Reflection

This one whole semester of being engaged in IPD has helped me quite a lot in analyzing text and layouts in everyday life. There is not once that when I picked up a newspaper or magazine, I do not stop to realize and analise how the design is in appropriate, or that the heading is too much to the side.

Reading Walsh and Kress &Luuewen rally helped me in many ways with my assignments, as many of my posts and assignments regarding IPD are cited from them. Apart from that, there are other facts in the books especially interpretation, on how different individuals interpret text and pictures differently.

For this four months, it has been a great joy being exposed to so many technical theories and although occasionally it can be quite tedious, nonetheless it was very factual and interesting to be much more knowledgeable towards Multimodal Discourse and Semiotics.

(150 words)

Reference

1.Kress G. & Leeuwen T.V 2001, Multimodal Discourse, Arnold, United States of America.

2. Walsh M. 2006, The textual Shift: Examining the reading process with print,visual and

multimodal text,Vol.29,No1,2006,pp.24-37

Design layout that gained no acceptance

(Google Image 2009)

(Google Image 2009)

Facebook has changed its design layout several times, and there is no denial that many people are satisfied. However, there are users who find the new layout a nuisance, especially the "news feeds" where other user's activities are published, including the unimportant ones like the quizes or games that they played. However, Facebook vice president of marketing Chamath Palihapitiya insists that the new facebook layout is somewhat useful for users, and that in the long run users will come to understand. Contradicting to his statement, many groups have been set up in Facebook that calls for the change of this design layout, where millions of users voiced out their displeasure and opinions.

Judging by the above, design layout of a webpage is very important. According to Reep(2006), when preparing a document one must think of the design layout, whether or not it will be appealing to the readers or users. As applying what Reep(2006) mentioned, it is therefore important for people in charge of webpage marketing to take into consideration the outer appearances of a webpage.

As the pictures above, the top one is the old facebook layout, and the bottom one is the new facebook layout. There are certain usage which are still similar, however there are some which are considered a nuisance by users,especially as mentioned the news feed. Apart from that, some users find the new facebook layout very messy as it is quite "packed", unlike the old layout which is quite spaced out.

Therefore, as Kress & Leeuwen (2001) mentioned, it is very important that in between words or designs there must be a frame, a space so that it will look neater and be much more appealing to users.

Facebook should revise their layouts if there are so many feed backs complaining of it, or come up with more eye-friendly layouts, to enable a much more comfortable layout for its users.

(315 words)

Reference

1. Reep, DC 2006,'Chapter 4: Principles of Document Design,' in Techinical Writing, 6th edn, Pearson

Edu Inc, New York, p.173-190.

2.Kress G. & Leeuwen T.V 2001, Multimodal Discourse, Arnold, United States of America.

Picture speaks a thousand words

The controversial began when a prominent news weekly in Indonesia published a picture of the last supper by changing Jesus and the disciples to Suharto,his wife and children. With this, it has caused a stir and uproar among the Christians, claiming this is an insult by portraying Suharto as Jesus. Suharto is a legacy in Indonesia. However, he was accused of corruption but was never brought to justice. Therefore, Christians in Indonesia found it insulting to compare someone who has been accused of corruption to Jesus.

According to Walsh(2006), a picture is able to convey many meanings, especially pictures without text. Readers are able to interpret according to their own understanding, hence creating controversial and misunderstandings.

While this Indonesian daily Tempo made a sketch about Suharto and comparing him to Jesus, they did not give the misinterpretation much of a thought. Therefore, this has breached ethical publishing when it has insulted the religion of others.

According to Lester (2003), there are also ethical issues surrounding cartoon strips just like how Tempo published the illustrated Suharto vs Last Supper. This is because it has political meaning in the picture which was supposed to be of religious significance.

Besides that, Gillespie & Toynbee (2006) also writes that sometimes text and the picture complement each other with meaning, such as the captions for a picture elaborates more. The theme for Suharto's picture was "After his legacy", comparing him to the legacy of Jesus Christ,which sparked this whole controversial.

