Blogs as current phenomenon & benefits of blogging to the community

Blog has being a current phenomenon and becoming a major issue due to it's increasing. While discussing the issue, McLean (2009), states that bloggers are blogging more than ever, and the State of the Blogosphere is strong.

Graph above shows that the size of blogosphere is averagely doubling every month ever since 2003-2006.(Sifry. D 2006)

Bloggers blog according their self self-expression and sharing expertise,  Sussman (2009). For example, in Europe and Asia, there have been plenty of blogs dealing with business, technology and politics. As we can see, there are different trend that influence the bloggers write actively about their topics. In an online survey on the blogosphere in Malaysia, Blogging Malaysia: A Windows Live Report, (Press Microsoft Malaysia 2006), ‘an overwhelming majority (81%)’ of Malaysian bloggers are primarily blogging for their ‘friends or family’.

There are several various types of blogs: 

-Personal blogs, eg.kennysia.com

-Collaborative blogs

-Corporate blogs

-Topical blogs

-Spam blogs

-Podcasts and videocasts

-Photologs 

Souce: Blogging-The Phenomenon

Other countries such as Iran and US mostly blog about political, but Malaysia, 28% of the Malaysian Top 50 Bloggers write about personal stuff (Gaman, 2007). In Malaysia, because the printing media is controlled by government, that's why blog become a way to search of in-depth-information and free speech. Besides, emergence of Malaysia many political blogs, we are well educated and get to hear  news  Opposition since mainstream media does not write deeply.  Blogosphere benefits different country differently. 

The negative:
■ 2% - 8% of new blogs per day are
fake or spam blogs
■ 5.8% of posts per day (c. 50,000) are from
fake or spam blogs

Blogging-The Phenomenon, Types of blogs, viewed 29 September 2010, <http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01130/typesofblogs_othermedia.html>

Gaman 2007, 50 Most Influential Blogs in Malaysia, Sabahan.com, viewed 29 September 2010, from <http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/>

MacLean, J 2009, State of the Blogosphere 2009 Introduction, Technorati, viewed 29 September 2010, from <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009-introduction/>

Neville Hobson , 2005, The new media ecosystem,  viewed on 29th September 2010, <http://www.nevillehobson.com/pubfiles/downloads/051020_NewMedia_FEIEA.pdf>

Press Microsoft Malaysia 2006, Women rule in Malaysian blogosphere, viewed 29 September 2010, <http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/press/archive2006/linkpage4337.mspx>.

Sifry. D 2006, State of the blogosphere,august 2006, viewed on 29 September 2010, <http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000436.html >.

The size of the blogosphere has doubled every five months over the last year and a half, according to blog analysis firm Technorati. 

Document Design

As college students, we're always asked to do presentation. PowerPoint is often used as a tool for most presentation. The main purpose of is create maximum impact in minimal time and persuade the audience to take action, physically or mentally (Schelle, 2010). But how is a good presentation should be?

Regarding my group's last two weeks summary presentation, I will be discuss few points about the layout, content and design. According to Russell's view, a good PowerPoint presentation's layout design should have following aspects: 

1. The title should put at the top of the slide where audience can easily find it. Captions should be put appropriately to meet audience expectations.  

Singer (2002) says that slides are easier to read using unjustified (ragged) margins.

2. Limit the number of slides to make sure the presentation should not be long.

My group presentation, we had 13 slides which is average for 5 members to present the content, but not wasting time. Besides, one slide should be present within one minutes. 

3. Every slides should not more than four points which will make the slide too long.  Choose only the top three or four points related to the topic and make them consistently throughout the delivery. Ever slides should simplify and limit the number of words and surrounding space will make it easier to read. 

4. Avoid spelling grammar error. Spelling and grammar should be check before presenting the slides. Because there are similar words that might confuse audiences. 

A good presentation should have an analysis of its argument and theory in a form utilizing empirical evidence and logical reasoning to better understand some phenomena. A good presentation also should remain unchanged and conveyed without information loss, regardless of its audience. Putnis and Petelin (1996) also state that negative space (white) and positive space (text, title, visuals) should be balanced. 

1. Kreiger, S 2010, 12 tips for creating better presentations, viewed on 1/9/2010, retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/skills/presentations.aspx

2. Putnis, P and Petelin, R 1996, 'Writing to communicate', Professional communication: principles and applications, Prentice Hall, Sydney, pp.223-263.

3. Rothman, S 2005, What Makes Good Scientific and Technical Writing, viewed 1/9/2010, <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error?cat=4>

4. Russell, W , 10 Tips For Creating Successful Business Presentations, viewed 1/9/2010, <http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointinbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tips.htm>

5. Schelle, T 2009, The purpose of a powerpoint presentation, viewed on 1/9/2010, retrieved from

http://powerpointblog.com/2009/04/15/the-purpose-of-a-powerpoint-presentation/

Purpose

The Purpose

Compare to the past, due to the advanced of new technologies, it enables the work of publication design much more easier. Texts and contexts can be presented in different ways and can cause issues in publication and design that effect the audiences and their perceptions.

This blog is created to share my point of view about issues in publication.The target audience of this blog are bloggers, potential publishers, people who work in publishing industry, and college students.