Designing for Screen Genre

To produce screen document that will encourage audience to engage, there are some guidelines that can be followed. Reep(2006) defined document design as the physical appearance of a document and written text as well as its presentation, incorporated to provide audience with information they need. Thus, a good screen design combines text and images efficiently in order to draw the audience’s attention. In our group presentation, we included this concept as well as using it to illustrate our points.

According to Moore & Fitz (1993) Gestalt’s principles are made up of figure-ground segregation, which is the use of standardized background to distinguish a shape or figure in front of it. This principle comprises of symmetry, closure, proximity, good continuation and similarity (Moore & Fitz 1993). Symmetry is an attribute of balance in the size, shape, or positions on opposite sides of dividing line. Closure which refers to a closed area is essential to prevent readers or viewers to not focus on other areas that are less significant. Proximity in document design functions to avoid clusters between images and texts. Good continuation is to be consistent by using the same shape form in the document so it will not interrupt the flow. Similarity in a document is the unit that resembles each other in shape, size, color, etc. to create homogeneous grouping.

In our slides, the principle of symmetry, closure and similarity are applied. There is balance, the content is contained in the middle of each slide, and we used the same slide design for every topic. However, the rest of the principles are not followed. This is because some of the image and texts are clustered and the continuity is not smooth.

References

• Moore, P & Fitz, C 1993, 'Using Gestalt Theory to Teach Document Design and Graphics', Technical Communication Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 4, viewed 19 April 2010 < http://www.public.asu.edu/~kheenan/courses/372/f03/gestalttheory%20teaching.pdf >.
• Reep, D 2006, Chapter 4: Principles of Document Design,‟ in Technical Writing, 6th ed., Pearson Edu Inc., New York, p.173-190.

Modern Types of Media Publishing

In this age of abundance, mass media has been providing the society with plethoric and rampant information, as well as connecting ideas and uniting all sorts of entities in specialized platforms. The new or emerging media ecosystem; Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Online news, e-book, and etc., uses the internet as a platform and according to Naughton (2006), the new media is taking over the cyber world and replacing old media ecosystem, which is the broadcast model, whereby the audience is seen as passive and uncreative. Through the new media, instead of just consuming materials, internet users are able to interact with and respond to content as well as to other users, giving control of publishing to the masses.

Between blogging and conventional journalism, there is a parasitic/symbiotic relationship (Naughton, 2006). Established print journalists create their own weblogs to sit together with news and features, obscuring the distinction between journalism and blogging (Raynsford, 2003). As an example, www.malaysiakini.com breaks away from the conventional news writing by presenting stories with greater vibrancy and riddled with the opinions of the writers, allowing the sense of detachment between the writer and reader to vanish.

(source: blogs.law.harver.edu n.d.)

The new social media tools such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter have changed the roles of communication in a revolutionary way. Facebook’s spectacular growth and devoted users have caused an unprecedented social graph of the relationships, interactions, and histories of over 150 million people on the internet (Shih, 2009). As a Facebook member myself, I keep tabs on my family and friends, share pictures, music videos, links to other websites that interest me, and post shout-out as status to ask help from classmates on assignments. Another viral trend is Twitter, which allows millisecond news cycle and aids in the sourcing of news tips from journalists is also able to control news and information gathering by projects aiming to affect social change (Catone, 2008). For instance, the hashtag #iranelection was Twitter's most discussed topic for weeks and account @iran09 made thousands of tweets about where protests would be, as well as links to YouTube videos of demonstrations.

References

• Catone, J 2008, Twitter as a tool for social change, viewed 19 April 2010, < http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/10/21/twitter-as-a-tool-for-social-change/>.
• Naughton, J 2006, ‘Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem’, viewed 19 April 2010, <http://reuteursinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html>.
• Raynsford, J 2003, Blogging: the new journalism?, viewed 19 April 2010, < http://www.journalism.co.uk/5/articles/5604.php>.
• Shih, C 2009, The facebook era: tapping online social networks to build better products, reach new audiences, and sell more stuff, viewed 19 April 2010, < http://books.google.com/books?id=tOEEbXGxFXEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=facebook+change+new+media+publishing&cd=1#v=snippet&q=social%20network&f=false>.

