In-depth Discussion On New Forms of Media Publishing

Latest forms of media publishing

Today, in the 21st century, the newest forms of media publishing include vlogs and photologs. As discussed in one my earlier blog entries, 'Blog Classification And Communities', vlogs are video blogs and photologs are photo blogs. An example of a vlog would be You Tube while a photolog is Photobucket.

Issues surrounding You Tube and Photobucket

You Tube have always been associated with porn, copyright infringement, distribution of fake videos and propaganda. In general understanding, anyone could upload and view videos in You Tube. Hence, it is not surprising that random and even unethical videos can be easily obtained from You Tube. For instance, Fox News reported that Islamic terrorists are using the infamous vlog to spread terrorism propaganda by means of video to mass audience.

An example of a video on You Tube where it is used as a propaganda tool, promoting terrorism to mass audience. Read the news article in Fox News, here.

Photobucket is associated with the hosting and unethical distribution of fake photos. With the invention of photo editing softwares like Adobe Photoshop, photos can be easily modified with just a couple of clicks. Hence, the close link to photo frauds and scandals especially in photojournalism.

An example of a photo scandal commited by a reporter. The photo above is digitally modified and unreal. For further understanding, read this article, 'The Reuters Photo Scandal'

An example of a photo that was modified. The bungee rope attached to the man was removed to make it look like he jumped to his death.

(Sourced from Digital Media.net)

Benefits of vlogs and photologs to the community

However, even though these media publishing forms are constantly associated with unethical issues, they too benefit the community, one way or another. For instance, You Tube is also a place where aspiring singers and advertisers post their work, allowing the public to view them and comment on them. Hence, using the comments as critics to improve themselves. Photobucket is a place where social relations can be build. People can upload their photos to the internet and share them with friends and family.

Reference list:

1.) Islamic Terrorists Using You Tube To Spread Propaganda 2007, Fox News, viewed on 29 April 2008 at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251398,00.html

2.) Perry, S 2007, Photoshopped: UK Broadcast MP In Fake Photo Scandal, Digital Lifestyle, viewed on 1 May 2008 at http://digital-lifestyles.info/2007/10/01/photoshopped-uk-broadcast-mp-in-fake-photo-scandal/

3.) Sandoval, G 2006, YouTube Sued Over Copyright Infrindgement, ZD Net, viewed on 29 April 2008 at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6095736.html

4.) The Reuters Photo Scandal 2006, Zombietime.com, viewed on 2 May 2008 at http://www.zombietime.com/reuters_photo_fraud/

5.) Waters, D 2007, Video Service YouTube Grows Up, BBC News, viewed on 30 April 2008 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6221588.stm

Online Media vs Print Media

Principles of design for online and print media

Print
Kress and van Leeuwen (1998) stated that print media focused more on text (multimodality), with academic grammar structures. Print media tend to play around with words. Hence, the text is usually longer and more detailed compared to online text. Redshaw (2003) stated that print 'controls' the information presented to the readers. There are steps or a chronological order to how the information should be presented. For instance, an introduction to a topic needs to be put forth before the actual content and lastly, a conclusion to that topic.

Online
As for online media, although text is important, it has to be concise, scannable and objective (Morkes & Nielsen 1997). Unlike print media, overly-structured grammar is not encouraged. Online readers tend to scan the text rather than read through it thoroughly (Nielsen 1997). Readers have the advantage of choosing what they want to read in the text as the information presented to them is categorized into sub-headings, columns, and other forms of classification. The information is hardly arranged chronologically.

An example of a good website as according to Jacob Nielsen's web design tutorials.
As we can see, the layout information is designed in F-shaped way and is destributed from left to right. It is scannable and concise.

(Sourced from Make Believe)

An example of a bad website design.
As we can see, it is distractive, with its bad layout and image. The layout is not in a F-format as i should be, rather, everything is focused only in the centre. The image displayed is unattractive very contrast to the color of the background.
It is not organized, neither is it scannable because the displayed information is poorly presented.

