Designing for the Online Screen

(Source: [Re]Encoded, 2008)

According to Reep (2006, p.135), 'the principles of design are qualities important to any visual presentation regardless of topic or audience'. These general principles are

• Balance
• Proportion
• Sequence
• Consistency

Besides that, Bernhardt's (1986, p. 72) gestalt design theories are equally important in the design of graphic texts. There are 4 laws of gestalt, which include

• Equilibrium
  
• Good continuation
• Closure
• Similarity
  

Slide 1

Slide 1 is the first (cover) slide of my group's PowerPoint presentation. Even though it is simple, I feel that it meets the requirements for web design, as it integrates words and relevant graphics to attract and inform the viewer about the topic that is being discussed.

Slide 2

Slide 3

In Slide 2 and 3, we can see that these are bad examples in terms of document design. The points are too long and there are too many words. Web content must be brief and to the point because users often scan through text, concentrating more on graphics (Nielsen, 2008).

Slide 4

Then we come to Slide 4, which shows some improvement in design and writing style. Although there are no images to stimulate the user's attention, scannable text is employed to make it easier to focus on the important points in the text, such as highlighted keywords and bulleted lists. (Nielsen, 1997) Links and hyperlink play an important part in users' browsing experience of multimodal media, enabling them to receive additional information that may not be found in the content.

The point I am trying to make here is that there are differences between print and web media, each requiring a distinct content style. In print, you are trying to get your audience to stay on a page long enough to get a message across while being given a limited area to achieve this. On the web, you are generally trying to keep your audience on a specific website for as long as possible, with an unlimited amount of pages to work with. (Miller, 2010) Therefore, document designers nowadays have to understand how print and web differ and integrate both language and visual in order to convey their messages effectively.

References:

1. Bernhardt, SA 1986, 'Seeing the Text', College Composition and Communication, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 66 - 78.
2. Miller, E 2010, Designing For Print vs. The Web, About.com: Graphic Design, viewed 19 April 2010, http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/printvsweb/a/print_vs_web.htm
3. Nielsen, J 1997, How Users Read on the Web, useit.com, viewed 19 April 2010, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
   
4. Nielsen, J 2008, Writing Style for Print vs. Web, useit.com, viewed 19 April 2010, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/print-vs-online-content.html
   
5. Reep, DC 2006, 'Chapter 6: Document design', Technical writing, 6th edn, Pearson/Longman, New York.

New Forms of Media Publishing

(Image source: Blogger's own)

Mention the phrase "new media" and the first thing that comes to mind is online publishing. Be it blogs, online news, social networking sites or even YouTube, these are just some of the forms of media publishing that we are exposed to every day. The newest trends regarding communication in a new media ecosystem include online journalism, vlogs and social networking sites.

Journalism is the most rapidly evolving segment in a “mixed media” of traditional newspapers and broadcast stations combined with a “new media” of online journalists (Salcito, 2009). Citizen journalism, especially, has been hailed as the latest innovation in 21st century journalism (Burns, 2008), where ordinary people report news from their perspectives and give their opinions on current affairs.

(Source: CartoonStock, 2010)

Besides journalism, the ongoing fad among the online community are social networking sites (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) and vlogs (i.e. YouTube). There is so much information available to us these days, in various forms of mass media, that ‘it has to be handled visually because verbal is no longer adequate’ (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). The emergence of new media has opened up a whole dimension for freedom of expression and speech, as well as spreading the concept of democracy and political awareness. For example, during the March 2008 Malaysian general election, political parties used traditional print and broadcast media along with new media such as blogs and videos posted on YouTube to spread their propaganda to the public.


(Source: YouTube, 2008)

Social networking sites play an important role in the daily lives of Internet users too. In fact, the number of Facebook users in Malaysia surpassed the one million mark in March 2009, making it the top social network in Malaysia (greyREview, 2009). People use social networking to keep in touch with friends and family, exchange news, play games, meet new people and generally be a part of the global community.

(Source: Soleen Strategies, 2007)

References and Bibliography:

1. Burns, A 2008, 'Select Issues with New Media Theories of Citizen Journalism', M/C Journal, vol 11, no. 1, viewed 15 April 2010, http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/30
2. Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, ‘Chapter 1: The semiotic landscape: language and visual communication’, Reading Images, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.
   
