blogging : two sides of the coin

share your thoughts to the world!

(source : www.blog.ning.com)

When you are blogging, you do not only do it for your own sake, you are sharing info and thoughts with numerous people around the world. Hence, it is essential for you to know your audience and target them correctly. Put yourself in the readers’ position and make sure your blog design is comfortable for them to see. Otherwise, your posts would be not be the center of attention thus your blog’s purposes could not be achieved.

As bloggers, there are several requirements that you should possess. The first one would be consistency. You should update your blog continuously in order to maintain readership and provide new issues regarding your theme. As bloggers are also required to be aware with developments in web technology, it is essential for you to constantly learn. The last, but definitely not the least would be to believe in yourself and have perseverance in blogging (Tsan 2007).

Ethics is another important issue in blogging. Though debates are still going on to determine blogging ethics, it is crucial to be aware of issues we cover in blogs. Offensive issues and pictures with no credibilities may harm ourselves. Overall, have a safe and enjoyable blogging experience!

Reference List :

A. Tempo Magazine Cover Issue

Mahaputra, SA 2008, Tempo minta maaf soal cover soeharto, Okezone, viewed 8 June 2009, < http://news.okezone.com/index.php/ReadStory/2008/02/05/1/81156/tempo-minta-maaf-soal-cover-soeharto >

Harahap, Mula 2008, Protes terhadap cover tempo tentang soeharto, Harian Kompas, viewed 8 June 2009, <http://www.mail-archive.com/forum-pembaca-kompas@yahoogroups.com/msg32288.html>

BBC News 1998, Living with the crisis in Indonesia, viewed 8 June 2009, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/indonesia/your_comments_so_far/96841.stm>

Schirato, T. &Yell, S. 1996, Communication and cultural literacy: An introduction, Allen and Unwin, St. Leonards NSW, pp.90-117

B. Blogging Communities

Parsons, J 2009, The food blogging community : from virtual to vital, The Guardian, viewed 9 June 2009,

< http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/jun/09/food-bloggers-events-advice >

Paul, P 2004, The new family album, Time Magazine, viewed 9 June 2009,

< http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993832-3,00.html >

Marlow, C 2004, Audience, structure and authority in the weblog community, Presented at the International Communication Association Conference, May, 2004, New Orleans, LA.

C. Photojournalism

ABC Ballarat 2007, Photojournalists, viewed 7 June 2009,

Zelizer, B 2008, Photojournalism, ABC, viewed 7 June 2009,

< http://www.abc.net.au/rn/learning/lifelong/stories/s1174637.htm>

Halim, ZA 2007, A reuters photojournalist, viewed 7 June 2009,

< http://zainabdullah.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/zainal-abdul-halim-a-reuters-photojournalist/ >

Walsh, M 2006, “Textual shift: examining the reading process with print, visual, and multimodal texts”, in Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 24-37.

D. Makkal Ossai

The Star 2008, Tamil daily makkal ossai suspended, viewed 10 June 2009,

< http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/16/nation/20080416175353 >

Indian Malaysian 2007, Makkal ossai in deep trouble for publishing jesus Christ caricature, viewed 10 June 2009, <http://www.indianmalaysian.com/sound/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=597>

The Star 2008, Paper shutdown for breaching guidelines, viewed 10 June 2009,

< http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/18/nation/20987996 >

Walsh, M 2006, “Textual shift: examining the reading process with print, visual, and multimodal texts”, in Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 24-37.

E. Webisodes

Stelter, B 2008, For a web tv, a handful of hits but no formula for success, New York Times, viewed 9 June 2009, <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/business/media/01webisodes.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all >

Graham, J 2005, webisodes return, now as advertising, USA Today, viewed 9 June 2009, <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/business/2005-10-23-webisodes_x.htm>

Hale, M 2008, NBC bridges series gaps with online minidramas, New York Times, viewed 9 June 2009, < http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/arts/television/29webi.html>

Schirato, T. &Yell, S. 1996, Communication and cultural literacy: An introduction, Allen and Unwin, St. Leonards NSW, pp.90-117

F. Blogosphere

Technorati 2008, State of blogosphere 2008, viewed 11 June 2009, <http://technoratti.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere//>

Packwood, N 2004, ‘Geography of the blogosphere : Representing the culture, ecology and community of weblogs’ in Into the blogosphere : Rhetoric, community, and culture of weblogs, viewed 11 June 2009, <http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/geography_of_the_blogosphere_pf.html>

Warlick, D 2005, ‘Four reasons why the blogosphere might make a better professional collaborative environment than discussion forums’, viewed 11 June 2009,

G. Blogging Taxonomy

Reporters Without Borders 2007, government plans to force bloggers to register, viewed 11 June 2000, < http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21606 >

