Reflection.

Through constant research and analysis of online and offline sources, I have discovered that there’s more to the words and images we see in books, documents, brochures, and advertisements (among others), as every detail involved in the placement of such text and visuals has its connotation and effect.

Apart from understanding the usage of imagery and text as an important means of communicating a message, I have also understood that the application of both these elements differ according to the society in which one occupies (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1995, p. 35). Different social structures and cultural upbringing may bring about different meanings and contexts in which documents function.

Even as I translated the information I gained into a more suitable format for blogs, I learned new things, as it taught me that different genres of information necessitate different approaches. In doing so, I have also learned about the conventions regulating each genre, such as the Bloggers’ Code of Ethics dictating appropriate conduct within the blogosphere.

Conclusively, my efforts in updating this blog have certainly paid off in that I have now become more aware and informed of the current media and publishing industry, and the issues that circulate within.

Before I sign out, I wish to express my gratitude to you, dear reader, and to Ms. Jenny, my COMM1043 lecturer who has helped me greatly throughout the course. 

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References:

Kress, G. & Van Leeuwen, T. 1995, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, Routledge, New York, accessed via UniSA online library, viewed 13 June 2011, < http://p8080-130.220.236.155.ezlibproxy3.unisa.edu.au/fedora/get/changeme:555408/CONTENT>.

Baran, S. J. 2008, ‘The Online News Association and the Bloggers’ Code of Ethics’, in Introduction to Mass Communication, sixth edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 278 - 279.

New media: New gameplan for revolution.

When new media technologies and the universal desire to live free from any repressive rule combine, revolutions happen. And it is thanks to these aforementioned technologies that such changes can take place in a relatively short period of time, as compared to the more traditional conventions of organized collective rebellion.

The article ‘Social media, cellphone video fuel Arab protests’ (Independent, 27 February 2011) focuses on technologies such as YouTube, Facebook, and cellphone cameras assisting the Middle Eastern populace in their fight for democracy.

YouTube has assisted the Arabs in their struggle for freedom by showcasing to the world the gritty reality, through amateur recordings of the raw and sometimes harsh action that takes place on the streets, while social networking sites become a tool for uniting people who share the same cause in propagating the word against oppression. The internet, when used in this manner, provides a medium for a large radius of communication which consequently gives an opportunity for every voice to be heard (Edgerly et. al, n.d, p. 3).

New media are seen as the freer alternative compared to old media (such as newspapers) which at times may restrict free speech.

(Source: www.worldpolicy.org)

New media has been highly instrumental in assisting the Arab youths in their cause, so much so that this wave of young defiant individuals has been called the Facebook Generation (Ghosh, 2011, p. 22). This is in part due to major constituents of new media (namely the internet) being interactive, multimodal, and non-territorial among other traits (Min, 2010, p. 25). These traits then allow the internet to reinforce the pursuit of a certain cause, and facilitate public expression and free speech without any restriction and discrimination.

Therefore, while new media enable a more flexible context for the discourse of democracy, a degree of awareness and literacy on the users’ part must be practiced so that the full potential of new media may become realized. 

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References:

Edgerly, S. et. al, n.d, Youtube as a Public Sphere: The Proposition 8 Debate, presented at the Association of Internet Researchers conference, viewed 12 June 2011, < https://www.msu.edu/~jmonberg/415/Schedule_files/Edgerly_et_al_YouTube_Public_Sphere.pdf>.

Ghosh, B. 2011, ‘Rage, rap and revolution’, Time, 28 February, pp. 20 – 25.

Min, S. J. 2010, ‘From the digital divide to the democratic divide: Internet skills, political interest, and the second-level digital divide in political internet use’, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, no.7, pp. 22-35, viewed 27 April 2011, <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=75d6bbb0-a96a-4287-a311-8d97cf3b379d%40sessionmgr15&vid=1&hid=7>.  

Now everyone's a gamer in their own way.

Mobile gaming is seeing a massive increase in popularity, as games such as Rovio’s Angry Birds are yanking in hundreds of millions of downloads. The article ‘Angry Birds: 200m downloads are the tip of the mobile gaming iceberg’ (19 May 2011) by Stuart Dredge of Guardian (online) illustrate how this game in particular is enjoying an impressive streak of success, seeing a likely expansion of the franchise into motion picture territory, and other forms of promotion (Lacy, 2011).

