Monday, June 9, 2014

Reflection of Weblog Assignment

From the completion of this assignment, the key takeaway that was obtained was that publishing and journalism is shifted from traditional media into a more modern internet centric media that is widely being used today. As such, existing companies that used to handle with traditional media will need to strategize their shift onto online media as soon as possible or suffer from catastrophic losses.

In addition, I have learned that today, people are able to act more individualistically with the freedom of the internet. Making it possible to work from home, and make a decent living by simply using blogs, live streams or posting up videos on Youtube. Perhaps this is a plausible future career for the generations today and to come.

Lastly, technology users are no longer confined to old beliefs, with the introduction of social media, people are getting more informed and are no longer subject to one dimensional promotions – but rather desire to be more involved in their interests and put value onto things that are well intended and follow their beliefs.

Generation-Z of News Readers

PODCAST: The news 'likes' of young people

Today’s generation, namely the young people, are growing up in a totally different infrastructure as compared to that of several decades ago. The young peoplde of today are exposed to the internet from young and are extremely savvy with the ‘new’ technology – which indeed has brought up the reasons as to why young people nowadays opt not to simply read traditional newspapers or listen to news on the radio. (Susskind, 2013)

 With the improvements made to web coding and the innovation of communication technologies, social media have become a daily necessity for the young people. Companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Instagram allow the youngsters to simply glance across their news feeds in order to get updated with the news. With the introduction of RSS or ‘Follow’ feature they are also given the choice as to which news that they choose to subscribe to making ‘news’ of today, no longer what it used to traditionally be (economy, happenings, sports) (Schroer, 2014). What more, the internet has opened up the young generations to the global internet society, making their interests more dispersed as compared to the past where interests would be somewhat similar in terms of career, money and family. (Day, 2005)

Following up on the RSS and ‘Follow’ features of social media, they are able to subscribe to their interests news. Moreover, today followers are not simply informed of new things, they in fact, are able to gain benefits from subscription; getting perks and deeper access to the community. This is different from the more “just to let you know” style of traditional news in the past which had almost no personal interaction with the reader.

As the Human Resource Director of my club, I interviewed new students applying for committee; having asked them a recent happening such as to give their opinion on MH370, I was given responses that they simply did not care about it. Asked why, they said that they could do nothing about it and would rather not think about it; however when asked about their hobbies, they could talk about all the latest news and trend about it. 

This shows the young generations are in fact still reading news, the only difference is that they are reading news that interests them and that is the perks that have been bestowed to them by communication technologies today. (Schroer, 2014)




References
Schroer J.W. (2014), Generation Y, Echo Boomers or MillenniumsGenerations, “X,Y, Z and the Others”, Social Marketing.org. Web. Date accessed: 7th June 2014.
Susskind J. (2013), Internet Winning the Online News vs. Traditional Media War, IVN.US. Web. Date accessed: 7th June 2014.
Day, M. (2005), Online players come of age, Australian. Web. Date accessed: 7th June 2014.



Brand Value vs Brand Awareness

For fcuk's sake – brands are swearing more than ever

Marketing, branding, image and salience are terms used together. Today, economies are blooming greatly around the world, resulting in an improvement of lifestyle for many urban societies; that has led to an increase of branding and imaging awareness amongst marketing managers and even the consumers themselves. Comparing with the past, consumers are now more able to think about the brands and their inherent meanings; having a separate thought for simply ‘knowing’ the brand, and ‘purchasing’ the brand.  (Romaniuk, 2004)

In the past decades, marketing managers or businesses have been focusing on creating an impact on buyers, be it by creating exciting catch phrases I.e. using suggestive words like FCUK, making loud and colorful advertisements, or even having questionable logos; all these actions are in the name of making people aware of their brand, and perhaps in hopes to buy their products as a form of loyalty or subscription to its cult. Ultimately, their goal was to garner as much sales as possible, with the help of a one dimensional marketing tactic. Undoubtedly the first step of marketing is to gain awareness with potential customers, however managers have sometimes also left out the most important part of marketing – that is, marketing ‘value’. (Chen, 2012)

Value can come in many forms, value for money, valuation of the brand, value of information, value of services – as a modern consumer, I am exposed to a myriad of brands, however even if a brand has a catchy slogan, logo, or advertisement, it does not mean that I will be a loyal customer; in fact, I would rather look at the perceived value the product can give me. I believe that this is a result of a long exposure to the internet and marketing concepts – causing me, and many net users to be immune to simple tactics.

