It is a Non-Verbal Blog . The Communication tools nowadays .: 2010

Reflection/On The Whole

>> Wednesday, June 16, 2010

This blogging assignment helps me a lot in many aspects and understanding such as:

• How to design a document appropriately?

• How to search for appropriate article?

• How to arrange text and images into a document?

• How to arrange the blog layout?

• The importance of backing up and supporting own opinions and ideas from other credible sources.

• Information and finding must be credible etc...

It is important that the design of the document must be arrange into the appropriate layout so that the reader could easily read the text and see the images. In addition, (Sandy 2009) mentioned that bloggers need to criticize another person’s blog post or information based on solid and credible sites or article, if the article is not yours, citation should be provided. This is to avoid from making false statements. Hence, research and study regarding certain issues are extremely important, at the same time, document design also very crucial as a good design can determine whether the viewer like it or not.

References

Sandy 2009, “How to blog without getting sued?” Dr-Sandy.net, viewed 14 June 2010,
< http://www.dr-sandy.net/2009/01/how-not-to-get-sued-as-blogger.html>

“Porn website owner jailed for 13 years” by ABC News

(Source: Google Images)

This article talks about the pornography issue that is ever a serious issue globally. A Chinese man who operated a pornographic site in China has been send to prison for 13 years and was fined 100,000 Yuan which was 16,800 U.S Dollar. The Chinese man named Huang Yizhong was found guilty as he was the one who copied and broadcasted pornographic content. Now, China maintains its strict internet censorship to limit what the government believes to be unhealthy and harmful content such as porn and violence.

This article includes issues such as internet censorship, ethnical publishing and wrong visual display. Nowadays, we can find pornographic materials everywhere, mainly the internet. Personally, I found pornographic materials as a bothering and disturbing matter. However, different individual have different perception towards pornography.

(Source: Google Images)

Initially, pornography should be restrict to a certain limit because when a person consume too much on sexually explicit materials, violence could happen against women such as raping and sexually assault (Stark 1997). Besides that, people around the world misused the internet nowadays. For instance, people can just watch or download porn materials from the internet. As expected, sex is one of the most typed keywords on the internet (Lo and Wei 2007, pp.13). Some may unintentionally entered a pornography site when searching for other information such as sex which means gender. On the other hand, children nowadays are on the internet more often than their parents. For that reason, it is easy for the children to access to some pornography sites by mistake. Therefore, restriction regarding pornography sites should be tighten to avoid any maltreatment.

(Source: Google Images)

As a member of the society, we must understand that mass media is a very powerful tools that can easily influence our mind and thoughts especially the children. Usually, kids absorb whatever thing they see and hear, and have the enthusiasm to know everything (Coker 2010). Consequently, pornography materials that can be found in the internet should be censor as soon as possible so it does not affect the mindset of the children.

References

ABC News 2010, “Porn website owner jailed for 13 years,” ABC.net.au, viewed 15 June 2010,

< http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/08/2812844.htm>

Coker, R 2010, ‘Preventing Children from Accessing Porn’, etbe.coker.com.au, viewed 15 June 2010,
< http://etbe.coker.com.au/2010/01/24/preventing-children-accessing-porn/>

Lo, V.H, Wei, R 2007, ‘Third-Person Effect, Gender, and Pornography on the Internet’, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Broadcast Education Association, pp.13, viewed 15 June 2010,
< http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/jbem46&div=9&id=&page>

Stark, C.A 1997, ‘Is Pornography an Action?: The Causal vs. the Conceptual View of Pornography's Harm’, Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 23, viewed 15 June 2010,
< http://www.questia.com>

“Blogger held over insulting posting” by Jassmine Shadiqe

This article is about a 29-year-old Malaysian blogger named Aduka Taruna , whom was arrested for posting a purportedly offensive comment on his blog, not long after the death of the late sultan of Johor. Then, Johor police chief, Datuk Mohktar Shariff, warned the public not to say or comment on blogs that will insult, defame and offend the Government. It became a very serious case because there were more than 1,000 comments replied after Taruna’s ‘insulting post’ and most of the comments are said to be dissatisfaction. Although the blogger removed the posting and did a public apology, it was said that the apology made was assumed as an insult too.

(Source: adukataruna.blogspot.com)

As we can see, the issues that can be found in this article are issue such as blogosphere, blogging etiquette, new media ecosystem and ethical publishing. Although we have the rights to voice out our own opinion or known as ‘freedom of speech’, in some ethnics or countries, governments are the one who take controls of everything. Therefore, freedom of speech is not applied to certain ethnics and countries.

