchpad that empowers collectibles enthusiasts, by unveiling the charismatic nature of each subculture in the form that is appealing to the mass through monetization. The bid/ask model that we adopted will create a data-oriented, price transparency that will turn Sasom into an easily accessible, organic marketplace/database for each category of collectibles. After a few minutes of browsing on the categories and items on Sasom, consumers will get a virtual understanding of that particular subculture. By looking at the price history, and data for each collectibles subculture, whether its' sneakers, watches, handbags, or bearbricks, one would be able to easily understand the values behind them.

The current nature of the collectible reselling marketplace is deeply flawed, even with Ebay. First, items are scattered everywhere throughout the internet with extremely fluctuating prices. This causes confusion and creates a barrier of entry for new consumers to be involved within the culture. Sasom solves this by creating a single page for each model of the item for every transaction to be conducted. In doing so, the prices for each items will be transparently displayed on the Sasom platform without any fluctuation. Another problem that the current marketplace has is fake products. Current marketplace platforms like Ebay and even social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are littered with fake products. People often get scammed and have to go through time-consuming processes to get their money back (if they are lucky). Sasom aims to solve this problem by building a trustworthy authentication infrastructure. When a transaction between a buyer and seller occurs, the seller must first send their items to our authentication facilities for us to authenticate. Once we concurred that the sent item is up to our standards, we then pay the seller, and ship that item to the buyer, creating a seamless experience. The buyers and sellers remain anonymous and do not have to interact with one another, which solves another problem. Buying and selling in the current marketplace requires an accumulation of seller credits in order to create trustworthiness for buyers. This process advocates a hierarchical model, which denies newer sellers from completing a sale. Moreover, Sasom's bid/ask model over time will ultimately lower the resell prices for each item by disrupting the hierarchy created by the big players in each industries, making it more attractive for the mass consumers to enter the market/subculture. 

Truth is, the reselling markets have always existed in various segments, they just did not have the necessary funnels to appeal to the mass. With the right execution, Sasom will become the natural evolution of online marketplace for collectibles that will both create price transparency as well as an easier accessible funnel for each collectibles subculture. 

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Unit 3: Project Builder 2

The Lamb to the Slaughter – Newspaper Article Version by Roald Dahl
            Patrick Maloney, Mary Maloney’s husband who lived in an isolated agricultural area somewhere in Texas was brutally murdered yesterday, as the murderer has not yet been found. One of their neighbors said that Mary and Patrick loved each other so much that there is no way one would be able to live without another. Mr. Sam, the grocery store keeper mentioned that in the morning of the same day, Mary stopped by his store and bought some edibles for Patrick. The police and the detective team are currently investigating the suspect, as we will not exclude anyone.
            The psychologist Tony Stark pinpointed the idea that “human nature is quite unpredictable, and Human feelings such as love, faith, affection and loyalty can be blown away. People who say that they love someone from the core of their heart might as well be lying, and therefore the police should not immediately placed Mary as one of the victim of this murder.”

            An interview with Mrs. Mary Maloney further indicated that she is currently 6 months pregnant, and that she won’t be able to raise her child alone as her husband makes the main income of the household. Our newspaper team has decided to create a charity for Mrs. Maloney.

Unit 3: Project Builder 1

Excerpts from The Alchemist


“The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself… no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”


“People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.”


“At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.”


“Never stop dreaming.”

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Unit 2: Project Builder 3

WP2: Project Builder 3
Interview with Professor Paul Spickard
Professor Paul Spickard specializes in Comparative Race and Ethnicity, US Social and Cultural History, World History. He has written more than 20 books both fictional and non fictional within the fields of History and Sociology. As a History major, I immediately connected with professor Spickard’s exuberant teaching style in his History 2C course – this was one of the many reasons why I decided to interview him. Overall, the interview went extremely well; I learned so much more than I thought I would about the genre of history from professor Spickard. As soon as I started asking about the genre of history and its techniques, the first thing that professor Spickard mentioned to me was that he found historical writings to be easier than fictional writings because it is based on facts. From his experience, a successful fictional novel has to be able to capture its audiences’ attention right from the beginning to the end, and therefore it is based on the audience’s reception to the novel. Historical writings on the other hand, do not require such complexity as audiences read historical pieces to learn rather than for leisure. Historical pieces according to professor Spickard are also able to maintain audience’s attention better than fictional writings. Moreover, even when comparing sociology/political science with history, historical pieces tend to do a better job maintaining their audience’s attention. One of the reasons why this is achievable for historical writings is because history for the most part is stories – even when you are writing about facts, there are many different stories to choose from in order to gain the audience’s attention.
Professor Spickard pointed out that one of the issues with the genre of History that bothers him the most is the fact that people/writers think they know more than they do. He believes that everybody has a notion of history, and as a result is usually strongly entitled to his or her own opinion. Opinions and facts are different in the sense that facts will “try” to be as neutral as possible, and a lot of respect is usually given to these facts. Historical facts are often told differently in different areas of the world, and as a result credibility is one of the main importance when writing the genre some of the Historical genre. Professor Spickard used Ted Cruz as an example, as he said how Ted Cruz believed that President Barrack Obama’s economic policies are ineffective even though the statistics show a significant decrease in the unemployment rate in the United States. Moreover, Professor Spickard also raised the idea of intellectual generosity, as he believes that a real Historian or a writer of Historical genre should not be frugal with their knowledge, and instead share it to as many people as possible – the world will become more intelligent and a better place if more people truly understands history.

