Reflections

Kress & Van Leeuwen (2006, p.35) stated that semiotic landscape differs from one society and culture to another. In other words when designing a document one must take into consideration how people of different cultural background interprets a document, so that it does not appear offensive.

As a blogger, we should have weblog navigation in order to categorize postings based on topics so that it is a user-friendly weblog. It should also be clutter-free weblog which enables a reader to have easy access to specific topics. Scanability is important where one writes using keywords and headings, splitting contents into paragraphs. Each page is designed as an independent segment. A website must be easy to use, otherwise, people will “simply leave”, since according to Nielsen, (2006, p.11 of 70) 79% of users always scan through.


References:

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T.2006. Reading images. Chapter 1: The Semiotic Landscape: Language and Visual Communication.

Heng, J 2009, Online & Print Environment, Lecture notes distributed in the unit, COMM 1043 Introduction to Publication and Design, Taylors College, Petaling Jaya on 13 October 2009.

Heng, J 2009, Do’s and Don’ts for Weblogs, Lecture notes distributed in the unit, COMM 1043 Introduction to Publication and Design, Taylors College, Petaling Jaya.

Photojournalism issues in Design

Source: http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/07/02/ok_magazine_michael_jackson_cover_pictur

The picture of Michael Jackson carried on a stretcher was on the cover of OK! Magazine. Since he was already not breathing, it could have been his ‘last’ picture. As a result it has stirred up a lot of controversy. It also raised the issue of ethics of photojournalism.

In photojournalism, there is always a need to balance the right to privacy and newsworthiness. Berger (1989, p.238) says “Seeing is Believing.” A picture is not reality itself because it is influenced by the photographer’s point of view and how he manipulates the angle, light and focus of his camera. However, most people believe what they see.

In this case, there appears to be an invasion of privacy which tilts the balance to the side of newsworthiness.

Patterson, P & Wilkins, L (2006, p.239) mentioned that “the most basic of these theories is whether or not to shoot the photo of a subject who is in no position to deny the photographer access to the event.”


Source: http://mstar.com.my/hiburan/cerita.asp?file=/2009/7/23/mstar_hiburan/20090723171042&sec=mstar_hiburan

Here, Michael Jackson was in no position to stop the photographers. This brings to mind the same thing happened to Yasmin Ahmad when she was photographed being wheeled out of the operating theatre at Damansara Specialist Hospital.

The photojournalist capitalised on the subjects’ misfortune and lack compassion and sensitivity.

The photojournalist should also do selective editing. The outcome must neither do society and harm nor allow the image to have negative impact on the people, such as disturbing them mentally. Bryant (1987; 34, p.239) said, “A general rule for most photojournalists is shoot. You can always edit later.”

In the case of Michael Jackson and Yasmin Ahmad, the photojournalists were highly unethical, cashing in on people’s misfortune. It shows disrespect to two highly acclaimed artistes. At the same time some of their fans might appreciate the “last look” as a means of saying goodbye. Personally, I would rather remember them when they are at the peak of their career.

Reference:

Sneed 2009, OK! Cover of Michael Jackson’s death photo stirs controversy, viewed 18 November 2009,
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/07/release-of-michael-jacksons-death-photo-stirs-controversy-.html?cid=6a00d8341c630a53ef011571ca1628970b

Patterson, P & Wilkins, L 2008, Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, McGraw Hill, New York.

How, A and Adzrin, S 2009, ‘Pengarah Yasmin Ahmad selesai jalani pembedahan otak’, mStar, 23 July, p.1, viewed 18 November 2009, http://mstar.com.my/hiburan/cerita.asp?file=/2009/7/23/mstar_hiburan/20090723171042&sec=mstar_hiburan

‘Star pulse’ 2009, OK! Magazine Michael Jackson Cover Picture Features MJ Dead On Stretcher
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/07/02/ok_magazine_michael_jackson_cover_pictur

iPhone users supports Obama

Source: http://sroblog.com/2009/06/18/the-historically-challenged-president-frontpagemag/


During the United States Presidential Election campaign, US democratic candidate, Barack Obama used his iPhone as a tool to get votes out. He is now the President of United States.

