Reflections...

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

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/

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

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

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

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

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

Blogging communities

There are many types of blogs surfacing each day and these blogs are usually classified by genre (entertainment, political, personal etc) and type (vlog, linklog, tumblelog etc). The common blogs we see by Malaysians are usually political and personal and rarely business-oriented. You can view the statistics of the top 50 Malaysian bloggers at Sabahan.com. But if we view this in a larger scope, most bloggers are driven by specific interest, for instance, a music blog on one's favorite band.

When I surf for blogs, I would usually search those with the same background interest. I believe the topic is far more important when it comes to information and shared interest and it outweighs design by a mile. In my opinion, the design comes as a bonus when viewing a particular information that I am very much interested in. Sure, a beautiful design pleases the eye but lack of information will have me leaving the page in a matter of seconds. Schriver (1997) also attest to this in her statement that no matter how pretty the picture is, it can't save a document from lack of content and infromation. In the end, a pretty picture is just a pretty picture. However, I wholly believe that the layout arrangement is important as it helps users navigate themselves through the document. Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) very much agrees with this notion in their text, The meaning of Compostion.

Livejournal plays host to a massive amount of online blogging communities. It is one of the most easiest blogging site that allows bloggers to access and post on their journals through moblog. A few communites on Livejournal that I am familiar with are Dir en Grey, American Idol, SkinsFans, and Eat my bento. Dir en Grey is a Japanese rock band with a very strong fanbase all over Asia, Europe and America. This community was created for the sole purpose of showing support and your love towards the band and has 5140 members. The members deal with everything in regards to the band from sharing pictures, to exchanging informations, to dealing with concert tickets and CD albums. Members are given free reign to post arts and videos regarding the band as long as they follow the rules and guidelines when posting.

Blogging communites such as the ones listed above are created when a group of people with shared interest in anything, gather to discuss issues and news related to their interest. Anyone can start a blogging community but it takes a lot of passion to maintain it.



References
Schriver, K 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating text for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York.

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, Reading images: the grammar of visual design, Routledge, London.

Sabahan.com 2007, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/

The blogosphere and current blogging phenomenon

For those of you who are heavily involve with the world of online blogging, blogosphere is a term that you can easily associate with. For the rest of the internet users, it is like a never-ending jigsaw puzzle. Blogosphere is basically a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections with each other. Once you start blogging, you become part of this huge ‘family’.

According to Rob McGann (2004), over the past years, blogs have gone from being a word that sounded insulting to an online trend embraced by many. In 2004, the number of bloggers is 8 million times bigger than the 500,000 blogs measure by Technorati in June 2003.



That was 4 years ago and yet the numbers are steadily increasing until this very day.



I believe the reason why blogging turned into a popular online addiction is because it is an exact mirror to real life’s socializing. We gossip, we chat, we share and trade information, we spread our ideals, we make friends – all of these are the same things we do in real life; making a connection and building a relationship. Quoting Andy Warhol, “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”, is very much true with the aid of a blog.

According to the IPSOS blogging research, there are 70 million people with blogging experience in Europe alone. And not surprisingly, the number of male bloggers is higher than female bloggers. In Asia, blogging is primarily used as a means to maintain and build social connections, expressing themselves at the same time. In the research conducted by Microsoft’s MSN and Windows Live Spaces in 2006, the blogosphere in Asia is surging forward with 46% of those online actively participate in blogging.

As for the blogging trends in Malaysia, the government believes that us bloggers are all insignificant. This was clearly stated in one of the interviews with a government official and was reported on theworld.org on August 1st, 2007 by Clark Boyd.


The audio report can be found here (click on the speaker icon) – Blogging in Malaysia


According to Sabahan.com, the most prevalent blogs in Malaysia are personal blogs with 28% (from the Malaysian Top 50 Bloggers). Politics only concerns 16%.
There’s a lot of benefit that can be reaped out of social blogs in Malaysian communities. Not only do we get to learn more about our own social environment, we can seek information that wouldn’t be printed out on newspapers for some very obvious reasons. And this blog is a perfect example attesting to that notion.



References
McGann, R 2004, The blogosphere by numbers, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3438891

Sifry, D 2007, The state of the live web April 2007, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000493.html

IPSOS 2006, The power of blogs in Europe, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://profesores.ie.edu/enrique_dans/download/IPSOSeuroblogs2006english.pdf

Windows Live and MSN 2006, Blogging phenomenon sweeps Asia, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-28-2006/0004480819&EDATE

Boyd, C 2007, Blogging in Malaysia, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/11813

Sabahan.com 2007, 50 most influential blogs in Malaysia, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/

My purpose...

The purpose of this blog is to discuss my findings and share my opinions regarding my assignments and reading studies with other college students of the subject IPD and professional media practitioners. Schriver (1997) stated that defining the effectiveness when intergrating prose and graphics on the web is an important role played by document desingners. With the creation of this blog, I hope to expand my views and ideas concerning the issues in publication and document designing, thus grasping a better understanding of the subject.


References
Schriver, K 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating text for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York.