Throughout the whole process of making this blog possible, I can proudly say that I've indeed learnt so much as well as gain additional knowledge on blogs, ethical issues on the Internet, theories on web designs based on the readings by Walsh (2006), Schriver (1997), Kress & vanLeeuwen (2006) and many many more.
Blogging has always been a tool I use for entertainment, to broadcast about the activities I do, the food I eat, the clothes I wear and the friends I hang out with. It has never occured to me that one day I would be able to write and own a serious weblog. This had been a wonderful opportunity for me to fulfill that dream of mine that I once thought was impossible to come true.
What have I learn the most throughout my walk in making my serious weblog a success?
I've learnt to be more cautious in the things I post online, be it the pictures or the choice of words I use. At the same time, bloggers should learn to be ethical and to abide the rules and regulations set for all Internet users and not to misuse them. How is that possible? You may ask. Remember to cite and do a reference list for all the materials borrowed from any e-journals, e-books, websites, government reports and so on. This is a form of respect and acknowledgement towards the authors.
Lastly, as an ethical blogger, we have to consider the feelings of our audience and put them as first priority. As long as we learn how to respect their rights, they will respect us too.
*Emoticon The word emoticon is made up of the words emotion and icon. Scott E. Fahlman was the inventor of the sideways smiley face 25 years ago, on 19 September 1982. Now these emoticons are widely and commonly used in e-mails, chatrooms, blogs and basically for all online purposes. "Emoticons are used online to covey intonation or voice inflection, bodily gestures and emotion behind statements that might otherwise be misinterpreted." (Kayne 2009) The most common emoticon used by online users is a smiley face, made with the colon [:] for eyes, hyphen for the nose [-] and the left parenthesis [)]as the smile. (Funell 2007) That emoticon is viewed at a 90-degree angle, and a smile face is seen as this :-). A few common emoticons include: :-) smile :-( sad ;-) wink :-'( crying >:) mischevious grin :-/ smirk or frowning :-S confused :-P playfully sticking out your tongue :-D laughing hard >:-\ mad :-O surprised B-) a person wearing glasses
An emoticon is normally used to differentiate a statement between a serious tone or a more relaxed tone. The little emoticon can make a huge difference when conveying a message. For example: #1 Josh, you're even slower than a turtle! #2 Josh, you're even slower than a turtle! :-P
The first sentence appears to be more likely like an insult. Misunderstandings might occur as it sounded in a more serious tone. However with the emoticon at the end of the second sentence, it is clearly seen in a more jokingly manner. The emoticon is labelled as a "joke marker". *Email, Good or Bad? Since the 1970s, email has evolved into the communication tool of choice for information technology academics and professionals. (Berghel 1997) Efficient, fast, asynchronous, time saving, paper conserving, amendable contents, and the tools provided on the desktop are some of the technical advantages of emails.
Besides that, there is also the darker side to emails. Emails became so convenient, it allows an individual to become lazy, encourages abuse at the interpersonal level and irresponsible mass mailing. The security issue is also a major problem followed by the rise of virus attacks and privacy issues.
According to Putnis and Petelin (1996), writing normally uses a more formal vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure if compared to speaking. Therefore, email makes it easier for an individual as no face to face communication is needed. This, can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how the individual perceives.
20 July 2008 was the day Facebook had a makeover, upsetting many of its users. It was said that the change was to improve Facebook, upgrading it into a newer, cleaner and simpler design. Facebook, one of the world's hottest social networking site, unveiled a whole new look and design with the purpose of providing constant updates on what the user's friends are up to. This is one of the highlighted feature the new facebook has to offer. (Richards 2008)
Product Manager for the new Facebook (Mark Slee) aims to give the site a cleaner and simpler look by reducing clutter. The profile page comes with a single status feed including the wall, menus combined into a single navigation bar with additional info and photos pulled into a tab called "Publisher". All the applications have been grouped into the Boxes tab. Users can add additional application tabs as they like.
Mark Slee, the lead product manager for the new Facebook design, said: "We understand that some people will be uncomfortable with the changes. But over time, we think people will appreciate the advantages of the new design and the new features it offers."
An interview with Lead Product Manager of the new Facebook, Mark Slee
(Source: Scobleizer tv) An uproaring protest group on the site who labelled themselves as Petition Against the "New Facebook" has now grown to more than a million members.