Source: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/10/021358.htm

This tool is designed for the grassroots and swing voters to become directly involved in the election campaign. The White House blog has a feature called “Call Friends” which kept in touch with thousands of people who would hopefully, turn into votes. It would at the same
time, raise the democratic candidates profile among the social networking set. It was also used
to raise money for Obama’s Election Campaign.


Obama’s move to concentrate on the new genre as compared to mainstream media has brought enormous benefits, mainly because; there is instant feedback from contacts. This is a two-way traffic. Dean Takahashi from Technorati Day 5 (2009 p.2of2), said “You can find out quickly what your readers like and what they don’t, and you can respond immediately. You see what works and do more of it.”

According to, Technorati Media, Yahoo, 51% of internet users will turn to blogs to gather information and communicate about politics. Blogosphere enables people to engage in commentary about the good and bad of their government and has greatest impact on politics.

The White House blog, started on 20 January 2009, took just 42 days to make it to Technorati’s Top 100 , the fastest blog to have ever done that. It seats at number 96. In Malaysia, the last election showed the impact; the new genre has on the results, mainly due to text messages and blogs. As a result, more and more politicians, now, have blogs of their own.

This seems to be a sign that the new genre of media has a huge impact in communication and that the mobile technology is set to become the norm moving forward. This is a glimpse of the future of high tech politicking.



References:

‘Technorati’ 2009, State of the Blogosphere 2009, viewed 12 November 2009,
http://es.technorati.com/blogging/article/day-5-twitter-global-impact-and/page-2/

‘Technorati’ 2009, Technorati Attention Index, viewed 10 November 2009, http://blog.technorati.com/page/3/

Shiels, M 2008, ‘Obama Uses iPhone to win support’, BBC News viewed 10 November 2009,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7649753.stm

Thornton 2009, Front Page Mag, viewed 10 November 2009,
http://sroblog.com/2009/06/18/the-historically-challenged-president-frontpagemag/

‘Texuality’ 2008, Obama and Biden Unleash iPhone App, viewed 10 November 2009,
http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/10/021358.htm

Copyright issue in Publication

Source: http://www.pegr.com/blog/?p=45

J.K. Rowling the author of Harry Potter sued her ‘fan’, Steven Vander Ark for violating her copyright when he planned to publish a Potter encyclopedia. She claimed that it could damage her reputation as a writer.

The year before she had sued Michigan – based RDR Books to stop publication because of copyright infringement. She claimed that the materials used were directly stolen from her books and that it amounts to plagiarism and theft of her 17 years of hard work.

Source: http://alfocus.ala.org/tags/steve-vander-ark

RDR Books argued that the Lexicon falls under the category of “reference” book and is allowed by law. Vander Ark launched his web site, “Harry Potter Lexicon Web Site” in the year 2000. The web site attracts about 1.5 million hits per month from people all over the world.

In my opinion, she should allow him to continue with the Lexicon encyclopedia. It allows him an avenue to discuss and showcase her work. In view of his web site that attracts about 1.5 million page views a month, he is quite popular. As he is a fan of hers, he would most probably give positive feed back to viewers and even the author herself.

She could gain from his opinion on her style of writing as she like everyone else has room for improvement.
In the United States, copyright laws Section 10 2(a) , for example, would make it challenging for people like Steven Vander Ark because he did not get permission from J.K. Rowling herself but than again, his layer calls his work as a reference book.

His web site, on the other hand, could be seen as free advertising for Harry Potter books and exchange of knowledge among his and her fans. It is a means of gathering all the fans together for feedback.

On J.K. Rowlings’ side, she has every reason to feel someone has stolen all her hard work and make a profit out of it. Than again perhaps she and Vander Ark could come together and reap benefit of a joint venture.

