Good design for screen genre

 

According to Reep, unusual shape weighs more than simple circles or squares. The background of the whole slide presentation design is simple, clean and easy to read. Though it is often said that less is more (Esperdy.G 2009), I believed that experimenting a little more on unusual shapes and colours in the slides might be able to attract more attention from the audiences. There should be more effort place to search for other background design online instead of using the existing ones in the PowerPoint application. 

 

 

It saddens to see that there is no usage of header and footer as it can help in identifying the document and the pages. (Reep, Diana C. 2006) White spaces in a slide help to give the reader’s eyes a rest and also to direct them to important information. (Reep, Diana C. 2006) Most of the slides are too wordy which causes the insufficient of white spacing, thus, readers lose interest very quickly. 

Visually informative writing encourages the writer to be precise about grouping related facts, outlining beginnings and endings, and using cues to signal to the reader a graphic representation of cognitive group. (Berhardt. Stephen. A 1986) The whole structure of the slides are well planned as PowerPoint animation function is used to ensure the shifting of attention is where exactly I wanted the audience eyes to be. Examples:

•   Circling areas that is emphasized during presentation

 

• Covering unwanted area for more concentration on other areas

 

·        

  

•  Pop-ups of images and words

   

Referencing

1. Berhardt. Stephen. A 1986, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 66-78, viewed on 19 April 2010, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/357383>.
2. Esperdy.G 2009, Less is more, viewed on the 19 April 2010, <http://www.designobserver.com/observatory/entry.html?entry=8097>.
3. Reep, Diana C. 2006, ‘Chp 4: Principles of Document Design,’ in Technical Writing, 6th ed., Pearson Edu, Inc., New York, p.173-190.

Read More

New forms of media publishing

The web is a place where most new forms of media are published. Few examples are blogs, vlogs, mirco-blog and etc. The web is described as a ‘pull’ medium because the audiences are the ones in charged of what they are interested in reading or watching. This helps to provide information to the consumers more effectively as it is harder for company to keep secrets. When a product has flaws, chances that it might appear on blog, newsgroup or email list is very high. The credibility of the brand will degrade. This leads to an example of internet as an interactive media as reviews are usually provided by consumers themselves. (Oyanagi.M 2010)

Audiences are no longer just passive receiver. They are no longer just consuming but producing as well. For example, YouTube famous phrase ‘Broadcast yourself’ had definitely bring many amateurs to a professional level. Justin Beiber is the latest talk of the town when it comes to youtube stardom. He was discovered when his mother started posting videos of him singing at the age of 12 for his friends and family to see. Three years later he was discovered. (O’neill.M 2010)

Besides just being discovered, consumers are practically ‘journalist’ these days. Especially in Malaysia, when the mainstream media is no longer a trustworthy news source, readers turn to other alternative media example blogs. Even though there may be many vanity blogging without literacy, there are still many that blogs on current and useful information. A new study released by PR week and PR Newswire (Lacono.E & Skerik.S 2010) stating that 52% of bloggers surveyed consider themselves as journalist. Other than just blogs, Twitter is now often a place for breaking news and consumer trends. 64% of blogger and 36% of reporters is said to use twitter as a research tool for stories. (Rao.L 2010)

Recent article by the Malaysian Insider stating that political battleground is changing from blog to Twitter. (Zahiid.S.J 2010)There seem to be a decrease in blog traffic while an increase in micro-blogging sites due to the short status updates that makes it more attractive. Few examples of Malaysian leaders had taken the step of being ‘in’ with new media are Anwar, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, UMNO maverick Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak and etc. They are two different things, Twitter gives the snippets while blogging gives in-depth information. So, they use twitter to promote their blogs! (Zahiid.S.J 2010).

Referencing

1.       Lacono.E & Skerik.S 2010, Online Convergence Continues – Journalists Tap Social Media; More Bloggers Associate Work as Journalism; PR Practitioners Increasingly Leverage Online Opportunities, 2010 PRWeek/PR Newswire Media Survey: Longer Hours, Heavier Workloads Persist; But Fears Over Further Job Erosion Moderate, viewed on 19 April 2010,<http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prnewswire/43321/ >.

