Reflection

As a blogger, it should be taken note that document design is very important. Document design allows you to create a document that reflects the image you wish your readers to have (Reep 2006). For example, if the design of your document is full of children pictures and colours, readers will know that the targeted audience for your document is kids. Reep (2006) also further explained that document design will increase your reader’s interest in the document. MacKenzie (1994 cited in Putnis & Petelin 1996) also emphasise the need to rationally and correctly incorporate words and their graphic form to create an information that is accessible and usable for readers.

Other than that, a blogger must know the limitations of blogging. Topics about cultures, religions and races should not be talked in depth to avoid any conflicts between readers. Also, a blogger must know ethical and principles in writing as issues may arise during the publication process, for example plagiarism, authorship, and even conflict of interest (King 2011). As a writer/ blogger, we must always remember that dishonesty can ruin an author’s reputation (La Follette, 1992; Malone, 1998 cited in King 2001). 

References: 

1. King, CR 2001, 'Ethical issues in writing and publishing, Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 19-23, viewed 13 June 2011, <https://www.ons.org/Publications/CJON/AuthorInfo/media/ons/docs/publications/19.pdf>
2. Putnis, P & Peterlin, R 1996, Writing to communicate, in Professional communication: principles and applications, ch. 7, pp. 223-263.
3. Reep, DC 2006, Document Design, in Technical Writing, ch. 6, 6th edn, pp. 133-172.

E-Books

(Source: technologybook, 2011)

Bloomberg Businessweek (2011) featured an article titled ‘How E-Books Are Coming Full Circle, Thanks to Tablets’ that discusses about e-books on the rise because of the tablet sales, especially Apple’s iPad. Rao (2003 cited in Lam et al. 2008) defined e-books as texts which are in digital form or any digital reading material, or a book that is in a computer file format, or even an electronic file of words and images.   

When we think of the term ‘e-book’, the term ‘convenience’ will also come into mind.

Cavanaugh (2005) mentioned in his book that there are three main advantages of e-books:

Portability – We can bring our e-books everywhere with us, as long it is downloaded in a device, for example the iPad or any other tablets. Similar to what Lam et al. (2008) mentioned in their article, e-books are downloadable and also portable if they are stored in light portable devices.

Accessibility – Cavanaugh (2005 p. 5) explained that numerous online libraries and even bookstore distribute low cost, and sometimes even free e-books for users to download to devices. In today’s technology advanced world, the internet can be accessed almost everywhere. This also means that online libraries and bookstores can also be accessed almost anytime, anywhere which makes e-books downloadable anytime as well.

Usability – This is in fact one of the most important benefits of e-books to the society. As we all know, usability influences the success of a product. Therefore, the right usability must be present. Lam et al. (2008) justified in their article that many of the features and functions that are made available in e-book software has allowed users to learn and use it easily. Besides that, multimodality is also present in e-books features. Walsh (2006) described multimodal texts as texts that have more than one ‘mode’, which means information is communicated through several modes. For example, we are able to read e-books with the presence of sounds, images. As for using tablets to read e-books, we are able to touch the screen to scroll through pages. The technological difference, like screen, frames, hyperlinks, navigation bars, are designed to assist the reader’s learning, to attract and also to maintain interests of readers (Walsh 2006).  

References:

1. Cavanaugh, TW 2005, The digital reader: using e-books in K-12 education, International Society for Technology in Education, Washington, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=rIJIank876AC&source=gbs_navlinks_s>
2. Lam, P Lam, SL Lam, J & McNaught, C 2008, Usability and usefulness of eBooks on PPCs: how students’ opinions vary over time, Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/lam.pdf>
3. Tofel, K 2011 How e-books are coming full circle, thanks to tablets, Bloomberg Bussinessweek, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2011/tc20110325_523054.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5>
4. 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

The Angry Birds Phenomenon

(Source: goldeneggsangrybirds, 2011)

Everyone around the world is talking about this impressive mobile gaming application, Angry Birds. Angry Birds was originally designed for Apple Store and the amazing results of the application pushed developers to design the game for other smart phones like Android. Now, we could even play Angry Birds on our computers. Even merchandises of Angry Birds are everywhere! The Guardian (2001) reported that the Angry Birds franchise has now generated more than 200 million downloads. The news report also included all the success of the application ever since it was launched. It is apparent that this mobile gaming application has a very outstanding achievement.  

