Negative publicity about blogging recently has affected many people, including the non-bloggers.
News pertaining to the jailing and punishment of bloggers over offences of sedition and porn has raised considerable concerns in the public community, resulting in negative effects and pseudo-perceptions of blogging and online activities as a dangerous affair.
In a blog created by a student less than a month ago, the blogger wrote about how she has secretly started her blog and how her parents would 'kill' her if they found out. A few days after she wrote that blog, she has ceased blogging completely, leaving her last words as having been found out.
The news is not without having an effect on me too. Don't get me wrong, I am not against blogging. I have been blogging for sometime, and I have found it extremely helpful for sharing, educating, and getting to know new friends. What I am saying here is its effect on me resulting from the daily hounding of my better half who reminds me constantly of the dangers I may be in, getting upset over my 'addiction' to online activities. The truth is, I barely spend more than five per cent of my available time in Net activities, even though I do communicate in online communities and blogs. I suspect the real reason is probably because I have not been spending enough time with my companion, but considering the fact I am a worker and a student at the same time, I am in actuality already barely grasping with time.
The way news is presented can affect the way views are perceived. If presented negatively, its effects may result in unfair perception of blogging and online activities as totally bad. In reality, however, blogging is a useful way of communicating and sharing, and online activities have helped build a unique sense of closeness in a global world, which have never before been possible prior to the introduction of cyberspace.
Journalism n Writing ... editorial discourses, commentaries, and thoughts
Friday, October 28, 2005
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Online Journalism
For example, when writing news stories, consideration must be made on how to engage the readers' attention and understand their habits and needs. One such consideration may be to provide hyperlinks for extended readings in addition to guiding a sequence for reading. Slideshow, such as a pictorial presentation of news, is a good idea to provide 'news in pictures', with individual captions to explain the photos, so as not to allow ambiguity or misinterpretation.
News stories can have a summary lead to draw the interest of the audience, and the content of each piece of news should be independent from the need to read previous entries for background or complete story. Linear writing allows the reader to scroll down to make a complete reading without having to click on another page for the story. Headlines of news stories should convey the content with a straightforward approach rather than 'funny or cute'. HTML coding is another area that needs to be learnt so as to provide essential customization of web pages. In short, all that needs to be done is to:
- Use hyperlinks to allow readers to extend reading if required
- Combine linear and non linear storytelling
- Give the audience choices, yet guiding them along a sequence of reading
- Incorporate captions for individual photos in slideshow rather than simply throw together a bunch of interesting photos
- Provide a good lead for each story to draw audience into reading further
- Provide sufficient linear reading without requiring hypertext to other pages
- Use meaningful headlines rather than the funky
- Get familiar with HTML even if a web authoring software is available
For a sample web site that includes all the points mentioned above, visit News Beat.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dube J (2003a) 'Online Storytelling Forms', Journalism.org - Journalism Tools, www.journalism.org/resources/tools/writing/lessons/storyteling.asp (Accessed April 15, 2004) pp.1-3.
Dube J (2003b) 'A Dozen Tips for Writing News Online', Journalism.org - Journalism Tools, www.journalism.org/resources/tols/writing/lessons/tips.asp (Accessed April 15, 2004) pp.1-3.
Ward M (2002) 'Chapter 6: Who's Afraid of HTML', Journalism Online. Focal Press Oxford: 150-163.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Private Lives in Public Eyes
I use to record my daily activities in a diary when I was younger. These records are meant for self-edification for the private use of the individual writing the diary.
Today, web diaries (blogs), Internet communities, and other gratifying services and products allow individuals to share their private lives with many. Blogs allow the individual writer to share his or her life and deny or grant comment for feedback. It allows people in the public to know a person's private life and identify with the person as if he or she knows the individual.
Celebrities host web sites to draw people to buy their services and products while letting their audience identify with them, giving the public individuals the feeling of knowing them personally through participating in forums, group discussions, comment on photographs, giving testimonies at celebrities' personal profiles in what is called Online Communities, like Friendster, Hi5, and MySpace.
No longer is a diary for private use. It is now for the public eye, added with multimedia features incorporating sounds, videos, images and interactivity. If you are an individual unknown someone, you can become a celebrity through Net communities and blogs. You need not have to put your face on the line, and can hide behind a mask of avatars if you mind, but you can't escape the public eye.