The craze surrounding this game was mostly initiated by the iPhone and iPad, and from there on in things could not have been more stellar than how they are now for the developers.

This phenomenon demonstrates just how the current discourse of the gaming world is changing, as the gaming industry takes on more innovative ways and seeks to incorporate the social spheres into the gaming world (Innovatrs.com, 2011). Other games such as Farmville and World of Warcraft are similarly successful due to the social factor infused in the gameplay, dismissing the traditional stereotype that gamers are loners lurking in the confines of their rooms.

I for one admit to be rather excluded from the social and mobile gaming loop, regardless of having played a few games in the past. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that new trends in gaming such as these are currently becoming more and more prominent, as the gaming sphere changes and adapts to the times.

The social factor included into current games are becoming increasingly vital in the current gaming landscape, so much so that social games are forecasted to have an amount up to 68.7 million players by 2012 (Schreier, 2011).

Another phenomenon that helps propel such games to spread among a large base of internet and mobile phone users is the ‘viral’ factor, brought about by word-of-mouth and the passing on of information from one user to another (Wilson, 2005). Therefore, when one person plays a certain mobile game, depending on how he or she likes it, he or she will then talk about the game to friends and acquaintances, thus spreading more potential players which ultimately brings about the initiation of a streak of success.

Conclusively, as much as a game can be modern, intricate, and sophisticated, it still relies on good old word of mouth and the social interaction between individuals to truly push it to accomplish big feats. 

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References:

Innovatrs.com, 2011, ‘Social and mobile gaming heralds innovation’, Innovatrs, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://www.innovatrs.com/blog/social-and-mobile-gaming-heralds-innovation/>.

Lacy, S. 2011, ‘Angry Birds tops 200 million downloads; more than double its “crazy” forecast (TCTV)’, Tech Crunch, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/18/angry-birds-tops-200-million-downloads-more-than-double-its-crazy-forecast-tctv/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29>.  

Schreier, J. 2011, ‘5 top social games and why they’re so successful’, Mashable.com, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://mashable.com/2011/02/15/top-social-games/>.

Wilson, R. 2005, ‘The six simple principles of viral marketing’, Web Marketing Today, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htm>. 

Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+S, and done: The plague of plagiarism.

Plagiarism is a misconduct that is gaining notoriety and is becoming an increasingly worrying problem in the fields of academia and publishing. The article ‘Plagiarism: The Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V boom’ featured in BBC Magazine (2 March 2011) details how this breach of integrity is quickly spreading, most commonly among students and occasionally involving high-profile individuals such as German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Colonel Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam.

The growing accounts of plagiarism nowadays are in part due to the ease of access and the vast information made available on the internet. A plagiarist in more traditional times may have had to read extensively through an array of books to source for information to replicate; but in this modern day it is just a matter of simply browsing through search engines, a few clicks here and there, copying, and finally pasting into the deceitful document.  

Technology has certainly made life easier - imagine having to manually go through all of that for a few pieces of information! Unfortunately, cheating has also been made easier with technology.

(Source: www.readkutubkids.wordpress.com)

In my opinion, while the internet has certainly proved to be highly instrumental in providing a massive source of information for academic purposes, we can’t take such convenience for granted without putting in our own effort in order to make our work worthwhile.

Nevertheless, the fact still remains that the internet has only created better, more well-equipped cheaters which ultimately raises the level of difficulty in catching such perpetrators (Kennedy, 2006). However, while the internet gives more for plagiarists to source from, it has also granted a degree of ease for authorities to weed out any culprits, through web-based plagiarism detection technologies. Despite the increasing prominence of such technologies, tutors and lecturers still find their gut instincts serving them best, as it takes a degree of scepticism on their part to initiate any further investigation into a document’s integrity (Miller, 2007).

Therefore, while authorities may do their best in catching up with plagiarists before they grow anymore rampant, it remains as a case of prevention being better than the cure. Instead of constantly bombarding students and would-be cheaters with threats of strict repercussions, the powers-that-be should educate them about plagiarism and how to best avoid it (Nagel, 2010). This will deter the initial urge to plagiarize and hopefully avoid such activity from surging in popularity.