Negative comments of some users:
"Now, obviously Facebook is a free service and it can implement any changes it wants - if you don't like it, don't use it. But I'll be honest, this new information overload isn't exactly helping me keep tabs on what people are up to. If anything, it's now more of a hinderance." (Head 2009)
"It is so much harder to use. Why couldn't they just leave it the way it was?" (Elise 2008)
"It may be faster but the layout is too confusing. Facebook will never be the same again." (Slyvia 2008)
Facebook was thankful that there were some positive comments too. Positive comments of some users:
"It's much easier to use now. People were used to the old version; it will just take them a while to become familiar with this one." (Gemma 2008)
Despite that all the big hoo-has, till today, Facebook (2009) is at a point where it has almost all 150 million users around the world and are actively using Facebook, with the new design. (Zuckerberg 2009) According to Schriver (1997), document designers have to bear in mind that the designs they choose to or not to use maybe be significant to their readers. Changes made, whether is it visually or verbally present or missing elements may affect their readers. In this situation, when the bias decision making in designing the document clashes with a reader's perspective, it might turn an interested audience into an unhappy one (Schriver 1997).
Facebook is here to stay. When changes are made, its either you accept it or you stop using it. It is as simple as that. The new designs and features come with improved applications, simpler and more seamless. The will be options for users to interact with any application before it is granted access to that application and before publishing.
"A new breed of independent film is growing on the Internet — webisodes." (USA Today 2007) Webisodes are short web episodes or series, ranging from about 4-15 minutes. These webisodes may feature as a part of a collection of drama series, whether it was already published beforehand in a movie, elsewhere or a whole new set of storyline. Viewers have to download it from the Internet to gain access to these webisodes. There are also webisodes which are created relatively targeted to teenagers to entertain as well as educate them on the dangers of drug abuse and the spread of HIV infection. For example:
This particular webisode had 2,156,980 views, 343,356 suscribers and 10,981,883 channel views.
It is also awarded the #15 - Most Subscribed (All Time), #6 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Directors, #13 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Partners and #62 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Directors on Youtube
I myself, have been a loyal suscriber of HappySlip, as I enjoyed every episodes of the webisodes. I find myself anticipating for new videos every month!
We had been making videos for the Internet and other places for several years," says Sloan. "Chad Vader was one idea in a pile of ideas that we had pitched to some networks and gotten some positive feedback. Things move so slowly in the television and film world, we didn't want to wait around for approval. We wanted to make it ourselves." (USA Today 2007)
According to Walsh (2006), the Internet has the power to combine words and images in complex structure with "logos, menu bars, hyperlinks, hot spots, video clips, animation, graphics, music, sound effects, voice-over or write-over." All these features help so much in enhancing the website as it able to link from pages to pages of interconnections in and between the sites. Technology is now the greatest tool for anyone wanting to tell a story and made it heard. How does it attract the viewers? A production which is dead and boring shuns the audience away.
Interaction with the audience is one of the main reasons why viewers get attracted to a particular webisode. People tend to connect with the words, pictures and videos in order to fully understand and enjoy the texture of stories (Reagen & Revels 2007) Out of curiousity and interest, audience will want to come back for more.
Television works and functions in the same way how a webisode does, that is to engage its audience. "The single most important concept in this new industrial discourse is that of audience “engagement”, a term that has generated a tremendous amount of debate and disagreement, with television and advertising executives alike struggling to understand what engagement is, how it works, and what its practical consequences will be." (Askwith 2007)
4. National Institute on Drug Abuse 2007, Information on HIV/AIDS and teen drug use from NIDA (Online accessed 10 June 2009) URL: http://hiv.drugabuse.gov/index.html
5. Reagen, B. W. & Revels, A. 2007, 'Mapping the Loss of Reflexivity in the Age of Narcissism', National Association for the Practice of Anthropology.
7. Walsh, M. 2006, ‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts,” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol.29, no.1, pp.24-37.
“Freedom of speech? Of course we have it in Malaysia! You can say anything you want in your speech. Its your freedom after your speech that is in question!” (Legallyblawg.com 2007).