3. Salcito, K 2009, New Media Trends, Journalism Ethics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, viewed 15 April 2010, http://www.journalismethics.ca/online_journalism_ethics/new_media_trends.htm
4. Snapshot of Social Networking in Malaysia 2009, GreyReview, viewed 15 April 2010, http://www.greyreview.com/2009/07/28/snapshot-of-social-networking-in-malaysia/

The Blogging Community

(Source: eWritings, 2008)

Online community has been an important part of the Internet, formed around email lists, bulletin boards and forums, with the addition of blogs as a new platform in recent years (White, 2006). Bock (as cited in White, 2005) stated that 'Communities are characterized by three things: common interests, frequent interaction, and identification', and posited that all three must be present for an online space to be a community. Therefore, a blogging community is an online community that consists of bloggers and readers who share similar interests and interact with each other.

Due to the growing popularity of blogging, 3 main types of blogging communities have been identified, with a wide variety of hybrid forms emerging between the three. In her article, White (2006) shows us how these patterns are formed.

Figure 1: Blog Based Communities (White, 2006)

In a Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community, the focus and power in this community is firmly in the owner or central blogger's control (e.g. KennySia.com).
A Central Connecting Topic Community is formed by blogs linked by a common passion or topic (e.g. Global Voices, Lolcats);
whereas Boundaried Communities are collections of blogs and blog readers hosted on a single site or platform (e.g. Nuffnang, LiveJournal).

The structure of a blogging community is relatively simple. Let us take KennySia.com as an example for the "one blog centric community". The sole contributor and owner of the blog is Kenny Sia, who produces the content and takes care of everything related to his website. Hence, he is the focal point, or "central identity" of the community. Readers and commentators make up the population of the community, where they post their comments, share ideas, get to know each other, thus providing a basis for relationship and personal identities. However, if the central blogger, that is Kenny Sia, were to close down his blog, the community formed around his website would definitely shatter and the members would then lose all ties to one another.

Hence, it is important to keep in mind that community is only present when individual and collective identity are expressed; when we care about who said what, not just the what; when relationship is part of the dynamic and links are no longer the only currency of exchange (Packwood, 2005; as cited in White, 2006).

(Source: orbitalRPM, 2010)

References:

1. White, N 2005, How Some Folks Have Tried to Describe Community, Full Circle Associates: Nancy White, viewed 14 April 2010, http://www.fullcirc.com/community/definingcommunity.htm
2. White, N 2006, Blogs and community: launching a new paradigm for online
   community?, The Knowledge Tree, viewed 14 April 2010, http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community
   

The Classification of Blogs

Classifying blogs has never been an easy task. There are as many types of blogs in the blogosphere as there are books in libraries, and they are definitely harder to classify than books, thanks to their diverse content and mode of publishing.

The most conventional way of classifying blogs is by subject. For example:

• Music
• Travel
• Food
• Art
• Fashion
• Gaming
• Technology
  
• Politics
• Education
• Health
  

However, the lines between these classifications have become blurred due to all the mixed content produced by bloggers. Much like movie genres, blogs can also have "crossovers". A blog about travel might include food from different places, same as how an action movie can include romance.

(Source: Cambridge HOTmaths, 2010)

Another method to categorize blogs is by content or media type. These are identified through the format or media used to post their blogs, which include (Revell, 2009):

• Vlog (video blog)
• Linklog (blog comprising of links)
• Photolog (photo blog)
• Sketchlog (blog containing sketches or portfolio)
• Moblog (blog posted using PDA or smartphone)
• Tumblog (blog with mixed content)
• Podcast (collection of audio recordings)

(Source: B2BInternational, 2010)

Margaret Simons, a prominent Australian author, freelance journalist, media analyst and blogger, attempted to draw up a list of the different types of online sites that classify as blogs (Simons, 2008):

• Pamphleteering Blogs: Blogs to argue a case or push a cause.
  
• The Digest Blog: They act as guides, summaries or commentaries to information found in other places.
  
• The Advocacy Blog: Blogs run by established advocacy groups or commercial organisations concerning a single topic.
  
• The Popular Mechanics Blog: Blogs that offer training and advice in specialized fields i.e. gardening, photography.
  
• The Exhibition Blog: Blogs by writers, craftspeople, artists to showcase and discuss their work.
  
