Reflection

When I first began my blog I was somewhat out of my comfort zone. I had never had one before or really thought about the definition of blogging. Now as i look back over these past several weeks I can appreciate why people do blog and can see the benifits of it especially with news and other information based blogs. They help communities come together and open up discussion to a much broader audience. They are a great asset to the internet and have taught me many skills, including how to easily and successfully create links to other pages and websites. The internet is ever elvolving and everything seems to be only a few clicks away. I discovered the usefullness of academic sites which talk about layout, design and structure, and was intrigued by the travel blogs i discovered. I was also fascinated by the amount of personal information and experiences that have made their way to the internet. There are so many supportive blogger sites for people, for example forums for cancer patients to discuss their battles, and give each other support and advice. These kind of sites are not just restricted to the patients either, there are forums for single mothers, spouses of alcoholics, or simply forums for fans obssessed with a show or band or celebrity. The internet has opened up communicational links which are just not possible through other mediums and have brought people together all over the world. Even sites like Facebook allow us to keep in contact with our friends where ever they are without having to write a million individual emails. Although I doubt I will continue to use my blog now this assignment has come to an end I will continue to network on Facebook and definetly continue to take advantage of other news and social blogs to stay connnected.

Gossip at your fingertips

If you love the latest celebrity gossip but you can't be bothered driving all the way to the supermarket to get your fix you're in luck. The Daiy Telegraph reported that three of America's top published magazines are going to introduce electronic versions of their printed magazines on an online website/store. It will work as a similar style to the iTunes, which allows quick and easy purchases of music, but instead of buying music consumers will be getting the latest entertainment news straight to their computers. As online shopping sites such as Ebay become increasingly more popular with society and printed magazine profits drop, it could be expected that this new venture will be one of success. The New York Observer has announced that John Squires, who is currently an executive at Time magazine, will be the chief executive for the new company. The software will also be produced so it can be used on iPhones and Blackberrys, broadening the target audience and increasing possible sales. However the new company will have to compete with all of the free entertainment news that is currently on the web, but with exclusive interviews and photographs they may be able to maintain the appeal of printed magazines just in an easier form.

Lara Bingle exposed

The Herald Son was just one of the newspapers to report about the latest Bingle scandal. The article touches on how the ranchy photo of Lara in the shower, allegedly taken by AFL star Brendan Fevola, has made its way through the players of the AFL and Australian cricket league. Bingle has already filed a law suit against Fevola but fears the damage has already been done. In her interview with Woman's Day she talks about the embaressment of it all and the possible damage it has caused her both personally and proffessionally. A story like this can't help but raise questions about privacy in such a technologically driven world. Bingle stated that she didn't realise he was taking a photograph of her naked and was horrified when he took it, and immediatetly asked him to delete it, in which case he said he had. I'm sure everyone can relate to a similar situation, maybe not so public however. Modern cameras are small and built into so many devises including mobile phones and computers it is impossible to know if someone is taking your picture or filming your actions. And if indeed they do manage to catch you at a volunerable moment, such as Lara has experienced, what is stopping them from mass circulation and publication? This issue can even be raised with applications like Facebook. Just ticking a box hands over all rights to any photos loaded onto the social network, including photos of friends and family without their permission. Not to mention that person then holds the ability to publish ans share the photographs again without individuals permission. So we have to start to ask are selves just how much privacy do we really have? These days we have to worry about everything from a friend taking an unflattering photo and putting it on facebook, to a lover abusing the trust of a relationship and distributing incriminating photographs. Maybe next time you think it will be fun to message your boyfriend a sexy picture of yourself, just remember how Bingle thought she could trust her lover only to be 'betrayed and violated'.

Blogging communities

Blogs come in all different forms and shapes. They are not specific to one genre and are often arranged to suit a specific purpose. Several different types of blogs include; personal blogs, corporate blogs, political blogs, travel blogs, news blogs, music blogs, and media blogs. Personal blogs can be defined as a type of online journal or diary where anyone can create a page and post their thoughts, activities and feelings. This is a popular form of blogging for younger generations, especially teenages. An example of this is twitter; a forum for anyone (especially teenagers and young adults) to post whatever thoughts they wish to with friends, family, and other public members. Twitter is also quite popular with celebrities as it gives them a change to create a closer relationship with their fans. By becoming a 'fan' of someones you can follow their updates and latest posts, creating a virtual relationship between participants. Travel and political blogs allow people open discussion with a common interest as a community. People can share their opinion, information and personal experiences with each other and the information can be easily accessed by all those interested, even if they live in different countries all over the world. Travel blogs also allow people to share photos with each other of the different countries and monuments they've seen. One of the best features about blogs is that they can be censored from public access and only certain people are able to enter the blog. This is a great feature for businesses as they are able to create a blog for all work members to view and discuss bussiness related ideas, in a quick and easy manner. Blogs allow communities to grow and share with each other on a much larger scale than non virtual organisations or groups, because millions of people can be accessing the information at the same time all over the world.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Print vs the web

