A little thought...

Credits: Relational Context of Teaching

Based on what I posted so far, I learned and realized a lot of things.

The one obvious thing is that we cannot assume that what happens in the West or Asia does not happen all around the world. It is just not the same as globalization is the main thing which brought us together. One good example is the evolution of E-book mentioned in the previous post where the opposite effect happens here in Asia. That same goes for  privacy laws and the act of stereotyping in publications. 

 However, those publications referred in those postings do follow certain rules which govern them. Those publications, either print documents or screen documents, have the same principle applied to them. This principle is the design features which differs according to types of document. According to Reep (2006, p.134), "design features increases the usefulness of documents [in terms of] guiding readers through the text, increase reader's interest and create a document that reflects the image you wish readers to have".

Also, being a journalist, blogger, editor or even a book author; we have our own rules and regulations which govern us. Problems happen to us when we break those ethical rules such as stereotyping, altering images to create false news, creating gender issues in our writings and being bias. We need to remember that any single thing which we voice out whether through print media, on-screen media or even through our own voice needs to follow the ethics of journalism.

Credits: Mc Closkey Patent Law

In Malaysia, the ethics of journalism according to the Canon of Journalism is as follows:-

1. The primary responsibility of the Malaysian journalist is to report facts accurately and faithfully and to respect the right of the public to the truth.

2. In pursuant of this duty he shall uphold the fundamental freedom in the honest collection of news and the right to fair comment and criticism.

3. He shall use only proper methods to obtain news, photographs/films and documents.

4. It shall be his duty to rectify and publish information found to be incorrect.

5. He shall respect the confidentiality of the source of information.

6. He shall uphold standards of morality in the performance of his duties and shall avoid plagiarism, calumny or slander, libel, sedition, unfounded accusations or acceptance of bribe in any form.

7. He shall avoid publication of news or reports, communal or extremist in nature, or contrary to the moral value of multiracial Malaysia.

8. It shall be incumbent upon him to understand public and national policies pertaining to the profession.


Besides that, the trend of publication is also evolving from time to time. Today, document designer have to think of attracting readers to the electronic document from the traditional print document. There are different principles between these two medium. For an electronic document, "readers can choose different pathways depending on their interest" (Walsh 2006, p.32). Readers can click on a numerous tabs or links available on the website which lead to different pathways. They can know the content of the document with a glance. Compared to print document, "readers will go through different levels of decoding, responding and comprehending at affective and cognitive level, critiquing and analyzing" (Walsh 2006, p.25). Therefore, a large effort is needed to put in convincing readers to change to a new medium which requires a total new reading path and level of decoding information.

Nevertheless, the day will come when digital media would play a dominant role as technology continues its relentless march. This trend is already evident in universities and colleges in that all students now require basically a laptop and some PC skills in order read digitized researched works.






Reference:

Eye on Ethics 2012, Canon of Journalism (Malaysia), viewed 3 November 2012, <http://www.eyeonethics.org/journalist-code-of-ethics-in-asia/canons-of-journalism-malaysia/>.

Reep, D 2006, Technical Writing, 6th edn, Pearson Education, New York. 

Walsh, M 2006, 'The Textual Shift: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts', Australia Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no.1, pp.24-37.



 # Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.

A Contradict View towards evolution of E-Books

I still remember the days where we complain of backaches due to the heavy bags which we have to carry to school. School bags are often damaged due to excessive weight from those thick and old textbooks carried inside it.

Today, most students especially in tertiary education goes to university empty handed. The reason behind this is due to the emergence of e-books and digital forms of their textbooks which can be accessed through their PCs, Ipads, Tablets and even smart phones.

E-books in the eyes of Westerner

 

Credits: Lowyat

Looking at the Western countries, e-books are well-accepted and that change the way the whole publication industry works. The traditional hardcover publication is decreasing year by year as most readers turned to e-books. According to the report by the Association of American Publishers, "the net sales revenue from e-books exceeded that of hardcover books in the first quarter of the year" (cited in Indvik 2012).