(Source: inventaholics, 2011)

However, this product made use of a marketing strategy that is known as viral marketing. Wilson (2005) defined viral marketing as ‘any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence’. He also further explained that the strategy of viral marketing is like viruses, taking advantage of fast multiplication that will communicate information to thousands, to millions. Viral marketing is a very successful marketing strategy because the word of mouth plays a very big role in influencing purchasing decisions of individuals (Leskovec et al. 2008).   

Viral marketing is not the only way to make a product successful. A successful product also means it has the right usability and functionality. Dumash and Redish (1999) stated that usability means users of product can make use of it easily and accomplish their task fast. Authors also mentioned that in order for a product to be successful, usability of a product must be present. In other words, it must meet standards of audience expectations. Seeing the achievements of Angry Birds, the application has obviously met the audience expectation. It must have the right functionality and usability since users does not seem to get bored of the game and keeps demanding for more. As what Guardian (2011) reported, ‘the Angry Birds phenomenon has shows no sign of slowing down’. 

References:

1. Guardian 2011, Angry birds: 200m downloads are the tip of the mobile gaming iceberg, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/may/19/iphone-game-stats>
2. Dumas, JS, Redish, J 1999, A practical guide to usability testing, Intellect Books, United Kingdom, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=4lge5k_F9EwC&dq=what+is+usability&source=gbs_navlinks_s>
3. Leskovec, J, Adamic, LA, Huberman, BA 2008, The dynamics of viral marketing, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0509/0509039v4.pdf>
4. Wilson, RF 2005, 'The six simple principles of viral marketing', Web Marketing Today, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://library.softgenx.com/Children/marketing/ViralMarketing.pdf>

Photojournalism

(Source: after5detroit, 2011)

Most of us will always carry a camera beside us to capture photographs of meaningful and important moment, especially when there's a big occasion. Those photographs that are captured can be described as photojournalism. Camden & Duarte (2006, p. 109) defined photojournalism as a 'method of visual reporting, a way to capture reality and effectively communicate a specific event or moment'.  

However, there are some of you that are not aware that even photojournalism has its own ethical and principles. Many photographers and editors learnt in early photograph's history that the economic and political gains can be made by photographic manipulations because of a naive and trusting public (Lester 1999). BBC News (2010) reported a photographic manipulation that involves an edited image by Egyptian state-run newspaper, al-Ahram, which was taken at the White House. According to the BBC news article, the newspaper has been accused of being “unprofessional”. Other than that, it was also said that the paper had “crossed the line from being balanced and honest” (BBC News 2010). 

The image below is the original picture that was captured,
showing Mr. Obama leading the way and Mr. Mubarak following behind.

 (SourceL BBC News, 2011)

The image below is the altered image by al-Ahram,
showing Mr.Mubarak leading the way instead. 

(Source: BBC News, 2011)

Lester (1999) mentioned in his work that a viewer always has the belief that the “camera never lies”, this comes directly from the impression of the visual image. Therefore, alteration of images like what al-Ahram did was very unethical and it is against the principles of photojournalism. The author also further explained that a photojournalist who believes in high ethical standards will not think of own benefits and manipulate a subject even slightly.

In this technology advanced world today, many photo editing programmes have been created, for instance the most well-known programme, Adobe Photoshop. Many designers are using that programme to improve their work. However, Lester (1999) justified that if a photograph is altered, or if a subject is stage managed by the photographer, the publication has a responsibility to inform readers or state the manipulation. Al-Amrah did not inform or state any information regarding the manipulation and left readers believing a lie. 

