New Forms of Media Publishing

“New media technologies today are radically challenging media forms, popular forms of media publishing may be called by different names and may be used in different ways” (Global Village 2008)

Such as Media types of blogs for example:
Video Blogging AKA Vlog http://www.lg15.com/lonelygirl15/?p=578
Mobile Blogging AKA Moblog http://moblog.net/sethlakeman/
Spam Blog AKA Splog http://www.casinoclublasvegas.com/
URLs Blogging AKA Linklog http://jennifer.wordpress.com/
Sketch Blogging AKA Sketchlog http://rindevall.blogspot.com/
Tumblelog http://ashotofjd.com/
You Tube which is a very popular online source http://au.youtube.com/
Online Newspapers such as the following: http://www.news.com.au/
Online Magazine such as Iconique http://www.iconique.com/flash/
Online Books such as the following site which has many stories http://www.readprint.com/

Source:2008, New Forms of Media Publishing, Global Village, viewed 26 October 2008,

The many classifications of Blogs

There are many classifications when it comes to blogs, such as political blogs, blogs for getting jobs, blogs for educational purposes, people who suffer with health issues, diary blogs, media blogs and the list continues.

Educational blogs are something that gives people the opportunity, especially those who live in small country towns, the option to still live at home and be home schooled. These blogs give teachers and students a chance to communicate with one another through the online space, it’s a place where they can share ideas and reflect on work that is being undertaken in the classroom (CMIS 2008). Examples of an educational blogging community include the NING blogs, such as KHMS e Mathematics. This is a blog for which is all about maths, there are many mini blogs in which have different topic headings such as probability, linear equations and so on. This allows the students to discuss with their teacher and their peers privately, as they need to type in a user name and password to enter each blog, however many other blogs are very open to public access.

Cancer blogs are a place in which people who are dealing with cancer can talk about it and even give advice to other people who may have it, such as the my Breast Cancer blog. This blog not only talks about what happens throughout her daily life, but also advertisers certain things in which make life that little easier such as what types of wigs are best. Another example of a blog dealing with cancer but with a completely different approach is a blog called cancer bitch. This blog is about a feminist who gets cancer; it mainly talks about herself, her experiences and her own thoughts. It’s not so much advertising things rather it’s straighter forward with graphical images such as her hair being shaved and also her daily activities such as fundraisers and new people that she meets.

So as we can see, there are many classifications of different kinds of blogs for many different purposes all in which are useful in helping many people around the world.

Sources:2008, KHMS e Mathematics, Ning, viewed 21 October 2008,2008, my Breast Cancer blog, World Press-Day Dream 2.0, viewed 22 October 2008,<http://cancerspot.org/>2008, Cancer Bitch, blog spot, viewed 22 October 2008,<http://cancerbitch.blogspot.com/index.html>2008, Blogs in education, Resourcing the Curriculum CMIS, viewed 20 October 2008

Designing for Print vs. Designing for Online

Just like everything else when it comes to designing there are both advantages and disadvantages for each method even such as designing for printing and designing for online, these points will be discussed throughout the next few paragraphs. The purpose of this is to establish the advantages and disadvantages of both print and online in the simplest manner to create more of an overview of just what they help to bring to design and what they have to offer to their audiences.

Positives of designing for Print: When it comes to print the order is linear and the reader is focused on a whole set of information; however readers get to enjoy this type of communication in a private manner as it goes from the privacy of the sender to the privacy of the reader. Reading the print takes a lot of time as everything mostly has a meaning in which follows on with some sort of connection, however the reader does have the choice to move in a quicker pace such as skimming through. By using print you may choose things just simply because you love the author or for schooling purposes as you may be able to highlight certain areas. Also a beautiful thing about print is that you are able to snuggle up on the sofa next to a hot fire in the winter with a book or lay on the beach with it on a hot day as transporting it is very convenient.

Positives of designing for Online: With online the information travels through a network making the pace much faster as you can flick through whatever you want as fast as you want. Online enables you to access any website and go through any of the pages you wish to without missing too much at all as each new page is clearly labelled with descriptions. Online is a much cheaper option as you don’t have to go through all the processes of printing it out and when you are online you are given the option to be interactive with others who are also online. When the reader is online they have the option to create their own destinations in which direction they wish to take this gives them more freedom to be creative and to explore other areas. Today online is the new entertainment (Birkerts, S 1994).in which is a very much used place therefore it is also a good thing for businesses and other places to get their names out there by being online.

