Reflection

What I've learned throughout the semester from this course varies. In the world of publication and design, it is not easy as how I thought it would be. Through the semester, Miss Jenny has taught me what is needed for a good document design; on what colours to use, what fonts are appropriate, how to frame elements in a specific document and many more.

In addition, content of the document must also be precise and credible. Publication and design is not only just playing around with shapes and colours, but we need to connect appropriate theories with the issues involved. 

Blogging is now the new portal for almost just anything; information, pictures, music, videos, a forum for people to communicate and exchange thoughts. The blogging world is now emerging as a type of new media and it certainly is improving from all degrees as technology improves. 

Phony Twitter-ers

Everybody has Twitter. Twitter is a real-time information social network that allows users to connect with each other and receive the latest information by reading easy 140 character status updates (Twitter.com 2010). Twitter, which was launched in 2007, has had a rapid growth of 50 million tweets sent a day as of current (Beaumont 2010). The Huffington Post (2010) recently released a Twitter’s user statistics; Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users, there are estimates of 300 000 new users every day and 180 million unique visits to the Twitter site each day.

Users ‘tweet’ short status updates about what they are currently doing and with Twitter, you are able to connect with people around the world just by reading ‘tweets’. However, Twitter has one ultimate flaw; imposters. It is so easy for a random individual to create an account and pretend to be someone else. For example, anyone can just sign up for an account on Twitter.com due to its poor verification system (Owens 2009). Twitter has had many imposters posing as celebrities that its credibility is being questioned, Owens (2009 adds. 

In a recent case, the holy Dalai Lama had an imposter faking a Twitter account, claiming it to be real (Owens 2009). By the time the Dalai Lama’s personnel had contacted Twitter to inform him of the impersonation, it had already been too late (Owens 2009). Owens (2009) adds that the fake Twitter account already had 20 000 followers and the media had already reported and spread the news that the holiness himself had joined the popular social networking site. Twitter then implemented new security measures to counter this problem by introducing the new ‘Verified Account’ scheme (Leyden 2009). Twitter launched the scheme after the company was sued by celebrity Tony La Russa who had an imposter posting up fake tweets under his name, along with many other cases of celebrity imposters using Twitter (Leyden 2009). The scheme provides a seal branding a celebrity’s Twitter profile as authentic and legit.

The seal next to the account name verifies it as legitimate and real. (Source : Taylor Swift's Twitter Account on Twitter.com)

Identity theft is deemed as the new millennium crime (Hoar 2001). Hoar (2001) states that it can be done easily, anonymously, with a variety of reasons and the consequences to the victim can be horrible. In this context, imposters can taint a celebrity’s image by posting up inappropriate tweets and status updates. For example, popular teen sensation Miley Cyrus had her Twitter account hacked in 2009, with the imposter posting up rude comments as her status updates (Constantin 2009).

Miley Cyrus' hacked Twitter account showing rude status updates. (Source : allieiswired.com)

The new Internet age has made impersonating easy, and Twitter’s credibility is degrading if the company does not take action to solve this uprising problem. It is a problem for both the victim and neighbouring others, as we tend to believe everything we see or hear on the net (Davis cited by Owens 2009). 

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Reference List


Beaumont, C 2010, 'Twitter users send 50 million tweets per day', The Telegraph, 23 February, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7297541/Twitter-users-send-50-million-tweets-per-day.html>

Constatin, L 2009, 'Miley Cyrus' Twitter Account Hacked', Softpedia, 18 February, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://news.softpedia.com/news/Miley-Cyrus-039-Twitter-Account-Hacked-104817.shtml>

Hoar, S 2001, 'Identify Theft: The Crime of the New Millennium', USA Bulletin, vol. 49, no. 2 viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/usamarch2001_3.htm>

Leyden, J 2009, 'Twitter fights celebrity imposters with Verified Account scheme', The Register, 8 June, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/08/trusted_twitter/>

