'Blogged Out', The Straits Times, 07 April 2008, p. 15.
Blogger 2008, Blogger, viewed 20 April 2008, http://www.blogger.com
'Channel 5 fined $15K by MDA', Today, 25 April 2008, p. 6.
Facebook 2008, Facebook, viewed 20 April 2008, http://www.facebook.com
Friendster 2008, Friendster, viewed 20 April 2008, http://www.friendster.com
'Girls Domain', The Sunday Times, 24 February 2008, p. 49.
Kress, G 1997, 'Visual and verbal modes of representation in electronically mediated communication: the potentials of new forms of text' in Snyder,Ilana (ed) 1997, Page to screen: taking literacy into the electronic era, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, Chapter 3, pp. 53-79.
'Living Unplugged', The Straits Times, 19 April 2008, p. 35.
MDA 2008, Media Development Authority, viewed 26 April 2008, http://www.mda.gov.sg/wms.www/index_flash.aspx
MrBrown.com 2008, MrBrown.com, viewed 31 March 2008, http://www.mrbrown.com
MSN 2008, Microsoft Network, viewed 20 April 2008, http://www.msn.com
52 Nights 2008, 52 Nights Unplugged, viewed 19 April 2008, http://52nightsunplugged.ning.com
Repeal 377A 2008, Repeal 377A, viewed 26 April 2008, http://repeal377a.com/?p=67
Skype 2008, Skype, viewed 20 April 2008, http://www.skype.com/int/en/
Stickgal 2008, Stickgal.blogspot, viewed 31 March 2008, http://www.stickgal.blogspot.com
'STOMP recognized as digital media leader', The Sunday Times, 24 February 2008, p. 50.
The Blog Readability Test 2008, What level of education is required to understand your blog?, viewed 01 April 2008, http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx
Tommorrow.sg 2008, Tommorrow.sg, viewed 07 April 2008, http://tomorrow.sg/archives/2007/04/29/blogger_dies_nz_company_negligen.html
Nielsen, J 2007, 'Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design', viewed 01 April 2008, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html
Nielsen, J 1997, 'How users read the web', viewed 01 April 2008, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
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, 2006, pp. 24-37.
Xiaxue 2008, Xiaxue.blogspot, viewed 31 March, http://www.xiaxue.blogspot.com
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Channel 5 fined $15k by MDA
MediaCorp TV Channel 5 was fined $15,000 by MDA (Media Development Authority) for promoting gay lifestyle by airing a programme on Jan 13, which showed a gay couple and their adopted baby.
It was reported in MediaCorp Press Today (25 April 2008, p.6) that MDA said the episode of Home and Décor series Find and Design, in which the host helped the couple decorate a nursery, ‘normalizes and promotes a gay lifestyle’.
It was considered “inappropriate” for its Sunday morning timeslot as that was ‘within families viewing hours’.
Last year, the broadcaster was fine $5000 for airing a kissing scene between two lesbians in an episode of drama series “Without a Trace”.
Furthermore, earlier this month, StarHub Cable was also fined $10,000 by MDA for airing a commercial that showed two lesbians kissing.
Being in a conservative society, I give my support to the government for retaining section 377A even though there were many who were trying to repeal it through the media. A video on YouTube showing Singapore artists giving their support for repealing 377A, created an up-roar in the net and there were blogs and debates going on for months on this topic.
Anyway, in the first place it is not right for 2 men to be married and let alone adopt a baby, because God only created 1 Adam and 1 Eve.
It was reported in MediaCorp Press Today (25 April 2008, p.6) that MDA said the episode of Home and Décor series Find and Design, in which the host helped the couple decorate a nursery, ‘normalizes and promotes a gay lifestyle’.
It was considered “inappropriate” for its Sunday morning timeslot as that was ‘within families viewing hours’.
Last year, the broadcaster was fine $5000 for airing a kissing scene between two lesbians in an episode of drama series “Without a Trace”.
Furthermore, earlier this month, StarHub Cable was also fined $10,000 by MDA for airing a commercial that showed two lesbians kissing.
Being in a conservative society, I give my support to the government for retaining section 377A even though there were many who were trying to repeal it through the media. A video on YouTube showing Singapore artists giving their support for repealing 377A, created an up-roar in the net and there were blogs and debates going on for months on this topic.
Anyway, in the first place it is not right for 2 men to be married and let alone adopt a baby, because God only created 1 Adam and 1 Eve.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Macbook Air
The New Macbook Air is out!!!
It's Ultra thin. Ultra portable. And ultra unlike anything else.
And it's a freaking $2000 difference between a 1.6GHz and a 1.8GHz.
Specs:
It's Ultra thin. Ultra portable. And ultra unlike anything else.