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References:

Kennedy, R. 2006, ‘Digital plagiarism: The role of society and technology’, Orange: A Student Journal of Technical Communication, viewed 11 June 2011, < http://orange.eserver.org/issues/5-1/kennedy.html>.

Miller, K. 2007, ‘Professors take search for plagiarism to web’, Palm Beach Post, 17  June, viewed 11 June 2011, < http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdweb?index=0&did=1291271971&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1307947881&clientId=14273>.

Nagel, D. 2010, ‘Plagiarism deterred through information, not threats’, Campus Technology, viewed 11 June 2011, < http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/02/02/plagiarism-deterred-through-information-not-threats.aspx>. 

That's not funny: When cartoons go bad.

The article ‘Berita Harian issues public apology over tsunami cartoon’ by Wong Pek Mei in the Star (14^th March 2011) reports the backlash faced by local newspaper Berita Harian after having published a cartoon by Zohri Sukimi (or better known as Zoy) depicting Ultraman, an iconic Japanese superhero, fleeing from a tidal wave.

(Source: www.allvoices.com)

This cartoon prompted swift condemnation by many, seeing as it was made public while Japan was still assessing the extensive damage incurred from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that swept through the country a few days prior. 

The disaster had dealt a massive blow to Japan, resulting in the deaths of up to 15,413 people and costing the country billions of dollars in damages.

Berita Harian took due notice and apologized for their lack of proper judgement, after being criticized by various parties from both ends of the political spectrum, as well as the public.

Instances such as this demonstrate the importance of censorship despite pursuing the freedom of speech and expression, namely through the medium of cartoons. Apart from inspiring creativity, drawings and images also contribute to more effective ways of conveying  messages, especially if added with elements of humour, as Ginman and Ungern-Sternberg (2003, p. 76) suggest. 

However, when put into the context of a broader medium such as the newspaper, cartoons take on more serious roles in society – ranging from being an impetus for the forming of public opinion, to becoming a simplified representation of certain situations and aspects of life, to accommodate better understanding (Abraham, 2009, p. 119) – and crank a few laughs along the way.

Despite having liberty in expression, an artist must practice caution when it involves sensitive subject matter. Unfortunately, such caution was not evident in the case of the ‘tsunami’ cartoon, as all were clear and unanimous in deeming the cartoon offensive. The editors were to shoulder the blame equally, as they should have exercised self-censorship and simply practiced more awareness.

Every section printed within the published medium depicts the stance of the writers and the overall rationale of the editors (Jenkins, Sunday Times, 5 February 2006). Therefore, if such an offensive piece were to be printed without restriction, what would that imply about the mentality of the professionals in the local newspaper industry?

Conclusively, stricter regulation must be enforced in order to prevent such blunders from reoccurring, and ultimately save the reputation and credibility of our printing press. 

_____________________________________________

References:

Abraham, L. 2009, ‘Effectiveness of cartoons as a uniquely visual medium for orienting social issues’, Journalism and Communication Monographs, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 117 – 165, viewed 10 May 2011, <http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdweb?index=0&did=1847708961&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1307904181&clientId=14273>.

Ginman, M. & Ungern-Sternberg, S. 2003, ‘Cartoons as information’, Journal of Information Science, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 69 – 77, viewed 10 June 2011, <http://jis.sagepub.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/content/29/1/69.full.pdf+html>.

Jenkins, S. 2006, ‘These cartoons don’t defend free speech, they threaten it’, Sunday Times (online), viewed 10 June 2011, <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article727080.ece>.

New forms of media publishing.

With social networking sites and other new media surging in popularity, a shift in the way media works is bound to take place. Gitelman and Pingree (2003) sum it up quite precisely: “all ‘old’ media were new media once” (Naughton, 2006).

Thus what was once seen as a revolutionary means of conveying information to the masses is now conventional or even traditional, and similarly media goes through occasional changes nowadays, even more so with the advent of social networking sites and blogs (e.g: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.).

One of these changes is the increasing versatility with which the internet provides users in not only having access to information online, but also being able to contribute to the mass of information – Axel Bruns (2007) identifies this phenomenon as the age of the ‘produser’, where people are producers just as much as they are users.