Therefore, we must always be cautious when it comes to ethical publishing and take into consideration the diverse faiths that we have in this world.

(300 words)

Reference

1. Gillespie M & Toynbee J 2006, Analysing Media Texts, McGraw Hill Education, USA.

2. Lester P.M 2003, Visual Communication: Images with Messages, Third Edition, USA.

3. Walsh M. 2006, The textual Shift: Examining the reading process with print,visual and

multimodal text,Vol.29,No1,2006,pp.24-37

4. Suharto's Picture, Google Image, last viewed 13th June 2009,

<http://www.asiaone.com/A1MEDIA/news/02Feb08/20080206.144503_suharto_cover.jpg>

5. The last Supper, Google Image, last viewed 13th June 2009,

<http://www.oceanru.com/magdalene/Last_Supper_Da_Vinci.jpg>

Classification of blogs, types of blogs and one blogging community

There are several types of classification of blogs, which consists of political blogs, fashion blogs, history blogs and law blogs. However, political blogs and fashion blogs are more appealing to Internet users. Political blogs are usually famous among the adults and those who are politically inclined, fashion blogs are generally attracting more of the lady Internet users, also the younger generation.

There are different types of blogging communities such as famous fashion blogs Tongue in Chic, political blogs such as jeffooi.com. Tongue in Chic is basically gathering fashion scenes from many people, from all over Malaysia and Southeast region, sharing their thoughts and styles on fashion to readers. They write about fashion reviews in the Southeast Asia community. Political blog jeffooi.com (Screenshots)blogs about the political affairs in our country, expressing his opinions on the current situation, the government and any other politically relevant issues.

Tongue in Chic covers all sorts of fashions, whether punk or just a casual sporty look. Their targeted audiences are young ladies, and even young men who are in trend with the hip fashion trend and are bold enough to want to be expressive through their fashion. This blogging community brings people from all over the region together, in one voice to share their thoughts about fashion, sharing views on how a dress could go with which pair of boots, giving each other support in fashion.

(230 words)

Reference

1. Tounge in Chic 2009, last viewed 15th June 2009,

<http://www.tonguechic.com/people>

Obama slams New Yorker Cover

Barack Obama's campaign expressed outraged over the picture published which portrayed Obama as a Muslim, while his wife Michelle with a Kalashvinok strapped behind her back. This picture is saying that Obama, who is a Christian, being a radical Muslim, which could cause fear and doubts among the Americans. Although the artist Barry Blitt has clearly defended that this concept is to show that is it ridiculous to speculate and cast fear upon the senator who is running for presidency.

According to Walsh (2006), pictures also convey different meanings for different people, which will result in different imaginations. With a picture of Obama and Michelle as Muslims, people will start to get the wrong picture, therefore creating fear among voters. This is unhealthy as it is a form of discrimination and defamation, also this has breached ethical publishing. With such insensitivity, unnecessary doubts will be formed towards the leadership and personality of Obama.

The publishing of this picture is insensitive towards the religion and the believers. This will give a wrong concept that Muslims are just about war, however this is not true. Apart from that, Lester (2003) also states that culture plays an important role in interpretation when it comes to pictures. For the Americans, they have witnessed the horrifying September 11th, therefore with this picture portraying Obama with a picture of Osama, Americans will have fear instilled in them again, and for those family members who have lost a loved one, it is a form of reopening old wounds. According to Kress & Leeuwen (2001), an article may be intended to entertain viewers,especially the design or pictures used, however to some the interpretation might not be entertaining as it has crossed ones ethical group,making it as an insult.

Therefore, ethical publishing should be monitored to cut down on the offence that would be caused among readers.

(307 words)

Reference

1. Lester, P.M 2003, Visual Communication: Images with Messages, Third Edition, Wadsworth, United States of America.

2. Kress G. & Leeuwen T.V 2001, Multimodal Discourse, Arnold, United States of America.

3. Walsh M. 2006, The Textual Shift: Examining the reading process with print,visual and multimodal texts, Vol.29,No1,pp.24-37.

