The journey of a blog and its blogger is simple. You don't need to climb a mountain to achieve your goal, you just need to sit in front of a computer and type. And by doing just that, you can get your point across to millions of people around the world. This is one of the things that I have grasp in the process of completing this blog. However, the power of blogging is not something to be taken lightly. Some people lost their jobs because of it while others end up in jail. Though, not everything about blogging is unpleasant and I discovered that while writing a post on blogging communities. Interacting with other people with the same interest through a digital screen is an interesting experience. I can very well understand why some people are so addicted to blogging.
Through the course of this assignment, I have learned a lot about online publishing. It helped me gain awareness on what a blogger should and should not post. When blogging, we have to be ethical in discussion to avoid defamation and copyright infringements. Sensitive subjects such as culture and religion need to be approached carefully. Always keep in mind that ANYONE can view your blog, hence why you should not take it for granted.
Another thing a blogger needs to consider is the design of the blog. One can't simply use whatever layout just for the sake of aesthetic purposes, it has to be coherent with the type of blog one is writing. Take this blog for example - a blog on the issues of publication and document design. I avoided using bright colored backgrounds to ensure that my writing is visible and that readers do not have to strain their eyes to read my post. Different background colors were use to separate my postings and the surrounding elements. Aside from that, a good navigation system is highly important when it comes to designing any document. The more complex a document is, the more it increases in necessity (Penman 1998).
With the above explained along with the completion of this blog and the knowledge I acquired, I'm confident that I will be able to write a better document in the future. And with that, I bid my readers goodbye.
References
Penman, R 1998, Document structures and readers' habits, Communication Research Institute of Australia
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Online publishing in Malaysia
In January 2007, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had officially restated the 'no censorship on the internet' policy (announced in August 2006) that bloggers who publish seditious, malicious, or defamatory content will be reported to the federal police. Malaysian bloggers are now bounded by laws on defamation, sedition, and other limits on speech.
Quoting Badawi (2007):-
“The law is the law. They cannot hide and hope to be protected under some kind of a cover or whatever they think that they have,” the Prime Minister said. Abdullah said it was obvious that for bloggers and for journalists of other media, duty and responsibility must go together.
“And if you want freedom, what is freedom without responsibility?” he asked. “I don’t agree with freedom without responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is anarchy. Actually, it is being irresponsible,” he added.
(taken from theunspunblog.com)
Even though the Malaysia’s constitution guarantees the right of free speech and expression for every citizen, significant limitation has been set in the interest of the security of the Federation. Both The Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998 (“CMA”) and the Communications and Multimedia Commission Act of 1998 (“CMCA”) was set up to directly govern Malaysia’s telecommunications, broadcasting, and internet sectors, including related facilities, services, and content (OpenNet.net 2007). The CMCA is empowered to regulate the information technology and communications industries while the CMA empowers the commission with broad authority to regulate online speech (OpenNet.net 2007). The act also states any Malaysian publishers that violates this term may face criminal penalties plus a fine up to RM50,000 and/or serve one year in prison.
One of the effect of this act had involved Raja Petra, editor of Malaysia Today news portal, for publishing a seditious article on the website (TheStar.com 2008).
This clearly shows that the government takes this offense seriously no matter what status you have in the community. I advise Malaysian bloggers to be EXTREMELY cautious when making any online post. One wrong word and you may end up the next 'blog-arrest' case.
References
Megaswari, M & Kaur, M 2008, Blogger Raja Petra taken to prison after declining bail on sedition charge, online, retrieved 12 Jun 2008, from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/7/nation/21167472&sec=nation
OpenNet Initiative, Legal and regulatory frameworks, online, retrived 12 Jun 2008, from http://opennet.net/research/profiles/malaysia
Unspun 2008, Badawi on bloggers and responsibility, online, retrieved 12 Jun 2008, from http://theunspunblog.com/2007/01/24/badawi-on-bloggers-and-responsibility/
Quoting Badawi (2007):-
“The law is the law. They cannot hide and hope to be protected under some kind of a cover or whatever they think that they have,” the Prime Minister said. Abdullah said it was obvious that for bloggers and for journalists of other media, duty and responsibility must go together.
