New Forms of Media Publishing

Communication environment have emerged or seen rapid growth during the latter part of the 20th century and into the new millennium. As Naughton (2006) said, there is something special about our present situation at the beginning of the new millennium. The combination of digital convergence, personal computing and global networking seems to have drove up the speed of development and dramatic changes in the communication environment.

It is hardly possible to not be aware of some of the major types of new media, which include social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Besides that, there's also blogs and video sharing sites such as YouTube. New media is invariably changing to connect to as many different platforms and people (Melanson, 2010).

In the article Can Twitter Replace Traditional Journalism, Dawn Osakue (2010) commented "For raw speed and real-time eyewitness accounts," she concluded, "it's now virtually impossible for the mainstream media to keep pace with the likes of Twitter". Twitter has gone beyond its role as a news-breaker, Osakue (2010) later added on. The role of social media are gradually becoming more important to news publishers both for gathering and for disseminating information (Osakue, 2010). Although it seemed hard to believe, from being informal and less reliable sources, social media has now become almost established sources (Osakue 2010).




Reference

Melanson, G. (2010). What Are the Different Types of New Media?. Available: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-new-media.htm. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Naughton, J. (2006). Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem. Available: http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Osakue, D. (2010). Can Twitter replace traditional journalism?. Available: http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/09/can_twitter_replace_traditional_journali.php. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Blogging Community

What is a blogging community?

According to Anthony (2009), the word blog has only been developed recently. However, it feels like it has been around for quite some time. He also commented that with the explosion of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, blogs have taken a whole new dimension and many have formed their own 'online communities'. Online communities as defined by Jeremiah Owyang (2007), are bodies of people joined together by a common interest using web tools.

How do you create a blogging community?

First of all, you will have to create your own blog. Once you have created your blog, get readers to read your blog! To be a successful blogger, having a blogging community is very important. Always bear in mind that you're not only showing yourself, your product or services, but your blog goes public, you are also creating a name as well as a reputation of yourself (Nikkis, 2010). It doesn't take a day to create a blogging community, it takes a long time. However, bloggers should not give up easily, consistency in updating your blog will score you more and more readers.

Types of blogging community:

The rapid growth of blogging has resulted various types of blogging community. According to Nancy White (2006), there are three main blog based community patterns with a wide variety of hybrid forms emerging between the three. The Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community, the Central Connecting Topic Community and the Boundaried Community.



Figure one: Blog based community

One Blog Centric Community: A blog manage by only one owner or organization. Readers can comment and get to know not only the blogger but the community of commentors. (White, 2006)

Topic Centric Community: A blog manage by groups such as food bloggers, mummy bloggers and travel bloggers with a particular party or issues identification (White, 2006). Topic centric community is more like a network instead of a community. People with common interests get together.

Boudaried Community: Collections of blogs and blog readers hosted on a single site or platform (White, 2006). Members have to register in order to join the community. Besides, they would also be offered the chance to create a blog. It is more or less like traditional forums but based on communities (White, 2006).

Jeff Ooi is Malaysia's most prominent news-blogger. He was once awarded by Malaysiankini as the most influential blog in Malaysia. He writes a blog known as Screenshots, voicing out opinions and criticisms that local newspaper wouldn't publish. Jeffooi.com is one of the well known blogging communities in Malaysia.

According to Onn Yeoh (2005), Jeff Ooi is not a traditionalist. However, his blogging style follows the classic blogging formula of Excerpts + Links + Commentary. This method was used by tech geeks in the 1990s to share information with others.

Reference

Anthony. (2009). What is a blogging community?. Available: http://www.thetraveltart.com/what-is-a-blogging-community/ . Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Nikkis. (2010). How to Build a Blogging Community. Available: http://www.ehow.com/how_2152382_build-blogging-community.html. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Owyang, J . (2007). Defining the term: “Online Community”. Available: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/12/28/defining-the-term-community/. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

White, N. (2006). Blogs and Community – launching a new paradigm for online community?. Available: http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Yeoh, O. (2005). Jeff Ooi - Screenshooter. Available: http://oonyeoh.squarespace.com/chrome/2005/12/3/jeff-ooi-screenshooter.html. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Classification of Blogs & Opinion About The Most Appropriate Classification Approach.

Blogs are created by bloggers for various reasons. Since there are so many different types of blogs on the net, classification of blogs becomes crucial.

Here are some examples of classification of blogs:

Subject Matter:

• Politics: Left Foot Forward, Evening Standard, Shot By Both Sides..
  
• Fashion: Style Rookie, Style Bubble, Whatkatiewore..
  
• History: Baroque Explorations, Echoes of a Forgotten Age, Historical Boys..
  
• Law: Above the law, Althouse, Bitter Lawyer..
  
• Sports: Deadspin, SportsbyBrooks..
  
• Food: The Wednesday Chef, Delicious Days..
  

Device:

• Moblog, also known as mobile blogging is an alternative method for bloggers to blog via their mobile phones. Bloggers can now dash off a quick blog entry wherever they are as long as there's mobile coverage! Blogging has become an ultimate convenience for users to share their thoughts with the world (Knudsen, 2003). An example of moblog is Twitter.
  