References:

1. BBC News 2010, Egyptian newspaper under fire over altered photo, viewed  10 June 2011, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11313738>
2. Camden, LL, Duarte, SG 2006, Mennonities in Texas: the quiet in the land, Texas A&M University Press, Texas, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=Zj90gk_eQPsC&dq=photojournalism+definition&source=gbs_navlinks_s> 
3. Lester, PM 1999, 'Chapter eight juggling journalism and humanism', in Photojournalism An Ethical Approach, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter8.html>
4. Lester, PM 1999, 'Chapter six picture manipulations', in Photojournalism An Ethical Approach, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter6.html>

Plagiarism

(Source: edutopia, 2011)

Plagiarism has always been one of the biggest publishing issue, especially in educational institutions. The term plagiarism can be described as the act of making use of other people's work without crediting the original author (Anderson 1998). BBC News (2011) reported an article titled 'Plagiarism: The Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V boom' that discusses about plagiarism issues over the years by well-known authors. As you can see from the title of the article itself, it takes very simple steps to plagiarize, all you got to do is copy, paste, and edit from a credible source. However, when you plagiarize, you are committing a crime, you are stealing!

Even though we often hear well-known authors get caught plagiarising, but plagiarism also applies to both published and even unpublished work, as well as any electronic and print materials, for example, e-mail or internet publications (Game & West 2002). 

Kasi (2009, p 187) stated that there are a few main types of plagiarism:

• Self Plagiarism – Authors using their own work in two or more works without citing the original work.
• Manipulated Plagiarism – Author manipulates another author’s thoughts, information, opinions, or data, and publishes the work as his own.
• Ideal Plagiarism – Author literally steals the paper or data from another author before the original work was published.
• Juice Plagiarism – Copying main ideas of paper and mixing them with new parts so the work seems as new writing

(Source: toonpool, 2011)

DePaul University (2001, cited in Nitterhouse 2003) explained plagiarism as a major form of academic dishonesty that involves presenting work of another as one’s own. Therefore, it is apparent that plagiarism must be avoided. 

Game & West (2002) and Nitterhouse (2003) both stated that plagiarism could be avoided in few ways:

• Any quotation must be used with quotation marks and of course citation must be present
• Any paraphrasing that is done must be cited. This includes summarizing or even slight altering the original exposition of a written idea.
• There should be acknowledgment of any ideas that were not conceived by the authors in the paper. This includes ideas received in any forms of personal communication and comments from reviewers, or anyone else at all.

Authors put a lot of effort into publishing their own work, thus making plagiarism a very unethical behavior. We should always cite other people's work if we are using them and never, never, NEVER steal/plagiarize. 

References:

1. Anderson, J 1998, Plagiarism, copyrighted violation, and other thefts of intellectual party: an annotated bibliography, McFarland & Company, North Carolina, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=O8EqxXsYv3EC&dq=plagiarism&source=gbs_navlinks_s>
2. BBC News 2011, Plagiarism: The Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V boom, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12613617?print=true#story_continues_2story_continues_2>
3. Game, A, West, MA 2002, 'Principles of publishing', Psychologist, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 126-129, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdlink?vinst=PROD&fmt=6&startpage=-1&ver=1&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=113389686&exp=06-09-2016&scaling=FULL&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&TS=1307786786&clientId=14273>
4. Kasi, P 2009, Research: what, why and how?: a treatise from researches to researches, Authorhouse, Bloomington, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=ozfH7f6qp9AC&dq=types+of+plagiarism&source=gbs_navlinks_s>
5. Nitterhouse, D 2003, 'Plagiarism - not just an "academic" problem', Teaching Business Ethics, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 215-217, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdweb?index=0&did=424410931&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1307902580&clientId=14273>

New Forms of Media Publishing

New forms of media publishing have certainly altered communication in a new media ecosystem. New media can be defined as the convergence of all types of media. In other words, new media is multimedia. 

(Source: walidazami.files.wordpress.com, 2011)

As we can see, most of the print companies, especially newspapers, are publishing their work on the internet. For instance, The Star Online and New Straits Times Online are online versions of well known newspapers in Malaysia.  

(Source: biz.thestar.com.my, 2011)

(Source: 1.bp.blogspot.com, 2011)

So how these online newspapers did altered the roles of traditional journalism?