(Source: socialdesigner.com)

According to Smeltzern (2008, pp. 1), blogging in Malaysia “has the potential to serve as a democratizing force in a country with little freedom of expression. Democratic prospect of the local blogosphere must be tempered, however, with a realistic understanding of its restrictions and of the government’s hegemonic, and sometimes coercive, mechanisms of control.” This means that there isn’t any freedom of speech in Malaysia, even in blogging, especially in political and government subject. As the 1Malaysia concept is going on now, it is funny that the public cannot voice out their own opinion because if they do, they would get arrested for ‘insulting’ the country. In addition, it is said that the Malaysian government had give their word not to censor the internet, come to think of it; the government are the one who are actually controlling the public because according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Content Code “the online environment is not a legal vacuum. In general, if something is illegal ‘off-line’, it will also be illegal ‘on-line’. In this matter, the relevant existing laws apply” (Smeltzern 2008, pp. 1). Well, it is obvious that Malaysian bloggers do not have the freedom to critic their own country as the mainstream media is controlled by the government itself.

(Source: Sloone.files.wordpress.com)

Therefore, I think that it is hard for Malaysia to improve their status and still be the Malaysia today in the future. Also, Malaysian should not underestimate the governments’ ability and power as Malaysia is a country that is controlled by the state of apparatus completely.

References

Shadiqe, J 2010, “Blogger held over insulting posting,” New Straits Times, viewed 14 June 2010,

< http://yquake.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/12eiss/Article/index_html>

Smeltzer, S.C 2008, “Blogging in Malaysia: Hope for a New Democratic Technology?” Journal of International Communication, pp. 1-18, viewed 14 June 2010,
< http://www.cprsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/drupal/Sandra_Smeltzer.pdf>

"The Power of Photograph" by Antony Funnel

This article talks about the power and ability of photos as it illustrates the history and war of Dubrovnik city back in the early 1990s. Many photos regarding wars and battles can be found in the War Photo Limited Gallery as the ‘former-warehouse-turned-gallery’ is devoted entirely to war photography which was taken many years back. This allows the photographer to follow a tale, take into further thought and closer to feel the lives of the people who are affected by war. This also allows tourists to get a better understanding about the emotions and feelings regarding people whom were involved in the war. At the same time, it also let the people to recall about what actually happened few years back to the beautiful city, Dubrovnik.

As we can see, the issues that can be found in this article are photojournalism, cultural context and meaning of the visuals. Every picture illustrate different story as pictures worth more than a thousand words.

(Source: Metrocollective.org)

In this article, Wade Goddard, the guardian of the War Photo Limited Gallery mentioned that the authenticities of feelings of the photographers are higher compare to newspaper editors or publishers because they were there at the exact location and time which let them experience the story; conversely, editors and publishers could not experience the genuine story as they only sits at their desks with their own political or ideological views regarding a story. In my opinion, they are too many fake newspaper articles nowadays as many journalists are the tools for the Government to avoid dramatic chaos. According to Seligman (2009, pp. 143), “newspaper journalists instead use simple language and didacticism instead of using slang and fake news, as they show credibility and useful services.” In spite of that, it is still fake news. In addition, fake news techniques exist to terrify and distract the public from other more important news (Kenterelidou, 2005). On the contrary, Loeffler (2004) explains that photographs are like trunks because many things can be kept and stored. Photographs illustrate information, details, memories, feelings, emotions, and meanings (Loeffler 2004). In general, “photographs can 'speak' for us when we cannot find the words,” said Loeffler (2004).

(Source: seayourhistory.org.uk)

In conclusion, photographs are the tool as an anchor for past memories. In addition, photographers used their artwork to deliver messages to the audience as photos are more attracting compared to words and texts. Therefore, pictures really worth more than a thousand words.

Photographs of War from the War Photo Limited Gallery Website

(Source: warphotoltd.com)

"Both Rahila's legs were broken during the quake. The earthquake struck in the middle of the school day, so there were many children among the dead and injured. There has since been strong criticism of the quality of the school buildings." - http://www.warphotoltd.com

(Source: warphotoltd.com)

"The execution of a civilian in Minutka Square on a cold, winter day. The severity of Russian bombardments made it too dangerous to venture outside to remove the corpses. They remained where they fell, strewn about the streets, gnawed by starving animals." - http://www.warphotoltd.com

(Source: warphotoltd.com)

"A young man lies on top of his brother's dead body after he was gunned down while exiting the wake of a friend who was murdered two days earlier. The murders took place in Zone 6 of Guatemala City. Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in the world. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, meanwhile, reported last year that Guatemala had the highest murder rate in all of Latin America, with 70 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. According to the World Health Organization "World Report on Violence and Health", the average global homicide rate in 2000 was 8.8 per 100,000 population a year, and 19 per 100,000 in the Americas." - http://www.warphotoltd.com

References

Funnel, A 2007, “The power of the photograph,” ABC.net.au, viewed 15 June 2010,
< http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2051819.htm>

Seligman, L 2009, “Quality Popular Newspaper,” Brazilian Journalism Research, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 141- 153.

