So far, writing the posts on this blog has taught me that writing everything that comes to mind does not apply in most cases. I have read multiple articles and journals to identify and interpret different systems. This blog is multimodal, as I have used visual and textual modes on my blog. As a blogger for this topic I have learnt that there are many issues that come with the new media. Publication ethics for one is ultimately important, as there is the dreaded copyright infringement. I have also learnt to pay attention in the details of the design of each of my blog posts, aligning them well and choosing the right visuals to go with the right text. Visuals play a big role in helping assist texts so adding them to spice up a certain part of the text is necessary.
Blogs nowadays are used for multiple purposes. Be they social commentary blogs, blogs that promote ones work, blogs that are set up like boutiques, news blogs or personal diary blogs, all of these blogs are personal and is used as a platform to express ones individuality. Some of these blogs are very important too. Like those of political blogs, they advocate democracy by giving criticisms to the government in order to see improvements in society. The fundamental principal of freedom of speech are made used by bloggers in this case (Deuntzer, 2009) These blogs help to frame political discourses and also set the agenda for public policy-making.
According to Technorati’s State of the Blogsphere Report (2008), blogging is now considered a party of the new media eco-system; it is now integral to the media’s eco-system. They are now termed mainstream as the top ten websites of all key categories include some blogs. Technorati says that bloggers are the ones to watch. This is because they often come up with new web applications and get their word out there. On top of that, companies also turn to blogs because they are deemed a cost effective method to promote their services and gain an increase in visibility by attracting more traffic to their websites. This is done without having to burn a hole in their pockets. (Nasir, 2010) In contrast to that, although blogging gives one the ability to be able to voice out thoughts and opinions, there are certain boundaries that come with that too. For instance, talking about taboo issues like race, religion, insulting politicians and the government, insulting the monarch are strictly forbidden.
Like that of a recent case of a mysterious blogger in West Bank that hurled insulting remarks at the Prophet Muhammad and claimed he was God. He was caught and risks spending the rest of his life behind bars. He faces heresy charges for “insulting the divine essence”. Many conservative muslims took his remarks to heart and even said that he should be “burned to death”. (Hadid, 2010) Moreover, blog posts that goes against the government intensely will also get you in trouble. For example, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a prominent political blogger was put in jail for two years due to his anti-government views that allegedly posed a threat to national security by creating racial tension. (Adiwira, 2008)
"Not everything you read on Twitter is factual or true", how often have we heard people utter those words. However, when we hear of a piece of news all too frequently, it immediately becomes credible. Twitter has that power to do so. For example, The Times (2010) reported that rumours about France’s President Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni having extra-marital relationships were spread and the news got on twitter. Although being a complete fabrication, the news quickly spread in a matter of minutes. With the efficiency of sharing information with the existence of the retweet button, people would not even bother to check their facts before posting. Moreover, there have also been cases of fake celebrity or company accounts on Twitter. These imposters post up complete lies. Albeit being funny, it gives a blow to Twitter's credibility. Like that of a fake BP account @BPGlobalPR, sending out tweets that mock the efforts of BP's public relations sector with tweets that go like "Think about it this way, the ocean is like rootbeer and oil is like ice cream. We just made America a giant rootbeer float!," and "Really worried about the effect this disaster will have on bikini season. The sun is still shining ladies, get out there!,". (Heussner, 2010) These tweets are offensive to BP’s public relations sector as they are giving their best to combat the situation. On the other hand, with its increasing popularity, twitter has in a way made a big impact on media journalism. They are now under pressure to produce fast news. Now, media journalists have to face a much bigger competition than bloggers, which is Twitter. (Dawson, 2009) However, this heightened pressure to be the first to post out a piece of information and the problem of accurate reporting is said to be unbalanced. This is because journalists do not care if the news is reliable or truthful. In order to capture viewer’s attention and gain a larger following. However, with that said, Twitter is still useful in one way or another. It helps to bring people closer, get questions answered, expand one’s social and professional network, promote items or work and learn of important news or facts. (Zelenka, 2007) It also acts as a platform for one to vent their emotions or thoughts at that moment, being a form of expressing ones individuality.