Owens, S 2009, 'How Celebrity Imposters Hurt Twitter's Credibility', Media Shift, 20 February viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/how-celebrity-imposters-hurt-twitters-credibility051.html>

The Huffington Post 2010, 'Twitter User Statistics Revealed', 30 April viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/twitter-user-statistics-r_n_537992.html>

Blogging Etiquette

Blogging Etiquette, New Media Ecosystem, Regulations, Ethical Publishing

For many people, blogging is a form of expression. Bloggers blog about their personal life, they share information, interests to others on the Internet. It is a social network, and people are constantly sharing with other people through blogging (Babb 2007). We see many different kinds of blogs; food blogs, political blogs, news blogs, personal blogs, but do we know what blogging etiquette is?

Blogging etiquette is important in the Internet world where plagiarism and blasphemy is common. Babb (2007) stated in his article the ten commandments of blogging do’s and don’ts. In the second commandment, it states, “thou shall not invoke personal attacks”. Clearly, many people are seen arguing on various topics throughout the blogosphere. For example, blogger Aduka Taruna was recently arrested due to an insulting blog posting made against the late Sultan of Johor (Shadige 2010). Babb (2007) further adds that in his eighth commandment, it says, “thou shall not feed the Internet trolls” which means you should not escalate disagreements on the Internet. Using Aduka Taruna’s case as an example, his posting about the Sultan received  more than 1000 comments, all which were expressed disagreement and dissatisfaction against him (Shadige 2010), shows that people were easily affected by just 1 blog post, when they can choose to ignore it. Predictably, if Aduka had obeyed simple blogging etiquettes, then maybe he would not have landed himself into hot soup. 

Though so, everyone is entitled to freedom of speech. Malaysia is a democratic country, freedom of speech and expression is considered as one of the cornerstones of the country’s function (Bashir 2009). Under the Article 10(1)(a) of the constitution, free speech in Malaysia is guaranteed, though in reality, freedom of speech is not prioritized here (Bashir 2009). Indeed, Aduka Taruna had the rights to express his personal opinion following the act in the constitution, but he was penalized for doing so. So does Malaysia really have the freedom of speech? Let’s view a history of cases involving the Malaysian government and restriction of freedom of speech. In August 2009, Malaysia Today’s website was blocked from 21 Malaysian Internet service providers due to the government’s request (Bashir 2009). The Raja Petra controversy also has spread globally when the editor of website Malaysia Today was detained under the ISA accused of causing ethnic tension and ridiculing Islam online (BBC 2008).

Raja Petra - Controversial Blogger who was detained under the ISA for blasphemy (Source : pinkturtle2.wordpress.com)

Though we are entitled to blog to our heart’s content, we need to take a good look at the what message we’re sending to others. What we think might be OK for us, might not be OK for others. Blogging etiquette is definitely important in this day and age. In addition, Malaysia needs to review the rights to freedom of speech for its community.

Reference List

Babb, P 2007, 'Blog Etiquette: Top 10 Do's & Don'ts', PC Advisor June 2, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsId=9550&pn=2>

Bashir, N 2009, 'Free Speech in M'sia: Speakers Cornered', The Sun Online 31 July, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=36381>

BBC News 2009, 'Malaysia Blogger's Joy at Release' 7 November, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7714696.stm>

Shadige, J 2010, 'Blogger Held Over Insulting Posting', News Straits Times 26 January, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://yquake.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/12eiss/Article/index_html>

Sexism in Advertising

Advertising Code of Ethics, Meaning, Cultural/Situational Context & Representation

Advertising creates a big impact in the world of consumption, states (Davis 1994). He adds that positively, advertising has discouraged many bad habits in consumers, such as drunk driving and smoking and it has also provided acute information for consumers on certain products. Negatively, advertising has provided misleading and incorrect information on products to customers and consumers, which has led to consequences such as products posing danger to consumers health-wise (Davis 1994). This is why code of ethics is of importance in the advertising world. These ethics and laws provide for advertising with morals and good will (Ethics In Advertising 2008). 

