The internet, once a project of the US military, is now probably the most powerful communication medium in the world. Any middle income family and some of the low income family would have internet connection. Moreover, the anybody with a computer and a connection to the internet, will have the ability to create a post online and publish it to the rest of the world.
And yet, that's not all. Not only do they have the ability to do that without going though traditional publishing methods. This means, no more tedious gatekeepers. They have the means to do it with much more better then traditional print media. Text and 2d pictures only documents went out the window and in its place, audios, videos and other more interactive stuff just got thrown in.
With the emergence of such powerful tools, all kinds of writers wanna be started springing up. And some of them are actually quite good. You tube, which represents one of the popular video hosting website online where viewers have the chance to upload, view and even share their videos online.
Moreover, as time progresses, more and more internet users decided to jump the blog bandwagon and blogs started appearing like mushrooms after a rain. Blogs such as video blogs, text blogs and picture blogs were found in abundance. As of 2006 Technorathi keeps track of over 35.3million blogs. Who knows how many there is today....
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Print media versus Online Media
Ever since the dawn of the internet, document designers have been struggling to adept to this new media.
After all, designing something which forces the reader to go page by page is rather different from designing something where the readers have the ability to just skip all those in front and jump straight to the middle or back. In other words, the audience has just gain something new, free will. An article at BBC states that websites averagely gets an attention span of 60seconds, considering the millions of website available today, this could range from 0.1 sec to 30 minutes or more. Thus it is the job of a document designer to catch and hold the attention of their readers
However, there are somethings that did not change as document designers realize as they move into the digital era. As for one, readers still not only read the text, buy they read the actions, noises, musics and other background information. Other design principles apply to such as, balance, propotion, sequence and consistency (Reep 1996).
Moreover, graphic images has help more then ever in today's internet age. Graphics provide a compilation of information which will catch the readers attention much better then mere words.
Furthermore, online media has one very important element which print medium lacks. That is the ability for the user to engage more interactively with all kinds of multimedia tools available to the designer.
For example would the print version and online version of the Malaysia's Star paper. Their format are totally different from what each other. For the online version click here.
Thus, there are both pro's and con's to online and print media. It is all up to the document designer to decide how to best utilize them.
Source
Reep, D 2006, Technical writing: principles, strategies and reading, Allyn and Bacon 3rd edition Ch. 4, pp.90-128.
Nielsen, J 1999, Differences Between Print Design and Web Design, viewed May 01 2008, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html
After all, designing something which forces the reader to go page by page is rather different from designing something where the readers have the ability to just skip all those in front and jump straight to the middle or back. In other words, the audience has just gain something new, free will. An article at BBC states that websites averagely gets an attention span of 60seconds, considering the millions of website available today, this could range from 0.1 sec to 30 minutes or more. Thus it is the job of a document designer to catch and hold the attention of their readers
However, there are somethings that did not change as document designers realize as they move into the digital era. As for one, readers still not only read the text, buy they read the actions, noises, musics and other background information. Other design principles apply to such as, balance, propotion, sequence and consistency (Reep 1996).
Moreover, graphic images has help more then ever in today's internet age. Graphics provide a compilation of information which will catch the readers attention much better then mere words.
Furthermore, online media has one very important element which print medium lacks. That is the ability for the user to engage more interactively with all kinds of multimedia tools available to the designer.
For example would the print version and online version of the Malaysia's Star paper. Their format are totally different from what each other. For the online version click here.
Thus, there are both pro's and con's to online and print media. It is all up to the document designer to decide how to best utilize them.
Source
Reep, D 2006, Technical writing: principles, strategies and reading, Allyn and Bacon 3rd edition Ch. 4, pp.90-128.
Nielsen, J 1999, Differences Between Print Design and Web Design, viewed May 01 2008, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html
Classification of blogs
There several other kind of blogs as personal blogs only represents one of the many kind on the net. The statistic found at technorati shows the the top tags of blogs include, news, politics, barack obama, Hilar Clinton, video, media, John McCain, Music and gadgets.
James M. Branum has manage to find a way to categorize blogs:
"
An alternate way to categorize blogs is by subject matter. Subject genres of blogs include (but are by no means limited to):
* Media digests that are sometimes accompanied by commentary (Roberts-Witt 2001)
* Academic or professional interest (Block 2001, and Online 2001)
* Traditional links-filters (Higgins 2000, Fleishman 2001, Werbach 2001, and Blood 2000)
* Me-zines are defined by Alex Kuczynski as "electronic magazines that feature the opinion of one man or one woman, writing alone" Me-zines range from the popular and controversial, Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com) to free-lance journalists who blog in their spare time. Me-zines most often are focused on politics. (Kuczynski 2001)
* Personal journals that vary widely in style and quality (Don't just…2001, Rainer 2001, and Roberts-Witt 2001)
"
One reason why personal blogs are so popular is because it has given normal citizens such as you and I had manage to find a platform where we could express our thoughts and emotion
John C. Dvorak the author of several books on computing and author of PC magazine said that blogs are mostly personal diaries and he has stated down a few reason why we blog which includes:
Ego gratification: Being center of attention makes them feel good.