And it's a freaking $2000 difference between a 1.6GHz and a 1.8GHz.
Specs:
- Light weight - 1.36kg
- Size (W x H x D) - 0.4 to 1.94 x 32.5 x 22.7 cm
- Processor - 1.6/1.8GHz Core 2 Duo 4MB shared L2 cache
- Display - 13.3-inch (viewable) glossy widescreen LED 1280 x 800 pixels
- Memory - 2GB (onboard)
- Hard drive - 80GB Parallel ATA, 4200 rpm / 64GB solid-state drive
- Optical drive - option: External MacBook Air USB SuperDrive (8x DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- Graphics - Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory4
The keyboard is illuminated and full size. It comes with a 13.3-inch widescreen LED backlit displays that delivers 1280-by-800 resolution which produces vibrant images and rich colors. The LED technology also conserves battery life.
You can zoom, rotate, and scroll with a flick or a pinch of the multi-touch trackpad. This gesture-based input, so successful on iPhone and iPod touch, has been adapted for the MacBook Air.
There's a next generation wireless feature with blazing-fast 802.11n2 and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technologies built in, MacBook Air takes full advantage of the increasingly wireless world.
The designs and features of these hardwares are getting so sophisticated and they look good just by owning any of them.
I desire owning a MacBook Air myself, but I'm afraid that the thickness, or rather lack of it, will mean I've to take extra care in preventing my toy Pomeranian from walking over it, and breaking it in the process.
Much consideration has to be made for something so delicate.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Technology connects people
It is just so amazing how technology connects people and the ability of the internet reaches out global wide!
I am using:
I just found my secondary school friend on MSN, Windows Live Messenger the other day. We had lost contact after we graduated and I was so delighted to be chatting with her on MSN. She is now living in Texas and I am in Singapore, and yet we can communicate so conveniently.
When I was in overseas, I chatted with my friends online either using Skype, or Windows Live Messenger video call by my web cam. Moreover, they are free.
My friends can find out what I have been up to, even though I am not in Singapore most of the time. They can read my blogs, or check out my photos, which I have uploaded on Friendster and Facebook.
When I first got to know about Facebook, I was highly addicted to almost all the applications. To date my top favorite is Friends for Sales! Where you can buy and sell your friends as pets. You can also make your newly purchased “pets” poke, dropkick and karate-chop your unsuspecting friends. It is a joint application with Pokes.
You can make virtual money through the process of buying and selling, whereby you will earn half the profit when you sell a pet and half the profit when you are bought. On top of that, you earn $2000 for every 4 hours of logging in and $1000 for every friend you invite to join the application.
Right now, I am valued at $102, 650.
Pet Shop is a part of the application that enables you to choose and buy your desired pets. You can also buy some gifts to pamper yourself, for your pets to play with or even feed them. In addition, you can also make more virtual currency by taking part in some surveys or product tests.
This is the only application where I spent most of my time on. And for the other applications, I have this urge to delete all of them because it is taking up my page and it is kind of annoying when you received more than 200 requests. This is what happens when you do not log into or spend enough time on Facebook.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tech addicts switch off gadgets for a day to regain control of lives
So what has technologogy done to us? While you are pondering, let me give you some insights.
Technology, i.e. computers, mobile phones, ipods, palm tops, blackberry and all that you can think of, is invading our lives. It seems that we are not able to live without them anymore.
A usual sight on the MRT train to work will be people plugging on their ipods and fingers busily punching on the key pads. When they reach the office, it is e-mail time first thing in the morning.
Will you live unplugged (2008) for a day? Well someone did, when she realised that she was ‘blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages’. (The Straits Times, 2008)
Another addict said that it was ‘hours lost while surfing online that left her feeling like she had been in a drunken blackout’.
They decided that the solution is to break away from technology for certain nights, by switching off their computers, mobile phones and TV, in order to lead a tech free live.
Maybe I will try it on Earth day. Save the world and save my soul.
Technology, i.e. computers, mobile phones, ipods, palm tops, blackberry and all that you can think of, is invading our lives. It seems that we are not able to live without them anymore.
A usual sight on the MRT train to work will be people plugging on their ipods and fingers busily punching on the key pads. When they reach the office, it is e-mail time first thing in the morning.
Will you live unplugged (2008) for a day? Well someone did, when she realised that she was ‘blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages’. (The Straits Times, 2008)
Another addict said that it was ‘hours lost while surfing online that left her feeling like she had been in a drunken blackout’.
They decided that the solution is to break away from technology for certain nights, by switching off their computers, mobile phones and TV, in order to lead a tech free live.
