Reflections

This is my first time to open a blog account and use it regularly, and I must say, the experience was strange at first, because there was this sense of 'I'm feel like I'm talking to myself but the whole world can hear me' sorta thing. But still, this has been an invaluable experience as I research and explore a new means of communication in this digital, IT rich age.

I enjoyed designing the blog and in the process, look high and low (literally) on the blog page for functions that will do what I have in mind. For the first time, I learnt to insert and remove breaks using the 'Edit Html' function, add a hyperlink, and customise the positions of the boxes of information.

Writing the blog, I was also aware of the importance of visual attraction hence the pictures. I enjoyed surfing the net for suitable pictures and seeing how my blog grew over the weeks, from a blank white page to something that resembles a blog. Even my brother exclaimed in surprise 'You are blogging? That looks like a blog!' since I had expressed a non-interest in opening a blog account.

This blog turned out to be more of a personal journey of experiences I encountered in communication, design and blogs related rather than a discussion. All in all, I am pleased with this blog and I hope you will find this site informative, interesting and insightful.

Image source:
http://goflorida.about.com/library/graphics/sunset3.jpg

The ABCs of good web design

I was just viewing an Australian media site and I was thinking how organized and professional it looks, because the design of the layout draws my attention to the headings and allows me to choose which topic I want to read.

There are alot of information on the site but the good thing is that it doens't look clustered. Each subject is placed under a bright coloured heading in a box, allowing the reader to quickly glance to find the topic he/she is looking for.

The colour that occupies the largest surface area is green, and this is show on top of the page, where the background of the ABC logo is an emerald green and the toolbar below that also in a lighter shade of emerald green. At the bottom of the page, links in the ABC are displayed with a green background. My guess why the green colour is used so vastly is because it is a colour that symbolises freshness. Gaze into a cluster of green-leaved tree and that leaves you feeling refreshed.

The writing register is short, exciting and professional, which reflects the company. The font used is non serif, which gives an illusion that it takes up less space and therefore more words can be ingested, without leaving a look that is cluttered.

A great feature that this site has is putting a few stories in each box, and the audience is able to choose which story to read just by a click of the 'next button.' What is interesting about it is also each story is accompanied with a picture, and that helps to imply a message to the reader as well because 'a picture speaks a thousand words.' I think this is a very creative way to squeeze so much information on just the main page, without looking like a mess.

All in all, I think layout of the main page is neat and good for the readers to navigate their attention easily. I will certainly be frequenting this site in the coming days.

Reference and image source:

http://www.abc.net.au/

Privacy on the net?

I was getting acquainted with a colleague from another department over daily chess games at night and one night I asked him if he has an account with the very popular (at this side of the world, at least) networking site 'Facebook.' To my surprise, and also not to my surprise, he answered 'no.' When probed further, he revealed that his boss is also on facebook, so he wasn't interested in opening an account.

That got me thinking, what is the specific reason why my colleague do not want to associate himself with the boss in a casual setting outside of work. Aside from the fact that the boss is notorious in the department, I think the core of the reason is this: my colleague wants and needs his privacy.

Faced in a similar situation sometime back, I can relate to his choice. If my boss wanted to invite me to join his circle or friends, my personal details would be available for srutiny. My boss would be able to see my personal pictures of acting goofy with friends, or being online late at night when I have work the next day, or worse, my penned thoughts about work or about the boss! I would be put in a sticky situation of whether to add my boss or not.

If I choose to reject her invitation, I would be seen as rude and these feelings could transcend to the workplace, which I can gladly do without. If I choose to accept the invitation, I am opening up my personal life grudgingly. I could choose what kind of information I want online, but that wouldn't be fair because it wouldn't be my account anymore. I would be too conscious of what my boss thinks instead of using the account freely.

What is the solution for this? Honestly, I have none. I can only say it depends on the individual and his/her relationship with the boss. Having been in those shoes, I chose to accept my boss' invitation. Afterall, the same reasons why I would not want to do that could be applied in my boss' situation. I could be the one... looking at my boss' personal pictures and information. And that doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Reference source:
http://www.facebook.com/

Image source:
http://shabot6000.com/blog/uploaded_images/2007/facebook/facebook_logo.gif
http://www.zetetica.net/AngryBoss.jpg

Why it looks the way it looks....