• The Gatewatcher Blog: Blogs that allow specialists, experts and concerned individuals to watch and take on traditional media "gatekeeping" roles.
  
• The Diary: Personal blogs intended for friends and family.
  
• The Advertisement: Blogs that advertise or endorse products.
  
• The News Blog: Blogs that report news, whether local, international or both.

Therefore, we can see that there is no clear-cut classification for blogs due to their sheer complexity and diversity. It is up to both the bloggers and readers to organize according to their own preferences and understanding.

References:

1. Revell, M 2009, Types, WebEditorBlog.com, viewed 10 April 2010, http://www.webeditorblog.com/types.html
   
2. Simons, M 2008, Towards a taxonomy of blogs, Australian Policy Online, viewed 10 April 2010, http://www.apo.org.au/commentary/towards-taxonomy-blogs-0

Blogs: The Phenomenon

Weblogs, more commonly known as blogs, are now becoming an increasingly important part of the media world. From its humble start as publicly accessible personal journals for individuals, blogs have now become a means for airing ideas and propaganda, be it for personal, business, political, social or entertainment interests.

(Source: World Bank blog, 2009)

One of the most frequently asked questions about the blogosphere is: What is the (current) size of the blogosphere?

By 'size', we mean the number of blogs that are on the Internet. Dave Sifry, founder of Technorati, has provided readers with the approximate number in his annual 'State of the Blogosphere' report up until 2007, which stated that "Technorati is now tracking over 70 million weblogs, and we're seeing about 120,000 new weblogs being created worldwide each day" (Sifry, 2007). However, none seem to be available for 2009 in Technorati's annual report, and even the statistics for 2008 are doubtful (Hopkins, 2009).

As for blog trends, the use of Twitter and the impact of bloggers on political events in the US and around the world are two of the leading topics of discussion in many blogs (Sussman, 2009). In Malaysia, political blogs are gaining influence among the online community, especially the younger generation who use the Internet as their main source of information and communication. People are turning to social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook to keep in touch with the latest trends and issues, as well as connect with their friends and family.

The types of blogs that are prevalent differ in every country depending on economic, social and political factors. In my opinion, the most prevalent blog types in Malaysia are political blogs, closely followed by blogshops and food blogs. According to the SGBlog.com directory (2010), shopping blogs are the most popular, while personal blogs come in second. In Australia it is again different. Photography blogs have the most number of tags, followed by art, travel, music and politics (Loaded Web Australia, 2010). This shows that bloggers in different countries have different interests and ideas about current issues.

Last but not least, we come to the benefits of blogging. Take for example, the advantages of prevalent political blogs in Malaysia to the community. Blogs that talk about politics help to raise awareness about the local political situation and enable people to voice out their views and comments. Sharing and discussion of ideas can take place, which promotes democracy and liberal discourse among audience. Political parties can learn from these controversies and hopefully gain some insight into the needs and demands of the people.

(Source: Soda Head, 2007)

References:

1. Hopkins, L 2009, Technorati and the size of the blogosphere: it can’t be THAT hard to figure out, surely?!, Hopkins Online Properties, viewed 7 April 2010, http://www.leehopkins.net/2009/12/26/technorati-and-the-size-of-the-blogosphere-it-cant-be-that-hard-to-figure-out-surely/
2. Loaded Web Australia 2010, Local Blog Directory: Tags, LoadedWeb.com, viewed 7 April 2010, http://au.loadedweb.com/blogs/tags/
   
3. SGBlog.com 2010, Blog Directory, SGBlog.com, viewed 7 April 2010, http://www.sgblog.com/home/
   
4. Sifry, D 2007, WordPress, viewed 7 April 2010, www.sifry.com
5. Sussman, M 2009, State of the Blogosphere 2009, Technorati, viewed 7 April 2010, http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009/

Purpose

(Source: Clker.com, 2010)

The purpose of this blog is to discuss and underline some of the issues concerning publication and design in the media. The target audience of my blog are my peers from university who are taking courses in media and communication, as well as individuals or groups who are in the media and publication industry. In this blog, I hope to be able to share my opinions about different topics and offer some insight or alternate perspectives to these arguments. Comments, criticisms and/or advice would be greatly appreciated and can be left via the "Comments" link at the end of each post.