Branding, like any other, should always be conveying a value to people. For instance, an improement in lifestyle, an experience, a status symbol, cutting edge technology, state of the art are all ways that brands coerce people to buy their product today rather than simply using explosive tactics.



References
Romaniuk J., Sharp B. (2004), Conceptualizing and measuring brand salience, University of South Australia. Web. Date accessed: 6th June 2014.
Chen H., e.t. al (2012), When More Is Less: The Impact of Base Value Neglect on Consumer Preferences for Bonus Packs over Price Discounts, American Marketing Association: Journal of Marketing. Web. Date accessed: 6th June 2014.


The War of The Giants, and The Artist.

Kim Dotcom and Megaupload sued for copyright infringement by music labels

            Regulations and governments are perhaps quite synonymous in meaning as they both come together. If I were to argue on the reasons why human beings and society required or should not be governed by law and regulations this blog post would probably be too long – let us take that regulations are a norm today and that it is alright for the way regulators are doing things today. (Sanchez, 2012)

The internet is a relatively new technology introduced into the world a few decades ago; was perhaps only about 15 years back that it made it to the consumer market. In fact it isn’t even fair to say that half the world has access to the internet as it is unable to reach really rural communities. That said, regulators today are still facing with a challenge that is internet law and regulations. With the internet being widespread across the globe and that government are unable to extend their regulations outside of their countries, it is becoming exceedingly difficult for regulators to tackle the issue of infringement of intellectual property and data (Sanchez, 2012). To add on, even accounting regulators are facing issues with newly invented assets I.e. virtual assets and their accounting treatments.

That said, with this high amount of regulation grey area, it is no wonder why there are so many loopholes and exploitations happening in the internet law today; this is especially prevalent with computing innovators such as KimDotcom, the creator of Mega, or even ThePirateBay. However so, some may argue that the internet should be a place where information moves freely; I would definitely agree so – however I would disagree that copyrighted materials be shared without the consent of its owner(s).

Some may argue that the allegations made by the music labels and governments are simply corporate red tape in order to shut down internet freedom – this may hold true in some aspects however the real concern is really, the people whom are not doing the legal stuff, but creating the artworks. (Ahrens, 2011) Metaphorically speaking, wars will always involve two parties, but it’s the third party that gets all the damage, the party that contributed to abundance – the artists; unfairly paid, not getting recognition and having their properties stolen, be it by pirates, or the corporations and their legal methods.




References
Ahrens, J. (2011), STOP CENSORSHIP: THE PROBLEMS WITH SOPA, The Centre for Internet and Society. Web. Date accessed: 5th June 2014.
Sanchez, J. (2012), SOPA, Internet regulation, and the economics of piracy, Law & Disorder. Web. Date Accessed: 5th June 2014.


The Intentions of Journalism

M'sian Journalists Slam "A Current Affair" For 'Whoring' Over MH370

With the creation of the internet, journalism has been revolutionized in ways never imagined; this is especially noticeable with the introduction of the World Wide Web. With the improved reach, as well as the reduced barriers of entry for the industry, many new newspaper and journal websites began to surface – inclusive of older companies hopping on to the internet journalism bandwagon. With the increasing amount of news and journal sources available on the internet today, readers need to be wary that they are exposed to potential misinformation.

Recently, Malaysian Airlines had been struck with a disaster relating to the mystery of disappearing flight MH370. It was a global sensation which caught the attention of many online newspapers and journals. One report which caught the attention of journalists in Malaysia was the report by A Current Affair – which revealed pictures of the pilot of MH370 with an Australian woman in the cockpit, inclusive of other allegations by the Australian that the pilot had invited her into the cockpit and was also smoking during flight.

On the surface level, this seems to have revealed something about the pilot and his bad behavior, however so, with the absence of the pilot, he is unable to defend for himself on the allegations, and perhaps some may say that the story had been skewed in order to stir up a controversy. In fact, some even asked why was this only brought up when the tragedy happened and not years back; this had implied that the story was brought up simply to gain attention and create excitement.