In one of the articles that I have chosen for this second unit, I have pointed out to Professor Spickard that some of the references that quote outside sources/influential figures/historians might be unnecessary to the paper. Professor Spickard agreed, and further stated that he is not a fan of the use of massive quotations in a writing piece, but many times they are necessary for the author to either reiterate a fact or challenge an idea. The discussion of quotation spearheaded towards the discussion of citations. Professor Spickard completely believed that the MLA style citation is an abomination, and that it messes with the flow of writing. He also mentioned how the Chicago style is the way to go for the genre of history, as it not only make the paper/literary work looks cleaner, but also allows extra spaces to insert more information on outside readings if the audiences wish to learn more.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Unit 2: Project Builder 2


Genre/Discipline: History 
  1.  What specific qualities do historical writing pieces have those made the audiences recognize that they are historically related?
  2. What is your favorite style of writing when it comes to the genre of history?
  3. Who are the main audiences and are people without historical backgrounds able to understand the written language within this genre?
  4. How important is it to quote or include historical scholars as reference within the genre of history?
  5.  What kind of citations do historians usually use and why?
  6. What are the main goals as you are writing in the fields of history? 


Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Unit 2: Project Builder 1


Cold War/ 20th Century Wars
Suri, J. (2006). The world the superpowers made, an article from History in Focus. History.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/cold/articles/suri.html
What is the article about?
The article talks about the cold war; the struggle between the US and the Soviet Union to emerge as the superpower; the only two countries in the position to emerge as superpowers after the collapse of the European countries after the famous 2nd World War. It is important to note that the Cold War was the condition of military and political upheavals that developed between Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc just after World War II, in 1947-1991. It was a difference in economic beliefs and ideas with other countries backing their ideologies with their religious beliefs. The US was capitalist while the Soviet Union was communist and each advocated for the spread of their ideas to various Asian countries. The two nations were working hard to expand their territories further and further.
What has been written or published before it
Many articles were written before this article mostly talked about the World War II and its effects on the global income. After the collapse of the European and the Asian countries the US as well as the Soviet Union were actually the only two powerful countries left to handle the future of the international relationships. 
What is in the article?
The article talks about how Truman and Stalin joined forces to determine the fate of the world economy and avoid another war. However, they two knew that they were rivals. Before the cold war, the US and the Soviet Union turned from a cautious cooperation to a bitter rivalry with each superpower trying to spread their political and economic ideologies to the other countries of the world. The Soviet Union was dissolved due to massive economic destruction and bankruptcy which is believed to be brought by the need to put up with NATO’s armament level in the 1980s; the individual countries partnered with the US. The Reagan doctrine succeeded in reducing nuclear use and in using diplomacy other than force while facing any global disagreement. However, it is the source of labor strikes in America, third world dependency and most of the critical wars such in Angola.
The impact of the article
The article opens the reader to what happened in the past about the Cold War. It enables anyone who reads it to understand why the Cold War existed and why it lasted for that long.
The design
The article is historical and shows the activities that took place in the world in the past. The author of the book wrote the prize-winning book, Power, and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente (Cambridge, Mass., 2003). The author uses stylistic sentences that compare the two superpowers. The sentence shows what Soviet Union does in response to what the US does. The story flows continuously from the first to the last paragraph. The introduction shows where the Cold War began while the conclusion summarizes the whole events and comments what ended the war.
Whether it is appropriate
The article was appropriate since it narrates the whole story about what happened since the World Cold War started to when it ended.
Saunders, N. (2002). History in Focus: War (Articles: Material Culture of War). History.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/War/articles/intro.html
What is the article about?
The article talks about the material culture of the war in the twenty century. It shows the elements that the anthropologists have corrected from the military personnel. The anthropologist should have tangible evidence to connect the war and the activities.
What has been written or published before it
The book is an edition of a previous book
What is in the article?
The article talks about how little things such a bullet is used to give people an experience of the situation at that particular time. For instance, each war that occurred in the past has a representative object. World War I is represented by an artefact.  Seeing the objects helps people to explore the connections of changing values and attitudes associated with different individuals in the various decades. The war materials enable people to connect the spiritual, material, politics and emotions of the residents in a particular decade. The British commemorate the war memorials through observance of silence for two minutes since 1919 to present. The materials also showed the evolution of technology over the years. For instance, during the World War I the soldiers used the 3-D items such as mementos. The archaeological materials are often a tourism heritage for the countries that have them. The article also talks about the Imperial War Museum which is now a financial gain for the country it is situated.
The impact of the article
The report shows the importance of archaeological materials; the benefits the war materials have brought to the countries which have them. It motivates people to preserve the materials of an individual situation for memorization and future references. War items are historical evidence of the fact that war existed.
The design
The article uses rhetorical style. It kept the reader in suspense and interested to know more about the author theme. The author makes paragraphs that are related, but each has a different topic with a similar theme. Most sentences are in a question form to enable the reader to think through about what they expect would happen. The title is related to the whole article concept since the author expounds on it. The author also incorporates photos such that of Imperial War Museum to show the importance of war materials.
Whether it is appropriate
The article is relevant since it convinces readers like me about the importance of archaeological evidence. It also shows the financial and other benefits realized through preservation of the cultural and historical evidence. The war areas are now tourism sites.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Unit 1: Project Builder 2

