Reflection

After I finalize this blog, I realize that creating a blog is not as easy as I thought.Especially, when the purpose of the blog is something formal such as education.It is because the target audience are expected to gain knowledgee from the blog.Therefore, it is important to understand who are going to read the blog.

Furthermore, as a blogger we should consider about the cultural differences. As stated by Shrirato & Yell (1996) people make meaning as members of a particular culture, a particular society, and a particular community. Besides that Walsh (2006, p. 25) argue that understanding the cultural and social context contributes to making meaning of a given text. Thus, it makes me realize that creating a blog is not for individual purpose which I can write whatever I want. The blog can be access by everyone. So, blogger must really concern about the cultural differences.

Reference

Schirato,T & Yell,S 1996, ‘ Chapter 3: Communication as Social practices’, Communication and cultural literacy ,Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, New South Wales

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, and pp.24-37

"Harry Potter" Author Wins Copyright Claim

J.K.Rowling, author of Harry Potter
(source: www.multiplesclerosis.co.za)

Steven Vander Ark, a fan of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, lost court battle with J.K. Rowling herself. He was said on planning to launch an encyclopedia of Harry Potter. As a rightful writer, of course, Rowling claimed Vander Ark to be violating her copyright.(CBS News 2008)


According to the United States Copyright Office (2008), the term “copyright” refers to “a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.” Therefore, Rowling was right to defend her rights.

Vander Ark and his lawyers insisted that what they plan to do is not going to violate her copyright act seeing what Vander Ark is trying to do is use the Harry Potter world as a reference to explain about the complicated world of Harry Potter. However, in my opinion, he is clearly wrong in that: First, he made it seem as if he is student writing an essay based on a literary work without citing it. If he was seen in that context, one would clearly see that he was plagiarizing. Second, say that he just want to “make reference out of it”. However, indeed, he was making an encyclopedia.

According to the to the New American Oxford Dictionary (2005), encyclopedia is “a book or a set of books giving information on many subjects or many aspects of one subject and typically arranged alphabetically.” Thus, the question is: How can one writes an encyclopedia about Harry Potter without stating exactly what has been written in the series itself? The answer to this question is of course, it is not possible. Of course it does not necessarily mean that people are not allowed to make encyclopedia out of anything. What it means is just that when a person is doing so, he/she must consult the original author to do so, especially if he/she wants his/her encyclopedia to be published.

Thus, the outcome of this copyright battle is very clear. What Vander Ark did was certainly a copyright violation. I strongly feel that it is very ridiculous that Vander Ark kept defending himself by saying that the publishing company told him it was not going to be a copyright violation.

Reference

CBS News 8 September 2008, ‘Harry Potter Author Wins Copyright Claim’, viewed 7 June 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/08/entertainment/main4426302.shtml

New American Oxford Dictionary 2005, Oxford University Press, New York

United States Copyright Office 2008,Library of Congress, Washington DC , viewed 9 June 2009, http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf

Makkal Osai suspended

A well known local Tamil newspaper Makkal Osai was suspended for one month by the Internal Security Ministry because publishing an offended cartoon picture of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette in one hand and a can of beer in the other on its front-page.(Star 2007)The picture was could threaten public security, harmony and morality, or seriously disturb the thinking of the people, or that contravened the law and threatened public or national interest.

Malaysia is a multi-race society country.Therefore, everyone needs to respect each other in regards with all the differences.Besides that,religion is a very sensitive issue in Malaysia.(Kent 2007)Thus, it is important for newspaper journalist to be more concern about the quality of the information and be aware with the communication environment. As agreed by White (cited in Pattyn 2000, p.283) “the ethical norms of public communication outline our personal responsibilities for the quality of communication in our communities, whether that be our local community or a community as a large as our nation”

Pattyn(2000,p.251) argue that a journalist is demanded to act and is easily to blame. Therefore, they should consider the factors such as cultural, political and technical factors which will influence their decision making process in the ethical manner. As stated by Shriver (1997, p.372) that document designers should reference to the personal knowledge, believe, attitudes, and values in order to produce a good document.

Merrill (2000) argues that media ethic is relative and situational. He said that media ethics has a diverse character, tailored to fit the particular mass medium, the particular person, the particular stage in a country’s development and the particular type of government at the time. Since Malaysia is one of the Asia country which has various religions that plays major role in the intellectual development of ethical system and also in the everyday activities of the average. Unlike the West, Asian religious beliefs, metaphysical traditionalisms, and academic philosophy are wrapped together in one package.