Walsh (2006) stated that internet sites vary in the modes they use, but they have the potential to combine words and images in complex structures. Hence, readers of these sites are able to take the cues from a home page to navigate to multiple sites and multi directional. Everywhere writing now involved close attention to typeface choices and layout (Kress & Leeuwen, 1998). This results to online newspaper becoming more appealing to audiences than conventional newspaper. In addition, Pavlik (2011) mentioned that possibly the most significant among the effects of new media on traditional journalism is the transformation of the many relationships that exist between news organizations and their publics. 

References: 

1. Walsh, M 2006, The 'textual shifts': Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 24-37.
2. Kress, G Leeuwen, TV 1998, Front pages : (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout, in Approaches to media discourse, eds A Bell, P Garrett, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 186-219.
3. Pavlik, JV 1999, New Media and News: Implications for the Future of Journalism, New Media & Society, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 54-59, viewed 6th May 2011, <http://nms.sagepub.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/content/1/1/54>

Blogging Community

What is a Blogging Community?

Community is defined as a group of people which shares a common interest. Hence, group of individuals that blog is known as a blogging community.

(Source: 1.bp.blogspot.com, 2011)

Build Your Own Blogging Community

The most significant step is to make your posts entertaining. You definitely want to attract more readers to read your blog. Other than that, you need to get involved and interact with all your readers. It is a big no to turn off commenting on your blog. Bloggers loses some of what makes blogging such a dynamic, exciting medium: the interaction between bloggers and readers (Gardner & Birley, 2010). 

Click here to view more on steps to build a blogging community.

Types of Blogging Community

According to White (2006), there are three types of blogging community which includes:

• Single Blog/ Blogger Centric Community - In this community, one blog is owned by one owner or organization. It may have more than one author for the blog.
• Central Connecting Topic Community - This type of community is formed between blogs which is connected by a common interest or topic. 
• Boundaried Communities - The public are allowed to sign up and join this type of community. Also, they are able to create their own weblog. 

An example of blogging community includes Xanga. Similar to Blogger or Wordpress, Xanga allows the public to create their own free weblog. Images, audio or even video can be added into posts. The one thing that makes it extraordinary is that it allows users to meet new people by viewing or communicate with other blogs users in Xanga, which makes it another social networking site. 

References:

• Gardner, S Birley, S 2010, Blogging for Dummies, 3rd edn, Wiley Publishing, Canada, viewed 5th May 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=Z7NNQiMx-9cC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false>
• White, N 2006, Blogs and community – launching a new paradigm for online community?, viewed 5th May 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>

Blog Classification

There are many types of blogs which are being created today. According to Sun, Suryanto and Liu (2007), the problem of blog classification is the object to be classified in blog classfication are blogs where each blog consists of a set of blog posts and the number of posts may vary significantly from one blog to another. Other than Blogspot, Wordpress is one of the largest open source blogging software available. Wordpress has an article on the types of blogs that are available on their site. 

A few common categories are:

1. Personal

2. Business

3. Political

4. Directory

5. Sports

(Source: lh6.googleusercontent.com, 2011)

Unlike Wordpress, Simmons classifies blogs by the way information is being presented and analysed in blog posts. Categories that are suggested by Simmons differ from Wordpress. For example, Wordpress classifies certain blogs as political blogs which Simmons will categorize them as pamphleteering blogs. I personally think that the most appropriate method of classifying blog should be similar to the way Wordpress classify blogs, which is identifying the topic and the content of the blog posts.

References: 

1. Goh, DHL, Cao, TH, Solvberg, IT 2007, Asian digital libraries, viewed 16th April 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=8pxUkfwqt_0C&pg=PA307&dq=blog+classification&hl=en&ei=oHPGTaXEMdDNrQf4rKXVBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=blog%20classification&f=false>
2. Simons, M 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, The media report, viewed 16th April 2011, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcriptt>
3. Types of Blogs, Wordpress.com, viewed 16th April 2011, <http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/> 

Blogs as Current Phenomenon & Benefits to the Community

(Source: content.screencast.com, 2011)

As shown in technorati.com, there are a total number of 1,265,302 in their blog directory. This shows how huge the blogosphere is today. Moreover, the number does not just stop there! The blogosphere will continue to expand over the years.