“And if you want freedom, what is freedom without responsibility?” he asked. “I don’t agree with freedom without responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is anarchy. Actually, it is being irresponsible,” he added.
(taken from theunspunblog.com)
Even though the Malaysia’s constitution guarantees the right of free speech and expression for every citizen, significant limitation has been set in the interest of the security of the Federation. Both The Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998 (“CMA”) and the Communications and Multimedia Commission Act of 1998 (“CMCA”) was set up to directly govern Malaysia’s telecommunications, broadcasting, and internet sectors, including related facilities, services, and content (OpenNet.net 2007). The CMCA is empowered to regulate the information technology and communications industries while the CMA empowers the commission with broad authority to regulate online speech (OpenNet.net 2007). The act also states any Malaysian publishers that violates this term may face criminal penalties plus a fine up to RM50,000 and/or serve one year in prison.
One of the effect of this act had involved Raja Petra, editor of Malaysia Today news portal, for publishing a seditious article on the website (TheStar.com 2008).
This clearly shows that the government takes this offense seriously no matter what status you have in the community. I advise Malaysian bloggers to be EXTREMELY cautious when making any online post. One wrong word and you may end up the next 'blog-arrest' case.
References
Megaswari, M & Kaur, M 2008, Blogger Raja Petra taken to prison after declining bail on sedition charge, online, retrieved 12 Jun 2008, from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/7/nation/21167472&sec=nation
OpenNet Initiative, Legal and regulatory frameworks, online, retrived 12 Jun 2008, from http://opennet.net/research/profiles/malaysia
Unspun 2008, Badawi on bloggers and responsibility, online, retrieved 12 Jun 2008, from http://theunspunblog.com/2007/01/24/badawi-on-bloggers-and-responsibility/
Is the net taking over print?
The internet has invaded us since 1993 and started out as a tool for communication. Now, the net can perform all types of task such as advertising, online shopping, and even gambling. As how I view it, these are all within the bounds of communication but in a much broader sense. Even traditional medium, namely the newspaper is expanding itself through the web. So where does this leave publishers? According to Mark Day (2005), web users aren't ready to forsake print just yet. One of the research conducted by New Matilda (an Australian newspaper) back in February 2005 discovered that their online subscribers regularly read two newspapers as well as two other types of publications. This clearly shows that readers do not really care how the news is delivered/presented but on how thorough the information is. Schriver (1997) agrees that low information can lead to the lost of interest in the readers.
Another example that print is still the preferred choice is the birth of e-books. Since the creation of this medium, it is still no where near as popular as printed novels. In fact most of the public (excluding web users) are still very much in the dark when it comes to e-books. One can only assume that this device is still way ahead of its time.
The book of tomorrow: the e-book looks more like a game console than a reading material
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Laptop-ebook.jpg
To further attest the importance of print, Sheena MacLean (2005) had quoted Mike Game (chief operating officer of Fairfax Digital), "But new media has not replaced the core attribute of newspapers, which is the ability to analyze and to provide much deeper insight." MacLean (2005) also mentioned that internet poses more of a threat to TV, as cited from Game and Jones (previous managing director and sales director of Yahoo). From that statement, we can safely say that print still has a place in the world (for now).
References
Day, M 2005, Web users aren't about to forsake the printed page, online, retrieved 10 June 2008, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=a7454fbf-aa1c-4cdf-9e4b-875e8a0243fb%40SRCSM1
MacLean, S 2005, Print learns to love the web, online, retrieved 10 June 2008, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=a7454fbf-aa1c-4cdf-9e4b-875e8a0243fb%40SRCSM1
Schriver, K 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York
Another example that print is still the preferred choice is the birth of e-books. Since the creation of this medium, it is still no where near as popular as printed novels. In fact most of the public (excluding web users) are still very much in the dark when it comes to e-books. One can only assume that this device is still way ahead of its time.
