Where to put my eyes?

Today, we will be discussing about the three main concerns for the web versus print documents.

First, it’s the body structure. Web users usually skim through content, unlike print document readers who are usually controlled by the paper (Kelly, R 2003). According to Nielson, J (2006), a research on eyetracking has shown that most users to read on the web scan through the text with the shape of an ‘F’. Strong subheads would be much needed to engage the reader’s attention amidst the scanning.

Unlike web design, print document designs are different although they would also have a non-linear design. It engages the reader’s attention through an entry path, while being observed as a whole (Visual Communication 2009). Hence, print documents have to be balanced visually with white spaces to allow eye rest for better information consumption (Pearson Custom)

(Print) : Readers eyes would be fixated at the headlines. Entry paths would begin through the dramatic photos, leading them down.

 Web  Publication : Are you skimming through for your article of choice?

Second, it’s accessibility. Online publishing is very convenient for readers to skim through. Readers will be lead to various pages at any instant through embedded links. Hence, if a writer or web designer wants their content to be read – it would be advisable to place it at the right bottom, where eyes land last (Kerry, R 2003). As for print documents, readers are inclined to linear reading. Aligned and neat subheadings would be encouraged for comfortable eye accessibility.

 Print : Would you be interested in reading this text? Any idea where you want to skip to without the subhheadings for your easy navigation?

Third, it’s the typography. Sans serif fonts are used in web design as it appears neater and legible on monitor display (Benetos, K 2005). The idea here is that serif fonts shift the reader’s attention to the content, rather than the layout. That being said, designers also have to consider the content of the medium before deciding on the font (Learn Web Development) .

Web : Are you liking the fonts? Do they complement the content so much better?

Print : Significant approach of typography, neater for reading on hands with naked eyes

In conclusion, all kinds of publishing material will need to have their own formatting design due to the context and information it holds. 

REFERENCES

1. Benetos, K 2005, Design Considerations when writing : Print versus Screen, Accessed 25 August 2011, Available at http://tecfa.unige.ch/staf/staf-k/benetos/staf13/per5/lire.html
2. Kelly, R 2003, Web Writing vs Print Writing, Accessed 25 August 2011, Available at http://www.kerryr.net/webwriting/guide_web-vs-print.htm
3. Learn Web Development, Web Design Basics: Typography and Layout, Accessed 25 August 2011, Available at http://www.learnwebdevelopment.com/2011/08/web-design-basics-typography-and-layout/
4. Nielson, J 2006, F Shaped Pattern for Reading Web Content, Accessed 25 August 2011, Available at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html
5. Pearson Custom,Effective Print Document Design, Accessed 25 August 2011, Available at wps.pearsoncustom.com/wps/media/objects/3388/3469470/ch35.pdf
6. Visual Communication 2009, Entry points and reading paths on newspaper spreads: comparing a semiotic analysis with eye-tracking measurements, Accessed 25 August 2011, Available at http://vcj.sagepub.com/content/5/1/65.abstract

Are "New News" New?

News publishing has been around for the longest time. Now, instead of tangible newspapers – more people are gradually shifting to online publications. There has been an evolution of change for online publications too, as they used to be published on a website where readers would have to access manually. Lately, they have shifted to the evolution of gadget applications where users are able to access all type of news on the go.

Multimodality is introduced by Kress, V.L (1996) as an interaction of speech, visuals and sound. It is heavily considered in information conveyance as visual integration allows readers to digest information with a more accurate understanding. Words and images frequently come together to create the better approach to a publishing.

With information being published online, extra materials like videos and recordings can be embedded along with the information. Such features enable users to visualize and relate better, at a convenient state. Hence, these smartphone applications are dominating the general favor of the public.

Following would be affordances that express the varied possibilities of how multimodal modes are being executed and understood. Norman, D (1988) has explained ‘affordance’ as the understanding of a piece of information, stating that is it heavily culturally affected. For example, highlighted texts may be perceived as being an important portion of a text body to a scholar. However, a piece of highlighted text may just seem like another coloring activity by a 4 year old. With the existence of smartphone applications to access information online, the extra embedded links and messages that come along ensures an afforance to the receipent of information.

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REFERENCES

Kress, G.R. and van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading Images: the grammar of graphic design. London: Routledge

Norman, D. 1988. The Design of Everyday Things. NewYork: Doubleday.

Are You Part of Any?

A blogging community is a connection of both readers and writers of a web log. It builds up slowly with the exchange of comments, sharing of links and information (Bly,R 2006). The communication within these groups of people will soon engage a growing larger number of people with a common interest after some time (Vinson.J 2006)

Nancy White has introduced three type of blogging communities as illustrated above.

The ‘One Blog Centric Community’ (OBCC) can be briefly described as a community that has come together for the information from one blog source that is extremely influential. Without that blog, the community will disperse and become inexistent again (White, N 2006).

Following would be the ‘Topic Centric Community’ (TCC), that is agroup of people who is tied in with the same interest. The community members all have their own specific niches. Unlike OBCC, communities from this category does not fall apart as there will always be substitute sources for the topic of interest (White, N 2006).

Lastly, the ‘Boundaried Community’ is a network that hosts varied types of blogging categories. Browsers sign up for these sites and can browse within these blogs that are linked with the mentioned site. They also communicate through social networking portals, extending the community with constant communication. Blogs are much more easily accessible because it is shared only within that community, as compared to OBCC and TCC (White, N 2006).

Using White’s (2006) community segregation, the community for this WWF Travel site is of the Topic Centric Community. Animal and travelling lovers would land in sites like these upon online searches due to the similar interest. They would then be tied together from link and comment exchanges, building a stronger community with consistent communication.