The field of journalism has had quite a struggle in adapting to this new public competency, particularly due to social media being a more democratic, user-driven, and (most importantly) interactive means for people to gain information (Bound, 2010, ‘New media circus’, Monocle magazine, pp.93-97).

This sense of involvement is provided by the multimodality of such online sources, with “menu buttons...” inviting users to become “...active participants”, while giving the option of choosing “different pathways” depending on the reader’s interest (Walsh, 2006, p.32). This certainly outweighs the bland, one-way approach of newspapers.

It is not surprising then that most newspapers nowadays also have their online counterparts, for the sake of better timeliness in reporting as well as providing a more reader-oriented experience.

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References:

Bound, R. 2010, ‘New media circus’, Monocle magazine, issue 36, volume 4, September 2010, pp.93-97.

Bruns, A. 2007, ‘Produsage: A working definition’, Produsage.org, viewed 24 April 2011, <http://produsage.org/produsage>. 

Bruns, A. 2007, ‘Welcome to Produsage’, Produsage.org, viewed 24 April 2011, < http://produsage.org/>. 

Naughton, J. 2006, ‘Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem’, paper presented to Reuters Fellowship, University of Oxford, 8 November 2006, viewed 24 April 2011, <http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf>.

Walsh, M. 2006, ‘The ‘textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual, and multimodal texts’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, volume 29, no.1, pp.24-37. (Accessed from UniSA online library)

Blogging communities: What are they and how are they formed?

Still very much in the thick of discussion in regards to the blogosphere, this post will briefly explain blogging communities and how they are formed.

A blogging community acts very much like community in the general sense, in that it consists of “groups of people...” – in this case bloggers – “...who, for a specific subject, share a specialty, role, passion, interest, concern, or a set of problems” (Garfield, 2010).

The formation of blogging communities came about with the proliferation of blogging, as more and more people started to blog, and as they did so, more and more topics were being talked about. This then lead to every involved blogger finding another by way of “commenting on each others’ blogs”, as well as having RSS and feedreaders offering “new possibilities” of how blogs were discovered and read (White, 2006).

___________________________________________ 

White (2006) further explains the nature of blogging communities, dividing them into three categories:

Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community:

A community based on one blog (managed by one or several authors), where the readers and commentors of the blog are the community members.

Central Connecting Topic Community:

A community that arises between blogs linked by a common passion or topic.

Boundaried Communities:

A collection of blogs and blog readers hosted on a single site or platform.

___________________________________________ 

One example of a blogging community would be Bloggers, a website that is home to “Millions of Bloggers”.

Bloggers' most popular blogs under the 'Arts & Culture' category.

(Source: http://bloggers.com/arts-culture/popular)

Bloggers' most popular blogs under the 'News & Media' category.

(Source: http://bloggers.com/news-media/popular)

A variety of blogs are aggregated on this site, with the main directory placing such blogs under different categories (arts and culture, business, entertainment, life and lifestyle, news and media, etc.).

As one author puts it, being involved in blogging communities gives you “strength in numbers”, among reaping other benefits (Banks, 2010).

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References:

Bloggers.com, 2011, website homepage, viewed 24 April 2011, <http://bloggers.com>.

Banks, J.B. 2010, ‘4 benefits to joining blogging communities’, BloggingPro.com, viewed 24 April 2011, <http://www.bloggingpro.com/archives/2010/06/07/4-benefits-to-joining-blogging-communities/>.

Garfield, S. 2010, ‘Communities manifesto’, viewed 24 April 2011, <https://docs.google.com/View?id=ddj598qm_44fx54rbg5>.

Kinkeldei, B. 2007, ‘Blog communities: Forging connections and promoting growth through blog communities’, whitepaper by 21Publish, viewed 23 April 2011, <http://www.21publish.com/pub/21publish/blogging-whitepaper.pd>.

White, N. 2006, ‘Blogs and community – launching a new paradigm for online community?’, The Knowledge Tree, edition 11, September 2006, viewed 24 April 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-–-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

Blog classifications.

As I have mentioned in my previous posting, the blogosphere is massive. It comes as no surprise then that with such a scale comes a variety of blog types that comprise the entire ‘blogscape’.