When it comes to journalism and news, it is of utter importance that the report comes in the most neutral and two-sided point of view; allows the reader to be informed of both sides, then only will the reader be able to evaluate for him/herself. In addition, the intention of a report should never lean towards stirring up excitement or controversy but instead, focus on revealing the truth and informing people of what has happened. (Morton, 2010)


References
Morton, J. (2010) Staying Neutral. American Journalism Review. Web. Date accessed: 9th June 2014.
Malaysian Digest, M'sian Journalists Slam "A Current Affair" For 'Whoring' Over MH370. Malaysian Digest.com. Web. Date accessed: 7th June 2014.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Designing Good Powerpoint Slides

Today, Microsoft PowerPoint have become an integral part of a majority of presentations. PowerPoint allows its user to go through a series of slides in order to present an idea, an assignment or even a plan. Due to wide accessibility of PowerPoint, it has became the staple presentation software for students, lecturers, business people, and anyone who wants to pitch an idea. With the latest upgrades to PowerPoint, users are now open to even more features such as including videos, hyperlinks, preset design fonts, and music.

To create good a PowerPoint slide, it is important to refer back to the basics of communication design. This can be referred back to Kress, G. & van Leeuwen (KvL). KvL discusses about the new ways of visual communication today, in which would suggest that communicative material should include pictures that narrate in tandem with the words written. (Kress, 2006) To apply, this means that slides should always be accompanied by pictures to facilitate salience for its viewers. (Karen, 1997)

It's good to note that today's PowerPoint slides also allow for videos and music to be included, depending on the type of presentation and the target audience, PowerPoint slides could include interesting videos (Melanie, 2013) - this will give the viewer more reason to pay attention as well as potentially make the presenters part in describing easier. Music on the other hand, should be picked carefully as it is uncommon; should be instrumental - music can be accompanied by presentations with more emotions attached to it.

Lastly, placement of materials in the slides are also important. For instance tendencies to read from left to right should be considered; in addition, the balancing of words and the margins should also be considered as to not disorient and cause miscommunication to the viewer.

P.s. This guide assumes that the presenter is understands his/her topic well and are able to apply the techniques present with relevant media alongside the presentation topic.

References
Karen A. Schriver. 1997. Dynamics in document design : creating texts for readers. The interplay of words and pictures. New York. Wiley Computer Pub. Ch. 6, pp. 361-441

Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 2006. Reading images. Chapter 1. pg 23-34

Melanie, P. Lifehacker: How Can I Make My PowerPoint Presentations Amazing?
http://lifehacker.com/how-can-i-make-my-powerpoint-presentations-amazing-507552122

New Media Trends in Publishing

The increasing reliance on computers has resulted in huge development in website media. Such is observable with popular video streaming website Youtube. In the past, video creation and uploading was a task carried out by skilled and more professional video makers. The introduction of Youtube has hence allowed everybody to post their own videos on the website - also adding in a social feature whereby viewers are able to comment and post responses.

This has hence stirred various new possibilities in internet video streaming. With the social feature, people are able to gain subscribers to their channel, in which had a potentiality to gain income from Youtube itself as a partner; this has caused sole and private video making to be a viable career for anyone with the ideas. (Haydn,2012) I.e. Smosh, Nigahiga, Raywilliamjohnson.

In addition to that, Youtube has also brought advertising to its social medias as companies begin uploading very interesting advertisements for viewers - not forgetting the fact that Youtube also sells sponsored adds. Advertising is no longer limited to newspapers, television or radio - it has gone onto the internet as popular video media.

Lastly, it has come to attention that a company called Mind Valley had made it's job applicants use Youtube video as a way of presenting themselves for a job position rather than a traditional resume. This is a win-win as the company attains great social feedback as well are ensured their workforce are of creative and confident talents.



To conclude, the introduction of  social video streaming has resulted in a myriad of great possibilities; it is noteworthy that great opportunity also presents equal negativity. I.e. Politics, Gossip. It is therefore important to utilize new medias for a positive purpose. 


References
Haydn, A. (2012). How To Build a YouTube Audience and Forge a Creative Career. Enterprise Innovation. Web. Date Accessed: 24/4/14
http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/03/15/creatives-how-to-build-a-youtube-audience-and-forge-a-new-career/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFfn2BqlY_E

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/business/chasing-their-star-on-youtube.html?_r=0