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References:


Bly, R 2006, Blog, schmog!: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and can't) Do For Your Business, pg 110, Published by United States of America : Thomas Nelson. Inc


Vinson.J 2006, Blogging and Communities, Accessed 24 August 2011, Available at http://blog.jackvinson.com/archives/2006/06/26/blogging_and_communities.html


White, N 2006, Blogs and Community – launching a new paradigm for online community?, Accessed 24 August 2011, Available at http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community

Personal or Public?

The term blog has been around for about a decade now since 1997, firstly introduced by John Barger as “web log” (Wartham.J 2007). It was the perfect term to describe a collection of information that was posted online then. However, according to Blog Pulse (2011), there are now 168,884,118 number of blogs existing and it has been a hassle trying to identify these blogs from one another as their shared information are extremely varied.

According to the interview with Margaret Simons, freelance journalist with Anthony Funnel, presenter of ABC Radio National – Simons has come up with 9 blogging classifications; Digest Blog, Advocacy Blog, Popular Mechanics, Exhibition blog, Gatewatcher Blog, Diary, Advertisement and finally News (ABC Radio 2008). On the other hand, Wordpress has categorized blogs into 10 different sections, which are the personal, business, schools, non-profits, politics, military, private sports, how-to, tips and reviews.

Question : Is there really a better classification?

In my opinion, the better classification method among the ABC radio transcript and Wordpress would be Margaret Simons’ because it is very detailed and extensive. Internet lurkers can easily navigate through such classification of blogs easily, rather than having to browse through vague categories that Wordpress has suggested.

Well, with any method – I’m sure the information seeker would still have to do a little bit of advanced searching to land themselves with the wanted information - no matter the category.Topics are bound to fall in numerous categorizations at many occasions, so every method extended will still be a great help to many others.

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References : 

1. ABC Radio 2008, The Media Report : A Taxanomy of Blogs, [Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript]
2. Blog Pulse 2011, Blogpulse Stats, [Available at: http://blogpulse.com]
3. Wartham.J 2007, After 10 Years of Blogs, the Future's Brighter Than Ever, [Available at: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/news/2007/12/blog_anniversary]

Blogging : Phenomenon greater than any.

                              

Blogs have been growing as a main outlet for advertorials and word spread by institutions of all kinds. It will be difficult to track the exact size of the blogosphere but Technorati (2011) has stated that they are currently tracking 1.2 million blog (Chapman 2011).  Major bloghosts like Wordpress (2011) and Tumblr(2011) have both shown that they host 54.6 million  that 26.4 million blogs , respectively. That’s not it, as we are missing the statistics from major blog host, Blogger.com as they do not provide such statistics for public review. (Chapman 2011)

It is clearly observed that blogging is not just about sharing information, but also earning through advertisement. Blogging advertising sites like Nuffnang have steadily build a concrete network in Asia Pacific with a total of 260,000 bloggers interested in earning extra income through their blogs (Nuffnang 2011). This has proven that the main interest of the Asia Pacific bloggers are slowly shifting into generating extra income.

 Screenshot of Innit : Top 3 trends in Innit, a blog aggregator, shows that the top favorited topics for the past month are income earning topics. 

The Innit database provides an updated pool of information regarding the top blogging topics in various countries, as seen below:-

1. Malaysia – Science and Technology, Current Affairs
2. Singapore -  Food, Fashion
3. Phillippines – Technology, Gossip
4. Australia – Photography, Food

Political and social blogs are important for the Iranian and Malaysian context to update the citezens regarding live happenings in the country. Both coutries are being deeply affected by a growing amount of educated youngsters, as exhibited in the 2009 Iranian Protest (Paul.I 2009) as well as the 2011 Malaysian Bersih protest (Bersih 2011). Blogs are proven to be a lot more extensive, informational and timely as compared to other informational channels such as local newspapers.

This enables them to balance the moral in between both government and non-governmental sides of the current happenings.

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References : 

1. Bersih 2011, About > Information, [online], Available at:> http://bersih.org/?page_id=4109> [Accessed 17 August 2011]
2. Chapman.C,.2011, Too Many Blogs : How many blogs are there anyway?, [online], Available at: < http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/01/too-many-blogs/> [Accessed 17 August 2011].
3. Innit.com 2011, About, [online], Available at :<http://innit.nuffnang.com/global/popular/all/thismonth> , [Accessed 17 August 2011]
4. Tumblr.com 2011, About, [online], Available at:< http://www.tumblr.com/about> [Accessed 17 August 2011]
5. Nuffnang.com 2011, About, [online], Available at:<http://www.nuffnang.com.my/about-us/>[Accessed 17 August 2011]
6. Paul, I,.2009, Iran Protest : Tech Tools at work, Available at:<http://www.pcworld.com/article/166736/iran_protests_tech_tools_at_work.html>[Accessed 17 August 2011]
7. Wordpress 2011, Stats, [online], Available at:< http://en.wordpress.com/stats/> [Accessed 17 August 2011]

Extending Greetings

Good evening.

This blog is established to discuss  issues surrounding the blogosphere. Readers are expected to be from age 15-34, as they are studied to be the main active group of internet usage according to Marta  Klepka & Ildiko Bujaki (2011). As a blogger, I have noticed evolving trends and issues regarding the blogosphere and would like to share it with my readers.

Reference :

Bujaki.I & Klepka.M .,2011, Generation change – our elders – the heroes of the World Wide Web, [online], Available at: < http://measuretheweb.com/2011/03/17/generation-change-our-elders-%e2%80%93-the-heroes-of-the-world-wide-web> [Accessed 17 June 2011].