Acceptance of E-books

E-books is accepted well due to several reasons.

The rapid introduction of new technologies in those countries has contributed to e-book's popularity. As mentioned by Streitfeld (2012), "electronic books have been around for more than a decade, but took off only when Amazon introduced the first Kindle e-reader in 2007".

Credits: Pocket-lint

The e-reader has eased the user's convenience in locating and reading those e-books. Today, the e-reader also provides many functions such as downloading songs, movies and videos. Users are also offered a variety of e-readers device to choose from such as  Sony e-reader and Apple's Ipad. As many choices of e-reader device dominates the market, it seems to have become a trend that everyone have to follow so as to become up-to-date in society.

Also, there are more choices of books available through e-books compared to the hard copy due to the absence of publishers. As many authors are often rejected by the publishers to publish their book, they now can publish their own piece of inspiration online and make available to all readers. It works by "digitally format their own manuscript, set a price and sell it to readers through a variety of online retailers and devices" (Donahue 2011). Therefore, readers can access more publications online while authors can easily get their manuscript published and reach its users easily. 

E-books in Malaysia

On the other hand, here in Malaysia; the opposite effect occurs. E-book have a slow increase in sales revenue here compared to the Western countries. This shows that the Asian people has yet to accept e-books compare to the traditional print materials. They still hold a very strong bond to their traditional hardcopy books.

Today, we do have our own e-books retailer offering electronic books online but it does not seem to lead to the e-book being popular here. According to Yeoh (2012), Malaysia do "has independent e-book stores such as  “e-sentral”, “ebuuk” by Maxis and also from MPH Online website". 

Reader's preference towards reading materials

In Malaysia, readers still prefer to buy hard copy materials and carry them around compare to the electronic books. One of the reasons is that readers could not feel the special feelings which they have with electronic books. According to Julius (cited in Ng 2012), "printed books allow a 'more personal experience' over digital ones". Readers still prefer to flip and touch the pages of printed materials when reading those books. This is because the reading habits is formed since young and it is hard to change overnight. Compared to the Westerner, Asians are more loyal and resistance to change especially in accepting new technologies.

Moreover, Ipads and Tablets are relatively expensive to Malaysian in terms of purchasing power compared to Western countries. This lead to only those who are in the middle to high income people can afford to own one. Even if they can afford to purchase one, they are unlikely to purchase e-books compared to downloading music and movies. This is because we do not have strong reading habits such as those Westerners do.

I personally prefer the hard copy printed materials because it's easier to read. Reading through those electronic devices makes my eyes tired easily especially when reading those journal articles. I also love to flip the pages of printed materials as I have the personal feeling of knowing which page I am in.

Local newspaper goes virtual

 

Credits: PR Web

However, as more electronic version of printed publications become available, we need to switch our reading habits too. In Malaysia, virtual full version of local newspaper is now available through the publications 's own apps for a fee which is cheaper than purchasing the physical printed newspaper.

For instance, Star publication had offered a 'Bundle Package' where for a fee of RM30 a month, users can obtain the printed newspaper, E-newspaper and the E-flavours magazine; a food magazine under The Star publication.

Credits: The Star

With this e-paper, users can read all editions of Star newspaper which differs according to location such as Metro Perak.


Fred not, printed publication of newspaper will still be continue for your enjoyment. Having this virtual publication will not change the traditional way of the locals receiving their printed copies. According to Mr.Ho Kay Tat; the Group managing director, "We have no intention to take over the delivery from vendors for as long as there are vendors willing to do it" (cited in StarBizWeek 2012). This means that you still can purchase your daily dose of Star publications from your local vendors whom you might be their loyal customer for years. 


E-paper versus printed paper.


You choose.






Reference :

Donahue, D 2011, Self-Published Authors Finds E-Success, USA Today, viewed 3 November 2012, < http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/story/2011-12-14/self-published-authors-ebooks/51851058/1>.

Indvik, L 2012, Ebooks Sales Surpass Hardcover For the First Time in U.S., Mashable Business, viewed 3 November 2012, < http://mashable.com/2012/06/17/ebook-hardcover-sales/>.