The principles of wrting and design are generally the same, however the adaption taken to different document formats are vastly different. Everything from font style ans size to visual aids and colour schemes depends on the intended audience. Whether you are designing a template for printing purposes or a web page the intention is to 'direct the attention (of the reader) to the individual topics and increase reader interest in the document' (Reep 2006). In order to acheive this for printing purposes basic document formatting applies; all information should be structures from top left hand corner down to the bottom right hand corner. Depending on the type of document creativity with the font can be used, although generally either Arial or Times New Roman are used most frequently in a size 12. There is usually minimal colour and visual aids, and the information is generally devided with headings, sub headings and/or dot points. However when designing a web page more focus is put on the aesthetically pleasing aspect of the site. Most people skim over web pages so the imformation must be easy to access, read and not too long. Headings and dot points can be used to achieve this. Also the font should be simple as it is harder to read on a computer screen then on a printed sheet of paper, and has to be compadable with different computer monitors. There is also generally more colour and visual aids to empasis the sites purpose. Other importnat considerations for the web include accessable links and contact information.


References
Reep, DC 2006, ‘Document design’, Technical writing: principles, strategies and readings, 6th edn, Pearson/Longman, New York.

Parker, RC 1990, ‘Beginning observations’, Looking good in print: a guide to basic design for desktop publishing, 2nd edn, Ventara Press, Chapel Hill NC.

The new language of design

The difference between previous generations and Generation Y is anything but subtle. Their predisposition towards new technologies and their ability to understand them without much explanation is remarkable. Especially to those who are still simply trying to conquer basic computer facilities. Although with the younger generations ability to learn and adapt quickly comes their tendency for shorter attention spans. Gerrard Boclaire talks about teenages fast mids and even faster attention spans. These days people arn't limited to one technology at a time, it is extremely common for people to be using several devises at once. For instance watching television, listening to music and chatting on the internet. Hence it comes as no suprise that manufactures caught onto this and began producing multipurpose devises to accomodate for the every changing consumers desires. Although designs have become more user friendly and easier to access, for example the internet is only a click away on new mobile phones, the designs have alot more options these days. Reep, 2006 discusses the importance of visual aid in order to maintain the audiences attention. When looking at new i-phone it is clearly a visually based design. Each application has a visual representation and only requires a touch for instant access, which has proven to be a successful development as the i-phone is considered one of the most popular and luxurious mobile phones on the market today. When also considering touch screens have been implemented into ATMs and certain computer systems, including the new Apple i-pad, will this become the basis for new technologies and designs?


References
Reep, DC 2006, ‘Document design’, Technical writing: principles, strategies and readings, 6th edn, Pearson/Longman, New York.

The blogging phenomenon

First it was MSN, then MYSPACE and Facebook taking social networking by storm but the newest craze would have to be blogging. The internet has grown at such a rapid place and opened so many new and exciting doors for the world as we know it. You no longer have to spend years at university attaining qualifications and experience to voice your opinions in the media and world; now its as simple as logging onto a computer. Sites such as Blogger.com have created a new forum for free speech, and the only prerequisite needed in this forum is a email address and password. Blogs have reconstructed the media and news intell as we know it. Take the war in Iraq as an example. Normally we would have to wait for journalists to research and gather information, write up their findings and have their editor check it before it could be braodcast to us as a community. But thanks to blogs the news comes quicker and easier than ever before. Civillians from inside Iraq and sorrounding Countries were logging onto their computers and posting photographs and messages from inside the war zome. Never have we seen such raw media coverage, including candid videos posted on sites such as Youtube. But how far is to far? Although this new form of media gives everyone equal opportunity to voice their opinions, who is checking the facts and varifying the truth? The easier free speech becomes on the net the liklier it is that someone might get their facts wrong and end up offending others. Also with free publication comes the issue of appropriateness. Which photos and images and experiences are too controversial or too confronting for those who are not use to them. We have to remember that children of all ages have access to the internet these days, hence a sense of responsibility and censorship is required for exactly what should be published.