The book of tomorrow: the e-book looks more like a game console than a reading material
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Laptop-ebook.jpg
To further attest the importance of print, Sheena MacLean (2005) had quoted Mike Game (chief operating officer of Fairfax Digital), "But new media has not replaced the core attribute of newspapers, which is the ability to analyze and to provide much deeper insight." MacLean (2005) also mentioned that internet poses more of a threat to TV, as cited from Game and Jones (previous managing director and sales director of Yahoo). From that statement, we can safely say that print still has a place in the world (for now).
References
Day, M 2005, Web users aren't about to forsake the printed page, online, retrieved 10 June 2008, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=a7454fbf-aa1c-4cdf-9e4b-875e8a0243fb%40SRCSM1
MacLean, S 2005, Print learns to love the web, online, retrieved 10 June 2008, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=a7454fbf-aa1c-4cdf-9e4b-875e8a0243fb%40SRCSM1
Schriver, K 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York
Publishers vs Google
The ever-so-popular search engine, Google, lost a little of its gleam the moment they announced their plan to digitize books from selected libraries and universities as part of their Print Library project. Publishers everywhere heavily protested against this mainly because of the fact that their most valuable asset, the copyright, is being infringed (Band 2005). On the other hand, the project clearly stated that users will only be able to see a few sentences and not the full text of a copyrighted material. The question I pose here is whether or not this act should be considered as illegal on Google's part.
I believe that there is a fine line between what is and isn't legal in todays world. Take for example, one of my earlier post 'New forms of media: Youtube' concerning the user's dilemma on what to upload and what not to upload. Jean Hollis Weber (1995) believes that just because an act isn't determined illegal, it is not an excuse for the failure of one's own ethical choices where personal responsibility is concerned. However, in the case stated above, Google was more than willing to respect the request of publishers provided that they list down all the titles that they do not want Google to scan (see Google Blog).
Nonetheless, the Authors Guild did not take this matter lightly. They sued Google for copyright infringement on 20 September 2005 however a clear result is still not apparent.
An example of how the Library Project will look like
Source: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/screenshots.html#fullview
References
Smith, A 2005, Making books easier to find, online, retrieved 12 June 2008, from http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/making-books-easier-to-find.html
Band, J 2005, Features - The Authors Guild v. The Google Print Library Project, online, retrieved 12 June 2008, from http://www.llrx.com/features/googleprint.htm
Weber, J 1995, Ethics in scientific and technical communication, online, retrieved 12 June 2008, from http://www.jeanweber.com/newsite/?page_id=22
I believe that there is a fine line between what is and isn't legal in todays world. Take for example, one of my earlier post 'New forms of media: Youtube' concerning the user's dilemma on what to upload and what not to upload. Jean Hollis Weber (1995) believes that just because an act isn't determined illegal, it is not an excuse for the failure of one's own ethical choices where personal responsibility is concerned. However, in the case stated above, Google was more than willing to respect the request of publishers provided that they list down all the titles that they do not want Google to scan (see Google Blog).
Nonetheless, the Authors Guild did not take this matter lightly. They sued Google for copyright infringement on 20 September 2005 however a clear result is still not apparent.
An example of how the Library Project will look like
Source: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/screenshots.html#fullview
References
Smith, A 2005, Making books easier to find, online, retrieved 12 June 2008, from http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/making-books-easier-to-find.html
Band, J 2005, Features - The Authors Guild v. The Google Print Library Project, online, retrieved 12 June 2008, from http://www.llrx.com/features/googleprint.htm
Weber, J 1995, Ethics in scientific and technical communication, online, retrieved 12 June 2008, from http://www.jeanweber.com/newsite/?page_id=22
Fanfiction
What is fanfiction? Why is it glorified among fans? And more importantly, what is all the hype about?
