Reflection

As document designers, we should play the role in creating harmony when it comes to blogging. Blogging is a great tool because it can come in different forms, such as humble diary to a powerful tool to move a nation such as blogs owned by politicians. We are lucky because we adopt the Western culture which is the most popular culture and therefore designing for a wider audience becomes possible. This tool can cause lost of identity as more people are inclined to adapt to this culture and cause change to politics, law, finance, trade and etc.

Schirato & Yell (2004) cited that communication is made when we make meaning through something that we do and may come in many forms of communication, for example what we do as a norm can be a form of communication. So we may be blogging as self expression, but this can be misinterpreted and can reach out to a large network of billions of people through the internet, and cause havoc.

With these power and magnitude from blogging that is more powerful than the words of leaders of countries, we as bloggers should blog with sensitivity and planning. Bloggers need to treat blogging like a game of chess where they anticipate the reaction of their thoughts. Some bloggers may choose to persuade with power to gain followers, however under freedom of speech, they should always use conscience to blog sensibly.

With so much heritage that is potentially lost by this second wave of globalization through blogging, we must strive to read more widely and to exercise thinking critically so to not be lost by words of random bloggers.

Reference

Schirato, T & Yell, S 2004, Communication and Culture, SAGE Publication, Australia.

Multimodality; Usability; Genre Change

Children are the subject being discussed in technological advancement which changes the way they read. The tablet PC is a cornerstone in technological advancement and new ways to learn are being discovered with genre change. A magazine company has developed an application for Ipad named Timbuktu which changes the style of publishing and reading.

(Photo source: http://www.filebuzz.com/files/Online_Games_For_Kids/1.html)

With genre change, children are now able to read magazine in a fun way, which involves hearing and visuals. Whether or not this encourages children to read, or diminishes the quality of reading is not known. HelpGuide.org (n.d.) cited that learning through fun and playing is important to physical and mental health which leads to stimulating the brain so that children can learn to manage and transform negative emotions and many more benefits. However I feel that too much of using fingers for Ipad diminishes creativity and children losses the creative side of brain whereby using a pencil improves hand and eye coordination.

Hand eye coordination is important for a child's growth, read more in this link http://www.filebuzz.com/files/Online_Games_For_Kids/1.html

For developers, there are new ways to make money now with selling applications and advertising to children. Previously it was difficult for marketers to target advertising on children, but today with the invention of tablet PC, an increasing number of children are being exposed to advertisement. There has been controversy towards this issue because children are minors and it is unethical to target children, cited the American Psychological Association (2000). However some parties argued that this facilitated the learning for children.

Through tablet PCs and the internet, children are now able to interact socially and globally. This has its advantage and disadvantage where one can view interaction with a child’s peers help nurture the soft skills at a young age. However they may be victimized by cyber bullying when exposed to the internet, read more about cyber bullying here. 

Cyber bullying (photo source: http://drmilburn.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/what-is-cyber-bullying/)

To transfer a magazine to digital requires knowledge such as children’s navigational patterns and what amuses children. Because of this genre change, new types of games and possibly children learning tools such as the popular Angry Birds are created. A blogger named Angelina viewed that Ipad is the perfect invention for children because it develops speech and communication. In addition with its audio capability, it caters to autistic children because of the ability to type and draw available on Ipad. Read more in her blog.

This genre change and increase of multimodality of technology that appeals to sight and sound has improved many things associated with learning. However this technological advancement leads to better human development or human brain deficit remains unknown.


Referencing

American Psychological Association 2000, Advertising to Children: Is it ethical?, viewed 10^th June 2011, <http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep00/advertising.aspx>

HelpGuide.org n.d., Play, Creativity, and Lifelong Learning, viewed 10^th June 2011, <http://www.helpguide.org/life/creative_play_fun_games.htm>

E Book and Usability; Multi-modality

The design world of traditionally knowing the rules for designing a book or hardcopy is coming to a shift. This shift is caused by technological advancement and we now see hardcopy books turning into E-books that can be read from tablet PCs such as the Ipad. Under this new mode of reading, the design rules undertakes a new set of knowledge to a few elements such as the way readers navigate.

Tablet PCs has some advantage like:

• Scrolling up and down with more than 1 page at any single time
• Icons inside are clear and specific
• Various font sizes
• Able to drag and drop bookmarks
• Enables spelling help by highlighting the selected word

The most popular Tablet PC in the world, I pad 2

Walsh (2006) mentioned that although the texts are similar in meaning, the multimodality of it makes ‘affordance’ and ‘processing’ different. “In multimodal texts, compared with print-based texts, the reader will use various senses (sight, hearing, tactile, kinaesthetic) to respond to other modes”, as quoted by Walsh (2006). Users of the Ipad may process the information in a different way like hearing sounds or videos attached with an E-book, and they may get a deeper insight to the meaning of the text rather than just flipping through the pages.

(photo source: http://www.sitetrail.com/2011/05/21/consumers-buy-more-e-books-than-printed-versions/)

The traditional framing, composition and how users navigate a text will now see a change with the use of E-books. How usable are tablet PCs are not a question of doubt anymore because technological advancement has helped us increase usability such as buying books, storing, and carrying them around. Today, we can buy a book without going to a bookstore physically, and we can store and carry them inside the memory card of the tablet PCs.

An Application on Iphone to purchase books online

There will be gains and losses in every change of modes such as changing from print to tablet PCs. Bezemer & Kress (2005) quotes that “’Characters’ which ‘exist’ in the mode of writing in the novel-as-book, can now appear in the mode of image, with all the potentials and constraints.” What may be lost here is the imaginative side of humans where we are forced to use our creativity to read a book.