Media types:

• Vlog, short for 'video blog'. It is a blog that primarily uses video to express opinions and convey messages. Eg: Youtube
  
• Linklog is a collections of URLs (hyperlinks) that the blogger finds it interesting to collect. It sort of like bookmarking. Eg: Tony Finch's Linklog
  
• Sketchlog is a blog that consists of images, sketches and drawings. Eg: Jose Villegas Sketchlog
  
• Tumblelogs also known as microblogging. A tumblelog entry has very small content, for example, it could only be a short sentence, or an image or embedded video. Eg: Zennie-t
  

Status of publishers:

• Business blog: Division of Labour, Cafe Hayek..
  

• Corporate blog: The Otter Group, English Cut..
  

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According to the reading A Taxonomy of Blogs, Margaret Simons (2008) has given her own classifications of blogs consists of 9 genres: Pamphleteering blogs, digest blog, advocacy blog, Popular Mechanics blog, Exhibition blog, Gatewatcher Blog, The Diary, Advertisement blog and lastly, News blog. In my opinion, it has given classification of blogs a whole new perspective comparing to the classification of blogs by its main topic, for example, politics, fashion, history and so and so forth.



Reference

Anissimov, M. (2010). What is Vlogging?. Available: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-vlogging.htm. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Funnell, A. (2008). A taxonomy of blogs. Available: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm. Last accessed 29th September 2010.

Knudsen, J . (2003). Introduction to Mobile Blogging. Available: http://developers.sun.com/mobility/midp/articles/blogging/ . Last accessed 29th September 2010.

A. Blogs as current phenomenon & benefits to the community

The growth of blogosphere has increased frantically due to its trend and convenience. According to blogger Hopkins Lee (2009), the internet search engine – Technorati, did not provide hard numbers of the current blogosphere. However, according to blog analysis firm, Technorati, the size of blogosphere doubled every five months over the years (McGann, 2004). Conversely, referring to another internet search engine, the number of blogs recorded in the year 2008 is 133 million (Pingdom, 2010).

All blogs serve different purposes. There are plenty of blogs that deal with business, technology and politics. However, there are also blogs about fashion and music. All in all, the genres of blogs are very wide.

In a research conducted by Windows Live Spaces, here are some statistics that show the blogging phenomenon in Asia:

· Nearly 50% of those online in Asia have a blog

·   74% find blogs by friends and family to be most interesting

·   20% on Malaysians find blogs about politicians interesting

·   Only 8% find blogs about sports interesting

·   India expresses high interest in blogs about business

Political blogs bring benefits to the community.
Bloggers get to express how they feel and readers get to read about political issues in a different perspective.
It is rather an alternative media.

Reference

Lee, H . (2009). Technorati and the size of the blogosphere: it can’t be THAT hard to figure out, surely?!. Available: http://www.leehopkins.net/2009/12/26/technorati-and-the-size-of-the-blogosphere-it-cant-be-that-hard-to-figure-out-surely/. Last accessed 26th September 2010.

Pingdom. (2008). Internet 2008 in Numbers. Available: http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/01/22/internet-2008-in-numbers/. Last accessed 26th September 2010.

McGann, R. (2004). The Blogosphere By Numbers. Available: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/stats/1709780/the-blogosphere-by-numbers. Last accessed 26th September 2010.

Collete, M. (2006). Blogging Phenomenon Sweeps Asia. Available: http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-28-2006/0004480819&EDATE . Last accessed 26th September 2010.

Document Design

PowerPoint presentations have been very useful over the decade. It can be used everywhere, for instance, government agencies, universities or in schools (Marquez, 2010). The purpose of a PowerPoint presentation is to propose ideas and gain approvals from significant audiences.

Before presenting a PowerPoint presentation, presenter must first know very well about his material (Russell, 2010). While preparing the PowerPoint slides, there are a few tips in order to make a good PowerPoint presentation. Presenters should take note that the PowerPoint slides should be easy to read, along with clear title on each slide, and background should not be cluttered. Inserting graphics and charts can help presenter to explain better and get audiences’ attention (Marquez, 2010). According to Putnis (1996), good document design helps reader to read efficiently, emphasis on important content, and encourage reader to feel good about a communication. While presenting, presenter should stay focus in all time, speak clearly and allow audiences to ask questions (Marquez, 2010).

In my opinion, the most common mistakes presenters make in their presentations are the lacking of confidence, forgetting bits and pieces of important information, dull and boring looking slides. Presenters can always hold cue cards while presenting in order to avoid forgetting to present certain important information.

Despite the importance of a PowerPoint slide layout, good writing is also essential in presenting. According to Rothman (2005), good scientific and technical writing often involves relaying specific information directly and literally. Document should be written for a direct and specified purpose and should be remain unchanged. Message conveyed should not vary regardless who the audiences are.

Last but not least, many presenters often forget that they are the presentation that the audience came to see, not their PowerPoint presentation (Russell, 2010). Hence, a good presentation does not only need a good PowerPoint, most importantly, a good presenter.

References

Marquez, Z. (2010). How to Make a Good PowerPoint Presentation. Available: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Good-PowerPoint-Presentation&id=4313178. Last accessed 3rd September 2010.

Putnis, Peter & Petelin, Roslyn 1996, ‘Writing to communicate,’ in Professional communication.

Rothman, S. (2005). What Makes Good Scientific and Technical Writing?. Available: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error. Last accessed 3rd September 2010.

Russell, W. (2010). 10 Tips for Creating Successful Business Presentations. Available: http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointinbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tips.htm. Last accessed 3rd September 2010.

Russell, W. (2010). What is a PowerPoint Presentation?. Available: http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/pq/g/powerpoint-presentation.htm. Last accessed 3rd September 2010.