Reference:
‘CBS News’ 2008, “Harry Potter” Author Wins Copyright Claim, viewed 18 November 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/08/entertainment/main4426302.shtml

‘Copyright Law – Chapter 1’ n.d., Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code, viewed 18 November 2009,
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#102

Greg 2009, Midwinter 2009: Steve Vander Ark Interview, viewed 18 November 2009,
http://alfocus.ala.org/tags/steve-vander-ark

‘The Penn Group’ 2008, J.K. Rowling and the Lawsuit of Frivolity: Harry Potter Author Makes Fan Cry in Quest for Cash, viewed 18 November 2009,
http://www.pegr.com/blog/?p=45

Issue of Cultural Context in Publication

Source: http://nick131086.blogspot.com/2008/11/indonesian-weekly-apologises-over-last.html


One of Indonesia’s top news weeklies, “Tempo” invited criticisms and complaints when it’s cover for February 4-10 Edition featured former President, Suharto and his children in a photo composition that mimicked Leornardo Da Vinci’s, Last Supper.

Christians in Indonesia were upset because it tarnishes the meaning behind the original painting. This shows a lack of respect for cultures that are different from the publishers.

Kress & Van Leeuwen (2006, p.35) said that the semiotic landscape is influenced by “social, cultural and individual interpretation.” The Christians who form only 10% of a population of 234 million view the pictures as insulting to their religion. Tempo magazine issued an apology in the following week’s edition.

The Alliance of Christian Students and Youth’s (AMPIC) sued Tempo for blasphemy and demanded copies off the magazine to be taken off shelves, nationwide.

Source:

http://www.indianmalaysian.com/makkal_osai.html

Similarly, in Malaysia, the Tamil Daily newspaper published a photograph of Jesus holding a cigarette and beer. They apologized, saying that the graphics editor made an error in taking the image from the internet. The newspaper was than, suspended for 30 days.

In the ethical context, Sissela Bok’s (2006, p.4-5) ethical decision making, suggests that both Tamil Daily and Tempo writers and editors should have conducted discussions with the public where they can gauge people’s reactions to the subject matter.

References:

Patterson, P & Wilkins, L 2008, Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, McGraw Hill, New York.

Retna, S, 2007, Makkal Osai Suspended for 30 Days, viewed 10 November 2009, http://www.indianmalaysian.com/makkal_osai.html

Nick, 2008, Indonesian Weekly Apologises Over Last Supper Suharto Cover, viewed at 10 November 2009, http://nick131086.blogspot.com/2008/11/indonesian-weekly-apologises-over-last.html

‘Indonesian Weekly Apologises over Last Supper Suharto Cover’, 2008, viewed at 10 November 2009, http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hekOeN5FnuydFZdws5eHN4m-BkCw

‘Anger at Malaysia’ Jesus Cartoon, viewed at 10 November 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6960220.stm

‘Christian sue Tempo for blasphemy’, viewed at 10 November 2009, http://www.pmw.c2o.org/2008/indon5303.html

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T.2006. Reading images. Chapter 1: The Semiotic Landscape: Language and Visual Communication.

Blogging Phenomenon 5: New Forms of Media Publishing

In presenting a seminar paper on the new media, John Naughton (2006, p.2 of 10) treats human society as an “organism which depends on a media environment to survive and develop.” The organism is directly influenced by the media and dependent on “prevailing modes of communication”, Broadcast TV being the dominant medium.

According to Neil Postman (2006, p.2 of 10); The Disappearances of Childhood, Vintage 1994, “New Communications technologies may change the ecosystem.” The trend those days sees broadcast TV losing its dominance and being replaced by the internet.

The internet has penetrated every aspect of out lives especially e-commerce and video across the net, online news, and web used as a publication medium.

Broadcast TV is a ‘push’ or ‘sit back’ medium. The web is a ‘pull’ or ‘sit up’ medium which indicated consumer sovereignty and a better informed and knowledgeable society.

The internet comes with quite a few issues, such as lack of privacy, harder for companies to keep secret, resulting in leakage of confidential information and bad publicity.

However, the internet could be used by an organization in a positive way, for example, provide information about its products or advertisements. It could also use social networking sites to check out applicants.

