Friday, June 11, 2010

Reflection ~

Indeed, it has been a long journey and here comes the end of another semester in Taylor's University College. It's a mixed feeling of relief, happiness and anxiety, for college days might be over for some of us.

I have acquired invaluable experiences and knowledge through the creation of this web blog. In conducting my researches, I discovered the finest qualities of new media publishing through intensive reading and assimilation of news and data collection. In making a blog successful, a lot of researches and course readings are required to substantiate the facts and point presented in its content so as to make them more rhetoric and attractive.

I also learned that compliance with moral ethics is of paramount importance when publishing a post in my blog. According to Lannon ( 2006), he states that credibility and accuracy of information in a useful website is an essential credential. Therefore care must be exercised to give acknowledgment and the sources of information derived when quoting from other authors as a mean to give them credits. There should always be proper citation and referencing to avoid copyright infringement and plagiarism.

In ensuring that my blog can attract wide readership, its contents have been written in a simplified manner that are easily understandable. Creating a blog can be easy but the challenge is making it interesting so that the audiences will return regularly. Images are also inserted in my blog to give it an interesting look, as said in Shriver ( 1997) that text and images complement each other to convey effective message to the audience.

Lastly, a blogger has to understand that culture plays a huge role in the blogosphere as far as controversial racial and religious issues are concerned. An understanding of the diversified audiences and the various multimedia and communication laws is an essential criterion in the digital world. One should note that each individual has different view points and perception in society!

References

Schriver, KA 1997, ' Dynamics in Document Design : Creating Text for Readers', Wiley Computer Publisher, New York.

Walsh, M 2006, " Textual Shifts : Examining The Reading Process With Print, Visual and Multimodal Text". Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 24-37

Email Etiquette

Let's be honest, many people have no idea how to write, and many others have no idea how to interpret what they receive - Anthony Funnel, Media Watch Report 2007

In today's digital world, e-mailing is an effective
tool of communication for many of us in our everyday lives, most importantly for work and social networking. However,communication via an e-mail will always be less personal as compared to inter-personal communication which enables us to study a person's facial expression,body language and intonation. When used as a communication tool, e-mails lack the visual and audio factor which is important to fully comprehend a message and its intended objective. Through personal experiences, communicating through writing an e-mail has caused some complications such as the recipient not getting the full meaning of a passage, as well as the right emotions. People often misjudge the emotions of e-mails due to their overconfidence with their perception of a particular e-mail even when there are few communicational cues in it ( The Media Watch Report 2007).Hence, the choice of language and words one use when writing an e-mail are very important to convey the correct message across.

According to Walsh (2006), about how multimodal texts convey meanings of documents through a synchronization of modes, the resulting of these culmination of modes often find its way in a new type of medium or genre as we are familiar with and experience on a day-to-day basis today. Since messages in e-mails are sometimes wrongly interpreted by the recipients, this had led American Scott Fahlman to invent the 'emoticon'. Emoticons are sideways smiley face that could simply be used for online communication by typing a colon, a hyphen and then parenthesis ( The Media Watch Report 2007). Today, smiley faces has taken over the internet world to enable people to express themselves emotionally by inserting emoticons in their texts to give an interpersonal feeling and affections. We can now send photos and videos of ourselves smiling, just to show that there is no trace of anger or frustration in the message sent.

Source : www. bestfreeicons.com

The female species has always been known to be the emotional gender, so most would assume it would be the same regarding the usage of emoticons in the cyber world. However, it is rather surprising when Wolf (2004) stated in her article studies indicated while the Internet may not promised great equalizer for the sexes, women have found a voice in computer-mediated communication (CMC) which denied them in face-to-face encounters. She also included that research shows that men have traditionally dominated the technology and have comprised the majority of users of computer networks since their inception. This could be due to the fact that women are the more personal sex and would 'monitor' their expression in public, the public sphere ( internet) included.

Will Schwalbe stated that the Generation Y ( also known as Generation Next) comprises the literate world that knows how to type, spell and use proper grammar ( The Media Watch Report 2007). Hence, to correct any imbalances, the older generation should learn about the proper em-mail etiquette from Generation Y as everyone should grasp and practice the proper writing style and expression in the modern cyberspace to be in tandem with each other to avoid miscommunication and misinterpretation.