Ng, J 2012, Asia sees slow e-book uptake, ZD Net, viewed 3 November 2012, <http://www.zdnet.com/asia-sees-slow-e-book-uptake-2062300384/>. 

StarBizWeek 2012, The Star innovates with e-Paper and iSnap, Star Online, viewed 3 November 2012, <http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/21/business/11139736&sec=business>.
 
Streitfeld, D 2012, Cut in E-Book Pricing by Amazon is Set to Shake Rivals, New York Times, viewed 3 November 2012, <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/business/media/amazon-to-cut-e-book-prices-shaking-rivals.html?pagewanted=all>.

Yeoh, O 2012, The E-Book Evolution, Onn Yeoh, viewed 3 November 2012, <http://oonyeoh.squarespace.com/sun-column/2012/7/4/the-e-book-evolution.html>.

# Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.

Screen vs Print Document Design

As said in the previous post that blog has helped organizations to market their products and bring them closer to the consumers. But organizations do not ignore the print media to promote their products. They utilize both online and print media at the same time. The promotion through the online media exists in the screen document form which is very different from the print document form.

Differences between screen document and print document design

Before the emergence of internet, the print documents design principles were heavily emphasized. With the advent of internet which creates importance in on-screen documents, the print document design principles were challenged as it may not be all applicable to the on-screen document design.

The following discussion will use PowerPoint slides to represent on-screen documents while magazines will represent print document design. The application of theories to PowerPoint slides and magazines below may not be applicable to other types of on-screen or print documents. 

The PowerPoint slides shown below are extracted from my own group's presentation slide for Issues in Publication and design (IPD) summary review presentation. 

The traditional print document design theories:

1. "reading path are from left to right, top to bottom" (Kress & Leeuwen 2006, p.177). 

As the reading path of readers are being said to follow such rules, documents are being designed to place old information on the left while new information on the right and promises of a product or information on the top while the actual information or product is placed at the bottom of the page (Kress & van Leeuwen , p.186).


For instance, the snapshot of the Cleo Malaysia September 2012 edition below shows the reading path of top and bottom where the picture of the couple on the page shows the feeling which users can feel when using the promoted product, Enchanter perfume. The wordings and the bottle of perfume at the bottom of the page shows the actual product being promoted. Therefore, readers will look at the top to the bottom and the concentration is at its peak at the bottom of the page as they are being loaded with new information.

Enchanter advertisement on Cleo Malaysia September 2012 edition

However, on the PowerPoint slides, the reading path may be different depending on the design and layout of the slides.

The PowerPoint slides below shows a reading path from the top to the bottom which is the same for a print document. However, the layout of the information is not the same as on a printed magazine as all information on the PowerPoint slide are new information which is to be presented to the audience. Therefore, there are no layout of new versus old information on a PowerPoint slide. Also, the concentration is peak throughout the reading from top to bottom due to the new information.

A slide extracted from my group's IPD presentation

2. "Text in the the document is created through strategies of essay composition" (Bernhardt 1986, p.65).

Information on magazines are typed and printed in the form of an essay with its attractive introduction, comprehensive and detailed points with supporting materials and a good conclusion.

The snapshot of the Timeout KL magazine September 2012 edition below shows that the information provided to the readers are in the form of an essay with full sentences. From far, the paragraphs looks very lengthy but readers of this magazine will be interested to read them as they are bought for reading.

A snapshot of Timeout KL September 2012 edition

The situation will be different with regards to information on a PowerPoint slide.

Referring to the PowerPoint slide below, the information is summarized to one or two sentences with a mixture of full sentences and bullet point form. However, the main points are being put in a point form with one to two points in one PowerPoint slide. Also, the examples given for a point are also summarized where full sentences may not be used.

A slide extracted from my group's IPD presentation

3. "The inverted pyramid, Diamond, The Wall Street Journal form and a modified Diamond form of writing structures" (Fensch 2001, p.164).