Kesmodel, David 2005, Wall street journal blogger faces lawsuit over comments posted by readers, Wall Street Journal Online, viewed 11 June 2009,<http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB112541909221726743-_vX2YpePQV7AOIl2Jeebz4FAfS4_20060831.html?mod=blogs >

Simons, Margaret 2008, Taxonomy of blogs, State of the Blogosphere 2008, viewed 11 June 2009,< http://www.abc.net.cu/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>

H. Reflection

Tsan, J, 2007, Qualities Of A Good Blogger, EzineArticles.com, viewed 11 June 2008,
< http://ezinearticles.com/?Qualities-Of-A-Good-Blogger&id=823015>

Dube, Jonathan 2007, A bloggers’ code of ethics, Cyberjournalisr.Net, viewed 11 June 2009, < http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000215.php >

Webb, CL 2003, The great blogging ethics debate, Washington Post, viewed 11 June 2009, < http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/articles/A63407-2003Apr9.html >

Your New 'Telly'

The image of a family watching TV together on the living room couch has slowly faded, changing into the image of each family member busy with their own PCs at their own rooms. Internet is trying to provide almost everything to approach different audiences. From buying stuffs through online shopping to maintaining your social networks through social networking sites, it has become our ‘daily food’. Internet is now offering us with its latest innovation called ‘webisodes’, a TV show produced specifically for online or mobile phone consumptions (ABC, 2007).

Even children are now computer savvy

(Source : www.ec.gc.ca)

Its first hit is the Lonelygirl15 show in 2007, a show broadcasted via YouTube about the life of a depressed girl who in the end turned into drugs and chose suicide to end her life. The show was first thought as a real-life story but in the end it was discovered to be a company production. However, the hit series could not maintain its viewers as its viewers dropped drastically on the last episodes. The spread of webisodes started in times when Writers Guild of America stopped producing for TV and shifted their focus to internet, where they created several titles of webisodes. The intention was to attract wider audience and obviously, gain profit from the low budget production. However, due to the uncertain format (e.g. 30 minutes opera soap in TV) and questionable quality, the attempts flopped.

But it is about time that more people will get to know this new genre of entertainment. Once it finds its ‘true identity’ which is the stable format and consistency, chances are high that they could attract wide range of audience. With media giants such as NBC and Warner Brothers showing their supports by producing their own webisodes, there could possibly be a bright future for webisodes if there are different kind of productions for different audience, considering the fact that genre is a dynamic thing that could blend with each other. For example, the TV phenomena, ‘televisual flow’ (Williams in Schirato & Yell, 1996) which provides us with different kind of genre from advertisements and cartoons to drama and news.

Blurring Lines in Humors

An edited image of Jesus Christ in Makkal Osai Newspaper

(source :www.infernalramblings.com)

There are several ways to warn others through extraordinary caricatures or sarcastic jokes, but the most important thing is to mind involved parties while doing so, as people might find us offensive or simply rude while doing so. A Tamil newspaper published in Malaysia, Makkal Osai, was suspended for a month after putting a picture of Jesus Christ holding a bottle of beer and cigarette in both hands. Considered to have trespassed the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 under materials that could threaten public security, harmony, and morality (The Star, 2007), the newspaper was banned for a month. Public apology was addressed by Makkal Osai’s editor in-chief, along with the statement that the picture was a technical mistake. Others who do not go against the picture believe that it is only a way to tell people that there is a way out of sins.

On a second thought, the pictures could be taken either in a good connotation or the bad ones. As people perceive text differently according to one’s personal believes, and whether we like it or not, humor, irony, and sarcasm are inseparable parts in texts (Walsh, 2006). What matters is not whether the picture creators get the punishments or not, but it is more to how we can deal and defend our personal stance about certain controversies as we live in the freedom of speech era, where borders and limitations are getting more and more blurry.

An Eye Opener or a Horror?

You do not need to be an expert in photography to take good pictures today, as the emerging digital technology now pampers the amateurs with their user-friendly features. The digital era has encouraged a trend in journalism called photojournalism. It is not a completely new trend as during Vietnam War and Great War photojournalism had come up to surface, providing audience with tragic eye-witnessed pictures from the actual war.

A shot from the Vietnam War

(source : www.fromthefrontline.co.uk)

Being a photojournalist basically means you cover an event from an angle without having to write news about it (ABC Ballarat, 2007). To watch a video about photojournalism by National Geographic, click here. However, as many amateurs emerged today as photojournalists, concerns about what is ethical and unethical to show publicly arise. Photojournalism field in particular, and journalism in general, is believed to have turned into a merely commercial field that every company is competing to show dramatic and shocking pictures to grab audience’s attention (Zelizer, 2007). Besides creating a sense of fear in people’s mind, it could also ‘turn off’ people’s sympathy towards certain events, simply because they have seen too much of it.