Freedom of speech is not the passport for anyone to say anything and everything anywhere. But of course, everyone has the right to speak, infact to say whatever they want. There is no turning back after something is said, as we all know, the problem comes after the speech is made. One has to bear the consequences of the contents of the things said that might offend others, or if the law disagrees with our right to say it. (VanFossen 2007)
Every Malaysian citizen is guaranteed the freedom of speech and expression, the right to assemble peaceably withour arms and the right to form associations just as stated in Article 10 (1) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. But sadly, the right to freedom of expression is not absolute in Malaysia.
According to Article 10(2)(a), the Parliament has the right to impose restrictions on these "rights in the interest of the security of the Federation, friendly relations with other countries, public order, morality; and restrictions designed to protect the privileges of Parliament, to provide against contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to any offence." (Legallyblawg.com 2007). As long as it is found as a national threat to the country, it is seen as a violation to the law.
Schriver (1997) explained that reading is an activity shared by everyone. Both the different perspective between individual readers and others are important and have to be taken into consideration. An individual may want to voice out his or her opinion. But, people with different cultures, values and beliefs reads it, they might find it hard to digest, some might even feel offended. This can been seen just as how the political bloggers and the Malaysian government are now.
At the same time, posting offensive and sensitive images on blogs spell trouble. People with social, cultural, values, beliefs and knowledge differences, will interpret the image differently. These pictures often get in the way of the readers. (Schriver 1997)
Over the years, there were on going news on issues of how the Malaysian goverment is dealing with the overwhelming amount of blogs that were blooming. One of the Malaysian Minister tried to impose laws requiring all bloggers to register with the government, to make the process of controlling blogs easier. Datuk Kong Cho Ha, a technology minister, said that these laws were implemented in order to prevent bloggers from circulating and spreading disharmony, chaos, seditious materials and lies. (Walker 2006)
"All Malaysian news-based blogs could be forced to register with the ministry of information," the minister said. (Walker 2006)
Malaysian blogger, Vincent Chow said that he finds this new law an impossible thing to do. Unless all Malaysian bloggers are using the same and only blog platform, host and system, there is a possibility that the new law might work. However, since this is not the case, registering all bloggers is one of the hardest thing he can ever think of. (Walker 2006)
Other bloggers like the Malaysia Bloggers Forum commented saying blogs were not the only platform that is able to spread information. What about emails, websites, community forums, SMS, and so on? How many things could the goverment actually control? (Walker 2006)
True enough, the plan was scrapped due to the many loopholes and thousands of unanswered questions that made the plan seemed almost impossible to be carried out. The government is still cracking their heads over the matter. They tried to use a softer approach to respond to bloggers more feasibly than to appear as opposing them (Masnick 2008) , as the saying goes, "if you can fight them, join them".
These are the few questions that we should ask ourselves: Is it ethical to censor the Internet? How do we actually define ethics?
Yes its true that the Internet has its own rules and regulations (Electronic Rights and Ethics) that all Internet users should abide. But, are they really following and obeying them?
It is indeed very hard to set a standard for all to follow. Users can choose to or not to obey, the decision is not for us to make. Everybody plays a part in it.
References
1. Funnell, A. 2008, 'The Blogging Revolution', The Media Report (Online accessed 8 June 2009)
4. Schriver, K.A. 1997, Chapter 6 in Dynamics in document design. 5. Walker, P. 2006, Malaysia's mission unbloggable, Guardian.co.uk (Online accessed 8 June 2009) URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2006/dec/05/malaysiablogb 6. VanFossen, L. 2007, 'Blogging Freedom of Speech: Can You Really Say Whatever You Want?', The Blog Hearld (Online accessed 8 June 2009)
The new digital era has invaded into our gerenation, bringing all sorts of new possibilities for us to communicate in so many ways. We can do so by our voicing out our opinions, ideas, experiences and dreams to anybody, through internet publications, blogs, e-zines and online forums and the list goes on. (Koval 2005) Over the past years, it has been challenging as we witnessed the rapid transformation of the old media into a new form of media that has changed writing and publishing drastically. The new media is actively being used forpolitical activism and campaigning all around the world (Koval 2005).