Today, advertising has now crossed another line; sexism. Perera (2010) states that there is nothing new about advertising that plays on gender stereotypes. There are many sexist advertisements out in the open right now, but it is usually hidden behind a subtle appearance (Perera 2010). Recently, she criticized an advertising company based in the UK, called WKD for releasing various ads related to the recent World Cup, that had sexism written all over it. From TV advertisements that showed men as the dominant role in the household to billboards depicting that women are stupid and not knowledgeable in the sport of football, WKD has made their advertisements offensive and inappropriate (Perera 2010). 

Sexist TV Ad by WKD on Beer (Source : Youtube.com)

Clear illustration of sexism dating back in the 1950s. (Source: The Vine)

So why hasn’t the authorities done something about it? According to Perera (2010), the ASA, which stands for the Advertising Standards Agency, the only agency that regulates advertisements in the UK, the agency responds to complaints on sexist grounds not abiding their own codes of ethics. Perera (2010) argues that people who are offended by these sexist ads do not voice out enough.   

Sexism does not stand only for superiority of one gender above the other. We can see sexism through music videos, where females are usually portrayed as the sex object (Edwards n.d.). Other examples of racy pictures found on posters, magazines are in plain sight everyday. Blair et al (2006) explains that using sex appeal in advertising is an excellent way to target certain market segments. Inevitable, women are used as the primary focus in sex-selling advertisements (Blair et al 2006). Calvin Klein advertisements are seen with loads of sex appeal.

Blair et al (2006) concludes that the role of ethics used in sexual advertisements is that there is a fine line between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. In our modern society, sexism still exists. Whether it is through saucy advertisements selling beer, or seen on television where a husband orders his wife around the household, it is not avoidable. Likewise, if only people voice out on this issue, then only can we change the way it works. 

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Reference List

Advertising Code Of Ethics 2008, Spank'd, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://ethicaladvertising.blogspot.com/2008/03/advertising-code-of-ethics.html>

Blair, J, Stephenson, J, Hill, K & Green, J 2006, 'Ethics in Advertising: Sex Sells, but should it?' Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, vol. 9, no. 1 viewed 10 November 2010 <http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0198-415990/Ethics-in-advertising-sex-sells.html>

Edwards, C n.d., 'Sex Sells n the Media' Hub Pages viewed 10 November 2010 <http://hubpages.com/hub/Sex-Sells>

Davis, J 1994, 'Ethics in Advertising Decisionmaking: Implications for reducing the incidence of deceptive advertising', Journal of Consumer Affairs, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/advertising/480459-1.html>

Perera, K 2010, 'Time to Kick Sexism out of Advertising', The Guardian 29 June, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/29/kick-sexism-out-of-advertising>

Facebook & Privacy

Facebook Privacy, Personal Data Protection Regulation, Ethical Publishing

“Add me on Facebook!” That is what you hear from people you just meet nowadays. Facebook has become a part of our daily lives, being the largest social networking site with over 500 million users (Crunch Base 2010). With a simple click of a button, you’re able to make friends with people from a million miles away. You can share pictures, comments, videos, thoughts all with Facebook to people you know and don’t know. Facebook has become a tool for social interaction and network building amongst people (Debatin et al 2009). Though so, Facebook’s biggest loophole would be its privacy policy (Cohen 2008).

In a recent investigation by Wall Street Journal, Facebook was found to be violating its users’ privacy rights (ABC 2010). It was found that several third party applications such as Farmville were caught transmitting information of users to advertisers and Internet tracking firms (Steel & Fowler 2010).

This hurt Facebook’s policy as they promised users that, third-party applications may not share user information with outsiders (Newman 2010).  There were different kind of responses to this situation, some were outraged by the breach, but others said, “So what?” and that it was not a big deal (Hudson 2010).