For more information : http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm

References

Alecia, W. (2004), " Emotional Expression Online: Gender Differences in Emoticon Use," Cyberpsychology & Behaviour, The University of Texas, Arlington.

The Media Report (2007), Emotions and email etiquette (transcript), viewed on 10th June 2010,
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm

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







E-books popularity on the rise

Due to ever-changing state-of-the-art technology today, it is now easier for us to access and retrieve data and information anytime and places we want at a hyperactive speed. Thanks to this advanced technology, the E-book is introduced.

Books are the primary source of information known to mankind who crave for knowledge for as long we know. Due to the vast varieties and huge volumes of books and huge volumes of books, it is hard to keep track of the authors and title of every single book in this world. Sometimes, it can be difficult for some to search for the books of their choices due to the small collection of books in their bookstores or libraries.

The existence of E-book has loosened the burden for most of us today. An E-book is a book published in a digitized form and is available with the click of your mouse, just like an electronic book. Because E-books usually exist in print and online versions, they are different from websites. This is because the content in the E-books has gone through an editorial process that helps to establish and verify its information ( South Western Oregon Community College 2010).

At the beginning of E-books' existence, many was hyped out about it like the next BIG thing. However, only the new generation seemed to be the main consumers' of this technology.
There is a possibility that it is because these generation are more organized and would prefer storing their book collections digitally, instead of having to find space in their homes or offices. Most of us in the city do not have sufficient time to tidy and arrange our books in order, hence storing it in our digital storage would be a better choice. According to research published by The American Association of Publishers, E-books have turned in a compound annual sales growth rate of 55% between 2002 and 2007 ( Coker, Wikert, Hamilton 2009).

However, publishers and authors are concerned over the drop of book sales ever since the introduction of E-book in the cyberspace. As much as Adobe has helped consumers with their workload, digital formats are well-known to be commonly shared amongst consumers and their social circle. This is synonymous to those in the music industry who fear losing their money due to piracy and theft of their intellectual properties. Authors and publishers are now very concerned about the wide distribution of their materials in this fast-moving technological medium, the internet. This issue has been debated and considered an ethical issue.

Source : www. neurosoftware.ro

In 2009, the Amazon Kindle model and Sony's PRS-500 were the dominant e-reading devices( ZD Net 2010). This year, the new Apple iPad has been a rising popularity amongst E-books' consumers as Apple has announced their agreements with five or six of the largest publishers that would allow Apple to distribute E-books ( Apple 2010). Why is iPad so popular?

According to Bernhart (1986) he states that the physical fact of the text, with its spatial appearance on the page, requires visual comprehension : a text can be seen, must be seen, in a process that is entirely different from the perception of speech.He also claimed that the written mode necessitates the arrangement of script and typeface, a process which gives visual cues to verbal organization of the text. In this case, the E-book consumers treats reading an E-book just like an ordinary book, brought available by the present state-of the-art technology.

For more information : http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2849989.htm


References

ABC The 7.30 Report 2010, E-books Popularity on the Rise, viewed on 7th June 2010,
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2849989.htm

Apple 2010, Apple Launches iPad, viewed on 9th June 2010,
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/01/27ipad.html

Bernhardt, S. A. (1986), Seeing the text, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Feb., 1986), pp. 66-78, National Council of Teachers of English

Coker M, Wikert J & Hamilton A 2009, ' The Rise of E-books', viewed on 10th June 2010,
http://www.toccon.com/toc2009/public/schedule/detail/5105

South Western Oregon Community College 2010, Glossary of Research Terms, viewed on 9th June 2010,

http://www.socc.edu/library/pgs/databases/glossary-of-research-terms.shtml


ZD Net UK 2010, Bookeen Cybook OPUS, viewed on 10th June 2010,
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10014045o-2000667842b,00.htm








Blogger held over insulting posting

As the internet is a hyperactive superhighway for the dissemination of knowledge and news in this borderless digital world, it is a wonder that everyday millions of words are dumped into it without people realizing it. This creates a scenario where unethical, slanderous, malicious and seditious messages can taint the cyber world.

