Creating this serious weblog was truly a learning process for me. I have learnt to understand that blogging is not merely a place where one pens down his/her thought in a diary-like form but it is also a place where communities are form. What have I learnt? I have learnt that being a blogger, you have to be culturally sensitive and responsible towards my own action when blogging. Additionally, I learnt that it is important to credit works of others when it is used in my blog. Besides that, I have discovered the principles of design in which I have applied to create this weblog.
This assignment has given me a clearer understanding on the issues in publication and design. The theories that I have understood is Kress and van Leeuwen’s theory on semiotic landscape, multimodality and on the analysis of newspaper layout. Meanwhile, I managed to grasp Shriver’s theory on the interplay of words and pictures.
Hence, as I am equipped with all of these information and experience, I really do hope to apply and to practise it in future comings.
Summary Amazon has launched an e-book (electronic book) reading device in 2007 called the Kindle. Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos has referred the Kindle as ‘the kind of fire’ which he wishes to start in the book world. Hence, the war between e-books and printed books has begun. It is stated in the article that the book industry is growing, but it is losing life in the modern society.
The younger generation have instantaneously embraced the emergence of e-books because buying conventional books makes them feel “old and slow”. E-book has made reading easier because it saves time on running to the bookshop to purchase a book. E-books are looked upon as a reincarnation of fusty conventional books.
Link to theory: Multimodality and Reading Paths
What is the difference between an e-book and a printed book? E-book gives readers a variety of information just by clicking on hyperlinks and on highlighted headings. According to Kress and van Leeuwen (1998), highlighting important points and emphasizing reading structures may be visually fulfilling.
Print books however are designed in a linear form whereby readers are faced with reading paths restrictions. Readers would have to read the book page by page. “Any form of reading (skipping, looking at the last page to see how the plot will be resolved or what the conclusion will be) is regarded as a form of cheating” (Kress & van Leeuwen 1998, p. 205)
My opinion
The birth of e-book has definitely made a change in the book industry. E-book has given way to the rising numbers of reading habits among the younger generation. I have to admit in years to come e-book will eventually take over the traditional printed book because printed books are at a disadvantage in terms of “futuristic attributions” (FutureoftheBook.com, 2007). Printed books are for the older generation, the young ones make up the future of tomorrow; thus, e-book will take over the book industry.
Additional Reading
This video is about Lucy Monroe, a writer who shares her thought on the revolution of e-book. Also, she speaks about the differences between e-publishing and print publishing. Lastly, she predicts the outcome of the battle between e-book and book in future.
The name itself, says it all – Miss Bimbo. Miss Bimbo is an online fashion game aimed at girls aged from 9 to 16 years old. The Internet game encourages young girls to embrace plastic surgery and extreme dieting. The online game has been strongly criticised by healthcare professionals, parental groups, and an organisation that represents people suffering from anorexia and bulimia because the website is seen to be delivering mix messages to young girls that are easily influenced.
Miss Bimbo was established by a French entrepreneur, Nicholas Jacquart. The game allows girls to create their “bimbo” and compete among other “bimbos” to be “the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world”. Although the game has been condemned by many, Jacquart admits that the game is made to teach children about the real world and it is simply just for fun.
Link to theory: Graphics must bridge cultural boundaries
In an Asian culture, Miss Bimbo would be considered as a controversial issue because the imagery used are raunchy. According to Shriver (1997, p. 373), “visual messages need to be revised depending on the local culture”. It is obvious that Miss Bimbo is created in a Western context and that it would not be acceptable in an Asian custom.
Shriver (1997) adds that readers may form different interpretation or meaning about a document that might be in contrast to the meaning document designer’s hope for. In relation to the online game, Miss Bimbo, Nicholas Jacquart may find the game in sheer of fun, however others may think otherwise. Specifically, parents may find this website influential to young teen girls because it instils the idea of a “perfect” girl.
My opinion
The idea of establishing a game whereby girls compete to outdo each other in terms of physical appearance is just wrong. Though, the game is made for the sake of virtual entertainment, teenage girls that are aged between 9 to 16 years old are easily swayed by such things. Shriver (2007, p. 367) says that the interpretations of documents are through “knowledge, experience, feelings and social awareness”. When girls play the game they might interpret it the wrong way and tend to feel insecure about themselves. Hence, I feel that the game structure should be changed to suit other culture differences.
Additional Reading
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States in 1999 did a survey on girls’ struggling with body appearance. Finding shows that “19% of participants described concerns about "image and appearance," sometimes related to media ideals, as the most important issue/struggle facing girls, 7% named low self-esteem, and 5% named concerns about weight and staying thin”.
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States 1999, ‘Report Examines Girls' Struggles With Sexuality, Peer Pressure, and Body Image’, TheBody.com, viewed on 10 November 2008, http://www.thebody.com/content/art2349.html
Schriver, K.A. 1997, Chapter 6 in Dynamics in document design.