According to Sobel (2010), the latest trends in 2010 are the impact of social networking, like twitter or facebook, on the blogosphere. Bloggers are now using this social networking sites to market their blogs and increase its traffic. Other than that, the author also stated that bloggers are now blogging from their mobile devices, like smart phones. Another term for mobile blogging is moblogging.

Q: What types of blogs are most common in Malaysia?

A: According to BlogMalaysia's directory, personal blogs has the most number, followed by business and career blogs. 

Business and career blogging has brought upon several advantages to the community such as getting immediate feedback of readers. Reymond mentioned on his website that blogging allows you to receive instant feedback from your audience, making you able to tweak and take action better to the market that is targeted. Also, business blogs enables the increase of brand awareness. In netexplorer, Rycroft (2008) mentioned that a blog is a great way to get your brand or product in front of thousands of people who otherwise would never know your existence. 

Reference:

1. Reymond, PV n.d, Advantages of Blogging: 7 Reasons Why You Should Start a Blog, Start Up Internet Business Acceleration, viewed 16th April 2011, <http://internethomebasedbusiness.startup-internetbusiness.com/advantages-of-blogging/>  
2. Rycroft, S 2008, The 10 Business Benefits of Blogging, Net Explorers, viewed 16th April 2011, <http://www.hosting-netexplorers.co.uk/blog/web-marketing/the-10-business-benefits-of-blogging/>
3. Sobel, J 2010, State of the Blogosphere 2010 Introduction, Technorati, viewed 16th April 2011, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/>
4. Sobel, J 2010, WHAT: Topic and Trends - Day 2 SOTB 2010, Technorati, viewed 16th April 2011, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/what-topics-and-trends-day-2/>

Document Design

What does it take to have a good power point presentation? 

Other than having accurate key points in power point slides, document design is also  important in conducting a good presentation. Good document design will enable good communication of information to the audience efficiently. Most importantly, it will increase  interest of readers towards the presentation (Reep, 2006). We definitely do not want any audience dozing off during your presentation. 

So, what exactly is a good document design?

Image 1

A presentation tip from Sieber (2009), KISS, which represents Keep It Straight and Simple. She also mentioned that ‘your slides are only there to support, not to replace your talk’. Therefore, there should be only keywords on the slides instead of long sentences. Referring to Image 1, there is an excessive amount of words on the slide. Instead of including the definitions and the summary of the article, it should be explained during the presentation. 

Image 2

In Image 2, the headings is not in bold or in a different colour as the rest of the text. Reep (2006, p.160) also mentioned that the usage of boldface type is to add emphasize on headings, specific words or important key terms. Thus, the sub heading found on Image 2 should be a different typeface as the rest of the text included. 

Image 3

According to Petelin (1996, p.254), edges and borders of text and images in slides should always be aligned. As seen in Image3, the margin of the slide is not similar to Image1 and Image 2. Margins of every power point slide should be the same. On top of that, Gallian (2005, p.25) also mentioned in one of his article that we should leave sufficient margins on all four sides. Hence, equal and ample margins should be left on the slide shown in Image3. 

References:

• Gallian, JA 2005, Advice on Giving a Good Powerpoint Presentation, Math Horizons, University of Minnesota Duluth, viewed 1st April 2011, <http://www.d.umn.edu/~jgallian/goodPPtalk.pdf> 
• Putnis, P & Peterlin, R 1996, Writing to communicate, in Professional communication: principles and applications, ch. 7, pp. 223-263.
• Reep, DC 2006, Document Design, in Technical Writing, ch. 6, 6th edn, pp. 133-172.
• Sieber, T 2009, 10 Powerpoint Tips of Preparing A Professional Presentation, viewed 1st April 2011, <http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-tips-for-preparing-a-professional-presentation/>

Purpose

The main purpose of commencing this weblog is to discuss on issues regarding publications and design, as well as certain media issues. This ‘Issues in Publications & Design' is mainly for those who are interested in the issues that are soon to be discussed in this weblog, for instance, students of communication and media management.