Reflections

Upon completing this subject, heaps of research has been done in order to apply the theories based on readings to support my analysis of media and publishing issues. First of all, proper citation and sourcing on all information which are garnered from credibility and accuracy information is vital to avoid issues like copyright infringement and defamation.

Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) states the importance of having images relating to verbal text which helps to convey meanings and messages easier, therefore, text and pictures can be seen in this blog to create a better understanding of an audience. Last but not least, having hyperlinks connecting to other websites helps to strengthen the messages intended to be conveyed among the audiences (Walsh 2006).

References:
Schriver, KA 1997, 'Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Text For Readers', Wiley Computer Publisher, New York

Lannon, JM 2006, 'Technical Communication', 10th Edition, Pearson Education, USA

Walsh, M 2006, 'Textual Shifts: Examining The Reading Process With Print, Visual and Multimodal Text', Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 24-37

Emoticons and email etiquette

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Conveying message via business email is fast and straight to the point which is why email etiquette is important to avoid miscommunication from the receiver. Normally the common mistakes by the writer would be assuming that the receiver would understand what would the subject line of the email would be. Basically, a subject line helps to summarise the message conveniently such as providing more detailed information rather than the subject itself. Keeping the message concise to the point is vital to avoid lengthy message as it would be irritating to scroll down through pages of text in order to arrive at the message they want to read (Tuffley 2009).

When it comes to fonts and colours, it would be best to not to use capital letters in email which it represents anger and threaten. Besides, it would be advisable for one not to compose an email while they are angry because this would end up misinterpreted from the receiver. On top of that, layout of the email is important for readability such as using spaces, commas and paragraphs to break long and lengthy sentences to make it easier for the reader (Tuffley 2009).

Source: Cartoon Stock

Emoticons are misuse in business emails where misinterpretation comes in from another business partner. Basically, an emoticon of a smiley face would be used if an employer is trying to congratulate someone who is getting promoted or achieving an award and so forth. However, misuse of emoticons in serious business emails may lead to sarcasm which it is interpreted wrongly by the receiver. An emoticon can be put into a good used such as removing criticism from an email while coaching an employee so it would sound friendlier rather than a tense up email as this soften the tone in the message conveyed. Another would be inserting an emoticon in emails as thanking the buyers for purchasing the product so they would know that the seller is pleased dealing business with them (Judith 2008).

Last but not least, it is vital for the write to know when to use an emoticon in business email to soften the tone or to tell others that the writer is pleased. However, when it comes to email writing, email etiquette is important to convey the message properly to avoid any miscommunication with the receiver.

References:
Tuffley, D 2009, Email Etiquette, Griffith University, viewed 14 June 2010, http://www.cit.griffith.edu.au/~davidt/email_etiquette.htm.

Judith 2008, Emoticons in Business E-mail, Business E-mail Etiquette, viewed 14 June 2010, http://www.businessemailetiquette.com/emoticons-in-business-e-mail/.

Johnson, D 2009, What you need to know about emoticons in e-mail, bnet.com, viewed 14 June 2010, http://blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/?p=5725.

E-books popularity on the rise

The rise of e-book became popular due to flexibility, convenient and user friendly. An e-book is basically a gadget with relevant tools for easy search and able to store a large number of books into it. E-books are accessible with most gadgets such as computers, smart phones and other reading devices allowing these gadgets to be searched using keywords within the content of the book. This kind of e-book is popular among researches and students who have the ease of access to wanted information for their work purpose with their laptops or computers.

Amazon is an online website bookstore which sells a great number of e-books for the convenient of readers. Purchasing via online is available which it is inexpensive and user friendly to search for the wanted e-books without going through a number of book stores.

Source: Future Perfect Publishing

Source: Engadget

However there are issues of using e-books such as creating discomfort to the reader’s eyes due to the flickering screens of the gadget and backlit hand-held devices (Pelle 2009). Besides that, the invention of Apple’s iPad, this encourages the users to download e-books via the application for the device which increases the number of pirated e-books to rise (Spence 2010). Therefore, the writers and publishers tend to suffer losses in their book sales.

E-books for children do not attract them as much as the adults even though the phenomenon is getting popular in this era. According to Asaff (2009), there was drawback on e-book marketing for children which it is lack of colour illustration, lift the flap, touch and feel of elements of a paper book. Unlike a paper book, it can be kept easily which it is convenient for children who stuff them roughly in a bag or left untouched on the table which it can be used again anytime. However, an e-book device needs to be maintained and protected from rough handling, drops and spills.
Thus, it is vital for to protect pirated e-books to avoid writers and publishers to suffer lost which result in less people would tend to write anymore. Paper books is more comfortable to read and easier to understand with illustration of coloured pictures for young children.

