Reflection

As a blogger, I have learned many things. I have learned that as a blogger, I have to write ethically in order to avoid defamation and copyright infringements. Plagiarism is a very serious offense that can cost a person their job, money and or reputation, so it is always best to be original - which just means to do things on your own and credit when you need to.

Next, I learned that bloggers need to be sensitive to all cultures. Taking the comic done on the tsunami and earthquake in Japan as referral, this is indeed an aspect one cannot ignore.

I have also learned to design well. As a blogger, I must make sure that my blog is user-friendly. I especially agree with what Russell (n.d.) said about how the choice of colour is important - white can be hard on the eyes and that pastel colours are more ideal.

Reference:

1. Russell, W n.d., 10 Tips for Creating Successful Business Presentations: Give Your Audience the Best Business Presentations, About.com, viewed 4 April 2011, <http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointinbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tips.htm>.

How Social Media, Internet Changed Experience of Japan Disaster

The tsunami and earthquake caused a lot of devastation in Japan. However, it is interesting to note how amazing technology is that we were able to keep tabs as to what was happening there and finding out who was alive and well and who was not. It should not be that surprising, though. Japan is, after all, one of the most technology-filled countries in the world. So much that from the amount of information flowing from Japan, it can be considered as media imperialism.

Imperialism can be defined as the total dominance of a certain matter (Fuchs 2010). Hence, media imperialism is where the media is what totally dominates the place, as we could see from Japan. Many people were able to watch videos constantly coming in from Japan, and gain access as to what was happening there.

Speech, text, images... these are examples of modalities that can be combined to form something new - this concept of combining modalities is multimodality (Hull & Nelson 2005). This can be seen by how a webcam could be used to present the news.

From the situation in Japan, we could see new forms of Journalism pop up from social networking websites. Friends and families were able to check on what was happening to their loved ones by checking on social networking websites such as Twitter. There, they could tap into all sorts of information as to what was happening in Japan. This is just an example of a new form of journalism. Another new form of journalism is blogging, which can also be used to inform loved ones of their condition (Hermida 2008).

It is interesting to note that even though their country was devastated, they were still very much connected to the rest of the world. Technology is truly an admirable thing.

References:

1. Fuchs, C 2010, 'New imperialism : Information and media imperialism?' Global Media and Communication, vol. 6, no. 1, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://gmc.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/6/1/33.full.pdf+html>.
2. Hermida, A 2008, 'The Place of Blogs in Journalism Education,' MediaShift 22 December, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/12/the-place-of-blogs-in-journalism-education357.html>.
3. Hull, GA & Nelson, ME 2005, 'Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality,' Written Communication, vol. 22, no. 2, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://wcx.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/22/2/224.full.pdf+html>.

Children's Magazines Cater to True Early Adopters with Mobile Apps

In the article "Children's Magazines Cater to True Early Adopters with Mobile Apps" by Susan Currie Sivek, she states that children are now making a smooth transition from reading printed children's magazine to digital magazines and apps. With these digital magazines, creators plan to make playing and teaching possible through apps for children. When creating these things for children, three things must be taken into consideration, which are: multimodality, usability and genre change.

Multimodality is the combination of many modalities such as speech, text, images and so on to form something entirely new (Hull & Nelson 2005). Multimodality can be seen from the creation of many different apps for the digital magazines.

Usability, according to Nielson (Yeung & Law 2006), is how easy it is to use a software product to do what it was made to do. The creators have to make sure that the apps are easy for the use of children. There is no point in making a highly sophisticated app that's more suitable for adults if children do not understand how to use it - especially since the apps are supposed to be aimed at children.

Genre is meant to help make the relationship between texts and society more clear (Luders, Proitz & Rasmussen 2010). Hence, genre change means the shift of a certain group of texts and society to an entirely different one. This can be seen by the change from print magazines to digital magazines.

An example of technology that take multimodality, usability and genre change into consideration is the iPhone. It has a lot of apps (Trends and Products: iPhone and the world of apps 2009); a combination of many genres in one - it is a mobile phone, i-pod and the use of the Internet is available on it (Marks 2008); and it is also easy to use.

I hope that these advances in technology will only continue as this will prove to be more convenient to the younger generation. Also, in a way, with the shift of print magazines to digital magazines, it can only be a good thing for the environment - there would be no need to kill more trees for the sake of making paper.