YouTube allows people all across the world to upload and share original videos on the web. Besides, this can be done and uploaded easily on mobile devices, blogs, and email. Everyone and anyone is able to access the videos on YouTube. People can see first-hand clips on current events, based on their interest and hobbies, funny, cute, werid and lame stuff. (Crunchbase 2009)
Youtube has been one of the fastest growing brand in the media industry. In the first six months of 2006, the users of Youtube increased drastically by 500% in UK. (Plunkett 2006) YouTube managed to beat rival social networking sites Flickr and MySpace face flat. (Plunkett 2006)
References
1. Crunchbase 2009, YouTube (Online accessed 3 June 2009)
There is no one way of classifying blogs. Most of the bloggers agree that the contents are the most important feature in a blog. But at the same time, it is difficult to do so, as the contents are often so varied. (Miller & Shepherd 2004)
A reviewing site (The Weblog Review blog), evaluates and grades the blog according to its contents based its design, consistency, and content. The Weblog Review classifies blogs into fourteen categories, as the following: adult, anime, camgirl, computer, entertainment, humor, movies, music, news/links, personal, photography, Spanish/Portugese, teen, and video games. (Miller & Shepherd 2004)
In the same way, Wikipedia classified blogs according to its contents, which includes personal, political, directory, as well as format based types of blogs. (Miller & Shepherd 2004)
Jill Walker offered a different kind of classification; the textual blogs and other subgenre blogs such as photoblogs, videoblogs and audioblogs. (Miller & Shepherd 2004)
Rebecca Blood (2000) offers her perspective of the classifications of blogs in two styles, a big portion judging on the contents; an original filter-style, in which the blogger himself is the author, editor and annotator of links and a more personal blog-style known as the weblog. This is a medium where bloggers blog freely, mainly based on the outbreak of self-expression.(Miller & Shepherd 2004)
Building a community Communication between individuals is the key to every community, be it online or otherwise. There are two critical elements that a successful online community must have, that is firstly, to choose the right community or social networking features that may in a way or another relate to the community, and secondly, putting those features in the online application to good use. People often missed out the first step, thus causing the downfall of the online community. (Hedstrom 2009).
These are a few steps to get started on building a good community base: 1. Select an appropriate and suitable central gathering place. 2. Implement a web analytics on the blog. (Suggestions: Plug in Google Analytics, claim your blog on Technorati or set up Feedburner) 3. Start sourcing out to find where your customers & potential customers are at (Suggestions: Install Google Alerts, monitor Twitter, Social Media Firehose) 4. Find, monitor and start following trends. 5. Participate, join and get active on social networking sites or other blogs. 6. Be consistent and be everywhere. Make a name for yourself.
Blogs as current phenomenon & benefits to the community. What is a Blog? For the past 5 years or so, the word 'blog' transformed from an 'Excuse me, can u repeat that word?' era to an 'in-trend' of our generation today. It was said that the birth of the first blog was in 1992. However, in the late nineties, more and more communities sprung up and blogs started to gain popularity only after year 2000. (Ng 2009)
The word ‘blog’ comes from the combination of two words, that is web and log. Blogs are known as online journals or virtual diaries created by individuals that is available on the web. The process of posting and updating a blog is called “blogging” and anyone who has a blog is known as a “blogger.” (NetAlert 2007)
In 2006, BBC News reported that the blogging phenomenon is set to peak in 2007, predicted by analysts Gartner. According to the blog tracking firm, Technorati, an estimation of 100,000 new blogs were created daily, and 1.3 million blog posts were written.
Recently, Nielsen Online’s BlogPulse search engine has touched the big M; 100 million blogs recorded in their database. Back in April 2005, 10 million blogs were registered, 12 million by June 2005, and now, 100 million. (MacDonald 2009) It shows pretty clearly how the usage of blogs have been increasing rapidly day after day.
Blogging Trends There is a wide variety of genres based on blogging trends in the blogosphere. Political blogging, business blogging, personal blogging, topical blogging, literary blogging, health blogging, tavel blogging, research blogging, legal blogging and educational blogging are the few main blogging trends of the generation today.
According to Microsoft's MSN and Windows Live Online Services Business's research, about 46% Asians are actively blogging. The research proved that Asian's top purpose of blogging is to create and at the same time keep up with their social connections with friends and family members as a way of expressing themselves. (Microsoft 2006)
Blogging effects on Malaysian Communities Blogs create opportunities for any individual, regardless of race, gender, age and so on to creatively express themselves. Recently in Malaysia, it is now a trend to express and voice one's feelings or opinion using blogs. At the same time, countries like United States and even Malaysia, uses this medium as a platform to gain publicity.