Aduka Taruna, a 28 year old blogger was arrested for hurling insults in the internet on the death of the late Sultan of Johor.His posting received plenty of dissatisfied comments from readers who described him as 'rude' or 'excessive' and unduly disrespectful to the late royal figure. Upon reading the negative responses to his posting. Despite his apology, he was reprimanded and charged under Section 223 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, which forbids the use of obscenity and offensive words with the intention of causing annoyance, abuses which threaten the unity and harmony of the country.


Source : http://kamal-talksmalaysia.blogspot.com

Kress and van Leeuwen ( 2006) stated that different people have different interpretations of texts due to different perspectives based on culture background and personal experience. Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-religious country, comprising people from different ethnic groups. It is understandable that due to the huge cultural diversity, differences in opinions, mind-set and thinking can pose a threat to the unity and harmony of the country. Bloggers should be familiar with the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 and the media codes of ethics before undertaking the task of blogging.

Bloggers should take a mental note on blogging etiquette before writing and posting something that the audiences' perceived as immoral and rude to avoid getting themselves into any serious trouble, especially when it comes to writing about sensitive issues.

Here are several rules on blogging etiquette :
  1. Do not use someone else's words on your blog without permission granted. Proper citation and referencing should be inserted if there are quotes or statements that are not yours.
  2. When you comment on someone else’s blog, there’s usually a line under the name and email for a link to your blog or website and that should suffice. Do not spam.
  3. Be respectful when dropping comments. Calling names and vulgar languages are considered unacceptable to some, while others can be more open-minded.
  4. Respond to comments. Your readers took the time to offer their thoughts, keep them coming back by reciprocating.
  5. Don’t forget, everything you write is on display for the world to see. If you don’t want the world to know something, don’t post it. Many employers now Google potential employees.
- Deborah Ng (2007)


For more information : go to http://yquake.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/12eiss/Article/index_html

References

Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 2006, Reading Images, Routledge, London

News Straits Times 2009, Blogger Held Over Insulting Posting, last viewed on 6th June 2010,
go to http://yquake.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/12eiss/Article/index_html

Ng, D 2007, Blog Etiquette : The Rules are Quite Simple, last viewed on 7th June 2010,
http://www.bloggingtips.com/2007/11/25/blog-etiquette-the-rules-are-quite-simple/

Newspaper Cartoonists Engage Audiences Online

Source : www.minnpost.com

Like it or not, most of us are fans of the comics in our daily local newspapers.

According to Walsh ( 2006) who states that audience are inclining towards favoring text that has features of multimodality, such as the use of images to enhance the interesting factor of conveying a message. That is one the reasons why most of us are searching for the comics section in our daily local newspapers. .

As fans or critics, we would like to reach out and talk to those cartoonists. However, cartoonist have traditionally remained behind-the-scene engimas, invisible but for their work, and the best readers could do was write to the syndicate and hope for their letters got passed along ( Rosen-Molina 2009).

Not to worry!!!

Today, cartoonists learn to venture online so that they can be in contact with their readers and receive feedbacks and comments. The web is also a useful tool for cartoonists to generate readers' interests.

According to John Naughton (2006), our communication environment is changing. The combination of digital convergence, personal computing and global networking seems to have ratcheted up the pace of development and is giving rise to radical shifts in the environment. The web is a pull medium. Nothing comes to you unless you choose it and click on it to pull it down onto your computer ( Naughton 2006). This means that those who visited the comics sites are genuinely interested in reading comics as they are the ones in charge of surfing the internet in search for materials to read.

Reep (2003) states that content on a website is the attraction that lures users to surf. With that, cartoonists should update their comics strips regularly in order to keep their readers' interested. Too much waiting would definitely burn their interest, hence readers will surf the internet for other interesting and attractive website.

Thanks to the internet, now cartoonists are given the opportunity to receive and reply feedback from their audiences, hence providing them new ideas and chances to improve their skills in the creative industry.

The new ecosystem will be richer, more diverse and immeasurably more complex because of the number of content producers, the density of the interactions between them and their products, the speed with which actors in this space can communicate with one another, and the pace of development made possible by ubiquitous networking - John Naughton ( 2006)


For more information : http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/03/newspaper-cartoonists-engage-audiences-including-haters-online089.html

References

Naughton, J 2006, Blogging and New Media Ecosystem, viewed on 9th June 2010,
http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf

Reep, DC 2006, 'Chapter 4: Principles of document design', in Technical writing, 6th edn, Pearson Education, Inc., New York, pp. 173 - 190


Rosen-Malina, M 2009, Newspaper Cartoonists Engage Audiences ( Including Haters) Online, last viewed on 6th June 2010,
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/03/newspaper-cartoonists-engage-audiences-including-haters-online089.html

Sunday, April 18, 2010

It's All About the Design

A well thought out design on screen is the key element to grasp your readers' attention. With the help of design principles, designer can determine the relationship between the parts or design elements involved and serve as rules that a designer can follow when combining these elements in a design ( Evans 2006). These design principles are balance, proportion, sequence and consistency.