Variations of Blogging Communities and How to Build Them.

(source: www.retailmenot.com, 2010)

Blogging Communities.

If writers have communities based on genres or publishers, bloggers have blogging communities, which is an example of online community. White (2006) referred online community as a community who interacted online within limited set of technologies. Thus, blogging community can be defined as an online community interacting within the blogosphere.

White (2006) has also given a few examples of blogging communities which are Single Blog Community (rely on one blogging platform and a single blog, The features of that platform and blog represent the range of features available to the community), Central Connecting Topic Centric Blogs (linked by common topic/passion) and Boundaried Communities (collection of blogs and readers under one site).

Methods in building Blogging Communities.

To construct a blogging community, the methods are assisted by a variation of web tools. LeMerle (2007) summarized Joe Whyte's 10 step guide to build a blog community and some of the steps are;

• Network with others - comment and give feedback on other blogs.
• Get to know your blog community - read other blogs and their comments.
• Be opinionative and unique with your content - readers are drawn to individuality of content.
• Encourage comments - e.g leave open ended questions.
• Leverage link baiting - be viral and link readers to useful content.
• Join ad networks - generate money and drive traffic.

There is also an alternative to form blog community which is using the micro-blogging tool, Twitter. Creating memes by using hashtags (e.g #FollowFriday), retweeting, and hosting contests and offering goodies are a few ways to empower your blog community (Brkan, 2009). Another effective way is to use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) which is defined as various XML file formats used to syndicate information and and provide news feeds. According to Posey (n.d), RSS is useful to get information or messages across the web instantly to your website and your readers and thus, website is easily exposed.

A Single Blog Community that I am familiar with is Lifehacker.com which is an award-winning daily weblog that offers tutorials, tips, shortcuts, and downloads that help me to get things done faster and more efficiently. This blog community consists of Editor-in-Chief, Contributing Editor, Senior Writer, Contributors, Founding Editor, Intern, and Contributing Copy Editor. To attract and engage a wide range of readers, they use hashtagging technique, allow readers to suggest posts and be in the mailing list.

References

• Brkan, IB 2009, 10 ways to build your blog community with twitter, viewed 18 April 2010, <http://blog.shoutem.com/2009/03/25/build-your-blog-community-with-twitter/>.

• LeMerle, R 2007, 10 step guide to building your blog community, viewed 18 April 2010, <http://www.neodigitalist.com/2007/02/10-step-guide-to-building-your-blog-community/>.

• Posey, C n.d., The advantages of rss (real simple syndication), viewed 18 April 2010, <http://www.webbusinesstoolsonline.com/RSS.html>.

• White, N 2006, 'Blogs and community-launching a new paradigm for online community?', viewed 18 April 2010, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-–-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

Classifying Blogs and the Most Appropriate Classification Approach

When there is an abundance of blogs, they need to be classified based on the type of subjects that are being published and what kind of readers should the content of the blog draws. Therefore, blogs can be classified according to varied approach.

According to Fitzgerald (2007), there are two types of blogs which are introspective blogs that discuss personal issues, life experiences, thoughts and reflections and whatnot; andextrospective blogs that discuss about public things, events and ideas that expand common ground. The most common method to categorize blogs is to base on subject matter such as science, political, fashion, gastronomy, art, travel, education etc. Travel and cultural blog publish guides articles focused on travel related issues, allowing travellers to chronicale their journeys and meet other travellers (Bellardo, 2010).

Some bloggers tend to incorporate images, videos and soundclips with texts in their blogs to express their ideas and thoughts better. Revell (2009), defined several types of multimedia blogs such as vlog; a blog which contains video, linklog; a blog containing links, sketchblog; blogcontaining sketches or portfolio, photoblog;blog comprising images such as pictures and photos and tumblog; blog which contents are varied.

