Sunday, June 12, 2011
Reflections
After posting blog entries for this assignment purposes, I have gained many knowledge and issues pertaining to publication and design. From this assignment, I have learnt how important the internet is in this technology savvy world. Looking back, this is my first time coming up with a blog as I always think that writing blog entries are a real bore but it is indeed fun and enjoyable during the process of coming up with this blog entries. I always feel interactivity is always the key to learn! I would like to take this chance to thank my lecturer Miss Jenny for guiding us through for this assesment.
The benefits of social media and the internet during the twin disasters that struck Japan on the 11th March 2011
With the accessibility to the internet, one can get updated news by just going into news portals or by just opening Yahoo. The moment the Yahoo page pop up on the screen, we are bombarded with the latest updates of current affairs and what’s happening around us and around the world. It can be latest updates about a disaster struck area or latest news and updates on a demonstration that took place.
However, it is undeniable that social networking sites such as Facebook, Tweeter has become the highlight when the twin disaster swept through the Japanese region on the 11th March 2011. Benkoil, D, 2011 asserted that from the comfort of his home in New York, it felt like I had more information and contacts at my fingertips than I did then as a reporter in Japan.
These social networking sites played a very important role during the moment of the disaster. Victims are uploading tons of videos of water gushing through their houses and this has brought news reporting to another stage. Now, news reporting is not only confined to publishing news to keep people updated but with the accessibility of the internet, things are no longer the same. However, during the earthquake, telephone lines in Japan was disrupted but this did not stop the Japanese from updating their status as messages from Facebook and Twitter serves as a platform to provide the latest news (Vinson, J , 2011). 
Shown above, is a page created by the people where news and videos are being uploaded to keep people updated about the situation and condition in the disaster struck area.
As a conclusion, it can be seen that the use of social networking sites is rather useful in disaster struck area where people use it as a platform to keep themselves updates and let the people know the situation in that area. One can never ignore the important and usefulness of social networking sites in this technology savvy world.
References
Vinson, J, 2011, “Japan’s Earthquake Shows The Strength of Social Networking”, WEBPRONEWS, viewed 12th June 2011 http://www.webpronews.com/japan-earthquake-social-networkin-2011-03
Stephens, K, 2011, “Social Media and the Japan earthquake: What we can learn”, Social Media and Emergency Management, viewed 12th June 2011 http://idisaster.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/social-media-and-the-japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-what-we-can-learn/
Tablets versus e-readers
Thanks to the advancement of technology in this contemporary era, people around the globe are becoming more and more dependent on smart phones, Androids and iPad. With these gadgets, standalone e-book gadgets are slowly declining now. Most of the people nowadays are looking for multimodality in these gadgets where they are allowed to surf the internet, play videos and movies and also not forgetting allowing them to read e-books.
Recently, the UK market research firm Informa Telecoms & Media predicts that the sales of eBook reader will soon die with the convergence of new tablets such as the legendary iPad that allows its users to do many things other than using it as a sole purpose to read.
As much function as tablets have now, e-readers have their advantages and usability as well. A self experiment that was carried out by Nielson, J, 2009, he asserted that it is easier to read from an e-reader because this gadget allows their users to enlarge the fonts up to their likings and it is convenient to carry around.
Comparison between tablets and e-reader
Tablets allow it users to view books and graphics in colors but e-reader comes only in the form of black and white. Even though e-reader has the e-ink technology which does not strain the eyes, it is still relatively boring to use an e-reader only. Apart from that, tablets allow its user to view videos but e-readers do not support the playing of videos.
When it comes to the choosing of buying tablets or e-reader, the users must be determined what is the purpose of buying these gadgets is. A person who enjoys reading very much will opt for e-reader whereas a person who loves multimodality will opt for the tablets. It all depends on the needs of the users.
References
Siegenthaler, E, Wurtz, P & Groner, R, “Improving the Usability of E-Book Readers”, Journal of usability studies, viewed 12th June 2011 http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2010november/siegenthaler1.html
Bellaver, R, F, 2001, “The Usability of eBook Technology:Practical Issues of an Application of Electronic Textbooks In a Learning Environment”, UPA, viewed 12thJune 2011 http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/upa_voice/volumes/5/issue_1/ebooks.htm
What Does a Tablet Book Reader Offer over a Regular eBook Reader That Makes It More Powerful, best ebook reader central, viewed 12th June 2011 < http://www.bestebookreadercentral.com/what-does-a-tablet-book-reader-offer-over-a-regular-ebook-reader-that-makes-it-more-powerful/>
To plagiarize or not?
During the period when I am rushing for assignment’s deadline, I am tempted to copy the whole chunk of article which I find relevant to my field of my study and submit as my assignment but, it is correct to take people’s hard work and claiming that it belongs to me? At this point of time, it is not only students plagiarizing but teachers or university lecturers are even found plagiarizing other people’s work (Daniadon, A 2009). This case once happened in Malaysia involving 2 lecturers from UPM when they are caught plagiarizing materials from the internet to produce a guide book.
With so much information that is available on the internet, it is not surprising for students to copy and paste the information that are relevant for their assignment. An extensive research that was carried out back then has proven that a minority group of students reported they use the Internet to copy and paste text into their papers without referencing them (Scanlon, P & Neumann, D, 2002).
