Reflections

In the 3 and half months I have been studying this course, I have come to realize that publishing online is a relatively simple task, but not as easy as it looks. With the right tools, it is as easy to post an article online as it is to pick up a pen and write a letter. However, we must also focus on the designing, writing and ethical aspects of publishing.

As Anderson (cited in Putnis and Petelin 1996, p.254) points out, good document design

• Helps readers organize their reading patterns;
• Emphasizes the important points; and
• Makes the readers feel good about the message conveyed.

Furthermore, I have learned that internet users don't read a webpage; they scan it. That is why blogs employ scannable text and graphics such as keywords, tags, hyperlinks, lists, pictures, videos, etc in order to keep the attention of readers (Nielsen, 1997). Credibility is also important, as information found on the Internet is so diverse.

In conclusion, I have learned many tips and techniques about publication and design for the duration of the course, as well as gained more knowledge about the issues in the world of new media.


References:

1. Nielsen, J 1997, How Users Read on the Web, useit.com, viewed 16 June 2010, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
2. Putnis, P & Petelin, R 1996, Professional communication : principles and applications, Prentice Hall, Sydney.
   

Emoticons and Email Ettiquette

(Image source: WordPress, 2009)

Have a nice day!
LOL, just kidding.
Btw, I’m not feeling well today so I won’t be joining you for lunch. =(

How often do we see sentences like these in our daily online conversations? We are so accustomed to seeing these emoticons and short forms in our interactions online that we hardly give any thought to them, accepting them as a natural part of talking through the internet.

Anthony Funnell (2007) takes a look into the world of emoticons and email etiquette in his ABC Radio program, where he discusses email communication and its etiquette, along with how different people will interpret emails in different ways. Funnell talks to Scott Fahlman, who invented the smiley emoticon 25 years ago, and also with Will Schwalbe, who is an expert on email etiquette. Some points of the conversation include how figures of authority will interpret emails differently from casual acquaintances, the proper writing of an email to convey or forward messages and the usage of emoticons in online correspondences.

Online conversation lacks the non-verbal cues that we employ in face-to-face conversation, which is why emoticons are so highly popular. As Funnell (2007) points out, a simple sentence can be perceived or read in different ways, thus giving it meanings which are different from what the writer intended. It was the failure of some people to interpret emotions or meanings in email that prompted Fahlman to invent the 'emoticon'. Emoticons are used to give a visual indication of the tone or context of the message. This is supported by Schriver (1997), who states that readers may need supplementary graphics to guide them in their interpretation of the primary text message.

(Image source: Organized Innovations’ Weblog, 2009)

Besides that, proper email etiquette is important when communicating with other people, especially figures in positions of authority e.g. bosses and managers. Other than that, we should also be aware of what situations emails should (e.g. sharing holiday experiences, party invitation) and should not (e.g. condolences) be used to convey messages.

McKay (2010) provides us with some useful tips when sending professional email:

• Minding your manners, such as addressing people you don’t know as Mr. or Ms.
• Watch your tone, using words that are respectful and friendly.
  
• Emails should be short and to-the-point. Avoid lengthy letters.
• Be professional. Don’t use emoticons, abbreviations or cute/suggestive email addresses for serious communications.
• Be careful of spelling and grammar. Errors will give the other party a bad impression.

I remember reading a post in a blog, where the blogger was talking about etiquette for forwarding emails. His main complaint (besides receiving junk mail) was that people did not bother to remove all the names/addresses from the previous sender, resulting in seemingly endless scrolling until you finally reach the message. I think that many of us have gone through this scenario and have felt similarly irritated.

Hopefully, after reading this post, you will be more aware of the etiquette regarding the sending of emails.

References:

1. Funnell, A 2007, The Media Report: Emoticons and email ettiquette, ABC Radio National, viewed 16 June 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm
2. McKay, DR 2010, Email Etiquette, About.com, viewed 16 June 2010, http://careerplanning.about.com/od/communication/a/email_tips.htm
3. Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design : creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York.
   

E-Books Popularity On The Rise

As a child, reading was my favourite pastime. Everywhere I went, I was sure to bring along a story book to read, no matter if it was lunch at home or dinner out at a restaurant.