The growth of blogging via the internet has affected conventional print journalism. However, their relationship would be beneficial to both. Under the conventional print journalism, “freedom of the press was available to anyone with enough money to own a newspaper,” John Naughton (2006, p.9).

With the new technology, all one needs is to own a computer, appropriate software and internet connections. Companies that do not adapt are going to have a lot of difficulties in providing and accessing information.

References:

Naughton 2006, Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem, viewed 18 November 2009,
http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf

The Blogging Phenomenon 4: Print Versus Online Design

Source: http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/articles/the-5-worst-website-designs-in-the-world

“If a website is not easy to use, people, simply leave,” Jakob Nielsen (of Heng, J 2009, p. 2). The image above is a good example of a badly designed weblog. Using this image as an example, information on weblog design and print design (image below) would be compared.

Jakob Nielsen’s (2005) pointed out that the design of a weblog should be user-friendly. However, the weblog above oppose his theories of an appropriate weblog design. It is proven through Jakob Nielsen’s (2005) not-to-do-list; mixing the topics. This mainly refers to having too many topics as shown above; readers would leave the weblog without reading its contents.

The weblog have yet again oppose Jakob Nielsen’s theory of having a good design as it may contain author biographies made available to gain credibility, however readers would not be able to find it. “Page Design is the most immediately visible part of web design,” Jakob Nielsen (Designing Web Usability, p.17) (of Heng, J 2009, p. 28 of 70).

The Literacy Company (2007)(of Heng, J 2009, p. 7 of 70). states that a weblog such as the above does not attract readers as its contents are not divided into paragraphs.

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/mswanson/archive/2007/05/06/bad-design-by-example.aspx

The print navigation differs from weblog navigation. Weblog navigation consists of links where it categorizes postings base on topics. Its purpose is to create a user-friendly weblog where readers would have easier access to information. Readers are able to search for specific topics that they are interested in, a clutter-free weblog.

The print, according to Diana Reep (2006, p.154), relies on headings and subheadings as a form of navigation. She states that, headings allow readers to gain specific information they may take interest in. It could also attract readers to the information.

Although, the print above provides heading, it confuses readers as there is no elements to help guide a readers’ eyes from one column of information to the other.

It is important for web writers as well as print writers to know the eye movement of their potential readers, beforehand. According to Jakob Nielsen (2006), the eye movement of readers on blogs goes horizontally across the top part of the blog’s contents before moving downwards. Readers would than, scan the content’s from the left side, vertically.

This differs when it comes to reading a printed document as the eye movement of readers “would focus on outer right and left of a page instead of the inner, their eyes would go from the bottom to the top,” Penman (1998, p.11).

In the weblog context, readers does not read but rather scan through its contents. “People rarely read web pages word by word; they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.” Jakob Nielsen (2006, p.10 of 70) He also states that 79% of readers scans through weblog contents, Jakob Nielsen (2006, p.11 of 70)


References:

Heng, J 2009, Online & Print Environment, Lecture notes distributed in the unit, COMM 1043 Introduction to Publication and Design, Taylors College, Petaling Jaya on 13 October 2009.

Heng, J 2009, Do’s and Don’ts for Weblogs, Lecture notes distributed in the unit, COMM 1043 Introduction to Publication and Design, Taylors College, Petaling Jaya.

Nielsen, J 2005, Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, viewed 16 November 2009, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html

Morkes, J & Nielsen 1997, Concise, Scannable, and Objective: How to Write for the Web, viewed 16 November 2009, http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html

Robyn, P 1998, ‘Document structures and readers’ habits’, Communication News, vol.11, no.2, University of South Australia (COMM 1043).

Reep, D 2006, ‘Technical writing’, Document Design, vol.6, University of South Australia (COMM 1043).

Swanson 2007, Bad Design by Example, viewed 17 November 2009,
http://blogs.msdn.com/mswanson/archive/2007/05/06/bad-design-by-example.aspx

Spooner n.d., The Five Worst Website Designs in the World, viewed 17 November 2009,
http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/articles/the-5-worst-website-designs-in-the-world