4. Obama Picture, Google Images, Last viewed 15th June 2009,

<http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/86/36/new_york_magazine_obama_cover.0.0.0x0.365x499.jpeg>

New Forms of Media Publishing

Alternative newspapers are playing a major role in today’s politics, where readers do not just generally rely on the mainstream media to be updated on the current political affairs in Malaysia.

Malaysia-Today.net has been the most viewed alternative online newspaper, where Raja Petra is the editor. His comments and opinions are highly appreciated, although it has been famously been landing him in hot soup.

He was arrested under ISA for defaming Islam, posting seditious opinions on now Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak on his affair and murder involvement of Mongolian Model/Interpreter Altuntuya.However, the issue of freedom of speech is still vastly debated today, where ethical publishing or cultural context is still very highly and closely monitored to not trigger any social unrest in society.

Nowadays, to be charged under the Internal Security Act(ISA) is a very easy thing, as when one crosses the boundary of voicing out one's opinion, which is deemed offensive and brings insult to the government, the King and Islam, it is therefore considered seditious.

In Malaysia, freedom of speech is not commonly practiced, although the Malaysian government claims that all journalists,news presses and citizens are given the freedom to voice out their thoughts. However, Raja Petra, Politician Teressa Kok, and a Sin Chew female Chinese reporter was arrested. The reporter was arrested as she was doing her job by reporting the truth on one of the politicians during the by-elections. This has clearly shown that freedom of speech is yet to be fully practices in Malaysia, and the rights of the people should not be violated in such a way.

However, it is relevant that anyone should be aware of ethical issues while writing or reporting a news, to be sensitive towards other people's religion and believes. Moreover,ISA is a tool for monitoring, but has been badly misused by the authorities to shut people who are telling the truth.

(290 words)

Reference

1. Raja Petra Image, Google image, last viewed 15th June 2009,

<http://dansemacabre.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/marinapete.jpg>

Blogs as phenomenon and beneifts to community

A blog is a website with constant uploads of commendatory, photos,opinions or videos; and are displayed in reverse chronological order. Therefore, the Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs. Since all blogs are on the Internet, they may be viewed as interconnected and socially networked. Discussions "in the Blogosphere" have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.The size of the current blogsphere has reached approximately 133 million blogs as recorded by Technoraty (2008).

Blogs have played a major role in the Malaysian political context, where politicians take advantage of the widespread of the Internet to keep in touch with voters. Our former prime minster Tun Dr Mahathir owns a blog, where he posts his opinions on current political situations, and Internet readers can access easily to his web and follow his blog.

Opposition party politician, Lim Kit Siang owns a blog, where he also blogs about his opinions on current affairs, bringing readers into a different opinion which is based on the opposition party's perspective.

As blogs are much easier and faster to access to, Internet users have turned to political blogs for updates in the political world.

This has really benefited the political world, because in this modern day era voters are also Internet users, therefore political parties can woo voters through their blogs.

(269 words)

References

1. Technorati 2009, State of the Blogsphere, last viewed 15th June 2009,

<http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere>

Picture of Christ by Tamil Newspapers causes uproar

A Malaysian Tamil newspaper have published a photo of Jesus Christ holding a cigeratte and a can of beer in one hand, causing a stir and displeased among the Christian and the citizens. As a result, Makkal Osai was banned due to publishing such an unethical picture with the text "If a person repents his mistakes, heaven awaits him." Such act has caused a call for the ban of Makkal Osai, which was granted. However, The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism, however, expressed regret over the one-month suspension.

According to Walsh (2006), text and pictures carries different meanings for different readers. Although Makkal Osai meant well by posting the text that says otherwise compared to the picture, however, this has also gone against the ethical and cultural respect towards others.

Gillespie & Toynbee (2006), communication is making something common. However, Makkal Osai wanted to communicate with its readers by telling them as long as they repent, they will be forgiven by God. But by putting up an explicit picture if Jesus Christi with cigarette and beer sends out a different meaning to its readers, causing insult and upsetting the Christians.