Maybe I will try it on Earth day. Save the world and save my soul.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Blogging kills
A newspaper report in the Straits Times on Monday titled ‘Blogged out’, tells the story of the death of two internet writers which underlines dangers of 24/7 stress.
So what does this imply? Blogging kills? Reading further, the article talks on the first victim who was a prolific blogger on technology subjects, died at 60 years old of a heart attack. The second victim is a technology blogger, died at 50 years old of a massive coronary. The coronary artery is blood vessel that supplies blood and oxygen to the heart. Therefore, if the artery is blocked, the blood cannot flow to the heart and part of the heart dies.
Indeed, working long hours on the computer is hazardous for the human body. As reported, most bloggers have turned their home into offices so that they can provide first hand technology development and news to the competitive new media. Some of the health issues bloggers complain are ‘weight loss or gain, sleeping disorder, exhaustion, and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing news' and getting caught in the information cycle that is continuously going on in the internet.
So what can we resolve from this?
So what does this imply? Blogging kills? Reading further, the article talks on the first victim who was a prolific blogger on technology subjects, died at 60 years old of a heart attack. The second victim is a technology blogger, died at 50 years old of a massive coronary. The coronary artery is blood vessel that supplies blood and oxygen to the heart. Therefore, if the artery is blocked, the blood cannot flow to the heart and part of the heart dies.
Indeed, working long hours on the computer is hazardous for the human body. As reported, most bloggers have turned their home into offices so that they can provide first hand technology development and news to the competitive new media. Some of the health issues bloggers complain are ‘weight loss or gain, sleeping disorder, exhaustion, and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing news' and getting caught in the information cycle that is continuously going on in the internet.
So what can we resolve from this?
Friday, April 4, 2008
STOMP recognized as Digital Media Leader
STOMP is Singapore’s No. 1 citizen journalism website with user-generated material fuelling its success.
In the article (The Straits Times, 2008) , STOMP was included in a forthcoming book, ‘Hyper-Local 2.0: Forging Deeper Audience Connections’ and the website’s success in forging a bond with the public by allowing them to voice their opinions and effect social change was commended.
‘Issues highlighted in the STOMP website include anti-social behavior that annoys Singaporeans, like drivers parking irresponsibly and restaurants with cockroaches and unhygienic conditions.’
Given the ‘NOW’ technology, cameras or mobile devices can record images of the scene or even make video clips and will eventually strike a controversy when uploaded online.
The public is free to post and give their views and comments on trival issues that used to be discussed only with family or closed friends.
STOMP has succeeded in connecting with the public and has been a voice to the people to evoke the Government to take some actions.
The article stated that from the book, ‘the power to get people to provide constructive feedback makes STOMP a powerful agent in effecting social change because it gets the authorities to address the concerns of the public.’
STOMP connects with the public in digital age.
In the article (The Straits Times, 2008) , STOMP was included in a forthcoming book, ‘Hyper-Local 2.0: Forging Deeper Audience Connections’ and the website’s success in forging a bond with the public by allowing them to voice their opinions and effect social change was commended.
‘Issues highlighted in the STOMP website include anti-social behavior that annoys Singaporeans, like drivers parking irresponsibly and restaurants with cockroaches and unhygienic conditions.’
Given the ‘NOW’ technology, cameras or mobile devices can record images of the scene or even make video clips and will eventually strike a controversy when uploaded online.
The public is free to post and give their views and comments on trival issues that used to be discussed only with family or closed friends.
STOMP has succeeded in connecting with the public and has been a voice to the people to evoke the Government to take some actions.
The article stated that from the book, ‘the power to get people to provide constructive feedback makes STOMP a powerful agent in effecting social change because it gets the authorities to address the concerns of the public.’
STOMP connects with the public in digital age.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Weblog changes
The features in Blogger have changed for the past 3 years. Blogger is a web site launched in 1999 from Pyra Labs, San Francisco, CA (http://www.blogger.com) that provides the tools for creating blogs (Weblogs). Feature such as ‘auto-save’ was noticed. Technology changes from time to time and Blogger has upgraded itself to catch up with the ever-changing technology. To my understanding, there are now more features and skins to experiment with compared to the past.
In a newspaper report in the Sunday times titled ‘Girls’ domain’, it was reported that ‘research showed that among the youngest Internet users, the primary creators of Web content are teenage girls.’
In the report, Prof Gill stated that girls are more patient and creative when it came to designing. From a young age, they were taught how to express themselves said Prof Gill, who is the interim director for the Institute for Communications Research and associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He added that ‘historically, girls and women had been expected to be social, communal and skilled in decorative arts.’
Girls are hitting it big in this up-coming trend and studies show that among Web users, from ages of 12 to 17, significantly more girls than boys blog and create or work on their own Web pages.