The Twitter Universe
References:
Heussner, KM 2010, Fake BP Twitter Account Mocks Oil Spill PR Efforts, viewed 14 November 2010, <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fake-bp-twitter-account-mocks-oil-spill-pr/story?id=10737669>
After 6 successful years since its start in February 2004, Facebook now boasts a total of more than 500 million users. Users may do anything from sharing information about their whereabouts to joining a common interest group to uploading full albums based on events they’ve been to or even just use the massive application of ‘poking’. However, with its wide context and vast information being publicized, there is bound to be some form of privacy breach. No matter how secure Facebook promises ones biodata to be, there still are reported cases of private information landing on the hands of other people. Like that of the recent privacy breach investigation by Wall Street Journal. It was reported that third party applications or games like Farmville, Texas Hold Em’ Poker, Café World and 6 other popular Facebook applications were transmitting user Ids to advertisers and other Internet tracking firms (Newman, 2010). No matter what privacy settings a user sets their Facebook page, their information still gets exposed. This is because when a person clicks a link, this will reveal their current URL. In the URL there is the user’s ID. Hence, web browsers will transmit ID with the user’s name, profile and public information to various companies. A company called Rapleaf Inc even linked Facebook ID details to their own database and proceeds to sell them to companies (Fiveash, 2010). Thus, the only way to protect yourself from having your privacy breached is to distance yourself from these applications entirely (Hudson, 2010). Besides that, hackers have also found a way to tap into a person’s photo album without having to be their friend or even if their settings are set to private. This is done so by copying the user’s ID and tweaking it into another URL thus gaining full access to the album as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
This has gone against the ethics of publishing in terms of misconduct. In the ethics of publishing, it states that no work should be undertaken without prior consent from the author himself or herself (Game & West, n.d.). Hence, Facebook users should adhere to the protection of their personal data. There are seven principles that include notice, purpose, consent, security, disclosure, access and accountability (ko-kr.consent.Facebook.com, n.d.). Consent and security being most important in this case as data should not be disclosed without consent and should be kept secure from all forms of abuse.
Newman, J 2010, Facebook’s Privacy Breach: What You Need to Know, viewed 12 November 2010, <http://www.pcworld.com/article/208135/facebooks_privacy_breach_what_you_need_to_know.html>
Game, A & West, MA n.d., Ethical Publishing Principles – A Guideline for Authors, Organisation Studies, Aston Business School.
Ko-kr.connect.Facebook.com n.d., Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of personal data, viewed 12 November 2010, <http://ko-kr.connect.facebook.com/pages/Directive-9546EC-on-the-protection-of-personal-data/135716929792815>
Since the evolution of the digital age brought about many changes to the world, it was only a matter of time before even books became electronic too. Nowadays, not only articles and journals can be found online, whole complete books are also available to every user that is connected to the web. These electronic forms of books are labeled E-books. Basically, an E-book is an electronic object that contains texts; integrating the traditional concept of a book but specially produced in an electronic environment. It is considered as one of the most compelling invention that has been introduced to the intellectual world since the emergence of the printing press. (Pelle, 2009) E-books have been gaining popularity since the past few years. With the rise of new technological gadgets like that of Amazon’s Kindle and the Apple Ipad, people would now have easier access to E-books.
Amazon Kindle Apple Ipad
Critics have said that the print culture would soon be dismissed as the digital age continues to reign. (Levy, 2007) The Amazon Kindle and Apple Ipad, both resemble books in terms of its size and structure. These handheld devices can store up to multiple ‘shelves’ of books. The search of a book becomes easier too as one does not need to go through shelves physically to look for a particular book. With just a single touch, the book of choice can be found instantly. Once you make a purchase, the device will instantly download it to your library. Thus allowing you to flip freely electronically through the E-book. Even researchers and students now give their support to E-books. It is now so convenient to browse through these books through their laptops. A Springer survey done in 2008 suggests that E-books are often located through search engines like Google or online library databases. (De Rossi, 2008) On the other hand, according to a survey done in the UK, more than 60% of students of institutions make use of E-books for academic purposes. (Pelle, 2009) Students may opt for E-books probably because of its efficiency. Aside from not requiring storage space, these E-books also allows for easy search of specific information with its search tool. The E-book certainly has caused an increase in convenience to the people of the digital age. As the years go by, print would not be as popular as it was before and soon books will just be stored for mere decoration.
References:
De Rossi, LC 2008, Ebooks Usage Trends And Statistics – The Springer Report 2008, viewed 10 November 2010, < http://www.masternewmedia.org/ebooks_usage_trends_and_statistics/>
Levy, S 2007, The Future of Reading, viewed 10 November 2010, <http://www.newsweek.com/2007/11/17/the-future-of-reading.html>
Pelle, A 2009, The Slow Rise of E-books, viewed 10 November 2010, <http://www.researchinformation.info/features/issue.php?issue_id=33>