Is this the kind of publicity you need for your private life? Communities such as these are just great ways to celebrate the broken line of private individuals in the public eyes of a small world.
Today, web diaries (blogs), Internet communities, and other gratifying services and products allow individuals to share their private lives with many. Blogs allow the individual writer to share his or her life and deny or grant comment for feedback. It allows people in the public to know a person's private life and identify with the person as if he or she knows the individual.
Celebrities host web sites to draw people to buy their services and products while letting their audience identify with them, giving the public individuals the feeling of knowing them personally through participating in forums, group discussions, comment on photographs, giving testimonies at celebrities' personal profiles in what is called Online Communities, like Friendster, Hi5, and MySpace.
No longer is a diary for private use. It is now for the public eye, added with multimedia features incorporating sounds, videos, images and interactivity. If you are an individual unknown someone, you can become a celebrity through Net communities and blogs. You need not have to put your face on the line, and can hide behind a mask of avatars if you mind, but you can't escape the public eye.
Is this the kind of publicity you need for your private life? Communities such as these are just great ways to celebrate the broken line of private individuals in the public eyes of a small world.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Imagined Communities
People who study Mass Communication or related fields would have often heard the term 'imagined communities', which refers to the publics as target audiences or subjects under governance.
These days, imagined communities can be very real, especially with interactivity of communication on the Internet. Take the example of forums. People participate and voice their views publicly, but these people do not reveal their real names and often use short names or nicknames to hide their identity. These are people I would term as real imagined community or communities, since there are so many forums on the Net.
Another imagined community which is very real indeed is what known as Online Communities, such as the popular friends’ community sites like Friendster and MySpace. People participating in such communities often feel attached to the imagined friends they have in their list and through participation in their forums and multimedia groups, people begin to identify and feel belonging as if they know each other personally.
For example, models, movie stars, and popular personalities have their fan clubs formed in groups where audience can subscribe to access photographs, chats, discussion messages and many more. The star of the object needs only place occasionally entries of messages, say, to describe themselves, and all subscribers will be able to know the object intimately, sharing with others of like minds.
These imagined communities can become very real, depending on the amount of participation by the individual in commenting or writing testimonials on their imagined friends' blogs, profiles, and photographs.
With such technology these days, people do not feel as lonely as they should be, because they can imagined virtually the 'friends' they have, but in reality, such 'friends' are often imagined and some are represented by avatars, which essentially are fake identities, so whether the other party is real or imagined, disguised or true, male or female, it is up to one to decide to what extend he or she should indulge in this unreal world!
These days, imagined communities can be very real, especially with interactivity of communication on the Internet. Take the example of forums. People participate and voice their views publicly, but these people do not reveal their real names and often use short names or nicknames to hide their identity. These are people I would term as real imagined community or communities, since there are so many forums on the Net.
Another imagined community which is very real indeed is what known as Online Communities, such as the popular friends’ community sites like Friendster and MySpace. People participating in such communities often feel attached to the imagined friends they have in their list and through participation in their forums and multimedia groups, people begin to identify and feel belonging as if they know each other personally.
For example, models, movie stars, and popular personalities have their fan clubs formed in groups where audience can subscribe to access photographs, chats, discussion messages and many more. The star of the object needs only place occasionally entries of messages, say, to describe themselves, and all subscribers will be able to know the object intimately, sharing with others of like minds.
These imagined communities can become very real, depending on the amount of participation by the individual in commenting or writing testimonials on their imagined friends' blogs, profiles, and photographs.
With such technology these days, people do not feel as lonely as they should be, because they can imagined virtually the 'friends' they have, but in reality, such 'friends' are often imagined and some are represented by avatars, which essentially are fake identities, so whether the other party is real or imagined, disguised or true, male or female, it is up to one to decide to what extend he or she should indulge in this unreal world!
Friday, September 16, 2005
Confession of a Pusher
You may be wondering what a pusher has to do with writing or journalism, but do not be mistaken, this article is not about drugs or about acts outside marriage. It is about what captures the attention of the readers and about captions and headlines, so if you wish to know what the pusher's confession is all about, read on, for the story begins here ...