The writing structure in magazines as shown on the snapshot of Timeout KL September 2012 edition below shows a Diamond form of writing structures. The information in the red box is the opening, the blue box represent 'The Middle' and the green box represent the end segment. The information between those coloured boxes are 'The Breaks'.

 The opening box means the opening story of the article where the sparks of the story start there. Comparing with other forms of printed document, The Diamond form "gets more and more detailed, valuable and more complex [unlike]...the usual inverted pyramid form of writing" (Fensch 2001, p.127).

Application of 'Diamond' form on an article from Timeout KL September 2012 edition.

The writing structure is different for an on-screen document. The writing structure of a Powerpoint slide emphasize on featuring only the main points in bullet or numbering format. The main points of the PowerPoint presentation are shown below which is the bold words in purple while the small font text in black are the description and examples.

A slide extracted from my group's IPD presentation

4. Display Units

According to Farkas (2005, p.11), "the display unit for most print documents is in page [while on-screen document] the display unit for web is HTML and for PowerPoint is slides".

A power point slide.

A print document in Cleo Magazine August 2012

The example given for on-screen document is a PowerPoint slide while the print document is a page from the Cleo Magazine Malaysia August 2012 edition. The sample of print document show below is the content page of a magazine which denotes the content in each page of the magazine. Thus, we identify the different content in the magazine through pages. On the other hand, the content in a PowerPoint is identify through the slides.

The power point slides in print document form

  
Moreover, when the on-screen document which is the PowerPoint slides is transferred into a print document form, the display units turns from 'slides' to 'pages'. As shown above, there are six slides in a page and sometimes the display units of 'slides' can be used together with 'pages' when the transfer of publication form occurs as the slides numbers are still visible when printed out on a paper. However, it is up to the user to decide the numbering of slides whether from left to right or top to bottom when the slide number is not visible in the print document.

References:

Bernhardt, SA 1986, 'Seeing the Text', National Council of Teachers of English, vol.37, no.1, pp.66-78, viewed 19 September 2012, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/357383>

Farkas, D 2005, 'Explicit Structure in Print and On-Screen Documents', Technical Communication Quarterly, vol.14, no.1, pp.9-30,

Fensch, T 2001, Writing Solutions: Beginnings, middles and endings, New Century Books, United States of America. 

Kress, G & Leeuwen, TV 2006, Reading Images: The grammer of visual design, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.

# Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.

Food reviews on blogs as an advertising medium

As said in the previous post that blogs have served as a news platform for readers who create a need to identify credible blogs to rely on. This change in habit of obtaining news occurs everywhere around the world especially among young people. According to a study conducted by Pew (cited in Biagi 2012, p.263), "there is a large numbers of Americans under age 30 turned to the Internet for news and [surprisingly] in fact people of all ages read the news online".

Print documents given to the public is a waste

This phenomenon has lead to organizations trying to reach its consumers and potential consumers online instead of the traditional advertisements through television, newspapers and printed brochures, pamphlets and flyers. The traditional way of advertising is not effective in reaching its audiences as they find a way to avoid advertisements.

Very often, flyers and brochures given to the public whenever they pass by the shop or promotion booth are wasted as they are purposely being left at the venue or thrown into the dustbin without looking at them. This is due to either the receiver of the printed promotional materials being a wrong person targeted or they are bored with the documents itself as they have seen it many times. Sometimes, it is because the public does not like to hold a stack of brochures or pamphlets when walking around especially in a shopping mall where most of the shops will have flyers to be given away.

This bad habits do not only revolves around Malaysians but also people in other countries as well. In Singapore, pamphlets and brochures are also being left or thrown on the event floor before the visitors leave the event venue. STOMP has reported about the mess left by the visitors after the Singapore IT Fair 2011 at Suntec city.

Mess after Singapore IT Fair 2011 at Suntec city by STOMP

Advertising through blogs is effective

Organizations have come out with the way of reaching its audiences which is through blogs and it is more effective. The advertisement on blogs comes in the form of 'review post' or 'advertorial'. Sometimes, bloggers do not differentiate the review post with their own personal post but putting it together in one blog post. A research conducted shows that "81% of shoppers who spends more than $500 online each month use products reviews when they make buying decisions" (Solomon, Cornell & Nizan 2010, p.215).