Changing and transduscing modes are unavoidable as technology progress. Though I like the idea of convenient reading, I still prefer the feel of printed books where it is easier to flip through pages to search for information. Using tablet PCs causes eye fatigue and is hard to browse around. However I do like what technology has offered us with its functionality. I believe printed books will still be around for a long time to come.

(photo source: http://www.power-english.net/english-learning/improve-reading-and-vocabulary.html)

Reference

UPA n.d., The usability of E-Book technology, viewed 10^th June 2011, <http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/upa_voice/volumes/5/issue_1/ebooks.htm>

Walsh, M 2006, ‘The ‘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.

Bezemer, J & Kress, G 2005, ‘Gains and Losses: A social semiotic account of changes in the modes and media of learning resources’, Institute of Education, Centre for Multimodal Research, London.

Contestation of Ideology, Freedom of Speech, Cultural and Situational Context

The issue of Interlok book is about a sentence saying that the Indian community in Malaysia comes from a pariah caste. The Indian community opposed this and requested that the book be banned because it causes discrimination. Read more in The Star Online.

Interlok textbook used in Malaysian high schools

A seemingly harmless word has evoked anger which we will discuss based on cultural and situational context. In my opinion, this is not an issue because this book’s audience are students and the purpose is to tell the Malaysia story and create harmony therefore there was no element of prejudice and discrimination inside. In the book, the author mentioned about the bad stuff of other races and hence it shows that nobody is perfect.

(photo source: http://massthink.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/what-does-it-mean-ideology/)

Matsumoto (2007) quoted that “because human social life is complex, the myriad of situational contexts in which individuals exist is associated with a myriad of cultural meanings”. The word pariah might cause anger among the Indian community, but being looked at a different way, the author wants to tell the story by being transparent so that the students can understand the history of Malaysia better.

Contesting ideologies today has reached a point where there is no freedom of speech. The author wrote the book many years ago and a particular group only seen it recently and voiced their anger over the issue.Conway et. al (2001) cited that certain groups use more cognitive thinking under certain context and vice versa. In addition, they suggested that cross cultural differences creates complexity in terms of how people think.The education ministry chose this book for the Malaysian students are under the context of 1 Malaysia in my opinion. The ideology that the author of Interlok has, has been supported by people in the education ministry which is why the book was chosen.

Under freedom of speech, the Indian community should also practice tolerance because the book’s purpose is not to derogate any parties but to instill harmony. Therefore there is a stronger reason to why the Indian community should not react in such way because we practice freedom of speech. We have the right to read, and banning books is not acceptable in my opinion what more it is a book that is aimed at something positive.

In conclusion, freedom of speech is an international law but under cultural and situational context, it may cause disturbance like the issue of Interlok. When someone contests their ideology, there is uncertainty to what events might occur and how people might react. It is still ambiguous to rank ethics and how free we are to express our thoughts. The future of internet advancement is taking things to a whole new level never seen before so we shall see what happens next.

Reference

Matsumoto, D 2007, ‘Culture, Context and Behavior’, Journal of Personality, 75:6, pp. 1-37.

Conway, L G, Schaller, M, Tweed, R G & Hallett, D 2001, ‘The complexity of thinking across cultures: interactions between culture and situational context’, Social Cognition, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 228-250.

Visuals & Situational Context; Ethical Publishing Principles

Sadly a fellow Malaysian has made world headlines with something not to be proud of.  The cartoonist Zoy, from Berita Harian has drawn a cartoon of Ultraman running away from the Tsunami which he thinks will be entertaining because of the Japan Earthquake disaster which just happened.

Ultraman running from Tsunami comic

According to international laws by United Nations, we should have the freedom of expressing (Redford.edu n.d.). People these days have the power because the internet enables them to voice their thoughts. It was reported that in a short period of time, few politicians commented on the incident and urged for action to be taken via the internet. This wasn’t possible in the past because communication was difficult. I view it as a milestone because people are now able to voice out something to get the support of others, and as a group they have power to defend themselves.

Adding comment and groups of people with common interest are formed

To comment on ethical publishing, we know that the cartoon was published under the context of a disaster that happened, and it was aimed at entertaining the audience. Under ethical publishing issues, everyone has a different view to what is acceptable and what is unacceptable hence we see a majority of people condemning the cartoon. With the power that everyone has to have their own publication, which is by voicing out their thoughts, the collective expertise from this has the power to bring down an organization. Henry Jenkins in ABC Radio National (2009) said that YouTube is interesting because in individualistic terms, people are able to form mini groups, and it will slowly morph into larger scale social collectives.

Visuals are very sensitive and we could see that Ultraman running away from Tsunami, directly linking the cartoon to the incident because the Tsunami happened in Japan and Ultraman is a Japanese cartoon hero. Schriver (1997) cited that people interpret visuals based on the context and situational variables that has a few contributing factors such as mood, interests, cultural, social, physical, and technological setting. She also note that the interpretation of visuals is a “dynamically changing knowledge state”.

In conclusion, freedom of publishing is a law; however insensitive publishing due to visuals can evoke anger protests. The use of Ultraman is directly a joke as how I interpret it, and if the visual is without Ultraman, it would not spark this fury. Sometimes it is a contradiction to the law of freedom of publishing and what makes worse is many people have taken this as unethical. With the power of technological advancement, people have the power to take action and it can be dangerous such as the Egyptian turmoil. In my opinion, a group should be set up to govern the laws of freedom of publishing and a little bit of control is necessary to ensure ethical publishing.

Referencing

Radform.edu.au n.d., International Media Law, viewed 9^th June 2011, <http://www.radford.edu/wkovarik/class/law/1.14intl.html>

ABC Radio National 2009, Media work and media practice, viewed 9^th June 2011, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2009/2436725.htm#transcript>

Schriver, K A 1997, The interplay of words and pictures, Wiley Computer Pub, New York.