To further illustrate the design principles of screen design, some examples from my presentation slides during a class presentation will be shown in this blog!


Slide 1
Slide 1 is the cover page of my whole presentation which consists of the title of the presentation, the readings supporting the facts in the slides and the name of the presenter (me). This shall give my audiences' a brief idea on what will be presented.

Slide 2

The document design in Slide 2 is plain and simple. "Simplicity" is important to attract readers to your document design. Readers prefers document designs which are orderly, clean, clutter-free with plain, simple English for easy reading (Slideshare 2009). In Slide 2, the texts of the slides are easily read, as it is in contrast with the dark background. This is preferred as it pleasant to the eyes of the readers. English Language used in this document design is simple and is broken down to point forms for easier understanding.

Therefore, document designers have to take priorities on the principles of document design on screen to be able to convey their messages effectively to their audiences. They must also take note that print and web differs from one another, and requires different techniques used to grasp the audiences' attention.

References
Evans, Poppy 2006, 'Chapter 2 and 5' in Publication Design, Thomson-Delmar, New York

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, t 2006,
Reading Images : The Grammar of visual design, 2nd edn, Routledge, London

Slideshare 2009, '
Principles of Good Screen Design', viewed on 15 April 2010.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

NEW TOYS!

New forms of media publishing is taking over the internet world! Here are the insights!

Have you heard of the new term 'tweeting'? For those who have, I bet you are probably a member of the twitter world where one 'tweets' about their thoughts and opinions and shares it with the world in a more personal manner.

Twitter is a form of micro blog which involves very short status updates, but without a doubt encourage interaction between individuals, near or far. With new technology such as Blackberry and Iphone, it is definitely easier for us to update our status on Twitter as well as comment on others.Furthermore, now we can share videos with others easily, just at a click of the mouse. Video blog is the key to our answer! Now, anyone can stream videos of themselves or anything in particular and share with the online world. The world-famous video blog site, YouTube 'Broadcast Yourself" became popular due to its user-friendly browsing and its wide range of videos made available for millions of viewers around the world.So, broadcast away!

References :
Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, ‘Chapter 1: The semiotic landscape: language and visual communication’, Reading Images, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Blogging crazy!

'Weblog' has become increasingly popular as the number of blogs online has bloomed over the past few years. As of December 2007, blog search engine, Technorati was tracking more than 112,000,000 blogs! ( David 2002).

With the popularity of blogs increasing, this provides a pathway to 'blogging communities' where readers are gathered and linked to blogs where they can share and discuss about the same topic of interest. Internet acting as the medium which connects all walks of life around the globe has made it easier for all to interact among one another, even if one is in India and the other in London.

The word 'community' best describe a group of people who come together to give support and share information together, in a way, giving each individual a sense of belonging and identity (The Travel Tart 2009). So, in the 'blog world', bloggers unite in an environment within the blogosphere, where there are active exchanges of ideas and support between readers and bloggers.
Malaysia Blogger Community (MBC) aims to gather all Malaysian bloggers to create a healthy blog environment where bloggers and readers come together to discuss on a certain topic of interest. BlogCatalog aims to bring the world together,with the slogan ' We bring the voice of the people to you'. One can explore plenty in the blogosphere, ranging from music, travel, fashion to technology. This is definitely made easier for readers as they can pick from the many categories according to their main interest.
With all ideas from different cultures, we can change the world and make it a better place!

References
David S. 2002, 'Technorati' Sifry's Alerts, viewed on 9th April 2010,
http://www.sifry.com/alerts/

The Travel Tart 2009, ' What is a blogging community', viewed on 9th April 2010,
http://www.thetraveltart.com/what-is-a-blogging-community/











Monday, April 12, 2010

Types of blogs

There are different types of blogs to choose from, depending on bloggers' topic of interest and their targeted audiences. Personal blogs,professional blogs, corporate blogs and micro blogs are four types of blogs one can choose from, whether to 'typed' down their thoughts or just simply reading. With new effects created which let the bloggers insert photos,videos,music and nice background layout to make blogging a whole level of reading experience.