Inevitably, not a lot of people know what the dangers of sharing personal information online are. While you happily click away and upload personal pictures of yourself having fun during a house party, friends, friends of friends, and even strangers are taking a look at you at an unflattering angle in your online pictures. Cohen (2008) states that sharing information online is not arguable because the users choose what to share online. The problem here would be the unintended sharing going on (Cohen 2008). For example, Facebook offers different levels of privacy settings to a user. The settings vary from setting your privacy level to let everyone on Facebook to view your information or only personal friends and family can look at things you share online (O’Neill 2009).

Various Facebook Privacy settings a user can opt to choose. Source : Facebook.com

Debatin et al (2009) claims that for the average user, the dangers of Facebook on privacy issues are not lucid, or rather not known at all. Using the iceberg model on how Facebook works, Debatin et al (2009) explains that people know Facebook as a fun social networking site, which makes up of 1/8 of what Facebook really does. The remaining 7/8 of how Facebook works is depicted by vast information of users aggregated, filtered and re-organized for use by PR, marketing and advertising companies (Debatin et al 2009).

The Iceberg Model of How Facebook Works. Source : Facebook and Online Privacy : Attitudes, Behaviors and Unintended Consequences

In conclusion, users need to know their rights to online privacy. Thinking they might be safe at home, users who share personal information online risk having their privacies invaded. Online stalking, cyber bullying, they all affect us in various ways and we need to educate ourselves with cautionary measures for our own safety.

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References

Cohen, A 2009, 'One Friend Facebook Hasn't Made Yet : Privacy Rights' New York Times 18 February, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/opinion/18mon4.html?_r=2>

Debatin, B, Lovejoy, J, Horn M.A, A, Hughes, B 2009, 'Facebook and Online Privacy: Attitudes, Behaviors and Unintended Consequences', Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 15, no. 1, pp 83-103 viewed 10 November 2010 <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01494.x/citedby>

Facebook 2010, Crunchbase viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook>

Facebook Admits Privacy Breach 2010, ABC News, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/19/3042594.htm>

Hudson, J 2010, 'How Harmful Is Facebook's Privacy Breach?' The Atlantic Wire 18 October, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/How-Harmful-Is-Facebooks-Privacy-Breach-5424>

Newman, J 2010, 'Facebook's Privacy Breach : What You Need To Know' PC World 19 October, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.pcworld.com/article/208135/facebooks_privacy_breach_what_you_need_to_know.html>

O'Neill, N 2009, 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know, All Facebook, Web Medias Brand Inc, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-privacy-2009-02>

Steel, E & Prowler, G 2010, 'Facebook In Privacy Breach', Wall Street Journal 18 October, viewed 10 November 2010 <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html>

New Forms of Media Publishing

             

With technology adequately improving by the minute, media has improved dramatically from mere forms of old media; newspapers, flyers, television, to new media; vlogging, blogging, social networking sites. These social networking sites, likewise Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter has broken barriers for users all over the world to further communicate and share information with each other. Before the internet came along, an individual would have probably known about news from another country through either television or print media, but he/she could not actually get involved personally with the particular issue. But with new media and internet, he/she can actually play an active role in exchanging views or opinions to others millions of miles away across the globe. This is what new media has given us; a push in social development or as Naughton (2006) explains; new media has sped up development and is shifting radically in the environment. 

So why has new media pushed itself into our society, replacing old media? Dash (2010) explains firstly with demand; a significant number of people retrieve news from the Internet. The efficiency of using Facebook or Twitter to spread and aggregate news wins by miles compared to of print media (Dash 2010). With a single click of a button, you can share links and information to millions of others around the world. The use of tags and simple key words in Twitter, a site that allows you to post a 140-character status update has made it easier for people to locate and distinguish what topic matters they are interested in looking for. Naughton (2006) describes the Internet as a ‘pull’ medium, where the user is in control and chooses what to be read and digested. In addition, there is a reciprocal relationship between users with Twitter and new media, since opinions are shared (Naughton 2006). In contrast, old media uses a ‘push’ medium where the sole creators of TV shows or radio channels chooses what topic matters to present and advocate to its viewers (Naughton 2006).