Though some might challenged the existence of photojournalism, such as those who believe that it is not suitable for all audience as most of the pictures captured are violent pictures. A recent issue about this appears from pictures taken by American soldiers in Iraq capturing tortures in Abu Ghraib prison. However, we should also see that

photojournalism has taken us to places we have never been to and realizing us to daily things we might not notice by giving them extraordinary angles.

I believe that there is more to photojournalism than only commercial purpose by neglecting the fact that the photos might terrorize some people. It is more to capturing the energy and spirit of things happening around us in unconventional angles through the passion of the person behind the lens (Nichols, 2008). Making sense of visual texts, in this case photos, involves more senses than those involved in words-based text (Walsh, 2006). That describes how far a picture can impact a person. So, yes, the saying ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ would still be relevant. And as long as we still hold on to our sense of humanity in both producing and making sense of the pictures, photojournalism is a way to go.

Looking things from different angles through photojournalism

(source : www.robertsonmedia.com.au)

Over Soeharto ‘Last Supper’ Cover in Tempo Magazine: Merely Art or an Offense to Christianity?

Controversies have been going on over the cover of Tempo magazine, a weekly published in Indonesia. The cover depicts the late former Indonesian president, Soeharto in a round table eating dinner with his children mimicking Leonardo Da Vinci’s last supper painting. The cover which was initially used to mirror the main issue covered, which was the legacy of Soeharto after his death, has gained numerous protests from the Christian movements (Mahaputra, 2008). Tempo editor in-chief, Toriq Hadad, has addressed public apology two days after the magazine released explaining that the cover was not initiated to offense any religions.

Image of Suharto and family in Tempo Magazine

(source : www.asiaone.com)

It is understandable that people might be offended by this cover image as Soeharto’s crimes that have been well-covered during his presidency have been revealed since the Reformation era. Governing for more than 32 years, he, himself, is a living controversy. Some Indonesians still adore him as the one who achieve a welfare Indonesia, whereas the educated people sees him as a dictator that has deceived his people and misused their trust, proven by the abundant debts to IMF after he left and the May Tragedy that could be considered as an effort to Indonesian-Chinese ethnic cleansing. To see more of Soeharto’s history, click here.

The question would be, is it merely art or a heartless offense to Christianity? This question is to be answered with comparison between visualization issues in Islam and Christian. While Islamic rules do not allow anyone to visualize any prophets or figures in Al Qur’an, Christians’ do. The reason from the Muslims would be that everyone could have their own and most suitable image of prophets, as prophets are seen as more than just human, they are the symbols of peace, love, and sacredness. Whereas Christian figures such as Jesus Christ has been interpreted in different ways since the era of Leonardo da Vinci, and there are various version of Jesus’ image, be it the African-American one or the Chinese one. That is why some Indonesian moderates see this issue as a merely piece of art rather than an offense to Christianity (Kompas, 2009). In conclusion, there is never an absolute truth while interpreting such images, different people might interpret it differently according to their own knowledge and believed values (Schirato & Yell, 1996).

Blogging Communities

Just like human beings tend to mingle and clique with others who have similar interests as them, interconnectivity of blogs in blogosphere has created similar phenomenon. A thing called blogging communities could be defined as an interactive groups formed through blog(s) based on same interests. Community members share expressions and connect to each other via communicating (Packwood 2005). The same thing applies to blogging community, where people with same interests create online discussions through bulletin boards or comment box. That way, feedbacks and comments about blogposting issues could be gathered in order to develop the blogs and the community itself.

from sneaker lovers to food explorers, all keep in touch through blogging community

(source : monsoonspice.blogspot.com)

Blogging communities can be classified into three different types, the single blog centric community, the central connecting topic community, and the boundaried community (White 2005). The first one is formed when the online interactions only happen inside a blog, while in the second one members can also be linked to another blogs with similar topics. The third one would be the most common one, where we can see different types of blogs under a blog provider. An example of blogging community is the food community named Word of Mouth under the Guardian in UK. Its members share culinary experiences including the food pictures among them. Sharing is caring.

keep in touch with people with the same interests through blogging community

(source : http://www.novanewsking.ukings.ca)

Blog : A New Genre

pick a theme.know your issue.keep blogging!

(source : http://www.blog.globalgiving.com 2007)

Since the rapid emergence of blog has created a new issue. As there are no clear blog classifications as in books or movies, experts believe that the term ‘blog’ is no longer enough to describe its various contents (Simons, 2008), be it political, news, or simply an online diary.

