Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
|
Posted on
5:58 PM
For the record, this is the 4th blog I have started in which I believe is the most productive and fruitful of all. Personally, I believe that every topic relating ethical, sensitivity, social responsibility and other concerns discussed in this blog applies to blogging as well. And as much as it is important for every blogger to acknowledge, a good design should consists of:
Which applies to blogging as well, it has to be beautiful to attract people, useful in terms of having purpose, which indeed form has function, and last but not least, durability.
As technology continues to advance, the roles of media will change where people continue to adopt and adapt.
On the global scenario, the libertarian of internet has been questioned for being too resourceful. The irony is that, while some strongly agree for net censorship to be imposed, some stand their ground by taking an extreme libertarian view that people deserve to view whatever they like.
In fact, in most context, pornography and sensitive issue are the only real concerns that provoke cyber laws to dip their hands in the paint. While it is true that majority people who surfs the web have at least visited pornography site once, the liberty of internet promotes freedom of speech.
In Malaysia, Information Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim had threatened to install a filter where it aims to block undesirable websites on the grounds of maintaining racial harmony in our multiracial nation as well as preventing children from surfing pornographic materials through the internet. In August 2009 however, Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the government will not censor the internet as such a move will be ineffective in a borderless world where information flows freely.
Obviously, "information" here does not refer to pornography material, but rather it refers to blogs and webpage where "transparency flows freely". In fact, despite being a culture of pornography, it is also a culture where the mainstream media practices self-censorship by sweeping ugly things under the carpet. Hence, there is a need and demand for uncensored information which only deemed available on the internet. Again, with more alternative media such as Malaysia Kini and Malaysia Insider stepping up to strive for transparency and straightforward reporting, imposing censorship on internet will only cause dissatisfaction among people who already acknowledge the biasness of mainstream media when comes to political and sensitive issues.
However, as much as it is dominant to champion Freedom of Speech in Malaysia, ethical and social responsibility are concerns to be employed by every bloggers and writers. In fact, while freedom of expression is still off the leash, it should be practiced responsibly.
The rise of the new genre, video blog and vlogs on mobile phone have gained massive acceptance as well as suggesting various issues at the same time. Is it a threat or a treat, both if you ask me.
Since the marriage of webcams and broadband, and the birth of newly advanced mobile phones, video blog has become a familiar sight. In fact, it has made recognizable contribution in discovering young talents and internet celebrities.
(Zee Avi's Bitterheart video on YouTube)
Zee Avi, a jazz soul from Sarawak did not set out to become an internet sensation, let alone land a record deal, when she first signed up for a YouTube account in 2007. She then became a hit with online video watchers where thousands of YouTube users subscribed to her channel and seen the grainy, black-and-white webcam videos of her performing original songs. And later landed a record deal with White Stripes manager Ian Monotoneand who brought her to Brushfire Records. That is the treat.
On the flip side, video blogging is also infamous with its controversial and explicit content including politician error, celebrities exposed and home made sex video using webcam and mobile phone which have offended many public and spreaded all over the internet. Now when everybody tries to be a celebrity, that is the threat.
With the increasing subscribers of mobile phones and that to emerging nations are at the forefront with the number of users, citizen journalism is getting popular where normal people can cover a story and post it on the net.
As stated by Bowman and Willis (2003), we are at the beginning of a Golden Age of journalism but it is not journalism as we have known it, if we carry on like this, by 2021 citizens will have contributed 50 per cent of the news peer-to-peer.
Hence, while vlogs and mobisodes continue to explode in the contemporary media, issues concerning ethics and journalism would surface along the way.
Bowman, S & Willis, C 2003, 'We media: how audiences are shaping the future of news and information’, The Media Center at The American Press Institute, viewed on 19 November 2009, http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php
In September 2008, Facebook launched a fresh makeover of their interface design which eventually left 100 million users of the social networking website fuming. Despite changing into a much speedy, more streamlined and spam-resistant format, many users remained in a state of rebellion.
In fact, many technological innovations rely upon user interface design to elevate their technical complexity to a usable product. As Facebook engineer Mark Slee said that the website's team is confident they can win over their users. "We don't look at this through the lens of messing with something that works," Slee said. "We are focusing on innovating and making the product better."
However, technology alone may not win over user acceptance. The User Experience, or how the users experience the product, is the key to acceptance.
Similarly, Nielsen (2009) opined that usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. Usability is defined by five quality components:
Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?
The truth is, usability is a necessary condition for web survival. And a fresh design will be a worse design just because it is new and thus breaks user expectations. Nielsen (2009) also says that, the key is to play up familiarity and build on users' existing knowledge of how a system works. In my opinion, we can also conclude that usability remains dominant in the sense that being a Facebook user myself, all I care about is getting into things I wan't to do and log out. In fact, no one really cares for the design or the new and fresh format despite their reason being making the product better.