As you can see from what is written above, a header or a title of an article plays an important role in drawing the attention of readers and target audiences. Like tabloid news, however, sometimes the content of the story may fall short of expectation of what the headline may have promise. This is what is known as sensationalizing news, which often leaves the readers disgruntled at the end, if he or she ever reads to the end.
A lesson for the writer or journalist is therefore to write responsibly, professionally, and credibly, in providing a content that substantiates what the headline promises.
It irks me that I am a pusher and I have to do it daily. It is not as if I am enjoying it, but rather I don't have a choice.
Let me tell you my story, how I became a pusher. I work it a place remote from public transport and I have to take a feeder bus to reach my destination. Each time the bus arrives, a huge crowd will gather to enter to a one-door entrance up the bus. There is no queue to decide who goes in front of another nor the cue to know the exact spot where the bus will stop, so everyone has to move discerningly in anticipation, to position a good spot when the bus is seen arriving.
When the bus arrive and stop, all hell will break lose and everyone will be rushing to get up the bus relentlessly. Some passengers however will be stricken with fear of stampede and freeze without moving forward, and that is where I become a pusher.
I push people to move forward to reach the bus. Many people surrounding the bus will try all angles and means to make their way forward and up, inch-by-inch, step by step, but with some fear stricken people ahead, there is seldom chance to reach the goal. The only way, therefore, is to PUSH ahead using a finger or one's body, with a stare that can kill, to make sense to the person ahead, to quit being a stumbling block and move forward and up.
This is my story of how I became a pusher, and it is an unpleasant daily experience for me, because I have always pride myself in acting gracefully, but for this case, I do not have a choice, so if you are one of my victims, I hope you will understand.
As you can see from what is written above, a header or a title of an article plays an important role in drawing the attention of readers and target audiences. Like tabloid news, however, sometimes the content of the story may fall short of expectation of what the headline may have promise. This is what is known as sensationalizing news, which often leaves the readers disgruntled at the end, if he or she ever reads to the end.
A lesson for the writer or journalist is therefore to write responsibly, professionally, and credibly, in providing a content that substantiates what the headline promises.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Conversational Writing
When writing for the broadcast media, it is usual to write in a way similar to a conversation, such as talking to someone or an audience. This is called conversational writing.
A common practice of conversational writing takes place when we chat and give comments in blogs. People use conversational writing or words to chat with others on the Net, and some use words in chat to flirt with others whom they can only 'see' or imagine from photo images or avatars representing them.
In the 'real' world, people who flirt online may really be quite tamed, while people whom seemingly keep silent and use ordinary pictures to represent themselves on the Net may be reversed.
Words, verbally spoken or casually written, are often assumed harmless because people on the Net seldom meet each other and unless they do, nothing physical can happen. However, the truth about words is that it can send sensory signals to a person's innermost being, triggering roaring desires hidden within.
Whether we think of words as harmful or otherwise, it is prudent for us to be wise, to note the things we say, to keep ourselves from harm's way!
A common practice of conversational writing takes place when we chat and give comments in blogs. People use conversational writing or words to chat with others on the Net, and some use words in chat to flirt with others whom they can only 'see' or imagine from photo images or avatars representing them.
In the 'real' world, people who flirt online may really be quite tamed, while people whom seemingly keep silent and use ordinary pictures to represent themselves on the Net may be reversed.
Words, verbally spoken or casually written, are often assumed harmless because people on the Net seldom meet each other and unless they do, nothing physical can happen. However, the truth about words is that it can send sensory signals to a person's innermost being, triggering roaring desires hidden within.
Whether we think of words as harmful or otherwise, it is prudent for us to be wise, to note the things we say, to keep ourselves from harm's way!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Blog Disaster: Death of Free Speech
The death of the freedom of speech and the dangers of blogging are not something that happen only in countries that practise communistic or social responsible models, but also in countries that uses the freedom of the Fourth Estate or the Western model.
In August last year, Friendster, the online social networking organization that promotes self-expression among peers, fired one of its employees for her personal Web log. Read the story by Stefanie Olsen, "Friendster fires developer for blog" at news.com (assessed July 28, 2005) for more information.
In August last year, Friendster, the online social networking organization that promotes self-expression among peers, fired one of its employees for her personal Web log. Read the story by Stefanie Olsen, "Friendster fires developer for blog" at news.com (assessed July 28, 2005) for more information.
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