Negatives of designing for Print:Some limitations of text may be that the author is only given a limited amount of space therefore the reader is limited to mainly one argument in which is being presented, this is because when an author may try to put two many arguments in one piece the reader may assume to become quickly board. Print is full of certain expectations such as the linear structure being standard the text starting at the beginning of the book and then finishing at the end of it with a beginning middle and end, giving it more of a finality.
Negatives of designing for Online:Being on the internet is very public making it a lot less personal for people viewing information online. Whilst reading much of the electronic information online it may tend to be passive however the information is not quit permanent because the information can be deleted or changed as quickly as it got there in a very simple manner. Whilst reading online there may be more chances of developing eye strain from looking at the screen to long creating the reader to become more prone to tiredness. For people who may be researching or studying they may find it difficult to remember certain information because unless it is printed they cannot underline important notes in which they wish to remember. People who use the web may seem to be more impatient as much of the time they are using the site simply because they have to such as online banking or some type of research to find out what they want.

This concludes just what the positives and negatives on design with online and print are, although both have many negatives, they are also filled with much positivity in which establishes that without one or the other or both of them, there would be much to be missed out on. Although online may be today’s new and entertaining system (Birkerts, S 1994) it may be shown also that the beauty of print is yet to be diminished.

The information from this came from:Birkerts, S 1994, The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, viewed 18 October 2008,http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/bdbirk.htm
2008, The difference between paper and online presentations, Sun Microsystems, viewed 15 October 2008, < http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/wftw1.html>
Mackey, Argumentation and the WWW, viewed 16 October 2008,<http://users.rcn.com/mackey/thesis/thesis.html><http://www.tformaro.com/thesis/reader1.html>

Blogs for better or worse?

Blogs in many ways will and do affect our community as everyday people are using them in a way to express themselves with either their real identities or a fake ones. Although blogging does consist within the online world it may in fact also influence our offline communities in many ways, as will be further discussed, this can have many advantages but also many disadvantages to our communities.

Advantages: When you are online you are what may be known to be as in a part of a large global community (Caslon 2008), this community may be seen as not only great for communication purposes but also a great resource. When the community are contributing to blogs they are in many ways expressing themselves with their own creativity and opening up to their community in a way they feel comfortable in. Whilst blogging you don’t need to write a massive piece it can simply be quite short but yet it would still be getting a point out to the mass community (Caslon 2008). Blogging can help people to feel less isolated, as though they belong to a community and more satisfied with their friendships (Caslon 2008). Research from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne found that “after two months of regular blogging, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who did not blog” (Ryan 2008). This is because people felt as though they were a part of something, this helps to strengthen the community in many ways as people are beginning to feel a part of one. Because they are being introduced into a community in which they feel that they can be themselves they are likely to ask for help when needed, because the people who are around them are similar people to themselves (Ryan 2008). After being a part of a social network people may tend to feel less anxious, depressed and stressed (Ryan 2008), this in fact is helping to build a better community not only online, but also offline as people are feeling happier about themselves and more comfortable in their communities.

Disadvantages: Blog entrepreneur Jason Calacanis is someone who does not have high hopes for blogging as he states “The hype comes from unemployed or partially employed marketing professionals and people who never made it as journalists wanting to believe. They want to believe there's going to be this new revolution and their lives are going to be changed” (Caslon 2008), Calacanis is categorising bloggers into certain groups; these groups consist of people who need some sort of inspirational help. When you create a blog on your website you are in fact giving people the option to post their own personal remarks, this in turn gives people to opportunity to attack your blog, and especially if you are in a business then this is a chance for your competition to degrade yours (Huber 2006). This may cause bad feelings between the communities as little things like this may start to create something larger, such as the community dividing up into teams. In pointing this out, companies may also be at risk by having a blog, as many disgruntled employees may take their chance at this to say their opinion about their company’s product or management (Enderle 2008). Bloggers may also use a false name when doing this; this may harm the company as they are unable to identify the blogger or stop them from doing this. Blogging may have many advantages for teenagers however their can also be much harm to them as well as 70 % of the teenagers state their first name, 67 % expose their age, and 61 percent give out their contact details with 59 percent of those who gave contact details stating the city or state of where they live (Davies 2006). This may harm the community as sexual predation may occur as they can take advantage of younger adolescence that may seem to feel lonely or become attached.