Kenterelidou, C 2005, “Public Political Communication and Media,” Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Thessaloniki, pp. 1-23.

Loeffler, T.A 2004, “A picture is worth … capturing meaning and facilitating connections: Using outdoor education students' photographs,” Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, viewed 15 June 2010,
< http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6931/is_2_8/ai_n28246087/>

"Is Internet privacy dead? No, just more complicated: researchers" by Cecilia Kang

>> Tuesday, June 15, 2010

(Source: Vinogusto.com & Icicom.up.pt)

This article talks about the Internet privacy, whether internet nowadays still have privacy or not. At the present time, it is said that there are 400 million Facebook users and 10 billion Twitter users, and the purpose of signing up to these social networking sites is that they want to be seen and heard from others or vice versa. However, many internet users felt insecure about their information and privacy. When Google’s launch its social networking application recently called Google Buzz, panic attacked among the users as problem arises. There weren’t any internet privacy anymore and users were complaining and called it as privacy foul.

In this article, we can obviously find that the media issue is lost of privacy in the internet especially social networking sites and the ethical publishing on the internet. In addition, internet privacy is getting more and more complex and technologies nowadays are advancing.

(Source: Epic.org)

Clarke (1998) stated that cyberspace is attacking privacy and “the mainstreaming of the Internet has accelerated the privacy-negative impacts of information technology.” I agree with his statement as many people nowadays misused the internet. For example, a stranger ‘steals’ another user’s picture from Facebook and pretend to be her. This is very dangerous because someone’s life might be in risk if she thought that the stranger was actually her friend and met the stranger in real life. Not only that, with the aid of the popular search engine Google, almost every data and information can be found.

(Source: techfortoday.co.cc)

Furthermore, privacy matters are further aggravated as nowadays the World Wide Web makes it easier to collect new date automatically and included to databases (Cranor 1999). For instance, if keyword such as ‘free essay’ was key in by a student into the search bar in Google, he can find many websites that provide free article and although this ease himself in assignment, this way actually make him more idle in researching and thinking. According to Cranor (1999), the author mentioned that “these days, data recorded into systems or already listed into databases can be shared almost easily with transaction records as well as records of an individual’s every click through cyberspace.” Again, this would cause many internet users to be ‘stalked’ by stranger. Take an example of Google, searching a person information is not tough at all as a person just need to key in another person’s full name in the search engine, and information of that person age, location and more will be provided.

(Source: Google Image)

Internet privacy however is not dead but it is becoming more and more complicated. Thus, internet users should not simply provide their information in the internet especially in social networking sites such as Facebook because the society nowadays is not as safe as the previous years. As technologies being advance rapidly, in the future, not only personal data to be clone but also the whole ‘body figure’ of a person can be produce.

References

Kang, C 2010, “Is Internet privacy dead? No, just more complicated: researchers,” The Washington Post, viewed 14 June 2010,

< http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/is_internet_privacy_dead_no_ju.html>

Clarke, R 1998, “Internet Privacy Concerns Confirm the Case for Intervention,” Roger Clarke’s Website, Association for Computing Machinery Inc, viewed 14 June 2010,
< http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/CACM99.html>

Cranor, L.F 1999, “Internet Privacy: A public concern”, Communications of ACM, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 29-31, viewed 14 June 2010,
< http://www.cib.espol.edu.ec/Digipath/D_Papers/38041.pdf>

Good design for screen genre (Peer Evaluation)

>> Monday, April 19, 2010

Good and fine design is very important as it will affect whether a document is easy to understand or not. Good design also serves as visual representation of the information (UWG n.d). According to Nielsen (2000), design is required to allow people access to the content. Here, I will critique one of my course-mate’s Power point slides from Assignment One.

The design of this slide is quite relevant and appropriate because the background illustrates the topic of the presentation. This will help the audience to understand the topic easily. Reep (2006) mentioned that visual aids isolate the main topics and appeal mainly to general and non-expert readers. Proportion of the slide design also very suitable as the size and placement of text is readable.