When I started on this blog, I decided that the design of the layout is very important, as a clean, attractive and even simple looking blog is easy on the eyes for my readers.

My target audience are communication and media students/professionals who are in the range of the age group 18 to 40s.

I had used a golden colour theme in my recent works, and decided to use the same theme for this blog. This colour theme in my opinion, is like the sun... you get attracted to the warm rays of this beautiful colour. With a golden background set in place, I turned my attention to the headings and fonts and other elements, changing them to browns, reds and shades of gold.

Next is the content layout. I wanted a clear, precise and simple layout where it is easy for my readers to navigate to find certain information. I kept only the essential information on the page. The main part of it is the blog, and on the right are 2 sections where one shows a dated blog archive and the other shows links to topics I talked about.

Relevant pictures are inserted to make the layout more interesting, attractive and not so wordy, so as to make the reading more pleasant.

In summary, this blog had been carefully planned to attract readers' attention to the simple, clean and organized layout so as to get my point across more proficiently and convincingly.

Looking for something? Try BLOGS

In the olden days, parents would buy volumes of encyclopedia for their children because they are reputable in being trustworthy for containing general information that the children would find interesting and useful. A well known proverb 'Knowledge is power' is not spoken in vain, it is true. A child/ person who speaks with that 'extra knowledge' gained from reading those encyclopedias is seen as smart and perhaps this is what the parents hope for when they write a cheque to the encylopedia salesman.

Fast forward to this digital age, encyclopedias do not sell like before, because firstly, they take up space, and secondly, with the internet, you can find almost any information that you want, with just a few clicks of the mouse.

I wrote this blog with this topic in mind because awhile ago, a friend and I were planning a dinner date. We were at lost as to where to dine. We wanted to try something new, and also try out a new place. My friend had the idea of looking for the information from a famous local blog that is setup by a local Singaporean who loves to eat good food and to share with netizens more information of his treasure finds.

With the onset of the availability of the internet and the popularity of blogs, this new generation tend to look for information, whether realiable or not, from blogs and forums, among other websites. This is definately a paradigm shift from the days of good ol' encyclopedias.

Reference source:
http://ieatishootipost.sg/

Image source:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/files/www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/nodes/1116/encyclopedia.jpg

Blog to teach?

A friend sent me a link recently. She is taking a Bahasa Melayu, also known as the Malay language course as part of her communications degree in university.

I wondered what link it is and to my pleasant surprise, it is a blog set up by her lecturer in her attempt to teach this IT pumped, blog and facebook days Z generation the way to master the linguistics of the Malay language. What a creative teaching method, as I imagine her lecturer to think her students would spend more time in front of their computers rather than books, and thus having a class discussion and projects assignment in the form of a blog is a pretty good idea.

As I browsed through the blog, nevermind the lack of interesting flowery design to it, I was impressed with the content of the blog. Apparantly, each student is allocated an assignment where they had to blog a short story in Malay and a translation in English, as well as a reflection piece. The lecturer or 'cikgu' will then give her comments and mark the blogs.

Perhaps the idea of using a blog as a class interaction tool is not new, but this is the first time I discovered this method and I applaud the cikgu for using something a tool that is 'outside of the classroom' to teach her students.

Reference source:

Wordpress, viewed 24th March 2009, http://malayjournal1.wordpress.com/

Hear ye... hear ye...

As the title of this entry announces.... Hear ye... hear ye... Welcome to my blog, which in the coming weeks will be showing entries related to blogging, online publication and current media issues. This blog will also include credible links and sources of the mentioned subjects and it is my sincere hope that you, my dear media/communication fellows will find this interesting and useful for your own little leisure reading.

According to Mark Day, a news writer for The Australian, he likens blogs as newspapers where they can 'hold "conversations" with readers; to create a two-way dialogue where once it was one-way.' This is my first time trying out blogging and I look forward to discover all the tips of designing a pleasant layout as well as making room to engage my readers to think about the entries.

Reference source:

Day, M 2007, 'Blogged down in a swamp of other people's opinions', The Australian, 2009, viewed online 23 March 2009, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21342645-12280,00.html

Image source:

Wordpress, viewed online 23 March 2009,

http://gotnomilk.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/gsnocc-seminar-002-copy.gif