When people are visiting websites or using applications, they don't spend their time analyzing or admiring the design. They focus their attention on the task and the content.
Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
Publishing Issues
|
Posted on
12:41 PM
A photograph captures an event as no words can. But should a photo be used despite inflicting pain to the already grieving family of the picture’s subject? That is the ultimate question.
As the article raises the issue of The War Photo Limited Gallery for exhibiting destructive war photographs which left many locals fuming, once again it recalls photojournalism issue.
While Lester (1995) described photojournalism as the profession in which journalists make news-editorial images for print and screen media, photograph use continue to raise controversy and is under attack.
In fact, photographs is inevitably used and plays a major role in the contemporary media. Because images evoke almost immediate emotional responses among viewers, it creates tremendous impact with well chosen words, visual messages combine to educate, entertain and persuade. On the flip side, images also offend, shock, mislead, stereotype and confuse.
(Michael Jackson 'last' photo on OK! Magazine cover)
Similarly in the recent issue regarding Michael Jackson's death which OK! Magazine reportedly paid $500,000 for the 'last' picture of Michael Jackson being carried on a stretcher to be published on their latest issue cover, it stirs up controversy, leaving many readers fuming, upset and shocked.
As Vesely (2008) opined, ethics in photojournalism is overwhelmed by the power of photograph because photo is the story. And because seeing is believing, the picture of Michael Jackson possibly dying or even picture of a child lying in a pool of blood, it brings an event to an emotional pitch. It is not just facts that becomes news.
In my opinion, to place myself in an editor or photojournalist shoe, ethical concern still needs to be employed every time a photograph is used. As much as it provides sensation, it may continue to stir controversy in the contemporary media.
Lester (2005) too stated that, displaying sensational images, violating a person's privacy before the judicial process can function, manipulating news-editorial pictures to alter their content, stereotyping individuals into pre-conceived categories and blurring the distinction between advertising and editorial messages were journalism concerns in 1895, are important topics in 1995 and will be carefully considered issues, no doubt, in 2095. Professionals, academics and students owe it to their readers to be sensitive to unethical practices that demean the profession and reduce the credibility of journalism.
Therefore, it is imperative that whenever and wherever possible, ethical issues be discussed by all those concerned about the journalism profession.
Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
Media
|
Posted on
11:07 AM
While it seems like the modern era is wrapped up in the new media ecosystem such as Online newspaper, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs, a finding in 2007 shows that web traffic to blog pages of the top 10 online newspapers grew 210 percent year over year. The overall unique audience growth to these online newspapers was 9 percent year over year.
The fact is, the combination of digital convergence, multimedia, social media and alternative online newspaper that empowers the freedom of speech which most traditional media have failed to achieve, it has given new media a boost in popularity.
(ISA Protest on YouTube)
News is updated hourly on News.com.au)
As we learned about multimodality opined by Walsh (2006), it has also changed the way audience 'consume' media.
(Malaysia Kini)
Apart from that, there is also a need to acknowledge and accept the fact that freedom of speech in conventional media remains a myth especially in Malaysia. Hence, alternative online media such as MalaysiaKini and MalaysiaInsider will continue to emerge as a "most wanted" media to overcome the burden of conventional journalism.
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.
While document design main concern are readers, readers read on print and on screen differently. Hence, designing for print and online is different.
(The Star Newspaper)
As Nielsen (1999) opined that newspaper designers have a huge canvas to play with, the entire two-page spread has greater impact provided with room for large amount of text integrated with the headlines and graphics to compliment the overall layout that allows reader's eye to move from overview to details in a split second.
(News.com.au)
In contrast, web page is a scrolling experience which readers navigate by scanning. As Nielsen (1997) stated, web pages have to employ 'scannable text', using:
Highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
Meaningful sub-headings (avoid ambiguous title)
Bulleted lists
One idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
Inverted pyramid style, starting from most important information to the least
Half the word count (or less) than print
Nielsen (1999) also clarified, that:
Print design is based on letting the eyes walk over the information, selectively looking at information objects and using spatial juxtaposition to make page elements enhance and explain each other.
Web design functions by letting the hands move the information (by scrolling or clicking); information relationships are expressed temporally as part of an interaction and user movement.
Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
Blogging
|
Posted on
2:27 PM
Blogging community refers to the community who constitutes the blogosphere including bloggers, blog readers and interactive network formed through blogging. Blogging community is essential to every blogger as a blog without community would be like a coin in the middle of a desert; undiscovered.
For a blog to surface in the community, these come in handy;
Permalink - unique URL of a single post
Tags - Categorize blog postings for easy navigation
Comments - Leave comments/URL on other blogs
RSS feed - Display updated blog entries
Linkback - Link to others and others will link to you
Blogging community today is divided into three main patterns:
Topic Centric Community is a network formation arises between blogs linked by a common topic such as food bloggers and movie bloggers. Boundaried communities are collection of blogs and blog readers hosted on a single site, also known as the 'in' or 'out' community.