Antidepersonalization: When people looks for ways to deferentiate themselves from society
Elimination of frustration: Giving the chance to complain to the world.
Societal need to share: Some people just like to share.
Wanna-be writers: Blogging is the easy way to publish something without going through the hassles of actual real publishing
For more John C Dvorak's work click here.
James M. Branum has manage to find a way to categorize blogs:
"
An alternate way to categorize blogs is by subject matter. Subject genres of blogs include (but are by no means limited to):
* Media digests that are sometimes accompanied by commentary (Roberts-Witt 2001)
* Academic or professional interest (Block 2001, and Online 2001)
* Traditional links-filters (Higgins 2000, Fleishman 2001, Werbach 2001, and Blood 2000)
* Me-zines are defined by Alex Kuczynski as "electronic magazines that feature the opinion of one man or one woman, writing alone" Me-zines range from the popular and controversial, Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com) to free-lance journalists who blog in their spare time. Me-zines most often are focused on politics. (Kuczynski 2001)
* Personal journals that vary widely in style and quality (Don't just…2001, Rainer 2001, and Roberts-Witt 2001)
"
One reason why personal blogs are so popular is because it has given normal citizens such as you and I had manage to find a platform where we could express our thoughts and emotion
John C. Dvorak the author of several books on computing and author of PC magazine said that blogs are mostly personal diaries and he has stated down a few reason why we blog which includes:
Ego gratification: Being center of attention makes them feel good.
Antidepersonalization: When people looks for ways to deferentiate themselves from society
Elimination of frustration: Giving the chance to complain to the world.
Societal need to share: Some people just like to share.
Wanna-be writers: Blogging is the easy way to publish something without going through the hassles of actual real publishing
For more John C Dvorak's work click here.
Blogging phenomena and the benefits towards society
It is the year 1999, Jesse James Garrett has just manage to compile a list of all weblogs which he manage to find online. And the list consisted of a whooping 23 links (blood 2000). However, as of 2006, technorathi has been keeping track of over 35.3 million blogs. (Source)
James M. Branum has categorize web blogs into 2 style, which is filter-style and free-style.
An example of Filter-style blogs would be early blogs. While there may be occasional comments, the main purpose of the blog would be to provide links which the author find worthwhile for his/her targeted audience. (Wang 1999)
While on the other hand, free-style blogs are normally focus on the author's personal life. (Ozawa 2001). Free style blogs normally includes blogs such as personal diaries and daily observation of life (Tawa 2001).
Personal blogs give oppurtunity for most of us to voice out our opinions or fustration to the world. Moreover, this can be achieve without going though numerous gatekeepers unlike print publishing.
Obviously free-style blogs rules the blogging world of today and that filter-style blog tends to only occupied a very very small portion.
Source
Blood R. 2006 "Weblogs: A History and Perspective", Rebecca's Pocket.
Ozawa, Ryan Kawailani 2001, journal vs. weblog. Diarist.net, August 4, 2001. retrieved December 11, 2001, from http://www.diarist.net/guide/blogjournal.shtml
Tawa, Renee (2001) Personal Web Logs put a face on a faraway disaster; Heartfelt commentary that mass media don't provide boosts the popularity of 'blogs.' Los Angeles Times: Southern California Living; October 14, 2001, Sunday Home Edition, Part 5, p. 1
Wang, Andy (1999) Online Digests Help Readers Cope With Information Avalanche. The New York Times On the Web, August 2, 1999. Retrieved December 11, 2001 from
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/02link.htm
James M. Branum has categorize web blogs into 2 style, which is filter-style and free-style.
An example of Filter-style blogs would be early blogs. While there may be occasional comments, the main purpose of the blog would be to provide links which the author find worthwhile for his/her targeted audience. (Wang 1999)
While on the other hand, free-style blogs are normally focus on the author's personal life. (Ozawa 2001). Free style blogs normally includes blogs such as personal diaries and daily observation of life (Tawa 2001).
Personal blogs give oppurtunity for most of us to voice out our opinions or fustration to the world. Moreover, this can be achieve without going though numerous gatekeepers unlike print publishing.
Obviously free-style blogs rules the blogging world of today and that filter-style blog tends to only occupied a very very small portion.
Source
Blood R. 2006 "Weblogs: A History and Perspective", Rebecca's Pocket.
Ozawa, Ryan Kawailani 2001, journal vs. weblog. Diarist.net, August 4, 2001. retrieved December 11, 2001, from http://www.diarist.net/guide/blogjournal.shtml
Tawa, Renee (2001) Personal Web Logs put a face on a faraway disaster; Heartfelt commentary that mass media don't provide boosts the popularity of 'blogs.' Los Angeles Times: Southern California Living; October 14, 2001, Sunday Home Edition, Part 5, p. 1
Wang, Andy (1999) Online Digests Help Readers Cope With Information Avalanche. The New York Times On the Web, August 2, 1999. Retrieved December 11, 2001 from
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/02link.htm
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