Some of the Malaysian political bloggers made names for themselves in this industry; Lim Kit Siang,Jeff Ooi, Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and many many more. These political blogs provide people with different perspectives and views on political issues as well as giving them a chance to openly discuss them. Thus, many believe that this has contributed towards fostering democracy in Malaysia in a good way.
Document design is the combination of writing and designing, primarily focusing on the reader’s needs along with the skillful selections, suitable structuring and layout as well as clear emphasis of the content.
“Document design is the field concerned with creating texts, that is books, pamphlets, posters and others that integrate words and pictures in ways that help people to achieve their specific goals for using texts at home, school, or work.” (Schriver 1997)
This advertisement uses both text and images to bring the message to its audience.
A good document design acts as a communication medium and it has the ability to convey the right message to the readers.
Based on the two key points I got from my readings, I came to a conclusion that both text and images bring better effects to the readers. “Images have other effects that are different from words, particularly at effective, aesthetic and imaginative levels.” (Walsh 2006)
Readers may not get the message of this advertisement just by looking at the image. They might be confused on why the policemen are hiding behind this car instead of their own police car.
However, if text were added in the advertisement, readers are able to understand it fully. It is written at the bottom of the advertisement, "Small but tough". This shows how tough the Volkswagen vehicle is that it is used to shield for the policemen.
Visual images, if not used in the correct way may affect the document design and destroy the original meaning of the message directed to the audience.
This image alone may give the audience a different meaning.
However, the text at the side of the advertisement explains it all. The famous slogan "Just do it" is familiar to all and helps promote Nike.
In multimodal text, both the text and images may carry out different meanings. (Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T 2006)
This advertisement shows a white woman gripping a black woman by the jaw. The white woman represents a "white PSP" while the black model represents a "black PSP". It also features the slogan: "PlayStation Portable White is coming." This advertisement has been accused of spreading racism concept in it. The image gave the audience a different meaning.
An effective document has to have a balance of visual images and text, supporting each other as both carry equal amount of importance as it connects with the readers’ knowledge, experience, beliefs and values. (Schriver 1997)
This is a BMW advertisement promoting safety and advising drivers not to drink and drive. The image alone could not clearly convey the message to its readers. However with the text, readers understand better of how the image relates to the message.
Based on my observations through the group and individual presentations, I found that that the audience were more engaged in my individual presentation as there were more images added in as examples. It was less text heavy as compared to the group presentation slides and it was much easier for them to catch my point. Therefore the audience showed more interest and I manage to capture their attention for a longer time. According to Schriver (1997), redundancy is an effective way that prose and graphic work together bringing forth a better understanding on what I was trying to explain.
In my individual presentation, I included images in my slides to emphasize the message I was speaking on. The audience were also interested in and at the same time curious of what I was going to say about the images.
While in my group presentation, most of our slides were very text-heavy and not much images were used to illustrate the texts. Therefore, the audience may not pay as much attention to what we were trying to say as it is not as interesting if compared to slides with more images.
My slides were simple and attractive. There were no complicated borders and equal as well as relevant font size were used (Kress & van Leeuwen 2006).
This enables the audience to read clearly and at the same time they will not get distracted by unwanted distractions. My slides were not text heavy and suitable images were inserted in to enhance the audience's understanding on my topic.
"..an image-text relation in which the verbal text extends the meaning of the image, or vice versa.." (Kress & van Leeuwen 2006).
The Formula Toothpaste advertisement gives a good example on how the image was able to add more impact to its audience alongside with the slogan "Builds strong teeth".
In conclusion, a good document design is a blend of equal text and images, that is able to let the audience fully understand the message conveyed.
References 1.Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 2006, Reading images. Chapter 1: The semiotic landscape: language and visual communication. 2.Schriver, K.A. 1997, Chapter 6 in Dynamics in document design. 3.Walsh, M. 2006,” ‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts,” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol.29, no.1, p.24-37.
This blog was created with the purpose to review, analyze and discuss issues pertaining publication and design. This will also be my learning ground and a place where I can share about what I've learnt and how I am able to apply it in the current issues in publishing relating to form and function. I will be mainly touching on blogging issues, publishing and web-based media. My targeted audience would be students majoring in the field of communication, my fellow classmates, professional and experienced publishers, and visitors who are interested in issues publication and design.
