I also realized that that the theories of publication and design proved useful in determining the visual aspects of my blog. I was pleasantly surprised at how much it actually aided me in writing and analyzing issues related to publication and design. Theories such as Kress and van Leeuwen's 'the meaning of composition' 'given and new' and Walsh's multimodality theory helped me to understand these issues better.

(Source: ABC News 2009)

As technology evolves faster, can the laws keep up with it?

Existing laws do not provide for new and unaddresed areas such as technology. For example, how should this libel case be handled in terms of social media? How can society balance responsibility with free speech? How then do we define privacy when information is so easily relayed from private thoughts to public knowledge?

(Source: Rsc.org 2009)

In the end, the fact remains that the law may not be able to get ahead of technology. But they may keep up if they can overcome the obstacles.

Reference:

Marikar, S 2009, 'Courtney Love's 'Malicious' Twitter Rants Revealed' ABC News, viewed 19 November 2009, <http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7219953>.

Menta, R 2009, 'RIAA Sues Music Startup Napster for $20 Billion', MP3 Newswire, viewed 19 November 2009, <http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/napster.html>.

The Malaysian mainstream media has often been viewed as deeply regimental and tightly controlled. This has been a main reason for the rapid rise of alternative media; specifically independent news portals. As the government has pledged not to cencor the Internet, many Malaysians are taking this oppurtunity to expose issues that normally would not be reported by the mainstream media. one such issue was the recent 'cow head' protest.

In this protest, Muslim demonstrators severed the head of a cow, a sacred animal to Hindus, and placed it outside the state secretariat building in protest against the decision by the Shah Alam City Council to relocate a temple (Mahmood & Ramlee 2009). The mainstream media reported minimally on the actual progress of the issue and made it seem as though it were a peaceful protest; when it was anything but peaceful.

MalaysiaKini, who posted the video on their website was asked to remove it by the MCMC (MCMC tells Malaysiakini: Take down videos 2009). They claimed that the videos contain offensive contents which could annoy any person, especially Indians. In the end MalaysiaKini took down the video from their website but did not remove it from YouTube where it is still accessible to people.

Article 10 of the Federal Constitution states that we have the right to freedom of speech, assembly and association. By reacting this way, the goverment has violated the peoples' freedom of speech. They have also gone against their promise to not censor the Internet.

Reference:
Mahmood, M & Ramlee, J 2009, ‘All sides slam cow head incident’, New Straits Times, viewed 30 August 2009, <>.

Article 10 2008, Federal Constitution (as at 5 Mac 2008), Legal Research Board, International Law Book Services, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

On the 10th of February 2008, Tempo Magazine, Indonesia’s leading weekly magazine, published its issue depicting former President Suharto and his family mimicking Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper. The cover was initially created as a tribute to the President who had recently passed on.

In the Tempo's version of the Last Supper, President Suharto replaces Jesus Christ as the central figure In the Tempo version, President Suharto replaces Jesus Christ as the central figure and the apostles are represented by his family. The image drew criticisms and anger from Christians and religious groups in the country as they took offence.

(Source: Indonesia Matters 2008)

Shortly after, Tempo magazine ran an apology saying that “we did not intend to hurt Christians”. Toriq Hadad, editor of Tempo, was quoted as saying that they were only inspired by the composition of the painting. They had no intention of highlighting any religious or cultural elements when adapting the painting (ABC News 2008).

There are 3 key elements which were found when analyzing this issue: informational value, salience and framing (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006). The concept of given and new can also be applied to the picture. Issues of publishing ethics are also key points to this issue.

Informational value is based on where an element in a text is placed: center, left, right, top, bottom or margin (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006). In the Tempo version, Suharto was placed in the centre, taking the place of Jesus. This creates a high informational value as this gives the impression that he is the most important element in the picture.

Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) describe salience as the most tangible element in the text. Here we can clearly see that Suharto is the most eye-catching element in the picture as he is dressed in white whereas the other characters are in much darker tones. This adds to the salience of his image.

The framing element is used to distinguish or separate one element from another (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006). In the picture, Suharto appears to be framed by the window behind him. Also, the other characters in the picture are placed surrounding him; giving an impression of his importance.

Publishing ethics also play a part in determining the reactions to this picture. Once the editor was made aware of the controversy surrouding the picture, he immediately expressed his apologies (Weber 2005). This suggests that he has a high standard of ethics and this could lend a hand in the credibilty of his apology.

Reference:

'Indonesian weekly apologises over Last Supper Suharto cover' 2008, ABC News, viewed on 12 November 2009, <www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/06/2156269.htm >.

Kress,G & van Leeuwen,T 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Communication, 2nd Edition, Routeledge, New York

Weber,J 1995, ‘Ethics in scientific and technical communication’ Wisenet Journal, vol.38 pp. 2-4.

(Source: SusanMernit.com 2005)

The inhospitable condition of the aftermath of the tsunami prevented mainstream media journalists from entering the disaster struck area. The breadth of citizen coverage made the publics’ material invaluable in documenting the disaster over a large geographical area (Outing 2005).

(Source: TsunamiUpdates 2005)

Here we can see how new forms of media publishing is changing our perspectives of news coverage.



Outing, S 2005, Taking Tsunami Coverage into Their Own Hands, Poynter Online, viewed 11 June 2008, <http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=76520>.


Schaffer, J 2005, ‘Citizens Media: Has It Reached a Tipping Point’, Nieman Reports, vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 24 – 26.

(Source: Magmaweb.com 2009)

Online Version:

(Source: Economist.com 2009)

As we can see, single columns are not advisable for online sites. Instead framing devices should be used. Framing devices will connect certain elements together and separate others, allowing a clear understanding for the reader (Kress & van Leeuwen 1998).

Print texts are considered to be more personal as compared to those online. This is due to the fact that readers are able to include their own cultural understanding into print, whereas when online, the multimodal features available provide obvious meanings (Walsh, 2006).

Web users “do not read on web” instead they scan through the sites in search of a particular word of interest (Morkes & Nielsen 1997). It is essential to “prune the content to suit reader’s interest” (Schriver, 1997) when it comes to online texts, whereas print texts are usually long and narrative.

To avoid issues of credibility of online publications, hyperlinks should be added on the sites (Morkes & Nielsen 1997).

Reference:

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 1998, ‘Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout’, in Approaches to Media Discourse, eds Bell, A & Garrett, P, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 186-219.

Morkes, J & Nielsen, J 1997, 'Concise, Scannable and Objective: How To Write For The Web', Useit.com, viewed 18 November 2009, <http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html>.

Schriver K 1997, 'Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers', Wiley Computer Pub., New York.

Walsh, M 2006, ‘Textual Shift: Examining the Reading Process with Print, Visual and Multimodal texts’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no 1, pp. 24-37.

(Source: MyBlogLog.com 2009)

Here are some steps to get your started:

1. Register at MyBlogLog.com, add a photo and set up your profile.
2. As you visit MyBlogLog-enabled sites, your photo shows up on the widget - a virtual calling card. Clicking on your photo leads to your profile and all the stuff you share.
3. Add community to your blog. Check your stats, see what people read and where they went next.
4. Play host to your most recent readers and the returning faithful. (MyBlogLog 2009)
   

Reference:

Kirkpatrick, M 2006, MyBlogLog: Readers Network Around Their Favorite Blogs, TechCrunch viewed on 18 November 2009, <http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/19/mybloglog-readers-network-around-their-favorite-blogs/>.

Vinson, J 2006, Blogging and communities, Blogspot, viewed 18 November 2009, <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?', The Knowledge Tree, viewed 18 November, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.