The first question is fairly easy to answer. In general, fanfiction is a preferred text written by fans for fans within a certain fandom (a subculture composed of fans that shares common interest) from any genre. It is not limited to only television series, but also includes movies, novels, video games, musicians, and whatever else you can think of. Basically, fanfiction WILL exist in ANYTHING with a huge fan base. Take for example, Harry Potter, one of the most successful children's book ever written. This epic 7-series fantasy-novel lead to the creation of a massive amount of fanfictions. That being said, one of the sites that solely dedicates itself towards Harry Potter fanfictions is Fiction Alley.
Since we now understand what fanfiction is, we go to the second and third question. According to Isabella Santos Mundim (2006), fanfiction provide fans with the ability to gain satisfactory closure to a story. It allows fans to delve deeper into their favorite story and explore alternate possibilities within the story. She also stated that fanfiction is all about regaining control. Fanfiction writers take it upon themselves to correct the injustice and pain or apply their fantasies in canon (the official storyline/plot within a fictional universe). This was apparent when the last and final book of Harry Potter came out. A number of fan-written epilogues appeared on the net from writers all over the world. And for writers of taboo pairings such as Harry/Draco, they had arrived at a moot point - whether to continue writing based on canon or jump into an alternate universe altogether.
Isabella Santos Mundim (2006) described fanfiction writers as "always performing and enacting a theoretical position". This itself is evidence of the power of the reader to articulate and analyze different meanings from what is being presented to them.
A band's view on being in a fanfiction - MCR responds to fanfiction
References
Santos Mundim, I 2006, Roswell, textual gaps and fans subversive response, UFMG
The first question is fairly easy to answer. In general, fanfiction is a preferred text written by fans for fans within a certain fandom (a subculture composed of fans that shares common interest) from any genre. It is not limited to only television series, but also includes movies, novels, video games, musicians, and whatever else you can think of. Basically, fanfiction WILL exist in ANYTHING with a huge fan base. Take for example, Harry Potter, one of the most successful children's book ever written. This epic 7-series fantasy-novel lead to the creation of a massive amount of fanfictions. That being said, one of the sites that solely dedicates itself towards Harry Potter fanfictions is Fiction Alley.
Since we now understand what fanfiction is, we go to the second and third question. According to Isabella Santos Mundim (2006), fanfiction provide fans with the ability to gain satisfactory closure to a story. It allows fans to delve deeper into their favorite story and explore alternate possibilities within the story. She also stated that fanfiction is all about regaining control. Fanfiction writers take it upon themselves to correct the injustice and pain or apply their fantasies in canon (the official storyline/plot within a fictional universe). This was apparent when the last and final book of Harry Potter came out. A number of fan-written epilogues appeared on the net from writers all over the world. And for writers of taboo pairings such as Harry/Draco, they had arrived at a moot point - whether to continue writing based on canon or jump into an alternate universe altogether.
Isabella Santos Mundim (2006) described fanfiction writers as "always performing and enacting a theoretical position". This itself is evidence of the power of the reader to articulate and analyze different meanings from what is being presented to them.
A band's view on being in a fanfiction - MCR responds to fanfiction
References
Santos Mundim, I 2006, Roswell, textual gaps and fans subversive response, UFMG
Friday, May 2, 2008
New forms of media: Youtube
With the rise in technology, we have become increasingly persistent in sharing our interest and expressing ourselves, which in turn has led us to the creation of 'Youtube' or more precisely, video streaming. This new form of media has opened up countless possibilities all around the world. Not only are we able to upload and share recorded videos of ourselves, we are also able to share tv episodes! It is as if the whole world's tv channel is in the palm of your hands. You can view short clips of almost every television series from all around the world through Youtube. However, not all agree with this new form of media. While we audiences celebrate the birth of video streaming, the media itself isn't too hyped up with this new creation that allows streaming of copyrighted clips from movies, tv shows, and music videos.