One of the wealthiest authors in the world, J.K Rowling (writer of the world renowned Harry Potter books) has filed for a copyright lawsuit against a fan namely Steven Vander Ark for publishing a Harry Potter encyclopaedia. Rowling has successfully won the copyright battle when she had proven that Steven Ark’s, ‘Harry Potter Lexicon’ would cause her permanent harm as a famous author.
Rowling claims that Ark’s book was a mere rearrangement of her own material and that his work was so alike which simply meant plagiarism. Rowling says, “I think it's atrocious. I think it's sloppy. I think there's very little research”. She also adds that Ark’s action has stolen 17-years of her hard earn effort in publishing her work.
Link to theory: The Law of Copyright
It is no surprise why Rowling reacted to Ark’s work and has filed for lawsuit against him. The Law of Copyright shows that “patents, trademarks, and copyrights are all ways of protecting original creations” (Walker 1997). Walker mentions that when a work is created, it is patent; hence, an author has full rights to their own invention.
Walker asserts that when copyrighting, one is only allowed to use not more than 10% of a work be it a poem, paper or any other documentations. Additionally, the work has to be given proper credit to the author. However, there can be legal penalties, including fines, for use of copyrighted materials without permission, even when proper academic credit is given (Walker 1997). With regards to the issue, Ark certainly breached the Law of Copyright eventhough his intentions were good to create an easy-to-understand encyclopaedia for Harry Porter fans.
My opinion
Rowling’s rash action to sue Ark’s publisher, RDR Books was wise. Her hard work to produce a list of fantasy books that has gotten millions of readers’ attention ought to be credited and respected. Her creativity should be acknowledged. In Ark’s situation, he meant well by creating a book for fans but he should have gotten permission from Rowling. His act was unethical in terms of ethics in communication. “'But it's not illegal' is no excuse for failure to accept personal responsibility for your ethical choices” (Weber 1995).
Additional Reading
To avoid plagiarism or copyright felony, one can always use citation to credit a person’s work. In an article, The Importance of Citation by Judy Hunter (n.d), there are three reasons why citation is important.
Ideas are the currency of academia
Failing to cite violates the rights of the person who originated the idea
academics need to be able to trace the genealogy of ideas
One of Indonesia’s top weeklies magazines, Tempo has apologised to the Christian community in Indonesia for portraying former president Suharto and his children as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting. Suharto was depicted as Jesus Christ and his children were the apostles which prompted complaints between the Christian communities.
Tempo Chief Editor Toriq Hadad says, “We had no intention of hurting Christians. We were only inspired by the composition of the Leonardo painting, and not in the concept or context of the event told in the holy bible”. Several Christian groups and inter-religious organisations congregated at the Tempo office to protest over the cover. This has led to Hadad making a public apology: “For anything unacceptable arising from the publishing of that cover, I, in the name of the Tempo institution, offer an apology.”
Link to theory: Taking responsibility of one’s action
Tempo magazine should understand the “dichotomy between knowing what’s ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and applying it in situations” (Weber 2005). It is very obvious why the Christian community were sensitive about the whole situation because the magazine cover was inflicting religious matter. Certainly, the cultural differences in Indonesia have caused this issue to blow up. However the question still lies on whether Tempo magazine did take the responsibility for its action.
Indeed, they did. Tempo did take the responsibility for its action and apologised as they knew it has offended the Christians. Although the chief editor of Tempo admits that their action were not intentional, he took matter into his own hands to resolve the issue.
My opinion
With regards to the issue, I personally think what Tempo magazine has done was ethically wrong. They were not culturally sensitive towards the Christian community in Indonesia, as a matter of fact to Christians worldwide. According to Feijter (2008, p. 159), “media culture is mosaic and dynamic and touches upon emotions before intellect”. Feijter agrees that when selling product one should not exploit the use of religion themes just for the sake of increasing product sales.
Additional Reading
In an article, Freedom of religion confronts journalism by Meghan Michael states that there have been many controversial issues happening in which religious groups are offended by the abuse of freedom of speech. She adds on that journalists should “maintain a delicate balance between being respectful of religious beliefs” in order to advocate ethical reporting.
"New media is a way in which the delivery of news and information follows a many-to-many format" (Maltoni, n.d). The rise of new media has led people to access information easily and efficiently via different types of media publishing tools. Such media publishing tools include moblogs, vlogs, photoblog, and news portals. However, there is another particular new form of media publishing that is widely used among web users is YouTube.
Google Image: YouTube
YouTube was founded in 2005 and ever since then it became the godfather in internet-streamed video whereby web users are able to watch and share their videos worldwide (YouTube.com, n.d.).
In a local context, Malaysians have the tendency to rely on YouTube as an alternative media because of the many restrictions of press freedom. The mainstream media in Malaysia have always seen to be closely knitted and controlled by the government (Kenyon & Marjoribanks 2007). Hence, certain information that is censored in Malaysia’s mainstream media can be found alternatively on YouTube. The following video shows an example of video censorship that occurred in Malaysia. It is regarding the HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force) rally which has been briefly covered by the mainstream media.