Images have different meanings and different people with different interpretations (Lester 2003,Kress & Luuewen 2001). Makkal Osai made a huge mistake by not filtering and reading the picture, analayzing it in detail whether the ambiguous meaning of it will cause any offence.

Therefore, with the banned and later it was lifted, they have learnt their lessons that ethical issues can never be taken lightly.

(260 words)

Reference

1. Gillespie M & Toynbee J 2006,Analysing Media Texts, McGraw Hill Education, United States of America

2. Lester, P.M 2003, Visual Communication: Images with Messages, Third Edition, Wadsworth, United States of America.

3. Kress G. & Leeuwen T.V 2001, Multimodal Discourse, Arnold, United States of America.

4. Walsh M. 2006, The Textual Shift: Examining the reading process with print,visual and multimodal texts, Vol.29,No1,pp.24-37.

Document Design

What is a good document?

According to Reep(2006), one must think of the document layout when preparing one. As document design simply refers to the physical appearance of a document, therefore it is important to select an appropriate design. Reep (2006) also said that readers not only read the printed words but also visual text.

According to Reep(2006),Consistency refers to

presenting similar features in a similar style.Keep these elements consistent throughout a document. Therefore, we should not mistaken consistent format as boring format.

The above is a slide from my group's presentation, as you can see, but it is in bullet form. This enables the audience to have an easier time reading our slides. Besides that, for key words we use different font colours.

Reeps (2006) also mention that adding graphics can help readers relate with much more ease to the text that we are presenting. Therefore, for this slide above, my group and I inserted a picture that is relevant to what the text is saying. Well, what Reeps(2006) says is very true, for our audience could understand better and remember the points of our presentation.

My individual presentation slides were more text heavy, although I did include images which are relevant to the topic and text that I am presenting.

According to Dabner(2005), text must be chosen carefully to coincide with the image. Judging my group and individual presentation slides, the images that we have chosen doesn't have any text in it as most are taken from books which are related to the slides. However,images with and without text contains different meaning. The images we chose are relevant to our text,same goes to my individual presentation.


What is good writing?

According to Peter&Roslyn(1996),there is a distinction between word forms while speaking and putting it into written text. Rothman(2005) also says that good technical writing includes everything specific and detail.

Nielsen(1997) even wrote that users do not actually read on the web, but just scan through, with only 16 per cent of user read word-by-word. When this is applied to presentation slides, it is best to use bullet form for points and to highlight the key words.

By comparing these slides, there is still improvement for both. As for my group slides, in future we can highlight more keywords. My individual presentation slides are more towards text heavy, therefore in future I should only write it by point form.





References

Dabner, D 2005, Design and Layout: Understanding and Using Graphics, Page One Limited, Singapore.

Nielsen, J 1997, How Users Read On The Web, viewed 25th April 2009,
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

Putnis, P&Petelin,R 1996, 'Chapter 7: Writing to Communicate,' in Professional Communication: Principles and Applications, Prentice Hall, Sydner, p.223-263.

Reep, DC 2006,'Chapter 4: Principles of Document Design,' in Techinical Writing, 6th edn, Pearson Edu Inc, New York, p.173-190.

Rothman, S 2005, What Makes Good Scientific and Techinical Writing?, Associated Context, viewed 25th April 2009,
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error

Purpose

Much sweat and passions has been poured out in this blog,simple yet sophisticated in its ways to tell my readers whats going on in my mind, in this little corner where I can write.

The purpose of this blog is to discuss and compare the group presentation slides and also individual presentation slides, and my target audience is going to be youths, because it talks about the Semiotic Landscape: Language and Visual Communication. The importance and difference between Language and Visual Communication, on the forms of visual literacy.

The presentation was presented during one of our tutorials, as an assignment, which is in Semester 2 of Degree in Mass Communication.

Reference

1. Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006 Reading images : the grammar of visual design, Routledge, New York.