However, plagiarism is not only practiced among college students for academic purposes but it is also done by journalists and media personnel who work for certain media organizations. Back in the year 2006, Malaysian editor Brenda Pereira was found plagiarizing an article by award-winning Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press. Holding such a high post in media cooperation, it is obvious that the editor is aware that plagiarism is totally wrong as it can be seen in the NUJ code of ethics, clause 12, a journalist have to avoid plagiarism. I think it does not apply only to journalists but to all the people who works under a newspaper or media cooperation. Is it ethical to steal people’s idea and publish? I personally think that a person’s work or piece should be cited properly to show respect and protect the author’s work.
Reference
Kent, J, 2006, “Malaysia editor in plagiarism row”, BBC news, viewed 12th June 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6108666.stm
Scanlon, P,M, & Neumann, D,R, 2002, “Internet Plagiarism Among College Students”, Journal of college student development, viewed 12th June 2011 http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:L9dQeUsguRgJ:scholar.google.com/+plagiarism+among+university+students&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_vis=1
Warner, J & Porter, M, 2004, “Cut and Paste Plagiarism:How to Detect It and How to Prevent It”, Plagiarism case studies”, viewed 12th June 2011 http://www.library.nd.edu/instruction/svcsteaching/casestudy.shtml
Chapman, K, 2009, “Malaysia lecturers hauled up over plagiarism”, asia one education, viewed 12th June 2011 http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090915-167896.html
Comic? Isn’t funny!
When I first saw the comic that was published on Berita Harian regarding the cartoon depicting the devastating tsunami and earthquake that swept Japan and killed thousands, I felt angry and irritated. It left me thinking, how could such thing even get published to the newspapers? Due to the publication of the comic, the publication has received tremendous criticisms by readers who accuse the editors as being “inconsiderate and distasteful” (CNN 2011).
Based on my point of view, I feel it is not ethical for the newspaper to publish this comic because it is not right to make a joke on the people who are suffering and struggling due to the twin disasters that swept Japan on the 11th March 2011. However, it is indeed true that journalists have code of ethics to follow. Based on the SPJ code of ethics, journalists are never allowed to distort the content of news photos or video. From this, it shows that the person who drew this comic did not respect the victims who are involved in the twin disasters. Apart from that, there is another similar case that happened back in year 2005 where a Danish newspaper posted 12 editorial cartoons which resembles the Islamic prophet Muhamad.
From this cartoons, it can be seen that the cartoonist or journalist have bridge the NUJ code of ethics clause 10 which is “Produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation”. Based on these two cases, what happened to the gatekeeper of information in these organizations? How can these be allowed to be published. A journalist’s job is to report about truth (NUJ 2006) but not discriminating others.
From all this, some people might think it is funny but in reality, these are not seen as jokes but seen as a form of discrimination.
References
What is a good power point design?
It is utmost important for people or designers to understand document design. Document design can be defined as the physical appearance of a document (Reep, D, 2006). A good power point is not only judged by the content but also judged by the visual presentation of the slides (Reep, D, 2006).
“Document must have a good communication to the audience in order keep audience attention in the content”. (Petelin, P, 1996)
they want for a document (Reep, D, 2006). For this powerpoint slides of mine, I chose to use this theme because it is simple with proportionate of colors as it isn’t splashed with too many colors that will make the audience confused.
However, it is regretful to say that spaces in between points are not available in the slides. Reep has asserted that white spaces in a slide help to give the reader’s eye a rest and direct them to important information. Slides with too much words and insufficient of white spacing will make the audiences lose their interest rather quickly.
As stated above, it is important to engage the audiences with the power point and not bore them off with the whole presentation therefore, it is important to take into account the design principles for a good power point presentation.
References
Reep, Diana C. 2006, ‘Chp 4: Principles of Document Design,’ in Technical Writing, 6th ed., Pearson Edu, Inc., New York, p.173-190.
Arriaga, J, 2011, ““Just-the-Facts” Presentation Not Destined For Failure”, Power point symphony, viewed 12th June 2011 < http://powerpointsymphony.com/?category_name=presentation-design-philosophies>
New forms of media publishing
With the existence of the legendary internet, audiences are no longer seen as the ones waiting for latest news to reach them. Things are slowly transforming now with the existence of social networking sites such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and etc. Take for example, Namewee. He was no one and nobody knew about him until he posted the controversial video commenting on Malaysian government. Even though it is a sensitive issue it is still an eye opener to the people in Malaysia as it highlights the weaknesses. Besides that, the recent twin disasters that took place in Japan, without social networking sites, people wouldn’t be able to get updates on their loves ones that fast.
Apart from that, the rise of citizen journalism can be seen throughout the world. Take a look at the Malaysian context where mainstream media is no longer trustworthy news sources, readers opt for alternative media. Even these blogs are written by someone without proper journalism background, there are still many blogs out there that plays a very important role in the reporting of current issues. It is undeniable that people are getting more dependent on social networking sites and blogs as alternative media.
References
Gomez, J, Han, L,C, 2009, “New Media and General Elections: Online Citizen Journalism in Malaysia and Singapore”, viewed 12th June 2011 http://monash.academia.edu/JamesGomez/Papers/181264/New_Media_and_General_Elections_Online_Citizen_Journalism_in_Malaysia_and_Singapore
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