In conclusion, the Makkal Osai case is a very good example of the cultural context issues. This case should be use as a warning signal for all of the journalist to be aware with all the sensitive issues.

Reference

Kent,J 2007, ‘Anger at Malaysia 'Jesus cartoon' ’, BBC News 23 August 2007,viewed 8 June 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6960220.stm

Merrill, J 2000, ‘Media ethics in Asia: between relatively and absolutism’, Regional Seminar on Media Ethics, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,viewed 8 June 2009,
https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/bitstream/10220/3162/1/AMIC_2000_SEP11-13_07.pdf

Pattyn,B 2000 , Media ethics: opening social dialogue, European Ethics Network ,Peeters, viewed 8 June 2009, http://books.google.com.my/books?id=2IkCbtVFP9cC&printsec=frontcover

Shriver, KA 1997, Dynamic in document design: creating text for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York

Star 25 August 2007, ‘Makkal Osai suspended’,viewed 6June 2009, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/8/25/nation/18696017&sec=nation

Online collaboration

This is a picture of facebook and Myspace logo
(Source:http://www.johnpauljonesarena.com)

Over the past few years, there has been huge growing of online social networking around, like My space and Facebook. It connect and allowed people all over the world to talk to each other, share ideas and even take part in coordinated campaign. (Online Collaboration 2008)

It has several impact of online collaboration. Clay Shirky as an Adjunct Professor at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, and a consultant on social media written the book called 'Here Comes Everybody', in which he looks at the overall impact of collaboration. According to Gross, Acquisti and Heinz III (2005), online networking sites mostly share a core of features, such as an individual offers a ‘profile’- a representation of their selves to the others to check, with the intention of contacting or being contacted by others, to meet new friends or dates, find new jobs, receive or provide recommendations and many more. Since the personal information is revealed in online networking sites, it raises several privacy implications.

As stated by, Gross et al (2005) “the relation between privacy and person’s social network is multi-faceted”. For instance, people want their information about themselves to be known by a small circle of their friends. On the other hands, some people willing to reveal their personal information to anonymous strangers. Therefore, it is complicated in that way. Gross et al (2005) said that trust may decrease within online social network. It is another danger issue of online collaboration. Actually, it is very hard to control the information in the online word. It is because anything that we share is out of our control.

Therefore as Shirky said that “sharing actually reduced control incredibly quickly, and that’s something as a society we haven’t finished grappling with yet.” (Online Collaboration 2008)

Reference

Gross,R, Acquisti,A & Heinz III,HJ 2005, ‘Information revelation and privacy social networks’ ,Workshop on privacy in the electronic society, pp.71-80, ACM, New York, viewed 7 June 2009,
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1102214&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=40043593&CFTOKEN=94974016&ret=1#Fulltext

Online Collaboration 22 May2008, ABC radio national, the media report, viewed 7 June 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2248917.htm

Emoticons and email etiquette

A picture of custom emoticons
(source: http://www.icons-land.com/productvistastyleemoticons.php)

As the technology growing fast, there’s an impact on the communication tools. One of the medium communications such as email becomes almost essential tool for business, educational, social and personal purpose. Some advantage of email is quick and easy.(Tuffley & Griffith University 2008)

However, email can give some problems. For example, email can create misperception for the receiver. It is because; receiver might just interpret the email as what they understand without checking the sender’s intention. Therefore, as Professor Byron said that it may damage the relationship. (Emoticons and email etiquette 2007)Furthermore, since there was the inability of some people to accurately interpret the intention of the email, American Scott Fahlman invented the ‘emoticon’. It is kind of icons that act as emotional markers in the electronic communication. However, emoticons also have some negative issues.

Walther and D’Addario (2001) argued that there are some negative impact appeared from the raise of emoticons. It may shift the message in the direction of negative element. Zimmerman and Perkin (cited in Shriver 1997, p.373) stated that visual messages need to be revised depending on the local culture.

Different culture might have different perception. They might interpret as what they understand it. As stated by Schirato & Yell (1996) people make meaning as members of a particular culture, a particular society, and a particular community. Therefore, as writers we need to concern about the cultural issues, we should think who are going to read our message. Therefore, it is important to understand the email etiquette and also knows who the receivers of the email are. So, it can minimize the problems that arise in the electronic communication.