One Blog Community is a single blog based community that arises around the primary blogger that includes active readers and commentors.
A well known One Blog Community in Malaysia is Jeff Ooi who writes a popular blog known as "Screenshots" that covers current issues in Malaysia, predominantly politics. The blog which serves as the community platform are formed over time through email, instant messaging, social networking, forums and other useful blogging tools.
Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
Blogging
|
Posted on
12:52 PM
So how exactly does a person identify and look for information they need when comes to blogging? To conclude, "Yup, this is the blog I'm looking for."
As different blogger blog for a different reason, different types of blog, different readers, different subject, different style and even different types of layout and template design, there are some differences that makes a difference.
According to Elin K. Jacob, the strength of classification is its ability to establish relationships between classes that are stable and meaningful. And classifications may include:
As much as each of these unique classification remain dominant in making distinction in blogosphere, most blogs today are no longer limited to a single topic or format anymore. As blog contents are becoming more valuable and diversified, tagging is dominant too.
The fact is, as the trend of blogging today continue to emerge into a combination of various type of blogs, tagging provides flexibility to organizing and finding information and resources. For instance, an author could easily manage resources by tagging (vlog, business, music, linklog), it makes searching easier and at the same time, lower the burden of classification system.
Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
Blogging
|
Posted on
10:54 AM
In 2008, the size of blogging community continued to blossom with a total of 130 million blogs recorded since 2002. Surprisingly however, the popularity of blogging appears to be slowing down as findings reveal an average of 900,000 entries were posted daily in 2008 compared to 1.5 million entries in 2007.
While blogging continue to gain credibility and becoming more prevalent in every community, majority of blogger (72%) consider themselves as "hobbyists" driven by personal fulfillment rather than financial gain. In fact, many people find blogging as their own personal diary to scribble down thoughts and personal affairs.
Alternatively, blogging still plays a major role in the business and political context. In Malaysia, blogging is still a popular choice for social, political and financial gain. While many continue to blog for personal fulfillment, some businesses ranging from F&B to fashion boutique too utilize the idea of blogging to reach out to the community which benefits both ways. In fact, it has become a new medium for people to share their interest, ideas or critiques. Similarly, politician too uses blogging as a tool to engage the community and to voice out their deprived freedom of speech. Not to mention, some seek for controversial content as a form of entertainment and social needs.
Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
|
Posted on
9:48 AM
As an epic journey to explore the fundamentals of document design where my thoughts and knowledge will be shared, this blog is dedicated to tertiary students, working professionals and passionate readers who seek to step up in the communication field as well as for academic contribution.
Posted by
SuperKennyLim
|
Posted in
Document Design
|
Posted on
4:23 PM
Documents are used to presentselected information which takes form in brochure, magazine, poster, book, presentation slides and what not, depending on its purpose.
In fact, the success of a document largely depend on whether it serve its purpose as well as how effectively it convey its message in a way which designated readers could interpret accordingly. As Reep (2006, p. 134) said, readers do not only read the words on a page, they also 'read' the visual presentation of the text which pretty much explains that communication does come in a package, both verbally and non-verbally.
The meaning composition however, does not necessary mean using nice words and pictures to attract readers but rather, how does it function to engage and align one particular group of readers in a particular context through the interplay of text, visual and other useful elements.
To emphasize further, Reep (2006, p. 134) highlighted the ways design features can enhance documents' effectiveness:
Slide 1
Guide readers through the text by directing attention and increasing readers' ability to remember important information.
Increase readers' interest in the document. Eye-catching graphic aids in keeping readers focused on the information they need.
Create a document that reflects the image you wish readers to have such as traditional, formal etc.
Certainly, pinpointing information in PowerPoint does it best with use of bullets while highlighting keywords. However, the PowerPoint slide can be improvised through use of visual aid to activate 'schema'. Use of visual does not only attract attention and keeping readers focused, it also provides better understanding and representation of meaning to readers.
While graphic use aids in determining a good document , it should also be used wisely.
As Anderson (1987, p. 254) points out, balance of text and visual within the page is important. The PowerPoint slide above is not balanced, causing the left to look heavier than the right while leaving negative white space.
In designing good document, lengthy text should be paraphrased to provide readers space to rest their eyes.
According to Anderson (1987, p. 254), good document design should consider the following steps:
Ensure there is recognisable pattern or flow of information
Consider readers' expectations of a document in the genre you are using
Balance negative (white) space with the positive (text, visual) space
Align the edges and borders of visuals and text in an orderly fashion
Balance visual and text within the page
Do not use more than two typefaces
References
Putnis, P and Petelin, R 1996, Professional Communication: Principles and Applications, Prentice Hall, New York
Reep, DC 2006, Technical Writing, 6th Edition, Pearson/Longman, New York.