Source : Twitter.com With a simple click on a tag, you're able to read and discuss on the particular subject

Blogging has served its purpose in the news world as well. Many journalists have ventured into this digital world to publish works instead of using print media. Sites like www.malaysiakini.com present news to the public but with extra advantages where society is allowed to comment and discuss about the particular subject matter. Naughton (2006) states that there is a relationship between journalism and blogging that is rather symbiotic. Both parties are accommodating to each other to surface as news mediums in the current era. It's called the New Journalism movement, according to Raynsford (2003). This movement transformed the conventional news writing with integrating it with personal experience, views and loosened the detachment between the reader and the writer. 

Source : Malaysiakini.com

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References

Dash, R 2010, '5 reasons old media should buy facebook', AllFacebook.com viewed 30 September 2010 <http://www.allfacebook.com/5-reasons-old-media-should-buy-facebook-2010-03>  

 Naughton, J 2006, ‘Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem’, viewed 30 September 2010, <http://reuteursinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html>

Raynsford, J 2003, 'Blogging : the new journalism?', Online Journalism News, viewed 30 September 2010 <http://www.journalism.co.uk/5/articles/5604.php>

Blogging Communities

Bartle (2007) states that a community is defined by a group of people with a similar interest. Put blogging into that context, you get a blogging community, which means a group of people who share a common interest on subject matters through blogging. White (2006) explains with example of groups of people who start to blog in niches, exchanging comments and views on each other’s posts.

So how do we start a blogging community? Well the first step would be to read, read, read.  White (2006) adds that there are 3 types of communities in the blogging world: one blog centric community; where the community derives from many readers circulating around a single blog, topic centric community; where different blogs with the same subject matter that inter-communicate with each other, and a boundaried community; where blogs of the same genre are gathered together in a single website.

Mueller (2009) states that to start a blogging community, one has to get ‘personal’ with other bloggers. The easiest way to do so would be to comment or reply comments. To get in touch with readers and posters starts a networking community that constantly exchanges information and opinions with each other. Discussion amongst readers and bloggers builds a community (Mueller 2009). Networking and knowing your community would be essential, followed by retaining visitors with good content and using links and titles to pull visitors to your blog (LeMerle 2007).

Taking the single blog centric community as an example, the structure of the community arises from a single blog. The author of a blog starts a blog, attracting various readers. These readers then start commenting, playing an active role in building up the blog’s community. The blogger would be considered as the ‘king’ of the community, where as the commentors and readers – the peasants. A very good example of a blog that falls into this category would be www.xiaxue.blogspot.com. This Singaporean blogger has exposed her private life into written form online and her community (readers and commentors) rage over the thousands. She blogs about a particular topic and her community grow around it. She receives to over more than 300 comments each post she posts up.

Single Blog Centric Community Source : Nancy White 2006

Single Blog Centric Blogger Xiaxue, Source : www.xiaxue.blogspot.com

White (2006) instills that the blogger has the ultimate control over the community. If she/he were to shut down the blog, the community will likely shatter and disintegrate (White 2009). 

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References


Bartle, P n.d., 'What is community? A sociological perspective', Community Empowerment, viewed 26 September 2010 <http://www.scn.org/cmp/whatcom.htm>


LeMerle, R 2007, '10 Step Guide to Building Your Blog Community', Neodigitalist.com viewed 26 September 2010 <http://www.neodigitalist.com/2007/02/10-step-guide-to-building-your-blog-community/>

Mueller, E 2009, 'How to create community for your blog?', Blissfully Domestic, viewed 26 September 2010 <http://blissfullydomestic.com/2009/how-to-create-community-on-your-blog-for-wordpress-users>

White, N 2006, 'Blogs and community-launching a new paradigm for online community?', Going Communial Edition 11, viewed 26 September 2010, <kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>