Amazon's Kindle 2 e-book reader
(Image source: Digitizor, 2009)

Kids nowadays have it so much better. Besides books, they have so many other things to entertain them during their spare time – mp3 players, mobile phones, handheld game consoles, laptops, you name it. The latest gadgets to join the ranks of these digital toys are Amazon’s Kindle Book and Apple’s iPad, which signals the rise of the e-book. According to ABC’s The 7.30 Report by Deborah Cornwall (2010), e-books are here to join the new media ‘virtual tsunami’ that is the Internet. Demand for electronic books, more commonly referred to as e-books, have skyrocketed in the past year (2008) thanks to the introduction of readers/tablets such as Kindle and iPad. Many of the industry’s most famous and influential people predict that e-books are here to stay, as it is a cheaper, more convenient and environmental-friendly option to traditional printed books. Libraries are facing major changes in their entire system once readers get used to the idea of e-books being mainstream.

Apple iPad as an e-book gallery and reader
(Image source: The Next Web, 2010)

It is true that traditional book sales are getting weaker. Coker (2009) shares with us some interesting statistics about e-book sales, proving the point that e-book sales are surging while the entire trade book industry suffers a decline. Between 2002 and 2007, overall trade book sales averaged an increase of 2.5% per year. In stark contrast, e-books for the same period turned in a 55.7% average annual increase in sales profits.

There are many reasons why people choose to buy/download e-books, and why they will continue to do so in the years to come (Green, 2008):

• Convenience: They are easy to purchase online and download.
• Variety: There are thousands of books from every genre imaginable to choose from. This is especially useful when trying to find rare or uncommon titles.
• Fast publishing: Traditional books usually take a year to be published. Books in digital format can be available in mere weeks.
• Connectivity: There are more than a billion internet users in the world; everything we need to find can be found online.
• Personalization: If you can't find what you want, you can just produced your own.
  

E-books are definitely here to stay, and I, for one, would gladly join the masses who are privileged enough to be able to carry around an iPad for their daily book fix (when I can afford it).


References:

1. Coker, M 2009, The rise of e-books: IDPF reports November e-book sales up 108 percent—and here’s some analysis, TeleRead, viewed 15 June 2010, http://www.teleread.com/2009/01/23/the-rise-of-e-books-idpf-reports-e-book-sales-up-108-percent-and-heres-some-analysis/
2. Cornwall, D 2010, The 7.30 Report: E-books popularity on the rise, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), viewed 15 June 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2849989.htm
3. Green, CR 2008, Selling Your Ebook - 5 Reasons Why People Will Continue To Buy Ebooks Forever, Ezine Articles, viewed 15 June 2010, http://ezinearticles.com/?Selling-Your-Ebook---5-Reasons-Why-People-Will-Continue-To-Buy-Ebooks-Forever&id=926005
   

Magazine Innovation in Digital and Print

(Image source: NowPublic, 2008)

How many times have we bought a magazine, enticed by its glossy sheen and alluring model(s) on the cover, only to go home, flick through the pages and then leave it under the coffee table to be forgotten until the next spring cleaning session? Many of us are, or have been, guilty of this exact scenario, but all that might soon change.

Susan Currie Sivek’s article entitled “Magazines Require Innovation, Experiments in Digital and Print”, dated 1 April 2010 and published in MediaShift, talks about how traditional print magazines are beginning to innovate themselves in the digital media world and experiment with the different ways of storytelling styles, platforms, formats and revenue streams that new media has to offer. The Innovations in Magazines 2010 World Report which was released on 1 March 2010 could be the turning point for the magazine industry, as it provides many creative methods which aim at to make magazines fresh and new in an increasingly competitive media environment. Two other crucial points in the article are about how magazines still play a qualitative role in the print and media industry, and the fact that the digital revolution can save the environment by reducing the use of paper for print.

An article (Johnson-Greene, 2010) published in Folio mentions that Josh Gordon, president of Smarter Media Sales.com, and Raymond Roker, CEO/founder of URB magazine have suggested 4 tips for building a digital edition audience, which can be applied to magazines as well as other types of online media publishing. These 4 tips include:

• Attract readers with exclusive “digital extras”.
• Disregard the age demographics of online readers.
• Choose a host, partner or vendor carefully.
• Sharing is caring; social media is the best way to promote and advertise your productions.

In my opinion, it is only natural that magazines (and other traditional print media) extend their reach into the digital media world and innovate themselves to suit the habits and expectations of today’s audience. As Kress (1997) states, modern technologies make it simple to combine various modes of media publishing, which are likely to produce convergence or multi-modality in media.