Margaret Simons was the first to come up with an idea of blog taxonomy. She classifies blogs to 9 types. The first one is a pamphleteering blogs which could be defined as argumentative pieces about numerous issues. The second one would be the digest blogs which merely summarize others’ opinions and proven facts through articles. The next one is advocacy blogs, similar to the first one at the first glance, but what differentiates them is that advocacy blogs focus on one particular issue. The fourth type kind of reminds us to ‘how to’ guide books, called the popular mechanics blog. The fifth one is the exhibition blogs which function as an ‘online gallery’ to art pieces by amateurs. The next one claims themselves as a ‘media watchdog’, officially called gatewatcher blogs. The eight type merely functions as an online diary as the name goes, the diary. The last type would be news blog where people can find news updates.

Different types of blogs allow us to widen up your window of knowledge as well as keeping us questioning about the credibility that could lead to discussions which ideally would result in a more credible info.

From Zero to Hero

Blog is definitely not a new thing considering it has been globally known for more than 4 years know. However, one of the most interesting trends happening in blogosphere, the term used to describe a collective community of all blogs, based on the fact that they are all interconnected in internet as the platform (Wikipedia, 2001), would be the fact that it has evolved from a merely ‘online diary’ to a new form of profitable journalism. Adevertisers are now investing on blogs making it a promising new business field.

Proven to have improved in qualities and credibility (Technoratti, 2008), blog is now affecting mainstream media in terms of format and style incorporation. It may surprise us that 80% of American newspapers nowadays have bloggers section as one of their main features. It has also filled almost every niche in readership as its genre ranges from politics and economy to fashion and entertainment (Weinberger, 2008).

And if we think blogging is only prominent across USA, we are totally wrong. Blogging has become a global phenomenon with 27% of bloggers in Europe and 13% in Asia, not to mention 58% of American bloggers form a global blogosphere. Aside from triggering people to participate more in democracy, it may someday be our new ‘daily newspaper’ as clocks ticking.

bloggers are now everywhere around the globe

(source : Technoratti 2008)

document design

Eye-catching pictures or bombastic headings are not enough for a document to be considered as a well-designed and effective document. This article explains briefly about elements that constitutes a well-designed document as well as showing some examples and comparison about document designs in order to draw a clearer picture inside readers' minds.

The basic idea of designing a good document, in this case, presentation slides, is to be balance. You have to have approximately the same 'weight' of elements put in both sides of the page. Big objects, dark colors, and unusual shapes are considered to be 'heavier' than small objects, light colors, and simple shapes such as circles and squares (Reep, 2006).

Reep also mentions about the images we insert in our documents. In order to function effectively, images that we put should be clear and foucs on particular items that they help us to get across the idea to audience. Distracting backgrounds in images should be avoided as it could create unnecessary distraction to audience.

A well-designed document helps audience to find specific info quickly. Heading is a crucial thing that provides audience with a topic outline, as well as grab their attention in the very first place. It also shows changes in topic thus avoid confusion. Refer to earlier info about readability and balance, your headings should stand out among other info below it. Mind the text font, style, and size.

Bastoky (2005) also mentions about the readability. Meaning that authors should make sure that audience could clearly read the content of documents by applying the right font type and size. This will also keep audience's attention to the content while presenting.

One thing to hinder is forms dichotomy (Westendorp, et.al., 2000). The term could be defined as inconsistency in design layouts that it might not get across to desired targets. For example, too much eye-catching colors should not be put in formal and serious documents.

As the saying, experience is the best teacher, therefore we should always update ourselves about developments and improvements in document design that we are able to create an effective documents.

References :

1. Bastoky, G 2005, Principles in document design, updated 21 January 2005, viewed 5 April 2009, <www.bastoky.com/TOC.htm >

2. McCormick, L 1991, Living between the lines, Heinemann Education Books, Inc.
Reep, DC 2006, chapter 6 in 'Document design', New York, Pearson/Longman, pp 133-172.

3. Petelin, R, Putnis, P 1996, chapter 8: 'Writing in an academic context' in Professional communication : principles and application, Prentice Hall, Sydney.

4. Reep, DC 2006, chapter 6 in 'Document design', New York, Pearson/Longman.

5. Westendorp, P., Jansen, C., Punselie, R. 2000, 'Interface design & document design', Rodopi.

purpose

Time has proven that media is such a powerful tool that it does not only inform and connect people all around the globe, but it could also drive people's mind and opinions about things. As it is something that we deal with every single day, i consider it as an important thing to actively take part in the media sphere, even through this tiny blog space. Intended for those who have interest in media world, this room provides info about some basic knowledge about media, and also current events in media world. enjoy, folks!