Advertising on blogs is vital for organizations in F&B industry

This new form of advertising and promotions is applied fully by all organizations dealing with food products which includes restaurants and cafes. In the past, we are stuffed with flyers of new menu offered or opening of new restaurants when we are out in town or even in our mail box at home. Also, we often see a food review section on the weekend edition of the newspaper. However, they are seen as not effective where as said, flyers are being thrown away. Additionally, Bridgeland & Zahavi (2009, p.201) mentioned that "newspapers reviews have gradually lost much of their former influence". Therefore, the advertising trend had changed from print documents to on-screen documents which is through blogs.

 Getting the food reviews on blogs

Usually, high traffic and well known bloggers are contacted by the Marketing team of organizations when there is a new introduction of products or new promotions offered. Then, bloggers will be invited to a special bloggers gathering or private event where they will be briefed about the products or promotion with samples of the products given to them followed by a photography session of the products. The details of the functions held vary depending on the types of organizations.

Advertisements of Mooncakes through brochures

 

Benefits of advertising through blogs 

This changed in trends had proven to be a success. Bridgeland & Zahavi (2009, p.201) supported that "now customers typically find good restaurants via the Internet reviews of other customers, by local dining blogs or by professional review books like Zagat and Michelin guides".

Due to the emergence of young people following blogs for news or simply being a fan of the blog, advertisement through blogs is able to reach the audiences as they do not reject or avoid blog post being posted on the blogs they follow even though it is a form of advertisement. This new trend had helped organizations targeting their products to young people even though the products may not appeal to young people in the olden days. 

Blog advertisements changed reader's behavior

This new form of following food reviews on blogs has typically changed young people's behavior. They are willing to drive more than 30 minutes and sometimes an hour to the restaurants reviewed on blogs. People also travel to other states of the country especially in Malaysia just to try the local food there which they saw on food blogs. This has made them travel and purchase goods which people around their age would not go or buy in the past.

For instance, young people today knows a lot about traditional or festival food such as Mooncakes. In the past, they do not care to take a look at the Mooncakes booth but today, they just go straight to the particular shop and placed their order. This is because Mooncakes reviews are everywhere on the internet by food bloggers. Organizations offering the product had get the bloggers to review their products way before they are launched in public. 

Dragon-i Mooncakes review on XiangCool.com

Dragon-i Mooncake review on Chasing Food Dreams

Dragon-i Restaurant has host a blogger gathering on its Mooncakes offering. As shown above, two different blogs which are XiangCool.com and Chasing Food Dreams reviewing Dragon-i's mooncakes promotion.

ParkRoyal Kuala Lumpur's Mooncakes review on Big Boys Oven

Other organizations such as ParkRoyal Kuala Lumpur uses this advertising strategy too where its review on its Mooncakes are reviewed by bloggers on their blogs as shown on Big Boy Oven's blog above. 


This new trend of food review had cause many food blogs to appear on the Internet as well as online network specialized in food reviews where the general public can post review of any restaurants which they visited on the network by becoming a member which is free of charge. The emergence of these food review networks has helped organizations in this field in a form of free advertisements besides gaining popularity. Examples of Food Network in Malaysia are shown below.

Malaysia Most Wanted FOOD network

Dine Malaysia.com network

Open Rice Malaysia network

The emergence of food networks are also happening in other countries such as in Hong Kong and Singapore as shown below.

Open Rice Hong Kong network

Hungry go Where Singapore network

References:

Biagi, S 2012, Media Impact: An introduction to mass media, 10th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, United States of America.

Bridgeland, D & Zahavi, R 2009, Business Modeling: A practical guide to realizing business value, The MK/OMG Press, United States of America. 

Solomon, M, Cornell, L & Nizan, A 2010, Launch! Advertising and Promotion in Real Time, Flat World Knowledge Inc, New York.




# Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.