References:
Asaff, S 2009, Ebooks for Children, suite101.com,viewed 14 June 2010, http://mobiletechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/ebooks_for_children.

Pelle, A 2009, The slow rise of e-books, Research Information, viewed 14 June 2010, http://www.researchinformation.info/features/feature.php?feature_id=235.

Spence, N 2010, Report: iPad popularity blamed for rise in eBook piracy, Network World, viewed 14 June 2010, http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/051910-report-ipad-popularity-blamed-for.html.

How the Shift to an Online, On-Demand World of Content Could Impact Political Discourse

Political news is used to be obtainable from television, newspaper and other medias. However, the internet is able to do more than providing news to the audience and indeed political decisions can be discussed at any place and time. Therefore, the shift of paradigm towards new media is unavoidable in line with the fast paced, modern and digitally oriented contextual lifestyle in this era (Lessig 2004).

Source: Pew Research Center

As such, public forums allows the people to point out their views in the political conversation conveniently via any gadgets which allows internet access such as mobile phones, laptops or smart phones. Political discussion online is important where information and persuasion are they key factor to greater deliberativeness in discussions. According to Lapadat (2002), such communication leads to more detailed and deliberative discussion as the interaction are slower and more thoughtful. As such, more information can be obtained from the public’s opinion rather than the politicians themselves where these would help to improve the community too.

Another source of political disclosure would be obtaining from networking source such as Facebook and Tweeter. News travel faster than ever before with such convenient tools and gadgets where one can pass on the political news before it is release on television, radio or newspaper via social networking online. As agreed by Walsh (2006), the affordance of new internet media provides the technological edge of being capable of reaching a wide range of audience within seconds. On top of that, blog is able to provide political news, the blogger’s opinion of the content and comments from the public’s view of the news. Therefore, such the availability of such tools, the public is also able to decide, point out their views and arguments in days of political election where people would be then influence of such news as well as their voting. Besides that, different viewpoints in political discussion where some impoliteness from opposing discussants, tougher issues could be brought up which increases democratic potential of such discussion (Ng & Detenber 2005).

As such, people tend to use more of the internet tools to garner news in political discourse where the sites are more interactive and user friendly.

References:

Lessig, L 2004, Free culture: How big media uses technology and the law to lock down culture and control creativity, Penguin Press, New York.

Lapadat, JC 2002, Written interaction: A key component in online learning, Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 7 (4), viewed 14 June 2010, http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol7/issue4/lapadat.html.

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, p.24-37.

Ng, EWJ & Detenber, B 2005, The impact of synchronicity and civility in online political discussions on perceptions and intentions to participate, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(3), article 4, http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue3/ng.html.

Is Internet privacy dead? No, just more complicated: researchers

Social networking online is a growing phenomenon in the technology era as a communication tool for community building and social change. However, such progress in the online phenomenon leads to the invasion of online privacy of users. By far, Facebook is one of the most popular social networking site with numbers of applications, games and so forth which appeals to the youths who are not aware of the personal details been exploited.

Source: Facebook

As such, personal information is being obtained by few ways such as adjusting the privacy settings to the strongest leads to exposure of the information more widely compared to others who have set it lower privacy settings (Shiels 2008). Another issue would be allowing attractive application such as games, news and others offered by Facebook leads to ease of access by the application developer to the personal’s information. On the other hand, Facebook promotes itself as a communication tool to connect people but it did not informed people that Facebook is involved in commercial activities such as targeted advertising (Venezia 2010). Such crucial information is not being informed to users before they signed up for an account. Facebook uses a new ad system which helps to target relevant advertisement with the user’s personal information. Therefore, user’s action in using the Facebook service are monitored such as a user does not want to publish the information for the friend to view but Facebook still obtains it (Malik 2007). Thus, Facebook is able to place more focused advertisements to individuals depending on the likes and dislikes.

However, to curb such issues in privacy information, Silicon Valley introduced a new tool where users have stronger control over their privacy which this provides assurances of their information will not be leaked (Shiels 2008). Unfortunately, users who used Facebook personal information will still be leak out even though with any new privacy protection is provided. It is most important that the Facebook developer should respect users’ privacy and distributing their information to their advertising partners for money.

References:

Venezia P, 2010, How I learned to stop worrying about privacy and love Facebook, viewed 14 June 2010, http://www.infoworld.com/t/privacy/how-i-learned-stop-worrying-about-privacy-and-love-facebook-079?page=0,1.

Malik O, 2007, Is Facebook Beacon a Privacy Nightmare?, viewed 14 June 2010, http://gigaom.com/2007/11/06/facebook-beacon-privacy-issues/.

Sheils M, 2008, Facebook ‘violates privacy laws’, viewed 14 June 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7428833.stm.