MichyOon♥

Thursday, September 23, 2010

D. The New forms of Media Publishing

Technology has been improving for the last ten years, and many people are turning to the web for news update rather than reading the newspaper. On the web, we get immediacy and updates of news instantly rather than waiting a day later for the newspaper. Nowadays, with the advancement of blogs and twitter, readers are no longer just readers; they can become ‘produser’. Produsers are involved in produsage - “the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement” (Snurb 2007). Produsers are able to change the contents of a text, which indicates they are very powerful.

Figure 1: The Produser

The introduction of social networking websites such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and online newspapers has changed the role of journalism and communication. Twitter has mould people into wanting real time information to compare the situation in Iran and the stories that may be of foul play. Twitter could be used to uncover the truth as it is live through citizen journalism. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey mentioned that “Twitter is about approach, transparency, and immediacy.”(Solis 2009). These change the way people view journalism, and they will always yearn for immediacy.

Figure 2 : Social Networking Websites

Twitter provides the freedom of speech to everyone, hence allowing people to voice out, but it also created controversies in certain countries. In Malaysia, Twitter is often an alternative medium to voice opinions on political issues and sensitive issues which resulted in the author being arrested. Similarly, in China, Twitter is blocked by the Chinese government on the 20th anniversary of the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square (Flumenbaum 2009). The Chinese government fear controversies and with the power of Twitter, ‘produsers’ may change the story from its original news.

(280 words)

References:

Flumenbaum, D 2009, China Blocks Twitter Ahead Of Tiananmen Anniversary, The Huffington Post, viewed on 23rd September 2010, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/02/china-blocks-twitter-ahea_n_210177.html

Snurb 2007, Produsage: A Working Definition, Produsage.org, viewed on 23rd September 2010, http://produsage.org/produsage

Solis, B 2009, Is Twitter The CNN Of The New Media Generation?, TechCrunch, viewed on 23rd September 2010, http://techcrunch.com/2009/06/17/is-twitter-the-cnn-of-the-new-media-generation/

♥Michy Oon

10:37 AM

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Blog + community = Blogging Community

What is a blogging community?

It is vital to create a name and reputation for the blogger him/herself as well as what they have to say. If a blog wants stay in the blogosphere for a long time, it is important to have a blogging community of your peers who enjoys the content of the blog and pay full respect to you (Nikkis n.d.). A blog community may seem similar to a web community but it differs because within a community of interacting bloggers, a particulate subject matter may become an intense debate for a period of time, and then the hot topic would died down (Kumar, Raghavan, Novak and Tomkins n.d.).

How do you create a blogging community? Nikkis (n.d.)

1. Read other people’s blogs and discover blogs that you have common interest. It will give you a good start when you have run out of points.
2. Leave comments on other blogs, as well as the blog URL so that other readers are able to find you
3. Always reply the comments posted on your blogs because people want to be heard. A simple “Thank You” is enough to show that you are engaging with your readers.
4. List your blog in ‘blog directories’ as there are many on the internet to choose from.
5. Always update your blog. It is advised to post more than once a day to create loyalty among readers.
6. A blog post must always be entertaining so that readers don’t get bored.
7. Find ways to market your blog, such as having a signature link to your blog on online forums, message board and emails.
There are three types of blogging community which are the Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community, the Central Connecting Topic Community and the Boundaried Community (White 2006).

(Figure 1: Source: Blogs and Community )

One of the examples of a blogging community is Stephen Downes, whereby it started creating a community when readers began to retun to early bloggers’ sites and commenting on the blog post. Readers got to know not only the blogger, but also the community of readers whom comments. The structure of the Stephen Downes blog is a Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community as there is one primary blogger and many commenters [Figure 1] (White 2006).

(Figure 2: Source: Blogs and Community )

The topic centric community (Figure 2) consists of “food bloggers, mummy bloggers, travel bloggers and political bloggers with a particular party or issue identification.” (White 2006). They are regard as second wave adopters as they are unlikely to attract a large number of readers. These type of bloggers form communities within the network as reader find more specific interest and niches (White 2006).
(Figure 3: Source: Blogs and Community )

The name said it all, boundaried communities (Figure 3) allow members to register and join the community as well as being offered to start a blog. It creates a connection that brings them closest to traditional based communities. An example of these blogs are teen oriented sites,MySpace.com, Yahoo 360 and many more (White 2006).

(480 words)

References:

Kumar, R, Raghavan, P, Novak, J & Tomkins, A n.d., On the bursty evolution of Blogspace, viewed on 22nd September 2010,
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.87.9298&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Nikkis n.d., How to Build a Blogging Community, E-How, viewed on 22nd September 2010
http://www.ehow.com/how_2152382_build-blogging-community.html

White, N 2006, Blogs and Community – launching a new paradigm for online community?, The Knowledge Tree, An e-journal of Learning Innovation, viewed 22nd September 2010,
http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community

♥Michy Oon

4:06 AM

B.Classification of Blogs
and opinion about the
most appropriate classification approach

Classification of Blogs:

Classification through Genre (Carter n.d.):

• Personal blog - popular and can be used to for income generation through 'pay-per-click' ads or links to certain websites

• Cultural blog - discussions pertain to performance arts (eg. music, theater) and cultures

• Topic blog - discussions based on function such as search engines

• Business blog – topics include marketing, finance and other business fields

• Science blog – main uses include data dissemination

• Collaborative blog –the result of cooperation between two or more authors

• Eclectic blog – topic revolves around niches or rare issues

• Educational blog– topics include lectures or chapters learnt by students

• Directory blog – publishes events and activites

• Forum blog –multiple bloggers discusses among themselves through the same site

Classification through Device:

• Moblog – Blogging through a mobile phone via MMS or SMS. It is relevant for people whom are on the move that wants to share their thoughts all the time (Knudsen 2003)

Classification through Media Types:

• Linkblog/ linklog – it is also known as social book markings as people share links with each other
• Videoblog / vlog [Figure 1] – video recording blogs. Eg Youtube.
• Liveblog – blogging about some live events e.g sports, tv shows, press conference
• Sketchlog – a blog that is filled with images such as drawings and sketches.
• Tumblelog -blog that focuses on main points and description is often left out

An example of a video blog/ vlog
Figure 1 [Echo Chamber Project]

Classification through Status of publishers:

• Business blogs
• Corporate blogs

Some of the different styles of blogs include (Simons 2008):

• Pamphleteering Blogs
• The Digest Blog
• The Exhibition Blog
• The Diary
• The News Blog

An example of a blog that I know is Rewind Button Girl. The author of this blog applies the Diary Style into the blog. This personal blog can be compared to one of Simon's theories on the blog styles, which is the "The Diary" style.
The Diary style [Figure 2] usually applies to friends and families of the author and they contain news, information, and photos that are related to the author (Simons 2008).
It is partly similar to a diary, despite the blog URL is available to all. The Rewind Button Girl author often writes about her personal life and also shares her interest such as rugby, hanging out, and more on her blog. This indicates that authors of the Diary blog most likely wants to update all their friends on their current situation.

An example of the diary blog

Figure 2 [Source: Rewind Button Girl]

(385 words)

Reference:

Carter, D n.d., Blogging What You Don't Know, Article Biz, viewed on 22nd September 2010, http://www.articlebiz.com/article/193242-1-blogging-what-you-dont-know/

Knudsen, J 2003, Introduction to Mobile Blogging, Oracle, viewed on 22nd September 2010,
http://developers.sun.com/mobility/midp/articles/blogging/

Simons, M 2008, Towards a taxonomy of blogs, Australian Policy Online, viewed on 22nd September 2010, http://www.apo.org.au/commentary/towards-taxonomy-blogs-0

TDavid 2008, The 8 different types of blogging in 2008, MakeYouGoHmm .com, viewed on 22nd September 2010, http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20080124/5040/

♥Michy Oon

4:04 AM

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A.Blogging: The current phenomenon

The size of the current blogosphere has been increasing in the last few years, and at the current moment, Blogplus (2010) has identified about 146,784,856 blogs and there are about 55,868 new blogs created in the last 24 hours. In this technological world that is rapidly expanding, overall bloggers created nearly a million blog posts each day, and they believe that in the future, blogs would become a primary source of news and entertainment (Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report as cited by Marketing Charts).

There are many types of blogs such as personal, collaborative, corporate, and topical and spam (Blogging the Phenomenon n.d.). Brown (2006) mentioned that ‘Technology’ (21%) is the leading topic, followed by ‘General’ (20%) blogs. He also mentioned that ‘political’ (19%) blogs are popular among Americans. Microsoft (n.d.) indicates that Asian bloggers “are primarily driven by the need to express themselves and share their lives with family and friends”. Hence it supports Press Microsoft Malaysia (2006) statement whereby “50% of Malaysian respondents like writing about their thoughts and commenting on the world around them”.

(source from: Modern Life)

The blogging community is also a “public sphere” whereby public opinion can be formed in all the realm of our social life. In an unrestricted frashion where there is freedom, bloggers act as a public individual when they write a blog posts, considering the ‘guarantee of freedom of assembly and association and the freedom to express and publish their opinions’. (Habermas as cited by Gordon 2004).

Thus, Malaysian blogs usually focus on the political aspects and often create controversies because they often misuse their freedom of speech. Bloggers such as Jeff Ooi and Raja Petra Kamarudin would voice their opinions through blogs and they would influence the Malaysian communities to see towards their point of view. This is because the newspapers that are reporting are more biased towards the government and sensitive issues cannot be raised to avoid conflicts. Hence, Malaysians are able to benefit by having a different point of view.

(330 words)

References:

Blogging the Phenomenon n.d., Types of Blogs, Text based, Blogging the Phenomenon, viewed 21st September 2010, http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01130/typesofblogs_othermedia.html

Blogplus 2010, Blogplus Stats, Blogplus, viewed 20th September 2010, http://blogpulse.com/

Brown, S 2006, Leading Average: Top Blog Trends, Common traits of the top few blogs, modern life, viewed 21st September 2010, http://modernl.com/article/leading-average-top-blog-trends

Gordon, J 2004, Does the Internet provide the basis for a public sphere that approximates to Habermas' vision?, Jake Gordon, viewed on 26^th September 2010,

http://www.jakeg.co.uk/essays/habermas.htm

Marketing Charts n.d., Blogging Hits Mainstream, Integral to Media Ecosystem, Marketing Charts, viewed on 20th September 2010, http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/blogging-hits-mainstream-integral-to-media-ecosystem-6256/technorati-state-of-blogosphere-size-2008jpg/

Microsoft n.d., Blogging Phenomenon Sweeps Asia, PrNewswire, viewed on 21st September 2010,
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blogging-phenomenon-sweeps-asia-56531722.html

Press Microsoft Malaysia 2006, Women rule in Malaysian blogosphere, 21st September 2010, http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/press/archive2006/linkpage4337.mspx

♥Michy Oon

7:43 AM