According to Nielsen (2000), “reading from computer screens is about 25 percent slower than reading from paper”. Therefore, texts should be as short as possible. In this second image, the presenter shortens the summary so that the audience would have the initiate to read the texts. One slide should limit to only 5 lines or 5 points (UWG n.d) whereas this image/slide can said to be a good design of powerpoint slide.

In this slide, image is shown. Through laws of gestalt, visual take over the load of structuring and organizing the reader's processing (Bernhardt 1986). Thus, the purpose of this slide is to want the reader to focus on the image. In addition, words and pictures render the idea more fully than it alone (Schriver 1997). Hence, the presenter wants the reader to understand this slide easily.

References

Bernhardt, S.A 1986, “Seeing the text”, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 37, National Council of Teachers of English.

Nielsen, J 2000, “Content design”, Designing web usability, Ch. 3, New Riders, Indianapolis.

Reep, D.C 2006, “Document design”, Technical writing, Ch. 6, 6th ed., Pearson/Longman, New York.

Schriver, K.A 1997, “The interplay of words and pictures”, Dynamics in documents design: creating texts for readers, Ch. 6, Wiley Computer Pub., New York.

UWG Distance Ed, “Importance of Design”, Graphic Design Principles for Powerpoint, viewed 19 April 2010,

< http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ppt/gooddesign_html97/sld002.htm >

New Media

>> Sunday, April 18, 2010

( Source : learningmatters.tv )

It is obvious that the communications environment is altering (Naughton 2006). Thus, new media is one of the medium that easily influence the society nowadays. For instance, online shopping also known as e-commerce, either via blogs or websites is considered as the new media of Internet. People can purchase almost anything online including clothes, computer and car accessories, and even ordering food via online such as McDonalds. Also, people can make travel arrangements and money transfer online (University Extension 2001). The ease of online shopping is that the seller and buyer do not need to physically communicate with each other and it saves more time and effort.

( Source : iheart-retronana.blogspot.com )

( Source : Devlinmurphy.com )

Furthermore, the communication trends of new media these days are site such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, blogs or online newspapers and organization. I am an active Youtube viewer, therefore I can foresee the changes in communication through Youtube. Youtube is the world's most current online video community where people create and upload videos to inspire others across the globe (Youtube.com 2010). Although there are still some worthless information but Youtube is a very effective site to learn new things. For example, the latest world news – China earthquake can be found in Youtube as some journalists or reporters may be the person who uploaded the video. Nowadays, the job of the journalists have widened as they do not only write for newspaper article. Some companies hire journalists or reporters to create a Youtube account and asked to manage and update the latest news into a video. Youtube is also a mode of communication as viewers would give comments, feedbacks and discuss on specific videos. Some people exploit Youtube as a place to voice out their opinion – freedom of speech. Therefore, the new media helps the interactive communication between medium and user (Livingstone 1999).

References

Livingstone, S 1999, “New Media, New Audiences?”, New Media and Society, London School of Economics and Political Science, Sage.

Naughton, John 2006, ‘Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem’, Reuteurs Institute, viewed 19 April 2010,

< http://reuteursinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html>

University Extension 2001, “Online Shopping and Security”, Helping you become your best, Iowa State, viewed 19 April 2010,

< http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1789G.pdf>

Youtube 2010, “About YouTube”, Youtube.com, viewed 19 April 2010,

< http://www.youtube.com/t/about>

Types and method of blogging communities

( Source : hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com )

Online community mainly shaping throughout emails, bulletin boards and forums. Blogging consider as a daily routine nowadays and most of the society will have at least one blog. Blogging community is an interaction between bloggers in different blogs around the world. Generally, blogging has turn out to be the newest communication mode for forming an effective community, a collection of blogs linking back and forth to one another’s postings, while discussing common topics through the comment box or chat box (Chin and Chignell, 2006). In addition, features such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and feedreaders commenced to propose new possibilities – how we revealed and read blog posts (White 2006). Tagging is also one form of blogging community.

This specific blogger, Lim Kit Siang (http://blog.limkitsiang.com/), it’s one of the famous Malaysian blogger. The blogger blogs about the political issue in Malaysia and share his opinion about it which grab the attention of the media. This blog include links for archives, topics and categories, RSS and also links to other blogger’s blog. Lim maintains his blog and make sure it is up to date news and also provides biographies and bibliographies on the main page of the blog. The blogger share his opinion to the society and through feedbacks, the blogger also learn new information and opinion. Member can also ‘log in’ or register and may be able to communicate with the blogger privately. He also provide PDF file document to the reader on some issue so that reader can download it. Social network site such as Twitter also use by the blogger to maintain his relationship with his reader. This is consider as a good blog as it provide many features for his reader and maintain his updates and relationship with the readers.