2.       Naughton.J 2006, ‘Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem’, viewed on 19 April 2010, <http://reuteursinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html >.

3.       O’neill.M 2010, Is youtube the new American idol? ,viewed on 19 April 2010, <http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/04/is-youtube-the-new-american-idol/ >.

4.      Oyanagi.M 2010, Vol.22 – What Distinguishes Internet/Web From Traditional Media? , viewed on 19 April 2010, <http://megoyanagi.thoseinmedia.com/2010/02/21/vol-22-%E2%80%93-what-distinguishes-internetweb-from-traditional-media/ >.

5.       Rao.L 2010, Study:52 percent of bloggers consider themselves journalist, viewed on 19 April 2010,<http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/01/study-52-percent-of-bloggers-consider-themselves-journalists/ >.

6.       Zahiid.S.J 2010, Blogging is so yesterday, politicians turn to twitter, The Malaysian insider, viewed on 19 April 2010, <http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/52749-blogging-is-so-yesterday-politicians-turn-to-twitter >.

Read More

Blogging Community

Blogging community is a group of people with similar interest comes together to interact with each other on the latest blog post of a specific blog. Some blog communities has their own practises and guideline to be follow which actually, helps create norms within the community. (Wei. C 2004) People blog to share what they know while in return their follower or readers comments and provides a contribution.   

Blogging can be a passive activity and the only way to build a community is to start by immersing in the community around. Join other established blogging community and be active by commenting on their discussion. (Denise 2009) Installing RSS(Really Simple Syndication) on your computer or sign-up for web-based services can help saves you from having daily trips to different websites for fresh that is of interest to you.(The star, n.d) Tagging is also a helps bring others into the loop, this categorize people onto a certain group of same interest.(Chastain. S n.d).

There are three types of blogging communities.( White. N 2006)

1.       The Single blog/ One blog Centric Community – Blog is owned by one person or an organisation but may have multiple author. Blogger have the ultimate power of control as the person can remove comment or censor certain readers. They also start the topic of conversation but they are not able to control the discussion flow by the reader. Eg: http://www.downes.ca/ . Stephen Downes blogs about e-learning, content syndication and new media. He aspires for people to be able to share interest in his blog without the complication of financial and influence worry. Learning should not cost you a penny. 

 

2.       Topic Centric Community- is formed through a network of common passion driven blogs linked together and create membership and combination of domain within the community. It basically begins when there is a shared interest between bloggers. Eg: http://globalvoicesonline.org/

 

3.       Boundaried Community- are compilation of blog readers and blogs crowd on one site or platform. They are required to register and ‘join’ the community and being offer a chance to create a blog. Eg: http://www.shareyourstory.org/

Blogging can be a passive activity and the only way to build a community is to start by immersing in the community around. Join other established blogging community and be active by commenting on their discussion. (Denise 2009) Installing RSS(Really Simple Syndication) on your computer or sign-up for web-based services can help saves you from having daily trips to different websites for fresh that is of interest to you.(The star, n.d) Tagging is also a helps bring others into the loop, this categorize people onto a certain group of same interest.(Chastain. S n.d).

Referencing

1.       Chastain. S n.d, What is tagging, viewed on 19 April 2009, <http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/glossary/a/tagging.htm> .

2.       Denise 2009, How do you build community?, viewed on 19 April 2009, <http://www.blogher.com/how-do-you-build-community >.

3.       The star, n.d, RSS, viewed on 19 April 2009, <http://thestar.com.my/rss/ >.

4.       Wei. C 2004, Formation of Norms in a Blog Community,viewed on 19 April 2009, <http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/formation_of_norms.html >.

5.       White. N 2006, Blogs and community-launching a new paradigm for online community, going communal, edition 11, viewed on 19 April 2009, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

Image Source: White. N 2006, Blogs and community-launching a new paradigm for online community, going communal, edition 11, viewed on 19 April 2009, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

Read More