Reflection/On The Whole

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>

Read more...

“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>

Read more...

“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>

Read more...

"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/>

Read more...

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

(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>

Read more...