            The genre historical documentary shown by “The Prequel” by Nicholas D. Kristof aims to raise historical awareness, educate, and spark controversial dichotomy among the audiences. The document raised eminent comparison between the infamous Christopher Columbus, Zheng He, as well as Vasco Da Gama of Portugal. As a result, with the bulk of information provided by the author, readers will be able to draw their own conclusions, comparison, and analysis within this subject matter. Moreover, “The Prequel” might also be able to raise awareness on subjects that are often overlooked or ignored – this text is one of the many modern history-related texts that encouraged everyone to acknowledge Zheng He, and give less praise for Christopher Columbus.

Historical documentaries including “The Prequel” contains an academic tone, one that makes the readers feel the intensity as well as being able to believe that the mentioned historical facts and analysis are credible and worth believing. “As a resident of Asia for most of the past thirteen years, I’ve been searching for an explanation. It has always seemed to me that the turning point came in the early 1400s, when Admiral Zheng He sailed from China to conquer the world.” Here, the author provided a slight of his background information in order to enhance credibility. He stated that he was a resident of Asia, intending for the readers to assume that he is an expert in Zheng He and Asia-related History. Even with such an exaggerated statement like “Admiral Zheng He sailed from China to conquer the world”, this statement is deemed credible because the author subtly mentioned that he is an expert in this field. Just like the historical video documentaries, each guest speakers are subject to a line or two of texts that introduces the speaker’s background; for example “Professor Jackson Warkentin from University of California, Santa Barbara, specializes in East Asian studies.” With this, even before the professor started talking, viewers already unconsciously realized that this speaker is more knowledgeable than they are, and whatever they say will be credible.
Many people will find history mundane, and therefore each historical-related texts will include some unique elements that aims to hook the reader’s attention. For example, in “The Prequel” Kristof mentioned the phenomenon of giraffes according to the Chinese people in the 1400s. “Every time I heard the story about the giraffes my pulse began to race. Chinese records indicate that Zheng He had brought the first giraffes to China… The giraffe caused an enormous stir in China because it was believed to be the mythical qilin, or Chinese unicorn.” The author immediately hooked his readers by mentioning how his pulse began to race whenever he hears about the story that he’s about to tell. After successfully grasping the reader’s attention, the author then cleverly threw in an interesting fact that Zheng He had brought the first giraffes to China, and at the same time presenting the fact in a way that it is credible. The author then inserted mythology within the text as a wow factor – at this point all the readers are amazed by this new unknown fact. After reading about giraffes, the readers might wonder where did Zheng He receive the giraffes? Throwing in fun facts like these could not only entertain the readers, but also allowed them to analyze deeper asking themselves how? Why? And so what? (which are all important questions in history.
Towards the end of the text, the author invites his audiences on a journey filled with “what ifs?” In doing so, the readers will think about this texts beyond what they read, a technique that proves to be thought provoking, and very influential. “If ancient China had been greedier and more outward-looking, if other traders had followed in Zheng He’s wake and then continued on, Asia might well have dominated Africa and even Europe.” This is one of the moments where history could have went in many other directions, which will of course have an impact on the present. Rhetorical techniques like these not only make the readers believe what they read, but also convince them that history as a whole offers much more than what people usually think.