References:

1. Hull, GA & Nelson, ME 2005, 'Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality,' Written Communication, vol. 22, no. 2, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://wcx.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/22/2/224.full.pdf+html>.
2. Luders, M, Proitz, L & Rasmussen, T 2010, 'Emerging personal media genres,' New Media & Society, vol. 12, no. 6, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://nms.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/12/6/947.full.pdf+html>.
3. Marks, P 2008, Tech review with Peter Marks - iPhone, ABC, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2008/2306130.htm>
4. Trends and Products: iPhone and the world of apps 2009, podcast, 1 July, viewed 12 June /2011, <http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2009/07/bdn_20090701_1533.mp3>.
5. Yeung, TA & Law, R 2006, 'Evaluation of Usability: A Study of Hotel Web Sites in Hong Kong,' Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, vol. 30, no. 4, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://jht.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/30/4/452.full.pdf+html>.

Plagiarism: The Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V boom

According to an article entitled "Plagiarism: The Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V boom," plagiarism has as of late, especially since the introduction of the Internet, been rife. So much that lecturers have to resort to making their students use a program called Turnitin in order to check for plagiarism. However, it seems that not only students can fall prey to plagiarism, but ministers as well. A German minister quit his job after it was found out that he had plagiarized another person's work. Plagiarism is, as defined by Carroll (Bennett, Benrendt & Boothby 2011, p. 29), using the work of other's for one's own benefit, whether unintentionally or intentionally.

A similar incident that happened was one where an ESPN anchor plagiarized the work of a newspaper journalist. The ESPN anchor, Will Selva, used Sports writer, Kevin Ding's, work for his report on a show called "Highway Express" (CNN Wire Staff 2010). Ding was surprised to find that when he turned on the television, he heard exactly what he had written two days back come back to him, right out of Selva's mouth (CNN Wire Staff 2010). Instead of paraphrasing Ding's work, Selva had copied it word for word, so much that it was easy to tell that he was plagiarizing. Another similar incident is one between two singers. Gordon Jenkins claimed that Johnny Cash had plagiarized his work from his album "Concept Dreams" (The Australian 2010). It may have taken Jenkins years to sue Cash, but the court settlement was about the hundred thousand dollar mark (The Australian 2010).

According to Ouden and Wijk (2011), one of the reasons why students plagiarize is because they do not understand that this is wrong. These students have grown up in an environment where illegal downloading and watching clips of their favourite television shows on websites such as YouTube is the norm (Ouden & Mijk 2011). So, once they enter college or university, the concept of crediting another person for their work can be very confusing to them (Ouden & Mijk 2011).

Plagiarism is a very serious offense that can cause one to lose their job, fail a paper, get sued for and so much more. This sickness should be cured by receiving sufficient knowledge as to what counts as plagiarism and understanding the consequences should one ever consider to plagiarize another person's work.

References:

1. Bennett, KK, Behrendt, LS & Boothby, JL 2011, 'Instructor Perceptions of Plagiarism : Are We Finding Common Ground?' Teaching of Psychology, vol. 38, no. 1, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://top.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/38/1/29.full.pdf+html>.
2. CNN Wire Staff 2010, 'ESPN anchor apologizes for stealing newspaper writer's words,' CNN 30 December, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/30/espn.plagiarism/index.html?iref=allsearch>.
3. The Australian 2010, 'Song plagiarism cases,' The Australian 4 February, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/gallery-e6frg6n6-1225826759719?page=2>.
4. Ouden, HD & Wijk, CV 2011, 'Plagiarism: Punish or Prevent? Some Experiences With Academic Copycatting in the Netherlands,' Business Communication Quarterly, vol. 74, no. 2, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://bcq.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/74/2/196.full.pdf+html>.

Berita Harian issues public apology over tsunami cartoon

Due to a comic published in Berita Harian, the newspaper had to give out a public apology. The following is the comic that was published; it was drawn by Mohd Zohri Sukimi:

This comic was published following the tragedy that happened in Japan, where an earthquake and tsunami took thousands of lives. The comic stirred a lot of emotions, and many feel that it was done in distaste. It even sparked a lot of anger on the Internet, where users would comment angrily on the issue, such as when they commented on a post on this website. Like them, I am no different - I think the same. Allowing the publication of such a comic is extremely insensitive to the Japanese, especially since they were still healing from this fresh wound.

The publication of this comic clearly breaches one of the four ethics that journalists must uphold. The ethical issue that it has breached is minimizing harm. According to Herrscher (Cenite et al. 2009, p. 579) this principle encompasses several aspects which include matters having to do with confidentiality, taking the feelings of others into consideration, holding a sense of respect towards diversity, causing harm to the reputation of others and so on. Journalists need to make sure that the publication of a certain piece would not cause offense or harm to others.

A scenario that is similar to this happened nearly a year ago. A cartoonist who went by the name Molly Norris had to go into hiding due to a comic that she drew (McLaughlin 2010). In the comic, she made fun of the Prophet Mohammed (McLaughlin 2010). It was no surprise, of course, that the Muslim community was outraged by her gall to draw such a thing (McLaughlin 2010). This act goes against the ethical principle to minimize harm since the comic does not respect diversity. She may not be a journalist, but the editor should have known better than to allow such a comic to be published.

