Monday, November 16, 2009

Overview reflection

For the past few months in pertaining subject, I have learned a lot in terms of principles and elements of design. What should be looked into and what not. This assessment has also taught me a lot on how the Internet could be unreliable at times and that we should always keep to our principles. I have gained experiences and knowledge in terms of designing to pursue my studies. As a matter of fact, this subject is one of the most enjoyable subject I have ever encountered in my last one and half years in Taylor's PJ.

Last but not least, enjoy my other posts although it may not be very credible, but I hope that with this given information, it could help you in your research or studies.

Carpe Diem!

Manipulation of photography

Back in the years, photographs could not be edited in any kind of form. It is film based that could only be developed after using the whole role of it. In today current era of cameras, the production of digital camera is increasing. Digital camera enables you to capture whatever picture you like and it is not necessarily needed to be develop. After transferring it to your computer, unwanted pictures could be discard and photographs could be edited through liable photo editors, Photoshop.

“Photography we see in films, books, and periodicals is often stunning in its design, import, and aesthetics. It may also be fake, enhanced, or manufactured by emerging digital technologies that have transformed”. (K.Browser, 1998) This is because of the ever growing media of photo editing. Photo editing enables you to blur out unwanted objects in your photograph and enables you to enhance the color quality.

What you see in photographs may not necessarily be real. Photographs can manipulate your vision towards it.

Example,


Before and After


Now, you can clearly see how photographs are manipulated through photo editings. It gives a more vibrant color only to convince your eyes that it is real.

Although being said that the enhancing of a photograph is not necessarily bad, but in terms of reporting news, photographs go through photo editings to give a greater exageration on the current issue.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Indonesian weekly apologizes due to the 'imitation' of the Christianities.

The Indonesian weekly sincerely apologized to the media about the 'imitation' of Leonardo Da Vinci's last supper. They claimed that it was not to disrespect the Christianities. To compensate for the 'imitation' of Leonardo Da Vinci's last supper, in the weekly Tempo magazine, the Indonesian weekly would further extend their apologies to avoid protests against this act.

The image on the cover of the book is indisputably obvious that it is a portrayal of Leonardo Da Vinci's last supper. Not much of explanation could be done because it clearly looks like it was either by mistake or purpose. In media, research should be nicely run to avoid controversies like this. According to Shriver (1997), signs from different countries do not share the same meaning. The cause of this problem is mainly because of cultural differences. Taking in account to other countries cultural differences apart from yours is essential.






Suharto's: Tempo Setelah Dia Pergi

Leonardo Da Vinci - Last Supper

The media should pay more attention to issues like this that are obviously a very sensitive issue once it involves religions.


Reference:
  1. Schriver, K.A 1997, 'The interplay of words and pictures', Dynamics in document design : creating texts for readers, p. 361-441, Wiley Computer Pub, New York.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

The Blogging Revolution

Anthony Loewenstein wrote a book about the blogging revolution in six different countries. As a whole, the article talks about how Internet a very poisonous and highly influential medium around the globe. We rely so much on the Internet that some of us tend to lose our values we hold against ourselves. In Havana, Cuba, the only people that have access to the Internet are the middle class people. Anthony Funnell commented, “blogging and the internet is a great democratiser” Therefore in these countries especially Iran still holds a great value of themselves that is not easily influenced even through media. The government of Cuba only allows very few webpages to be accessed by the community. Intranet is an offline community where websites that are approved by the authorities can only be viewed.

I would very much agree that media is a poisonous medium that tends to brainwash the community with information. Perhaps in Malaysia, the freedom of speech and the censorship is highly governed. It is hard to access to websites that particularly criticizes about the Muslims, as we are an Islamic country.

In my opinion, the revolutionary of blogging is hazardous to the country. We are bound to obtain false information and most of us are gullible toward the Internet such as Wikipedia. Webpages such as pornography and crimes are mainly prohibited in some countries due to their high rating of censorship. This is so to avoid unnecessary criminal activities or unwanted crimes.


Reference:
  1. Melbourne University Press, 2008, The Blogging Revolution, retrieved on 16 November 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2351985.htm

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The new Facebook uplift left some devotees furious

In this article, AFP reports, Facebook users are furious about the new changes in layout in terms of new application. Marc Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook has been changing the layout, adding new applications, chat spaces, notification and advertisements without warning. Year by year the layout of Facebook were changed over the night without notifying users of the maintenance. It left many Facebook users furious after having to encounter new changes; some found it hard to navigate through, some thought it was a good change.


In my personal point of view, at the beginning when Facebook had a major facelift it got me furious on how to navigate and where were the placements of some tabs. After a long run, it became much easier, although the old layout was rather simple and plain. New applications like games, chats, notifications, photo sharing and what not are entertaining and it keeps you updated on your family and friends with one click away. Others are still furious about the new 'News Feed' and 'Live Feed'.



    Old Layout

    New Layout


    I'd like to propose that the editor of Facebook to start sending out short notifications a day or two before a new facelift again. New changes should be done in the 'Notification' tab. Changes that enables us to block unnecessary notifications from our friend's list. As mentioned by Grunwald (2009), the main principles of a good website design is to make your site easy to navigate, know your intended audience to maintain close relationship with the users.


    Reference:


    1. Australian IT 2008, 'Facebook makeover leaves some devotees fuming', Australian IT, viewed 12 November 2009, <http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24328928-15318,00.html>.


    2. Grunwald, JR 2009, Five principles of a good website design, Martin Luther College, viewed 14 November 2009, <http://www2.mlc-wels.edu/jgrunwald/site.html>

    Sunday, November 1, 2009

    Current Trends of Media Publishing

    The growing of Internet and Media has been escalating over the past years. It is hardly seen an individual carrying large stumps of books/magazine/newspapers. Despite that, print media still carries a large withstand amongst the online media. Online media has made it easier for an individual to obtain information over the net. News ranging from political nwes to celebrity gossips and even e-books could be obtained through search engines on the Internet.

    As you can see, many campaigns have prioritized Facebook, Twitter and Youtube as one of their main mediums in advertising. It is rarely seen someone passing out flyers even before advertising it over the mentioned mediums.



    Example,


    Twitter.com


    Facebook.com

    Youtube.com




    It is an amusing spread of media by publicising it in different mediums. Merging these three mediums are one of the smartest and evergrowing mediums in terms of passing out a message.