Relections on COMM1043

I have experienced in blogging previously but with little knowledge in issues and theories of publication and design. As a newbie in creating this serious blog, I have learned that visual is an important element in publishing, as "pictures could tell a thousand words" (Walsh 2006) where it assists in meaning creation. Besides, i have learned a lot of knowledge regrading principles and theories in publishing where eventually change my perceptions in this area.


Throughout the creation of this serious blog, i have learned that a blogger must know its purpose, context and audience in order to create a meaningful document. Furthermore, it is important to design the web pages which could be read comfortably on screen including the use of color , the length of information, visuals and also the use of different layouts (Parker 2003). Apart from that, i also learned that writing ethically is crucial for a blogger in order to avoid defamation and copyright infringements. According to Beeson (2005), a responsible blogger has certain ethical obligation to their readers in terms of content they write and also the society in general.



Reference List

Parker, RC 2003, Chapter 14: In looking good in print, 5th edition, Scootsdale, Arizona.

Beeson, P 2005, The Ethical Dilemma of Blogging In The Media, Quill,Vol.93, No. 3, pp. 18-19.

Walsh, M 2006, "The 'texttual shift': Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal text", Journal of language and literacy, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 24-37.

New media: iPad VS Kindle e-book

From the review of Glaser and Son, both of them seems to satisfy with the features on this new media- iPad when they are comparing with kindle e-books. There are few things that are appreciated by them such as the easy navigation system which is similar to iPhone, games function in iPad , quick download application, color screen as compare to kindle e-books, longer battery life and also the fast start up speed which could be compete with laptop (Glaser 2010).

iPad is larger than a smartphone but smaller than a typical laptop. People see this new media as the substitute of laptop, as iPad has all the functions that can be done by a laptop. As compare to kindle e-books, iPad may preferred by most people especially children due to the colors and pictures provided in iPad. However, Kindle e-books only provide black and white screen with only words, children may eventually lost their interest in reading. Nowadays, pictures with texts are more preferable and expectable for readings where people no longer want documents which are full of texts only (Walsh 2006).

Kindle e-books has some features that are appreciated by people too. One of it will be its storage capability where it could store almost 200 books with the quick downloads of electronic contents(Pattuelli & Rabina 2009).However , iPad is much more than an e-book or digital periodical reader as it can do the tasks brilliantly where some people actually thinks that it is better than the Amazon Kindle ( Mossberg 2010). One of the factors that makes iPad superior than Kindle e-books is the games function provided in iPad. People can play games and read books at the same time using the iPad. However, kindle e-book only can use to read books without any gaming function. This may be more appeal to youngster where nowadays people want things to be integrated, namely "Many in One".

Futhermore, iPad has a bigger screen compare to kindle e-books. With bigger screen, people can view the whole story from the website where previously in iPhone, people need to scroll down to the bottom to see the remaining story. Besides, one of the advantages of this big screen is that people do not need to leave the context of main view in order to access to the extra information or tools as it will appears in semi-transparent form above the main view (Adams n.d.). However, this cannot be provide by Kindle e-books as it does not has a large enough screen where eventually broke up the images from the text where it destroys the layout of the page.

Glaser, M 2010, “ Glaser & Son review the iPad”, TheMediaShift, viewed 3 June 2010, < http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/04/glaser-son-review-the-ipad098.html>

Mossberg, WS 2010, “ Apple iPad review: Laptop killer? Pretty close” , The wall street journal: Digital network, viewed 3 June 2010, < http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100331/apple-ipad-review/>

Adams, D n.d., Chapter 1: What makes a killer iPad App, media.wiley.com.

Pattuelli, MC & Rabina, D 2009, “ Forms, effects, function: LIS students’ attitudes toward portable e-book readers, Research paper, Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 228-244.

Walsh, M 2006, “The ‘textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal text”, Journal of language and literacy, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 24-37.

Emoticons can be wrongly used

Emoticons have survived even in today’s world where people can use photo or video to show the smiling faces of them. Nowadays, these smiley faces have transformed themselves into animation rather than just flat images. Researchers found that people actually in love with these little characters where they can be seen in many emails (Davies 2007). However, not all emoticons are suitable to be written in email, sometimes emoticons can be misused in some circumstances. In certain context, emoticons may not be suitable especially those professional or business kind of emails. Emoticons are very informal where some people think that using emoticons (eg: smiley face) in business email will destroy the professionalism of the sender or the company. According to Munter, Rogers and Rymer (2003), emoticons may eventually harm the credibility of the sender where they suggest it is better to make the “tone clear with carefully crafted words” . Thus, it is crucial to know the right timing in using the suitable emoticons based on the different contexts in emails.

The use of emoticons have been perceived to be traditionally. Sometimes, people tend to use it unintentionally where it could be more believable than verbal (Khorn 2004). Nowadays, emoticons have been mostly used by youngster in instant messaging, emailing or social networking. However, people tend to use those emoticons just for beatifications but not meanings deliver. According to Kress and Van Leuween (2006), image is no longer just an illustration or decoration, visual could contribute to meaning making where it could stands as an independent vessel. Since images as here emoticons carry certain meanings, people should use them for meaning building but not only for beautification. Emoticons did help in expressing the emotions and on the other hand served as a quick way to explain feelings. However, it is only suitable in the context of friends emailing where the communication is more informal (Khorn 2004)

Nowadays, many email users violate the conventional rules of spelling, jargon, grammar, punctuation especially when formality is needed. According to Krohan (2004), emoticons only can be used when business communication’s tone is casual and when the emoticons are understandable by the receivers. Thus, it should be noted that when using emoticons for email, one should evaluates the kind of communication one wants to create amongst the sender and the receiver and the kind of context to be use in order to apply the suitable emoticons for different situations.

Below are some of the examples of simple emoticons:

:->	devilish
= • :/	hmmm
= • :-o	surprised
$-)	just hit it big
#-)	stayed up too late
:-I	bored
;-(	crying
:-&	tongue tied
:-V	talking
%-(	confused
%-)	dazed or silly
}-)	wry smile

Reference list

Davies, A 2007, Emoticons and email ettiquette, TheMediaReport, viewed 3 June 2010, < http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm>

Kress, G & Van Leuween, T 2006, Reading images, Chapter 1: The semiotic landscape: language and visual communication.

Krohn, FB 2004, “ A generational approach to using emoticons as nonverbal communication”, Journal of technical writing and communication, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 321-328.

Munter, M, Rogers PS, Rymer J 2003, “ Business e-mail: Guidelines for users”, Business communication quarterly, Vol.66, No. 1, pp. 26-40.