In her article ‘Towards a taxonomy of blogs’, media analyst Margaret Simons classifies blogs into nine different categories based on function, being: Pamphleteering blogs, the digest blog, advocacy blogs, ‘Popular Mechanics’ blog, exhibition blogs, gatewatcher blogs, the diary, the advertisement, and the news blog (Simons, 2008).

Meanwhile, other classifications such as those suggested by Talwar (2010) via BloggingJunction.com and Belardo (2010) via InkRebels.com are based on the nature of the blog’s content. The former mentions company blogs, personal blogs, general blogs, and niche blogs, while the latter lists collaborative blogs, tutorial blogs, travel/cultural blogs, fashion and lifestyle blogs, and personal blogs.

Blogs are also categorized by the medium through which their content is presented. For instance, Blogging: The Phenomenon bases its categorization on whether a blog relies on more text-based presentations or otherwise (podcasts, videocasts, and photologs).

Even with the specificity provided by these classifications, the process of definitively identifying a blog remains a tough one, as blogs may take on several different forms at any given time.

For instance, a diary blog may take on a quality similar to that of an advocacy blog (one that is a proponent of a certain political/social/public cause) by providing personal yet informed musings regarding a certain issue.

Therefore, even as the classifications provided remain to be relevant and applicable to the current blogging scene, the lines between different categories seem to blur as blogs get more explorative and expansive, including different media and approaches in presenting their content.

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References:

Belardo, M. 2010, ‘The 5 types of blogs – which one suits you best?’, InkRebels.com, viewed 23 April 2011, <http://www.inkrebels.com/insp/the-5-types-of-blogs-which-one-suits-you-best/>.

Blogging – The Phenomenon, 2006, ‘Blogging – The Phenomenon: Types of blogs’, viewed 23 April 2011, <http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01130/typesofblogs.html>.

Funnell, A. 2008, ‘A taxonomy of blogs’, ABC Radio National’s The Media Report, interview with Margaret Simons, viewed 23 April 2011, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>.

Simons, M. 2008, ‘Towards a taxonomy of blogs’, Australian Policy Online, 11^th September, viewed 23 April 2011, <http://www.apo.org.au/commentary/towards-taxonomy-blogs-0>. 

Talwar, S. 2010, ‘4 different types of blogs that exist!’, BloggingJunction.com, viewed 23 April 2011, <http://www.bloggingjunction.com/4-types-of-blogs/>.

Blogging as a current phenomenon and its benefits to the community.

Just how big is the blogosphere? Well, to start with, just the mere mention of the word “blogosphere” brings to mind a mental image of a massive, borderless entity – similar to how one would imagine the atmosphere, or more simply, our planet as one big (almost) spherical mass.

The exact population of the blogosphere is hard to pinpoint for certain though, as Caslon Analytics state that there are very “few credible estimates about the number of online blogs”, due to the inconvenient fact that “many figures are contradictory or self-serving” (Arnold, 2009). However, a few legitimate and well-researched sources place the blog-count as of 2010 at 152 million (Pingdom.com, 2011), an increase from the previous 144 million as stated by BlogPulse (Morris, 2010).

Having said that, it is safe to assume that this number will definitely see an increase in the near future, as it is believed that more and more people will start to embrace blogs and the blogging culture as a whole over traditional media (Technorati, 2010).

Not one to be left out, Malaysia is among a few other Asian countries that are taking the lead in the adoption of social media, with a growing myriad of blogs abuzz with activity (Ooi, 2007, p.1).

Among the types of blogs most prevalent within the Malaysian ‘blogscape’ are those about “food, the social scene, family life, books and hobbies” as well as “political blogs” (Ooi, 2007, pg.2).

Having such a varied repertoire of topics does indeed benefit blog readers and ultimately society. For instance, political blogs provide alternative views on a current issue at hand and may even lead readers to question the objectivity of mainstream media (Attan, 2008).

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To download Yang-May Ooi’s articles on Malaysia's social media scene and its often uneasy relationship with mainstream media and the government, click here.

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References:

Arnold, B. 2009, ‘Blogging: Statistics and demographics’, viewed 22 April 2011, <http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm>.

Attan, A. 2008, ‘Trends and future of the Malaysian mass media’, presented at The National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs), Dewan Tunku Canselor, University of Malaya on 30^th October 2008, viewed 22 April 2011, <http://www.ssig.gov.my/ssig/kcent/material/Ahirudin%20Attan.pdf>.