(source: www.httpartist.com)

(source: v1.wolfslittlestore.be)

Even though there are so many ways to classify blogs, there are still unique types that are hard to identify. from the reading 'A taxonomy of blogs', the classification approach is rather formal. the types of blogs that are listed are pamphleteering blogs, digest blog, advocacy blog, Popular Mechanics blog, exhibition blog, Gatewatcher blog, the diary and news blog. In my point of view,the classifications that I know of pale in comparison to the classification in the reading as it covers a lot more dimensions such as content and style. Thus, this type of classification is more established and trustworthy as it gives bloggers a better sense of direction in producing content.

References

• Bellardo, M 2010, The 5 types of blogs; which one suits you best?, viewed 17 April 2010,<http://www.inkrebels.com/insp/the-5-types-of-blogs-which-one-suits-you-best/>.
• Fitzgerald, B 2007, 'Two types of blogs', Life and research notes, viewed 17 Arpil 2010, <http://blog.brentfitzgerald.com/2007/06/two-types-of-blogs/>.
• Funnel, A 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, viewed 17 April 2010, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>.
• Revell, M 2009, Types, viewed 17 April 2010, <http://www.webeditorblog.com/types.html>.

Blogs: Today's Phenomenon & the Societal Benefits.

The term web log which is then abbreviated to blog is a website that deliver links and comments to other pages, and it is from this basis that modern blogs emerged (Riley, 2005). These blogs evolved into personal diaries or journals. Towards the end of the 20th century, hosted services such as Blogger and Wordpress allow any internet user to easily sign up, create a blog, and post numerous entries and thus, millions of weblogs have been created.

According to the Technorati State of Blogosphere 2008, all studies aiming at understanding the size of the blogosphere found that blogs are a global phenomenon and as of 2008, 184 million WW have started a blog, 346 million WW read blogs, and 77% internet users read blogs (Winn, 2009). In Europe, when blogs began mushrooming on the Internet in the mid-1990s, their practitioners are mostly caucasian male but women bloggers have been increasing, indicating a national trend in female social networking that has taken the interest of politicians, companies and the media who tackles the opportunity of buying and voting power of this demographic (Carpenter, 2007)

(source: www.chrisg.com)

Good (2005) stated that besides being instruments of personal expression and independent news reporting, blogs are effective vehicles of open conversation, promotion, PR, public awareness, analysis, project management and more. In the United States, socio-political blogs seem to be predominant in the massive blogosphere. Citizens turn to alternative media such as political blogs instead of the traditional media such as newspapers and news channels on television so they can get the whole side of the story, and the content is less bias compared to traditional news organizations and thus, they tend to think political blogs are more accurate. Davis (2009) established that there are predictions that blogs will challenge existing political institutions and by putting power in people's hands. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that political blogs upholds democracy and freedom of speech in the American context.

References

• Carpenter, M 2007, More women are entering the blogosphere-satirizing, sharing and sharing a key demographic, viewed 12 April 2010, <http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07304/829747-51.stm#>.
• Davis, R 2009, Typing politics: the role of blogs in american politics, viewed 12 April 2010, <http://books.google.com/books?id=PWZ2-5wla3MC&pg=PA187&dq=influence+of+political+blog&cd=2#v=onepage&q=influence%20of%20political%20blog&f=false>.
• Good, R 2005, Group and multi-user blog platforms compared, viewed 12 April 2010, <http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/05/16/group_and_multiuser_blog_platforms.htm>.
• Riley, D 2005, A short history of blogging, viewed 12 April 2010, <http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/06/a-short-history-of-blogging/> .
• Winn, P 2009, State of blogosphere: Introduction, viewed 12 April 2010, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-introduction/>.

Being Objective

This blog is created to discuss about the issues that are prevalent in the world of publication and design, focusing in the online world. It is hoped that the content of this blog will draw not only fellow coursemates, but also other media students and individuals who are interested in the issues being discussed. Gradually, i will enhance my comprehension and knowledge on the principles of publication and design and discuss about the issues confidently.