Besides that, Walsh (2006) also points out that reading text on in a book and reading a page or website on screen are two very different experiences. Readers of a book are obliged to follow the linear style of the text, whereas the scanning pathway of internet browsers can be multilinear and multi-directional. Therefore, magazine publishers should make full use of new media technology to innovate their productions and ensure the continued support of their readers.


References:

1. Johnson-Greene, C 2010, 4 Tips for Actively Building A Digital Edition Audience, FolioMag, viewed 11 June 2010, http://www.foliomag.com/2010/4-tips-actively-building-digital-edition-audience
2. Kress, G 1997, 'Visual and verbal modes of representation in electronically mediated communication : the potentials of new forms of text', in Page to screen : taking literacy into the electronic era, ed I Snyder, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, N.S.W.
3. Sivek, SC 2010, Magazines Require Innovation, Experiments in Digital and Print, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), viewed 11 June 2010, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/04/magazines-require-innovation-experiments-in-digital-and-print091.html
4. Walsh, M 2006, 'The 'textual shift': Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts', Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 24-37.
   
   

Celebrity Tweets: Real or Fake?

(Image source: Twitter, 2010)

"Twitter now has more than 105 million registered users. It is growing at a rate of 300,000 new users signing up per day. Twitter users are posting an average of 55 million tweets, daily. 180 million unique visitors access the site every month." (Yarow, 2010)

These staggering numbers, revealed at Chirp in April 2010, sum up the social networking phenomenon that is Twitter. First launched in 2006, it has now become a fully-fledged online social networking and microblogging service, with celebrities, corporations, politicians, advertisers and ordinary citizens jumping onto this global bandwagon.

However, there are sure to be problems when a website gets as large and as popular as Twitter. In Owen's (2009) article, How Celebrity Imposters Hurt Twitter's Credibility, he highlights the issue regarding Twitter accounts impersonating celebrities and famous people such as the Dalai Lama and Shaquille O'Neal. This situation has become so common to the point that the real celebrities have to respond and prove that they are the real person to their fans. Nevertheless, as Twitter accounts are subject to hackers and pranksters, even the official accounts may not be producing true information, as seen in the case of Bill O Riley, Britney Spears and Obama (Arrington, 2009).

(Image source: Cartoon Stock, 2010)

According to Huberman, Romero and Fang (2008), Twitter is a tool for people seeking attention. Their study revealed that users who got attention from many people Tweeted more often than those who received little notice. They also claimed that many people besides celebrities, including scholars, advertisers and political activists, see online social networking sites as an opportunity to propagate ideas and ideals, form social bonds and promote viral marketing.

In June 2009, Twitter announced that it would be introducing a security measure called “verified accounts” for a select group of people in order to prevent fake tweets, after several cases of impersonation were brought to the public’s attention, especially the case of St Louis Cardinals baseball team manager Tony La Russa. This group of people ‘will include public officials, public agencies, famous artists, athletes, and other well known individuals at risk of impersonation’ (Ashford, 2009).

In my opinion, I think that as frequent internet users, we should be more careful about the information that we read online. The news that we receive might not necessarily be accurate or true, therefore we have to think critically and rationally instead of blindly accepting something we've seen or been told. As in the case of Twitter, it would be best to take co-founder Biz Stone's advice: When in doubt, the best way to determine authenticity is to check the official website of the person for a link back to their Twitter account (Owens, 2009; Ashford, 2009).


References:

1. Ashford, W 2009, Twitter to verify accounts to prevent fake tweets, Computer Weekly, viewed 9 June 2010, http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/06/08/236332/twitter-to-verify-accounts-to-prevent-fake-tweets.htm
2. Arrington, M 2009, Celebrity Twitter Accounts Hacked (Bill O'Reilly, Britney Spears, Obama, More), TechCrunch.com, viewed 9 June 2010, http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/05/either-fox-news-had-their-twitter-account-hacked-or-bill-oreilly-is-gay-or-both/
3. Huberman, BA, Romero, DM & Fang, W 2008, Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
4. Owens, S 2009, How Celebrity Imposters Hurt Twitter's Credibility, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), viewed 9 June 2010, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/how-celebrity-imposters-hurt-twitters-credibility051.html
5. Yarow, J 2010, Twitter Finally Reveals All Its Secret Stats, Business Insider, viewed 9 June 2010, http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-stats-2010-4