Editors need to carry out gatekeeping in order to decide what gets published in the news. Gatekeeping involves checking every piece of material for any bias, conflicts of interest, and advocating of interest (Yu 2011). The publication of materials that do not adhere to the minimization of conflict will only cause tension to rise amongst the public, as shown from the two incidents. The editors for both newspapers should not have let those comics been published. It was highly unethical of them.

References:

1. Cenite, M, Detenber, BH, Koh, AWK, Lim, ALH & Soon, NE 2009, 'Doing the right thing online: a survey of bloggers' ethical beliefs and practices,' New Media & Society, vol. 11, no. 4, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://nms.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/11/4/575.full.pdf+html>.
2. McLaughlin, EC 2010, ''Draw Mohammed' cartoonist goes into hiding, paper says,' CNN 17 September, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/17/draw-mohammed-cartoonist-goes-into-hiding-paper-says/?iref=allsearch>.
3. Yu, H 2011, 'Beyond gatekeeping: J-blogging in China,' Journalism, vol. 12, no. 4, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://jou.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/12/4/379.full.pdf+html>.

New Forms of Media Publishing

With the existence of new media - the Internet - comes websites that can alter the roles of traditional journalism. Gone were the days where journalists acted as gatekeepers, as the ones who fact-checked information for credibility before publishing them (Ibbotson & Rudin 2002). Now, not only are journalists publishing news on the Internet, but also people who are irresponsible with facts. For example, recently, a fake picture of Osama bin Laden's corpse has been circulating on the Internet, and even got published by news media (Young 2011).

Another role of the traditional journalist that has changed is the way the gathering of information is done. Before the existence of the Internet, journalists had to rely on books, documents and old newspaper articles in order to do research. Now, journalists just need to do research online in order to get the information that they need (JournoList 2011). However, not many journalists are experienced in gathering information online (JournoList 2011), so they are forced to learn this skill.

A change that is worthy to take note of is that journalists that live in the Internet age are expected to work more. They now have to create videos, podcasts and they also have to work longer hours than before (Bunz 2009). Their hours are so long that they now spend more time doing research online instead of going out and doing it in person (Bunz 2009).

References:

1. Ibbotson, T & Rudin, R 2002, An Introduction to Journalism, Focal Press, Great Britain.
2. Young, S 2011, Web's bin Laden 'death photo' (just the photo) is fake, MSN, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/02/6568249-webs-bin-laden-death-photo-just-the-photo-is-fake>.
3. JournoList 2011, The JournoList: The Internet for Journalists, The JournoList, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://www.johnmorrish.com/journolist/>.
4. Bunz, M 2009, Journalism has improved in the internet age, say media professionals, guardian.co.uk, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/sep/17/digital-media-future-of-journalism>.

Blogging Communities

The definition of blogging communities seem to vary as some people have their own definition of it. I've chosen to go with Nancy White's definition of, though. There are three types of blogging communities, which are one blog centric community, topic centric community and boundaried community (White n.d.). These three types often combine in some way or another, creating a mixture (White n.d.). Blogging communities rely on the communication between bloggers, commentors and readers in order to be formed (White n.d.). Without any of these, they will not exist.

A one blog centric community has one blog as its platform, and it may have more than one blogger (White n.d.). Here, the blogger controls the topics, and the commentors will comment on posts. Friendship may surface if the commentors get to know each other. The same goes to the blogger and the commentors.

From here, one can conclude that blogging communities are just that; communities. It's where where people who share a mutual interest gather to socialise with each other (The Travel Tart 2009).

To create a blogging community, one has to first sign up for a blog account. I've chosen a community called Stopping Plagiarism as a reference. A post by one of its users, dysonrules (2011), was assigned several tags to make it easier for readers to search through posts (nzherald 2006). People who were interested in the post commented on it. This community is a one blog centric community with multiple bloggers. Everyone is allowed to post on this blog as long as they are a member, follow the rules and keep it on topic.

References:

1. White, N n.d., Blogs and Community - launching a new paradigm for online community?, The Knowledge Tree, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.
2. The Travel Tart 2009, What Is A Blogging Community?, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://www.thetraveltart.com/what-is-a-blogging-community/>.
3. dysonrules 2011, Plagiarism by "faith_hope_freedom_and_love" on ff.net, Stopping Plagiarism, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://stop-plagiarism.livejournal.com/146677.html>.
4. nzherald 2006, What are tags?, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/site-information-help/news/article.cfm?c_id=500827&objectid=10414474>.