I personally notice that most of my female friends own a blog as compared to my male friends. Maybe girls have more things (personal) to rant about, as compared to guys?
In a newspaper report in the Sunday times titled ‘Girls’ domain’, it was reported that ‘research showed that among the youngest Internet users, the primary creators of Web content are teenage girls.’
In the report, Prof Gill stated that girls are more patient and creative when it came to designing. From a young age, they were taught how to express themselves said Prof Gill, who is the interim director for the Institute for Communications Research and associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He added that ‘historically, girls and women had been expected to be social, communal and skilled in decorative arts.’
Girls are hitting it big in this up-coming trend and studies show that among Web users, from ages of 12 to 17, significantly more girls than boys blog and create or work on their own Web pages.
I personally notice that most of my female friends own a blog as compared to my male friends. Maybe girls have more things (personal) to rant about, as compared to guys?
Second observation is that blogger has made it easier to set up a blog as the users are getting younger. My twin nieces who are only 10 years old, already have their own photo blog.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Design Principles
What are the design principles in a weblog?
They are scannability, usability, readability and credibility.
In Jakob Nielson's alertbox, he states that people scan the page rather then reading it conventionally. Walsh also states that a 'reader's pathway can be multi-linear and multi-directional.' (Walsh, 2006 p. 30)
Now that I think of it, I do that too. Yes... I do scan for key words and anything that's chunky and uninteresting will not pass my mark.
Blame it on the planet that we are living in. We are always in a rush, so we will have no time for useless information.
How usable is my page?
It is consistent, simple and easy to understand. Keeping things simple is advantageous so that the readers will not be distracted from the content as it is the most important part of an web presence.
What captures a reader's attention?
Kress states that when a person looks at the computer screen, 'visual' is there and they will focus on 'font-types, size and layout'. (Kress, 1997 p.56) This corresponds with Jakob Nielsen's Top 10 Mistake in Web Designs.
I came across this site, Blog readability Test and I received a Genius badge. How much credibility is there here?
They are scannability, usability, readability and credibility.
In Jakob Nielson's alertbox, he states that people scan the page rather then reading it conventionally. Walsh also states that a 'reader's pathway can be multi-linear and multi-directional.' (Walsh, 2006 p. 30)
Now that I think of it, I do that too. Yes... I do scan for key words and anything that's chunky and uninteresting will not pass my mark.
Blame it on the planet that we are living in. We are always in a rush, so we will have no time for useless information.
How usable is my page?
It is consistent, simple and easy to understand. Keeping things simple is advantageous so that the readers will not be distracted from the content as it is the most important part of an web presence.
What captures a reader's attention?
Kress states that when a person looks at the computer screen, 'visual' is there and they will focus on 'font-types, size and layout'. (Kress, 1997 p.56) This corresponds with Jakob Nielsen's Top 10 Mistake in Web Designs.
I came across this site, Blog readability Test and I received a Genius badge. How much credibility is there here?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Introduction
The purpose of creating this weblog titled Thoughts on Publication and Design is an assignment that is required of me to be handed in on April 28. So here goes...
I started my first blog way back in 2005. Main entries: Anger management issues, Workplace dispute issues and mainly my own thoughts. It was sort of like a hot trend (to my own understanding) of having an online diary back then.
Normal blogger will just blog about anything and everything under the sun. For some, they have actually become celebrity bloggers, for example, stickgal, xiaxue and Mr Brown. I wonder when it will be my turn. Stickgal became famous because of her animated drawings. Xiaxue was famous for her criticisms. And Mr Brown? I am most interested in his uncanny views of politics in Singapore and his daily ramblings.
Besides personal thoughts or personal ramblings, weblogs have become a new window of media advancement.
Online diaries can be considered as a therapy as well. For some, it is a good way to vent anger and empty bottles of grief when they do not feel like sharing it with just anyone. I must say it works for some of my friends and me.
I started my first blog way back in 2005. Main entries: Anger management issues, Workplace dispute issues and mainly my own thoughts. It was sort of like a hot trend (to my own understanding) of having an online diary back then.
Normal blogger will just blog about anything and everything under the sun. For some, they have actually become celebrity bloggers, for example, stickgal, xiaxue and Mr Brown. I wonder when it will be my turn. Stickgal became famous because of her animated drawings. Xiaxue was famous for her criticisms. And Mr Brown? I am most interested in his uncanny views of politics in Singapore and his daily ramblings.
Besides personal thoughts or personal ramblings, weblogs have become a new window of media advancement.
Online diaries can be considered as a therapy as well. For some, it is a good way to vent anger and empty bottles of grief when they do not feel like sharing it with just anyone. I must say it works for some of my friends and me.
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