Then again, according to Ashley Jones (2007) YouTube has faced a lot of copyright lawsuits because users post up videos without the right to do so. Jones adds that this have led YouTube to clean up the people’s mess. The Law of Copyright states that “patents, trademarks, and copyrights are all ways of protecting original creations” (Walker 1997). Thus, internet users need to think twice before posting any materials that do not belong to them because it is unlawful.
MalaysiaKini, ‘Hindraf "Rose" - No Freedom to Protest in Malaysia -Part 1’, video on YouTube.com, viewed on 10 November 2008, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9lCovcxuM8
Document designers constantly face a problem with genre change from print to web design. When designing, document designers should use the principle of design as guidelines (McClurg-Genevese 2005):
Balance
Rhythm
Proportion
Dominance
Unity
Both print and web design have its own weaknesses and strengths that differentiates them apart.
According to Nielsen (1999), print design is “based on letting the eyes walk over the information, selectively looking at information objects and using spatial juxtaposition to make page elements enhance and explain each other”. Nielsen also mentions that print design should be striking so that it can create a better impact than a web page because it will be mostly text-based.
Google Image: The Oprah Magazine
As seen above, the magazine design does consider several principles of design. One principle that can be seen applied is dominance. In the Editor's Choice page, a coloured box (framing) was use to emphasize in which to determine the reading path. Framing is the "devices which signify what elements belong together and what elements should remain separate" (Oakley 2005, p. 299).
Meanwhile Nielsen (1999) states that web design “functions by letting the hands move the information (by scrolling or clicking); information relationships are expressed temporally as part of an interaction and user movement”. Nielsen (1999) suggests that when designing for web, the key element to consider is user engagement and visual logic.
Oprah.com: The Oprah Magazine Online
In the example given, I personally feel that this webpage is well-designed. It is simple and has used a good balance of visual, text and graphics. This strongly illustrates a good use of the principle of design - balance. People hardly read web pages word by word; instead they scan through a webpage (Nielsen 1997).
There are many types of blogs found on the web which can be classified according to style, format, topic and audience. Based on Wikipedia.org (2008), blogs are categorised as follows:
Personal
Corporate
Question Blogging
by Media Type
by Device
by Genre
On the other hand, author and media analyst, Margaret Simons has thoroughly defined blogs into nine different types. According to an interview on September 25, 2008 from ABC.net, Simons states that blogs can be classified as:
Pamphleteering
Digest
Advocacy
Popular Mechanics
Exhibition
Gatewatcher
the Diary
the Advertisement
News
Wikipedia.org has classified blogs based on the type of content and the way the blog’s content is delivered or written (Wikipedia.org 2008). However, Simons classified online sites as blogs and not merely on the nature and content of the blog. Her listings are hard to comprehend as it is very complicated. Personally, I prefer the listings made by Wikipedia.org because I distinguish blogs based on content and audience.
Blogging Community
According to Nancy White (2006), there are three types of blog based community:
One blog centric community – a community is established around the primary blogger.
Topic centric community – community occurs between the blogs around a shared interest
Boundaried community – collections of blogs hosted on a single site or known as social networking
The blogging community that I will be discussing on is boundaried community. An example of a boundaried community is Facebook.com. Facebook.com is a social networking website that enables members to register and join the community. Additionally, Facebook.com has many functions of a boundaried community such as blogging, group forums and instant-messaging system built in it.
Example: OSIXNINE (fashion-based group) click to enlarge
The blogging scene has seen to be growing rapidly with the number of bloggers rising day by day. According to Technorati.com, it shows a research done by Universal McCan in March 2008 that there are 184 million bloggers worldwide in which 26.4 million bloggers are from the United States. Additionally, a large number of 346 million accounts for blog readers found worldwide (Technorati.com 2008).
Technorati.com shows that the blogging trend in Europe and in Asia is seen to be slanting towards the younger generation. Statistics found in Technorati.com, reports that in Asia, 73% of bloggers are aged between 18-34 years old, meanwhile in Europe 48% of bloggers belong to the younger generation.
The term “bloggers” does not refer to a common group. Bloggers are of different types of race, belief, and gender. There is a way to fragmentise bloggers which is through their type of blogs. Technorati.com states that “music is more popular and politics is less popular in Asia, while personal, lifestyle, and religious topics are less popular in Europe”. This regards Asia to blog on a more personal level whereas in Europe the style of blogging is professional and corporate-like.
In a local context, blogging has played a big role in Malaysia’s political scene especially during the 2008 general election. Opposition parties have benefited the existence of web based media by using blogs to reach out to its voters. “More than 70% of voters in March 8 elections were influenced by blogs” (Kaufman 2008, America.gov). In addition, bloggers do benefit from the blogging because it is profitable. Technorati.com conducted a survey and it shows that majority of bloggers have advertisements on their blog in which they earn income from.
The purpose of this blog is to inform and educate readers on the issues in publication and design.
This blog will be discussing explicitly on the blogging phenomenon as well as several other major publishing/media issues that will include theoretical perspectives of researchers.
This blog is catered to the younger and matured audience aged between 18 to 25 years old.
Google Image: Blog no Evil 