(Sourced from www.istanbul.tc)

Compare and contrast of an example from a print and online media

An example of news print, The Star newspaper

(Sourced from Google Images)

An example of online news website, a screenshot of The Star Online

Newspaper in print, is designed in a Z-way as can be seen from the example above while an online news site is designed in a F-way. Nonetheless, in both print and online, information is distributed from left to right. News or things that are 'given' or known are placed on the left and things that are 'new' are on the right. This is because readers read from left to right. In print, it is more text-based while online news are shorter and more concise. However, both media used both text (multimodal) and graphics (monomodal) to convey their message to their targeted audience.

Reference list:

1.) Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 1998, ‘Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout’, in Approaches to media discourse, eds Bell, A & Garrett, P, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 186-219.

2.) Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, 'Reading Images', Chapter 6: The
meaning of composition’, pp. 179-208

3.) Morkes, J & Nielsen, J 1997, Concise, Scannable and Objective: How To Write For The Web, Useit.com, viewed at 28 April 2008 at http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html

4.) Nielsen, J 1999, Differences Between Print Design and Web Design, Jacob Nielsen's Alert Box, viewed on 29 May 2008 at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html

5.) Redshaw, K 2003, Web Writing vs Print Writing, Kerryr.net, viewed on 1 May 2008 at http://www.kerryr.net/webwriting/guide_web-vs-print.htm

6.) Web Design vs Print Design 2008, Design News Next, viewed on 1 May 2008 at http://www.designnewsnext.com/Article/131.html

Blog Classification and Communities

Classification of blogs

By subject:
a) Politics
b) Law
c) History
d) Fashion
e) Food
f) Travel
g) Entertainment ( Movies, Dramas, Celebrities )
h) Sports

By device:
a) Moblog ( Mobile phone blogs; Example: Flickr blog )

An Example of a Moblog, Flickr blog

(Sourced from Webware)

By media:
a) Vlog ( Video blogs; Example: YouTube)
b) Linklog ( Collection of links or URLs; Example: del.icio.us )
c) Splog ( Spam blogs; Example: The Panic Blog )
d) Sketchlog ( Collection of sketches/drawings; Example: Deviantart )
e) Tumblelog ( Blogs with mixed-media and short forms instead of the usual long posts; Example: Tumblr )
f) Photolog ( Collection of photos: Example: Photobucket )
g) Podcast ( Collection of audio recordings especially in MP3 format; Example: Imeem )
h) Liveblog ( Blogs that cover live events; Example: Engadget )

An example of a vlog, YouTube

(Sourced from Videora)

An example of a podcast, Imeem

(Sourced from: Google Images)

An example of a sketchlog, Deviantart

(Sourced from: Art of The Net)

By publisher:
a) Business blog
b) Corporate blog

However, most blogs these days are a combination of different styles and formats. For instance, a photolog like Photobucket which should only contain collections of photos, also contain video entries. Thus, to identify a unique blog or to classify a blog, the majority of the type of posts or entries in it have to be taken into account. If most of the entries are photos, hence, it is called a photolog even though it might contain other formats.

Blogging Communities

A blogging community is a 'blogosphere', a network of blogs linked together. A blogging community can be created by the existence or availability of hyperlinks, tags, comments and chat spaces in blogs where human interaction is made possible. In blogging communities, people reach out to each other, making friends and building social connections. An example of a blogging community is MyBlogLog. According to Kirkpatrick (2006), it is a social networking system where bloggers and their readers are able to connect and and interact with each other based on interests and personal similarities. It is also a network where blog publishers are able to access information they seek on their readers.