( Source : flickr.com )

( Source : Redstate.com )

References

Chin, A and Chignell, M 2006, “Abstract”, A social hypertext model for finding community in blogs, University of Toronto, Toronto.

White, N 2006, “Blogs and Community – launching a new paradigm for online community?”, Australian Flexible Learning Framework, viewed 15 April 2010,

< http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-–-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>

Classification of blogs

>> Monday, April 12, 2010

One way to voice out self-opinions and ideas is through blogging. Some people treat their blog as personal daily diaries. However, people nowadays blog for money, business, career and so on which is why various classification of blogs exist. Some subject matters of blogs that I am familiar with are fashion reviews, politics, music, food and photography (Blogcatalog.com, n.d). Furthermore, we can immediately update our blog today by using mobile device which is known as moblog (Ellis-Christensen, n,d). Moreover, there are also other forms of blogging such as linklog, vlog, photlog, microblog, tumblelog and more (Bhargava 2009). Blog publishers are generally self-employed, full-time blogger, business partner, professionals and also the mainstream media journalists.

( Edited by me )

From Funnell (2008) article, pamphleteering and advocacy blog are somehow similar as it is normally a brief essay arguing the point or stating strong viewpoint on certain topic such as politic issue but the writer generally cover a variety of topics. It is also similar to Sheih Kickdefella (2010), a Malaysian blogger as he often writes articles and expressing strong viewpoint on political issue. Popular-Mechanics (Funnell 2008) blog is where the blogger teaches audience to do or create stuff. This is similar to food blog that I know as blogger review how to cook in her blog (Malaysian Delicacies 2010). In my opinion, there are too many classifications of blogs but bloggers normally blog on what they are interested in.

References

ABC Media Report 2008, “A taxonomy of blogs”, ABC.net.au, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>

Bhargava, R 2009, “The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging”, Slideshare.net, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://www.slideshare.net/rohitbhargava/the-25-basic-styles-of-blogging-and-when-to-use-each-one>

Blogcatalog n.d, “Explore the Blogosphere”, Blogcatalog.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://www.blogcatalog.com/>

Ellis-Christensen n.d, “What is moblog?”, Wisegeek.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-moblog.htm>

Kickdefella 2010, “Uno Mas”, Kickdefella.wordpress.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://kickdefella.wordpress.com/>

Malaysian Delicacies 2010, “Flavours of Indian, Malay and Chinese Cuisine at your fingertips”, Malaysiandelicacies.blogspot.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://malaysiandelicacies.blogspot.com/>

Blogs as current phenomenon and benefits to the community

>> Saturday, April 10, 2010

( Source: Pundikitchen.com )

The term Blogosphere is used to describe the millions of interrelated blogs on the internet (Boswell n.d). The current Blogosphere is strong and only getting stronger every year. This is because Blogosphere is filled with various different growing groups such as Twitter which affects the Blogosphere. In addition, Blogosphere is getting stronger because blogs are now becoming the media and brands are used in the Blogosphere (Mc Lean 2009). Bloggers nowadays are mainly highly educated and wealthy group.

According to Sussman (2009), 25 percent worldwide are the European bloggers, 10 percent of bloggers are from Asia-Pacific and 48 percent are from United States. As a result, blogging is a trend in the United States as well as the concept of mainstream media. Furthermore, bloggers usually blog to share their expertise and experiences, and voicing their opinion on certain issue or some area of interest (Sussman 2009). Consequently, the audience could learn and gain knowledge about some subject from countries across the globe. Moreover, audience can also learn about the blogger’s experience of using a certain products or brands they love or hate. Plus, in US, some bloggers will blog about the financial crisis or the US Presidential election which can benefit the audience to again advance their knowledge about these issues (Sussman 2009).

References

Boswell, W n.d, “What is Blogosphere?”, About.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

<
http://websearch.about.com/od/blogsforumssocialsites/f/blogosphere.htm

McLean, J 2009, “State of Blogosphere 2009 Introduction”, Technorati.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009-introduction/page-3/>

Sussman, M 2009, “The what and why of Blogging”, Technorati.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-2-the-what-and-why2/page-2/>

Sussman, M 2009, “Twitter, Global Impact and the Future of Blogging”, Technorati.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-5-twitter-global-impact-and/page-2/>

Sussman, M 2009, “Who are the Bloggers? Technorati.com, viewed 11 April 2010,

< http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-1-who-are-the-bloggers1/page-1/>