As discussed there are many positives and negatives when it comes to blogging and how it may affect our offline communities. However, mostly anything today has a positive in which is also tagged along with the many negatives; therefore you may just have to take advantage of the positives and take the negatives as they come. As the online world in something that is also considered to not only be a community, but also a great resource for those who need help or to find out what they are searching for.

Sources:
Caslon 2008, Blogging: Community, Caslon Analytics Blogging, viewed 20 October 2008,<http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile4.htm>
Ryan, C 2008, Blogging boosts your social life: research, ABC science online, viewed 20 October 2008,<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/03/2178512.htm>
Huber, J 2006, Huberspace, Huberspace, viewed 20 October 2008, < http://www.huberspace.net/news.php?id=2283>
Enderle, R 2008, Protecting against blog fraud: what people say can hurt you, IT business Edge, viewed 20 October 2008,<http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/rob/?p=242>
Davies, G 2006, Positives and Negatives of Blogging, Advisory Matters, viewed October 2008,<http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2006/02/21/positives-and-negatives-of-blogging/>

Taxpayers money used to make Telstra bunny's

Telstra has set in motion a plan to create a film using the father and son characters from the BigPond “Rabbits” commercials; the catch of course is that it’s us, being tax payers, in which may possibly be funding this film. Now as much as we all love Telstra and the “Rabbits” commercials, it would be safe to say here that being one of the largest advertisers its very out of place that they would need to request government assistance just for their marketing actions. Why don’t they simply seek funding from an Australians Films Commissions rather than take taxpayers money? It’s understandable that if you can save money then why not do it, however should it really be taxpayers that should pay for this film; shouldn’t there be bigger and better plans for our hard earned money rather than a “Rabbit” film? Though let’s face it, if there was a chance of getting money from the government, regardless many of us would seize the opportunity, however let’s not blame Telstra completely if these plans were to go through as if it does then it would in fact have to be the government in which gives it the approval.

check out one of their ads right here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvlWQyvEI38

Source:
Sinclair, L 2008, Telstra rabbit film hops into taxpayers, The Australian, South Australia

Does advertising generate chubby children?

At the moment there seems to be a childhood obesity wave, the Australian Communications and Media Authority however are giving allowance for junk food ads to be advertised around children’s programs. It seems that there haven’t been any direct links to childhood obesity and the use of advertising during their programs; although it seems uncanny that they tend to believe that this would in fact have no contribution to children wanting the latest trends in junk food? When the ACMA delved into what power banning these TV ads and what would happen to the economical side of it, it displayed that it would produce a loss of revenue. This would in fact cut the broadcasters profits and then leave children’s television shows in a very vulnerable and threatened way as there may not be enough funding to continue supporting them. So it seems as though there is always going to be a downfall here, however isn’t it true that young children who are watching these programs have parents? It seems slightly unfair that every child has to lose out because of the few children’s parents who insist on buying their children junk food as there are some parents out there who do know how to use the word NO. Instead of bringing all of this drama and blaming the advertising for their chubby child, why not take a look at what you’re putting in your grocery trolley or in your children’s mouths perhaps.

Source:
Day, M 2008, ACMA to crack down on pester power- but not junk food ads, The Australian, South Australia

Facebook: Leaving the computer and heading to the bars

Location based technology which is now put onto mobile phones are giving people an opportunity to meet up with people who are on Facebook. Because of this new innovation people are learning to leave the actual virtual world and step fourth into the physical world were instead of being online inside your own home on your computer you are in real life “the physical world” such as bars, clubs and so on. Mobile social networking has become very popular now even in Australia, this all sounds really great however one main goal that these networking sites are trying to create is the perfect environment for hungry advertisers. However, if people using this new social networking on mobile phones are able to use this as a reason to go to certain events such as advertising parties, such as an Absolute Vodka party then people may find this great as they also get to communicate with everyone else who is a fan of Vodka. This will also be beneficial to the advertisers, because let’s face it when it comes to people who just want to go out and have a great time they tend not to think so much about the advertising that’s going on around them it’s more like they’d rather just enjoy the atmosphere. However advertising may go too far when it comes to this new technology and when people are targeted and then hit with heaps of different messages of advertising at one time it can be very frustrating.

Source:
Sinclair, L 2008, Facebook turns to GPS so mates can meet up, The Australian, South Australia