A blogging community, MyBlogLog

(Sourced from: Technipedia)

Reference list:

1.) Blogging Goes Mobile 2003, BBC News, viewed on 29 April 2008 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2783951.stm

2.) Blogging, The Phenomenon: Text Based 2006, Thinkquest, viewed on 1 May 2008 at http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01130/typesofblogs_textbased.html

3.) Kirkpatrick, M 2006, MyBlogLog: Readers Network Around Their Favorite Blogs, TechCrunch viewed on 30 April 2008 at http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/19/mybloglog-readers-network-around-their-favorite-blogs/

4.) The 8 Different Types of Blogging In 2008, Make You Go Hmm.com, viewed on 1 May 2008 at http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20080124/5040/

5.) Turn Any Blog Into A Moblog - Just Like That 2004, Flickr Blog, viewed on 29 April 2008 at http://blog.flickr.net/en/2004/07/06/turn-any-blog-into-a-moblog-just-like-that/

The Blogging Phenomenon and Benefits

Blogs as a current cyber phenomenon

Blogging has become a huge trend and sensation among people from all walks of life. Blogging, in general understanding, is a way to express thoughts and opinions and to establish and strengthen social relations among people.

Blogosphere Size

As according to the Multiplatform, the term 'Blogosphere' is defined as 'the totality of weblogs or blog-related webs' or in layman's terms, a blogging community. David Sifry (2006) of Technorati stated that the state of blogosphere is ever expanding and doubles in size every 6 months. About 175, 000 new weblogs are created each day. In the Blog Herald survey of blog counts in February 2006, an estimated total of 200 million blogs existed in the World Wide Web. Thus, it is safe to assume that by today, the figure will have increased to an astounding number.

Trends and Types

There are various trends of blogging, including social, political and economical blogging. Social blogging include blogs like personal, entertainment, technology and food blogs. Political blogging, like the term suggests, include topics like politics and world events while economical blogging involves corporate and marketing blogs.

According to Microsoft, social blogging is the most compelling trend in Asia, where personal blogs are by far the most popular. Most people create blogs to update family and friends about their personal lifestyle as well as to express themselves. The most influential blog in Malaysia, according to 50 Most Influential Blogs In Malaysia is Kenny Sia's blog which is a personal blog.

Screenshot of Kenny Sia's blog

Nevertheless, blogging trends in United Kingdom differ slightly from Malaysia in a way where the most popular kind of blogs are technology blogs as according to Stuart Brown (2006).

Blogging benefits to the Malaysian community

In general, Malaysia is not a country of free-press where information dissemination by the press, be it in print or online-print is highly controlled by the Malaysian government. Therefore, leaving blogs the only free medium of information. Political blogs like Jeff Ooi's blog are influential in a way where information that are 'left out' or 'over-looked' by the mainstream press can be found in his blog. The community benefits from Jeff Ooi by freely obtaining information from his blog. Besides that, blogging is a way for the people to learn how to express themselves and give rise to cyber literacy.

Screenshot of Jeff Ooi's blog

Reference List:

1. 50 Most Influential Blogs in Malaysia 2007, Sabahan.com, viewed on 1 May 2008 at http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/

2. All About Multiplatform 2007, Television Bureau of Advertising, viewed 30 April 2008 at http://www.tvb.org/multiplatform/Multiplatform_Glossary.asp

3. Brown, S 2006, Leading Average: Top Blog Trends, Modern Life, viewed 30 April 2008 at http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/article/leading-average-top-blog-trends

4. Duncan 2006, The Blog Herald Blog Count February 2006: 200 Million Blogs In Existence, Blog Herald, viewed 1 May 2008, at http://www.blogherald.com/2006/02/02/the-blog-herald-blog-count-february-2006-200-million-blogs-in-existence/

5. Microsoft 2006, Blogging Phenomenon Sweeps Asia, viewed on 1 May 2008 at http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-28-2006/0004480819&EDATE=

6. Sifry, D 2006, State of the Blogosphere, April 2006 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth, Sifry's Alerts, viewed 30 April 2008 at http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000432.html