Reflections

In the span of three months which I’ve spent writing on issues of document designing and posting them up on this blog, I have acquired a lot of experience and learnt many new things regarding new media.

Such as the proper designing for online versus print, the development of blogging communities, the classification of the different kinds of blogs as well as ethical issues relating to blogging.

A blogger should be aware of the Do’s and Don’ts of the online media as well as being alert and open to constant change and updates of the Web 2.0.

Some important points to remember as a good document designer and web user:

• Keep it short and simple (Nielsen 1995)
• Visuals are very important! (Putnis & Petelin 1996, p. 241)
• Respect others on the web; an anonymous alias would not keep or hide you from the persecution of the law.

Finally I’d like to thank all of my blog readers for all the kind comments and useful critiques, it has been an experience!

Image Source: Rman

References

Nielsen, J. 2005, Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, viewed November 12 2009, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html

Putnis, P. & Petelin, R. 1996, ‘Writing to communicate’, in Professional communication: principles and applications, Prentice Hall, Sydney, pp. 223-263.

Blogging and freedom of speech

Image Source: Free Speech Cartoon

Journalist and author Antony Loewenstein discusses in the Blogging Revolution book review interview the issue of the freedom of speech in relation to blogging, especially in countries of a repressive regime like China, Iraq and Egypt. However with modern technology and the emergence of the blogging movement, those citizens are able to express their freedom of speech.

In China, many of the greatest increasing penetration of the web in China are actually in rural areas. Web courses are also held to allow people to articulate previously taboo subjects such as corruption. As for Iraq and Egypt, their massive government support allows the Internet to exist even in the poorest communities as a way to try and build economic development (Loewenstein 2007).

But does blogging really pave the way for a wider allowance of freedom of speech?

“It is our belief that censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression.”
Blog host Blogger 2009

Image Source: kowsar

First we have to probe a little deeper into what blogging is and what it provides for the masses.

The Internet and the blogging service is available to almost anyone with access to the Internet, and can be you, me or even the sitting beside you, regardless of age, gender and culture.

Many people blog because of the advantages such as earning money through blog advertising like popular Singaporean blogger Xiaxue who is paid up to SG$500 an hour for blogging (from advertisements placed in her blog and paid reviews)!

The most popular form of blogging is personal and diary-like (Wikipedia 2009), but when a particular blogger blogs issues that surpasses sensitive political and racial issues, it is when most trouble comes a-knocking.

Image Source: Free Speech Cartoon

Are all citizens guaranteed full freedom of speech?

In Malaysia, there have been several cases where bloggers were put in the media limelight for alleged controversial issues. In 2007, Raja Petra Kamarudin was interrogated by police for allegedly insulting the King, degrading Islam and inciting ethnic hatred and violence on alternative media site Malaysia Today.

Also in the same year, Namewee did a rap version of the national anthem, criticizing Malaysian government policies and the Malay community. Both bloggers were not formally charged as the police could not find any legal terms that affirm their doings as against the law (Reporters Without Borders 2008).

Bloggers have freedom of expression based on Article 10 of the country’s constitution (Harr 2008), and although there is the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Internet is technically a free and non-restrictive platform for expression. It is also sometimes used to counter the distortions of mainstream media used by government to propagate their ideas (Nain 2007).

And although Habermas’ theory of the public sphere describes it as an area for people to gather and freely discuss and identify societal problems, and then influence political action, netizens’ self integrity would be relied on to consider Web ethics when posting something on the Net.

References
Blogger 2009, Blogger Content Policy, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.blogger.com/content.g

Habermas, J. 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge Massachusetts.

Harr, H. 2008, 'Tongue-tied tiger', Amnesty International, vol. 6, pp. 1-8.

Loewenstein, A. 2007, The Blogging Revolution, Media Report, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2351985.htm

Nain, Z. 2007, ‘Blogging the bullies and bullying the bloggers’, Malaysian Today, 16 November.

Ng, L.F. 200, 'Namewee: I'm no traitor', Malaysia Kini, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/106134

Reporters Without Borders 2008, Leading blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin released, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.ifex.org/malaysia/2008/11
/07/leading_blogger_raja_petra_kamaruddin/

Wikipedia 2009, Blog, viewed November 10 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

New forms of media publishing

The Internet and Web 2.0 has made possible the wide sharing of information of everything imaginable from anyone to everyone in the world, in just a few clicks.

This includes anything from hard news to social communication between family and friends as the Internet is a fast and wide-spread platform for heavy information-sharing. It is boosted by the availability of Web 2.0 applications such as Twitter, used to share on-the-spot news and pictures without having to go through a gatekeeper.

Image Source: Twitter-Logo
Twitter networks millions of people globally;
can you imagine the spread and impact of a major global rumour?

Therefore it enables the Internet to become one of the most common media outlets for journalism as publishing becomes almost free.

Online journalism are constantly bettering their standards as expectations from the audience grow; it has to be fast and credible as it becomes the top choice for news-searching and news-gathering as compared to traditional media which takes up to a day (for newspapers) or hours (for television) to report (Anderson 2009).

As in the recent case of Michael Jackson’s death in June 2009, Twitter and even Google experienced a crash due to heavy usage of information-searchers (Schofield 2009)! This shows how popular the Internet is as a search engine.

Image source: google_layered
Google experienced a major crash on the day
the world first heard rumours of Michael Jackson's death

As more and more information are put on the Web every day, there is no doubt that the issue of private data sharing would be brought up sooner or later. As netizens, we all want to keep our private data private, choose what we want to publish, and also retain the right to delete any information about us whenever we want.

But the rules of new media do not play like that.

According to author and Professor Yochai Benkler as quoted in Naughton (2006, p. 1), the output of new media is not exclusive property. Rather, it is “subjected to an increasingly robust ethic of open sharing, open for all others to build on, extend and make their own.”

But Facebook, worried about the legal issues it might face one day, has come out with several updates of their ‘Terms and Conditions’, including a clause to ‘being able to retain (our) data forever’ (Facebook: We own your content forever, and ever 2009).

Image Source: Facebook-logo
Facebook prepares for future legal issues by including tight clauses

And although a T&C of Twitter state that we can delete our text and images forever when we delete our account, there is also a final clause of ‘reserving the right…to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time’ (Bennett 2009).

Therefore, Net users must always be constantly aware of the blurring grey areas of the Internet before clicking Enter.

References
Anderson, K. 2009, ‘@media140: How Twitter is challenging the news gatherers’, Guardian, UK, viewed November 13 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/may/20/media140-twitter-journalism

Bennett, S. 2009, 'Who Owns Your Tweets – Twitter, You Or Anyone?', Blog of Mr. Tweet, viewed November 13 2009, http://blog.mrtweet.net/who-owns-your-tweets-twitter-you-or-anyone

Facebook: We own your content forever, and ever 2009, Neowin.net, viewed November 13 2009, http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/02/16/facebook-we-own-your-content-forever-and-ever

Naughton, J. 2006, Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem, University of Oxford, viewed November 13 2009, http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf

Schofield, J. 2009, ‘Michael Jackson, the Twitter effect, and the 'science' of reporting’, Guardian UK, viewed November 13 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/jun/26/michaeljackson-twitter-blogs-reporting