Personal blogs

In my opinion, personal blogs get the most attention from young readers, however there is no doubt that these blogs do attract readers from various age groups as well. One good example of a personal blog is our own Sarawakian boy, Kenny Sia who made a big name of himself just by just blogging!
For more information about Kenny's blog, visit http://www.kennysia.com.

Corporate blogs

Corporate blogs are published by an organization to achieve their organizational goals. Posts and comments are made easier to access due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversational threads. Tony Fernandez, the CEO of AirAsia is one of the top names who have involved himself in the corporate blog world. According to his first blog post-Welcome Aboard, the reason he setup this blog is to provide another platform to keep in touch with people despite his busy schedule. With the start of his blog - The Entrepreneur, I believe there will be more and more corporate CEO joining the boat soon! (Wong 2008).

Professional blogs

The main purpose of professional blogs are for professionals to share their knowledge and skills on their professional expertise. Usually, a professional blog focuses on one chosen industry, such as photography blogs and architecture blogs. Professional blogs are meant for readers to gain insights on a certain area of expertise that they are interested in.



Micro blogs
Micro blogs such as Twitter are dominating the cyber world and many use these blogs to keep track with the lifestyles of the fast-moving society which includes brief text posts, photos and video clips.

With latest gadgets introduced in town, sharing videos (vlog), mobile blogging (moblog), pictures (photo blog) and information (news blog) are all made easier.Just a click away!!!!!


References
Wong, S 20o8, ' AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandez Joins the Corporate Blogging World', viewed on 8th April 2010,
http://stevenwongblog.com/blog-marketing/airasia-ceo-tony-fernandes-joins-the-corporate-blogging-world/

Kenny Sia, 2010, 'When Routines Isn't Exactly Normal', viewed on 8th April 2010,
www.kennysia.com

Friday, April 9, 2010

Blog-a-blog...blog...

The term ‘blogging’ is not a new word for us in this modern day. Blogging has become a trend for people to speak their mind.

A 'blog' is a word that abbreviated from 'weblog' which stands for a website that maintain a progressing chronicle of information ( WordPress 2007).Blog is like a diary except that blogging enable us to share our thought and ideas with people throughout the world, in another word, less personal.

Blogs gives us an opportunity to speak our mind, discuss our personal views with others globally. Popular blogs are able to influence people in many ways. Many Malaysian leaders chose blogging as a form of communication to reach out to their target audiences, especially the young Malaysians. Lim Kit Siang, Jeff Ooi, Tun Dr. Mahathir are some of the influential leaders in Malaysia who have started their own personal blogs.

Besides that, business blogs are used by Malaysians to maintain good relationship with their clients and companies in order to inform them about their new products/business ventures. Lately, it has been a hot trend for Malaysian women who are into fashion to start their own fashion blogs, selling clothes and beauty products to those who are interested.

The benefits of social blogs enable Malaysians to know the latest styles, designs, trends, entertainment, events (both at home and worldwide) and even travel opportunities around Malaysia and abroad. The greatest benefit Information Communication Technology (ICT) has brought to us is the ability to bind us together via its international transmission network.

References :
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.

WordPress 2007, Introduction to blogging, viewed on 16 May 2008,< http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging>

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The World of Blogging


Welcome fellow readers!!

How have you all been?

Blogs,blogs,blogs!!!It is so popular amongst us nowadays. Blogging is used as a tool to express our emotions,ideas and creativity, as well as sharing those originality with the online world. This is definitely one small step to a bigger change in our lifestyles.

The purpose of my blog is to reach out to everyone in the blogging world about the world-changing issues revolving around our lives, some with regards to document design and its effects on communication among the society.

My target audiences are my classmates, those who are interested in document designs and the general public. This blog will involve plenty of discussion and interaction, so feel free to get involved in healthy arguments to achieve greater understanding of the issues discussed.

So, don't be shy! Let's join me in this journey to a world of priceless knowledge and greater learning experiences!Cheers :)