Quoting Washington Post (31 October 2006):-
"One of YouTube's challenges is that some media companies haven't developed a unified policy on how to deal with violations of their copyrighted material..."
This has led to user's dilemma on what to upload and what not to upload. Not only that, companies such as Comedy Central and Viacom inc requested removal of only a number of their videos instead of requesting for total removal where copyright infringement is concerned.
With lawsuits threats being made by several other media companies, Youtube-ers need to watch their back on what they consider to be "a safe upload".
References
Noguchi, Y & Kehaulani Goo, S 2006, To the media, Youtube is a threat and a tool, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103001198.html
Quoting Washington Post (31 October 2006):-
"One of YouTube's challenges is that some media companies haven't developed a unified policy on how to deal with violations of their copyrighted material..."
This has led to user's dilemma on what to upload and what not to upload. Not only that, companies such as Comedy Central and Viacom inc requested removal of only a number of their videos instead of requesting for total removal where copyright infringement is concerned.
With lawsuits threats being made by several other media companies, Youtube-ers need to watch their back on what they consider to be "a safe upload".
References
Noguchi, Y & Kehaulani Goo, S 2006, To the media, Youtube is a threat and a tool, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103001198.html
Online media vs Print media
For every medium, there is a limitation and I believe that to come up with a good design is to understand these limitations. Walsh (2006) acknowledges that reading print-based text involves different levels of decoding, responding, and comprehending at affective and cognitive levels, critiquing and analyzing. In other words, it is a lot of work to the subconscious mind. Online media on the other hand proves to be a much simpler task for the mind. Nielsen (1997) plainly states that audiences do not read websites. They scan it, choosing informations they want to read. The web allows audiences to navigate easily through contents and informations with the help of hyperlink buttons located within the website. Which can't be said for print media, where audiences have to actually read word by word to obtain wanted information.
Below, I present an example of an online media and a print media with the same topic - breast cancer self-examination
Online Media
Print Media
As you can see, the website is more straight to the point compared to the fact sheet. While both contains picture, the fact sheet is crowded by words, creating a sense of dread for readers to go through. But Schriver (1997) made a point by stating that pictures are not enough to satisfy if the document itself is low in information and content. Even though websites are more convenient and interactive, it does not satisfy the thirst for knowledge. Which brings me back to a medium's limitation. By understanding all these flaws, I believe that a document designer can use it to their advantage, thus creating a very effective design.
References
Walsh, M 2006, The ‘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
Nielsen, J 1997, How users read on the web, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Schriver, K 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York
breastcancer.org, Pictures of breast self exam, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.breastcancer.org/pictures/self_exam/index.jsp
Gemzies, Understanding breast cancer, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://cancer.gemzies.com/show/entry_4613/Understanding_Breast_Cancer.html
Below, I present an example of an online media and a print media with the same topic - breast cancer self-examination
Online Media
Print Media
As you can see, the website is more straight to the point compared to the fact sheet. While both contains picture, the fact sheet is crowded by words, creating a sense of dread for readers to go through. But Schriver (1997) made a point by stating that pictures are not enough to satisfy if the document itself is low in information and content. Even though websites are more convenient and interactive, it does not satisfy the thirst for knowledge. Which brings me back to a medium's limitation. By understanding all these flaws, I believe that a document designer can use it to their advantage, thus creating a very effective design.
References
Walsh, M 2006, The ‘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
Nielsen, J 1997, How users read on the web, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Schriver, K 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York
breastcancer.org, Pictures of breast self exam, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.breastcancer.org/pictures/self_exam/index.jsp
Gemzies, Understanding breast cancer, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://cancer.gemzies.com/show/entry_4613/Understanding_Breast_Cancer.html
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