Morris, A. 2010, ‘2010 Social blogging trends: There’s only enough room in the blogosphere for the 144 million of us’, Ignite Social Media Blog, posted 5^th August 2010, viewed 23 April 2011, <http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-trends/2010-blogging-trends-blog-growth-statistics/>.

Ooi, Y.M. 2007, ‘Blogging thrives in Malaysia’, Communication World, November – December issue, viewed 22 April 2011, (downloadable from) <http://www.zenguide.co.uk/2007/11/blogging-thrives-in-malaysia/>.

Pingdom.com, 2011, ‘Internet 2010 in numbers’, viewed 20 April 2011, <http://royal.pingdom.com/2011/01/12/internet-2010-in-numbers/>.

Sobel, J. 2010, ‘State of the Blogosphere 2010’, Technorati.com, viewed 20 April 2011, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/who-bloggers-brands-and-consumers-day/page-2/>.

What makes a PowerPoint presentation, a good PowerPoint presentation?

   A PowerPoint presentation, being a document genre on its own, can be developed and made effective in its process of conveying information by applying the design principles that encompass genre and determine the quality of the document.

   In addition to making a document more aesthetically pleasing, good document design enables efficient reading, proper emphasis, as well as a heightened sense of confidence regarding the overall communication between the reader and the document (Anderson as cited by Putnis and Petelin, 1996, p.254).

   In regards to these quality-defining principles, the PowerPoint slides my group designed and used for a previous presentation assignment could have been improved in several ways.

   First among these improvements would be to ensure consistency throughout the entire presentation, namely the typeface. Among the various determinants of good document design, Reep (2006, p.136) states consistency as an essential tool for emphasizing recurring or similar types of information. 

Fig. 1a

Fig. 1b

   Upon observation, it can be seen that the fonts used in both the slides shown in figures 1a and 1b are different (fig. 1a uses Bell MT, while fig. 1b uses Verdana). Therefore, either one of these two fonts should have been chosen and used throughout to maintain consistency and ultimately improve the overall quality of the PowerPoint presentation.

   Apart from consistency, I would suggest that the font (namely, Bell MT as seen in fig. 1a) be made bolder, or switched to a more distinct one. This is to further enable the audience to read the information better and improve the process of conveying information (Marquez, 2011).

   Therefore, by having changed these few parts of this PowerPoint presentation, the overall process of presenting our findings and resultant knowledge from the analyzed readings would have been more effective, without being obscured by possible faults caused by typeface discrepancies and font unreadability, among others. 

__________________________________________

References:

Bear, J. H. 2011, 'Before you create a PowerPoint presentation', viewed 8 April 2011, <http://desktoppub.about.com/od/microsoft/bb/powerpointrules.htm>.

Marquez, Z. L. 2011, 'How to make a good PowerPoint presentation', viewed 8 April 2011, <http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Good-PowerPoint-Presentation&id=4313178>. 

Putnis, P & Petelin, R. 1996, 'Writing to communicate', chapter 7 from Professional communication: Principles and applications, p.254, (UniSA online library), viewed 7 April 2011, <http://p8080-130.220.236.155.ezlibproxy3.unisa.edu.au/fedora/get/changeme:554412/CONTENT>. 

Reep, D. 2006, 'Document design', chapter 6 from Technical writing (sixth edition), p.136, (UniSA online library), viewed 7 April 2011, <http://p8080-130.220.236.155.ezlibproxy3.unisa.edu.au/fedora/get/changeme:931547/CONTENT>.

Reynolds, G. 2005, 'What is good PowerPoint design?', viewed 8 April 2011, <http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/whats_good_powe.html>.

  

A reason, a purpose.

In this blog I will discuss issues related to the field of document design, with which I hope to bring a convergence of views and opinions from my fellow peers, as well as possible input from professionals in the media industry.

So, stay tuned as I will be posting my subsequent discussions soon.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Dimitri. Nice to meet you. Let's begin.

Welcome. I have commenced this blog in accordance with the requirements of the Issues in Publication and Design (COMM 1043) course I am taking in my second semester of my Communication and Media Management degree under Taylor's University.