Tea Time Musings #2: The blogging phenomenon - What's the fuss all about?

Caught in a fog when it comes to blogs? Fret not!

Technorati (2008) estimates 130 million blogs were formed since 2002, as depicted in Figure 1. That’s almost five times the Malaysian population!

Figure 1

Source: Technorati 2008

Referring to Figure 2, Technorati (2008) purports that North America dominates 46% of the blogosphere, followed by Europe at 27% and Asia at 13%.

Figure 2

Source: Technorati 2008

In Malaysia, the blogging phenomenon is in full swing. Utusan Malaysia (cited in the Star Online 2008) reports that Malaysia stands among the highest amount of active bloggers with 500,000 active Malaysian bloggers in 2008.

As for blog trends, a survey of 1290 respondents by Technorati (2008) found blogs in Asia fueled by money-making motives with 24% of Asian respondents admitting to posting product reviews for financial gains. Simons (2008) regards this type of blogs as “The Advertisement” in which corporations pay a significant sum to bloggers for product reviews.

On the contrary, blog trends in Europe are less profit-driven, spotting 60% of European respondents blogging for fun instead with topics like music and computers (Technorati 2008). Simons (2008) classifies this as “The Popular Mechanics” whereby various enthusiasts share their expertise in their niche field (such as music and computers).

Undeniably, blogging trends in Malaysia revolve around politics with political blogs like CheDet.co.cc garnering an estimated 19 million hits (Ahmad 2009). Simons (2008) calls this “The Pamphleteering Blogs” where individuals argue for a cause.

As such, blogging benefits the Malaysian community by raising political awareness. University Malaya Professor Abu Hassan Hasbullah (cited in Kaufman 2008) asserts this, stating that “…70 percent of the (March 2008) election results were influenced by information in the blogs.”

Additionally, advertisements are communicated more effectively through blogs. Through blog advertising networks like Advertlets, advertisements are designated to specific Malaysian blogs to reach the desired target audience (Advertlets n.d.). As prescribed earlier, bloggers themselves gain financial rewards too!

In conclusion, the blogging phenomenon has indeed revolutionized the way we live. However, bloggers must be aware of its pitfalls by selecting what is consumed and produced.


References:

Advertlets n.d., Benefits, viewed 13 June 2009, <http://www.advertlets.com/benefits>.

Ahmad, NJ 2009, Dr M’s chedet is no 1 in hits, Malay Mail Sdn Bhd, viewed 13 June 2009, <http://www.mmail.com.my/category/tags/che-det>.

Kaufman, S 2008, Malaysia’s alternative mediabecome decisive political factor, America.gov, viewed 13 June 2009, <http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/April/20080403175441esnamfuak0.1705591.html>.

Simons, M 2008, Towards a taxonomy of blogs, Creative Economy Online viewed 13 June 2009, <http://www.creative.org.au/webboard/results.chtml?filename_num=229836>.

Technorati 2008, State of the blogosphere – day 1: who are the bloggers?, viewed 13 June 2009, <http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/who-are-the-bloggers/>.

The Star Online 2008, Blogging in Malaysia ranks among highest in the world, viewed 13 June 2009, <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/3/nation/20827588&sec=nation>.

Tea time musings #1: What is a good document?

Fellow readers,

Time for our first cup of tea!

Today, I’ll be evaluating my Assignment 1 presentation slides, drawing comparisons between my group presentation and individual presentation.

Layout

Generally, the group presentation slide is driven by verbal texts, incorporating visual texts only when necessary, as portrayed in Figure 1. According to Walsh (2006), images offer unique aspects that words alone cannot satisfy at “…affective, aesthetic and imaginative levels”. Thus, by including images, the audience will feel emotions and form interpretations of their own which in turn personalizes the message. Therefore, visuals were added to the individual presentation to illustrate the main points, as displayed through Figure 2. Shriver (1997) classifies this relationship between words and images as supplementary in which one mode is more dominant, channeling the main content, while the other mode merely strengthens the dominant mode.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Though images can further the understanding of the dominant mode, it can also murder the true meaning of the dominant mode itself. Saltz (cited in Saville 2008) cautions that, “Sometimes words don’t apply to the image, or the other way round. They shoot each other in the foot instead of enhancing each other.” Hence, reference must be made to relate one mode to the other. Concerning the group presentation slide shown in Figure 3, no reference was made to relate the image to the text. To combat this, the individual presentation slide was altered, referencing the image as an example to the related points as depicted in Figure 4.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Additionally, typographic alignment enhances aesthetic elements. The texts in the group presentation slide were justified, leaving wide spaces between words known as “loose lines” or “rivers” as indicated with red arrows in Figure 5. Singer (2002) abhors this, suggesting that texts should be ragged to the side instead to make reading easier. Consequently, the texts in the individual presentation slide were ragged to the left margin as illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 5

Figure 6

Technical writing

Rothman (2005) upholds that technical writing serves a specific purpose, any attempt to alter this style of writing risks losing vital information. With regards to the group presentation, technical terms were “watered-down” into lay terms, as highlighted in Figure 7, forgoing the true essence of the information. Thus, the individual presentation incorporated technical terms to retain its true meaning as bolded in Figure 8.

Figure 7

Figure 8

Above all, in a good document design, form has its function, as postulated by Wheildon (2005), “design is not, or should not be, mere decoration and abstraction, but part of the business of communication.”

References

Rothman, S 2005, What makes good scientific and technical writing?, Associated Content, viewed 24 April 2009, <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error>.

Saville, L 2008, 100 habits of successful publication designers: insider secrets for working smart and staying creative, Rockport Publishers, Beverly, Massachusetts.

Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York.

Singer, D 2002, Ten steps to good document design, University of Alabama, viewed 24 April 2009, <http://www.uah.edu/colleges/liberal/english/shared/doc_des_singer.htm>.

Walsh, M 2006, “‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts,” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol.29, no.1, p.24-37.

Wheildon, C 2005, Type and layout: are you communicating or just making pretty shapes, 5th edn, The Worsley Press, Victoria.

An Invitation

Fellow readers,

You’re invited!

Here at Tender Moments with IPD, you can savour a warm cup of chamomile tea, bite off the thickest block of chocolate or simply allow the purest breeze of fondness to catch you off guard. Well of course, there’s more! Straighten your backs as you greet the givers of imagination, grace through the courts of verbal discourse, critic the gallery of visual imagery while you enjoy the sights and sound of technological innovation.

In simpler terms, Tender Moments with IPD serves as a platform to address pivotal issues regarding the art of document design; to investigate the workability of publication theories in practice and to question the latest discoveries in communication studies. Yes, all these while you sip through that cup of chamomile tea!

So, what are you waiting for? Need a reason? Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) highlight the lack of education in visual and multimodal texts among schools, simultaneously advocating its importance at this age of globalization. Furthermore, Bearne (cited in Walsh 2006) asserts that a paradigm shift, from monomodal to multimodal text, is simply inevitable.

As such, this is a trumpet call to all document designers, professionals and novices alike, students in pursuit of communication studies or just about anyone who’s curious about the world of publication and document design.

No, you don’t need to wave like the Queen to be a part of this! It’s as simple as just dropping by and picking up your cup of tea.

So until then, I’m looking forward to our first cup of tea…


Source: Getty Images n.d.

References

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, Reading images: the grammar of visual design, Routledge, New York.

Walsh, M 2006, “‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts,” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol.29, no.1, p.24-37.