The most daunting task was the commitment to blog regularly. However after three month, everything that overwhelmed me from blogging before, subsided and blogging became increasingly easier.
The theories and issues that I have been exposed to certainly brings blogging into a new light. It is definitely a new form of communication that can bring about a huge impact if used properly.
One of the biggest issues that I came across is the one of web design. It is true that in order to attract and sustain the layout and design choice of a web page differs from print media. This transition from designing for print to designing for web was rather challenging, perhaps because of the technological know-how that it involved.
In retrospect, I feel that this assignment has benefited me in many ways and has opened my eyes to a whole new world.
(from http://susanfitzgerald.com)
Social Networking are defined as web sites that allows users to create profiles publicly or semi-publicly within a certain system which links the user to a number of other users that has a shared interest (Boyd, D.M & Ellison, N.B 2007). Microblogging is a networking service that allows Internet connected devices to stay abreast of activities within a group by receiving frequent published status updates, typically of 140 characters or less, answering the question 'What are you doing now?' (What is Microblogging 2009).
The advantage of these forms of communication is the ability to use multimodal forms when communicating. Multimodal texts according to Walsh (2006), is a combination of digital and printed text that comprises of more than one mode.
The social networking site Facebook allows for all sorts of interactivity amongst its users – photo sharing, video sharing, micro blogging and recently Facebook also allowed users to chat in real time with friends that are logged in. It is clear that monomodal texts are a thing of the past and multimodal texts where texts are not the dominant feature prevails.
Twitter is available on any internet devices including mobile phones.
Micro blogging site – a new phenomenon – allows users to be constantly updated on the ‘tweets’ that they follow. In a bold move, Ashton Kutcher made a public challenge to CNN.com for a race to reach 1 million followers, the winner of which will donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to World Malaria Day (Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark twitter turning point 2009). Followers of Kutcher’s twitter site soared – he won the race.
Privacy issue is the remains the major concern of these new communication tools. While it enable us to communicate to more people than ever before, users should filter the information they publish carefully and be wary of who they are communicating to. Despite this it is obvious, that social networking sites and micro blogging is here to stay.
References:
1. Boyd, d. m & Ellison, N. B 2007, Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. viewed on 10 June 2008 <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html>
2. Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark twitter turning point 2009, CNN, online, retrieved 5 June 2009, from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/17/ashton.cnn.twitter.battle/index.html.
3. 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, pp. 24-37.
4. What is Microblogging? 2009, online, retrieved 5 June 2009, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-microblogging.htm.
Music exchanged over computers can be considered a violation of the copyrights of the artists or recording companies who own in (Straubhaar & LaRose 2005). In a bid to combat piracy Nokia paired with Universal, Sony, EMI and Warmer Music has come up with a mobile phone that enables users to download as much music as they like at a one off fee (Sabbagh 2008).
The creation of this brand of mobile phones agrees with Bears form follows function ideology (2009). The need to combat music piracy (function) triggered the creation of this mobile phone brand (form).
Although I am a great advocacy against music piracy, it is undeniable that the internet has made remarkable easy to illegally download music for free. In the end of the day it’s a matter of convenience – which is the same reason why most commercial businesses are now establishing themselves online. Even if this is a brilliant move by the music industry as a first step to combat online music piracy, there is still a long way to go to convince internet users to stay paying for their music.
References
Cultural references are key in communication. Schriver says that experience plays a role on how people approach a document (1997). Frequently, documents often show what the creator wants to show instead of what most audience will see (Williams 2003). This is vital when designing a document as inaccurate construction of the message can lead to confusion and anger.
The banned Opium billboard. Courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk.
Another example of designers not taking local culture and sentiments into account is the Sophie Dahl’s billboard debacle. Playing on the out-dated rule that sex sells, advertisers opts for a billboard that depict model Sophie Dahl completely naked save a pair of golden heels with her back arched as if in ecstasy. The advert drew massive criticism resulting in the 20 feet advert being banned altogether. A survey indicated that nearly a third of the 1000 people surveyed do not like to see those types of adverts and neither does it influence their purchases (Bernady 2006).
The crook of the matter is that designers need to pay more attention to local culture and sentiments in order to avoid public outrage that could have been easily avoided.
References:
The ethical issues
The beauty of photojournalism is that is should have no editing. It captures the moment as it is, telling the story that happened at that second. When reporting on an exhibition of war photographs, Heizman discovered that many of the visitors are moved by the photos, saying that unlike what is shown in the newspaper, the photographs showed a truth closer to reality (2007).
The shot of vulture waiting for the child to die in order to eat it depicts the 1994 Sudan famine. Courtesy of flickr.com
It is unfortunate that in newsroom today, editors abuse the power of photojournalism to manipulate readers. The issue arise when these photos are manipulated in the newsroom before being published in order to give a certain look to the audience. Lester believes that this is happening because of the obvious effect photos have on the emotion of its viewers (1995). Frequently, journalists opt for gruesome images along with their without really ascertaining the need for it – a way of sensationalizing the story.
The before and after of OJ Simpsons mugshot.
Courtesy of www.metafilter.com
Following Schriver’s supplementary mode where one mode dominated another, an image sometimes can be so strong that it does not need words to follow it (1997 pg 413) and today’s photojournalism is proof of this.
References:
The new forms of media publishing are allowing writers to reach out and influence to a wider range of audience like never before. Such an opportunity was clearly taken advantage of in the recent Obama campaign to be president last year. Graff tells us how for media tools namely; online video, mobile phone, blogs and social-networking sites such as Facebook, gave Obama a platform to reach out to his voters (2007). The presence of these various forms of media allows Obama to send out his message via a combination of audio, video, text and images. This is an excellent example that agrees with Walsh theory that a multimodal document is better for communication with an audience (2006).
Screenshot of Obama's blog during the presidential campaign of 2008.
References:
About
Maslin is a 20 something Communication Student living in the Klang Valley. Maslin is very ---- Archives
This blog was created to examine the many issues of publications and design, particularly ones related to web technology.
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