Reference

Emoticons and email etiquette 18 October 2007, ABC radio national, the media report, viewed 6 June 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm

Schirato,T & Yell,S 1996, ‘ Chapter 3: Communication as Social practices,’ Communication and cultural literacy ,Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, New South Wales

Shriver, KA 1997, Dynamic in document design: creating text for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York

Tuffley, D & Griffith University 2008, ‘Email Etiquette (Netiquette)’viewed 8 June 2009, http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~davidt/email_etiquette.htm

Walther and D’Addario 2001, ‘The Impacts of Emoticons on Message Interpretation in Computer-Mediated Communication’ Social science computer review, Sage Journal Online, viewed 7 June 2009, http://ssc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/19/3/324

New form of media publishing

The current trends of collaborative web-page tools, such as photo photoblogs, mobblogs, videoblogs offer many unique and powerful information sharing and collaboration features. You tube as the leader in internet video search serves up 100 million videos a day online. (Reuters 2006)

It shows that, today’s people are more interesting with the online information, since they are easy and quick to be obtained. However, as stated by Perlmutter and McDaniel 2005, “The rise of new media should not make the old media panic or be dismissive or fearful.” It is because, there are also have some problems arises from the new media such as blogs. Since the blogs are often produced and maintained by individuals, they can include biased or inaccurate information. Furthermore, blogs are unmediated and therefore people can easily express themselves their opinions, ideas, and attitudes.(Educause 2005)

As argued by Shriver (1997, p.362) better technology does not equal better communication. For example, in US the social networking such as MySpace and Youtube have used to election campaign. These social networking sites used to segment the voting age population which represent the next internet generation. There are some benefit of these such as “increasing the potential for candidate exposure at a low cost or no cost, providing lesser known candidates with a viable outlet to divulge their message, and allowing campaigns to raise contributions and recruit volunteers online”.

However, there are some challenges for campaign staff which is "the reduced level of control that campaigns have over the image and message of the candidate, which is of critical importance to election outcomes."(Gueorguieva 2008)

Reference

Educause 2005, ‘Seven things you should know about blogs’,viewed 7 June 2009, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7006.pdf

Gueorguieva,V 2008, ‘ Voters, Myspace, and You Tube’ Social science computer review, Sage Journal Online, viewed 7 June 2009, http://ssc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/3/288

Perlmutter,DD& McDaniel,M 2005, ‘ The ascent of blogging’ , Niemen reports, viewed 7 June 2009, http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/DaVega/MAT_103/MAT_103_Articles/News_Online/AcentofBlogging.pdf

Reuters 16 July 2006, ‘YouTube serves up 100 million videos a day online’, viewed 6 June 2009, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-07-16-youtube-views_x.htm?

Shriver, KA 1997, Dynamic in document design: creating text for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York

Blog classification and online communites

Over the past few years, the current phenomenon of blogs has grown significantly. There are wide of variety of topics, ranging from political to personal experiences.
The different types of blogs include:

• Personal blog
• Corporate blog
• By genre (fashion blog, sports blog, political blogs, education blog, music blog, history blog)
• By media type (vlog, linklog, ,scetchblog, photoblog)
• By device (moblog)
(Wikipedia 2009)

This is a screen shot of video blog
(Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegarfield/2638038883 )

Margaret Simons, an authors and freelance journalist has classified nine different types of blogs. There are includes of pamphleteering blogs, digest blog ,advocacy blogs, popular ,mechanics blog, the exhibition blog, gate watcher blog ,the diary, the advertisement ,news blog. (ABC 2008) In my opinion, this nine of blog classification is more appropriate to represent different type of available blogs.

Furthermore, online communities are become important part of the internet.
Packwood (2005) stated that “community is present when individual and collective identity begins to be expressed; when we care about who said what, not just the what; when relationship is part of the dynamic and links are no longer the only currency of exchange” (cited in White 2006). White (2006) also said that blog community can be explored by the links between blogs and comments over time.

One of the examples of blog communities is education blogs. It is where educator using blog as part of their teaching method. Ferdig and Trammel (2004) said that this kind of blog are useful for teaching and learning tool since they provide a space for students to reflect and publish their though and understandings. It also provides opportunities for feedback. Beside that blogs are feature hyperlinks which allowed students to understand the relational and contextual basis of knowledge.

Reference

A taxonomy of blogs 25 September 2008,ABC radio national, The media report, viewed 6 June 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript

Ferdig, RE,Ph.D &Trammell,KD 2004, ‘ content delivery in the blogosphere’, The Journal online, University of Florida, viewed 6 June 2009, http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5006872677

White, N 2006, ‘Blogs and Community – launching a new paradigm for online community?’, The knowledge of tree,viewed 6 June 2009, http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community

Wikipedia 2009,Blog,viewed 7 June 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog