Pause for Breath: Personal Musings

I think I’m quite adept with technology:

• I use email and chat
• I can communicate with SMS, 3G calls, Skype and a webcam
• I can use a digital SLR and HD camcorder and then download and manipulate images
• I use video editing software to create home movies
• I surf the net and now I blog

In fact the only time I read a paper is during my morning commute and I imagine that is out of habit. And yet, the younger generations appear to me more naturally gifted in technology, like the proverbial ‘ducks to water’ and much, I imagine, how I must have looked to my parents in my youth as I struggled with Atari Space Invaders and first-generation flight simulators.

I think the future of media is incredibly exciting, seeing first-hand how various modes are converging and raising the bar on how and when information can be presented and consumed. There are numerous issues thrown up in context of this rapid advancement, however, worthy of (further) discussion.

Based on all the reading I've managed so far, a key (and one might say, critical) aspect of new media I see consistently as a theme, is the role of individual morality and the idea of self-censorship. Sometimes the line between a cause and extremism can be blurred but on the whole, it’s important for people to use new media for the greater good.

To make the world a better place to live.

Musing about Future Media Users

‘These kids have been socially conditioned’ appears in a John Naughton article: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1945553,00.html which I think acts as a clear signpost to what future media users will look like: ‘resourceful, knowledgeable and natural users of computers and communications technology’.

Indeed, I sit in my armchair and watch – mouth agape – as my four-year old son sits at my computer, boots it up, opens internet explorer, finds Yahoo from favorite bookmarks, types a search word like ‘lion’ (he learnt to spell hundreds of words from a child’s laptop computer toy aged three), scrolls down for images, finds the one he wants and prints it out. And when he gets bored of that, he might challenge and beat me at a round of golf on the Xbox 360!

His older brother just turned six and he’s scarier still; last month he showed his visiting grandparents how to use Skype and a webcam, so they could keep in touch better.

As John Naughton suggests, media folk had better think about the future consumers of media: what they’ll want, how they’ll want it and when they’ll want it.

Future Media: Musings on Content

The BBC has restructured to break down barriers between modes of media: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2006/1769449.htm

As it does so, its biggest concern lies in how (and how much) content is created and how this impacts on mainstream media, especially in terms of it losing the traditional role of ‘content gatekeeper’. This trend forces media companies to open up access to content and in turn consider the role and extent of copyright integrity.

So, as media fragments, what are media companies doing? Many are engaging more with audiences, becoming interactive, being 24-hour service and looking at what the BBC calls ‘local-local’ (citizen journalism).

It isn’t alone. In Korea, OhMy News is incorporating user-input content so successfully that other media firms are copying the model: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/1843323.htm

Even in Indonesia viewer interaction is gaining in popularity: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/1799432.htm though perhaps with more emphasis on sensationalism and less emphasis on editorial policy control!

Video editing software for home PCs, HD camcorders and a generation of tech-savvy users highly adept with things like YouTube means citizen journalism is likely to grow. And there is likely to be demand for such localized content as the world becomes more mobile and people value staying in touch. This becomes even more relevant in frontier communities: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2006/1652825.htm

Power to the People!

Blog Birthday: Milestone Musings

Derived from ‘Web Log’, the ‘Blog’ celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2007 (if you subscribe to the view that web-journal pioneer, Travis Petler, coined the term in 1997). According to blog search engine Technorati there are now well over 60 million blogs. Blogs are (among others):

• Gaining global attention


• Forcing governments to take note of opinions and discussions


• Becoming established as serious media


• Attracting expert opinion and contribution.

With such accomplishment, ten years marks a significant milestone. Happy Birthday!

Press Freedom Musings: A Cheating Spouse?

Paul McGeough at the Sydney Morning Herald sees governments using the war on terror to restrict press freedom – through anti-terrorism and sedition laws – as dangerous for democracy: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2006/1624270.htm. Further, the recent treatment of ‘whistleblowers’ and higher incidence of violence against journalists are further ammunition for the idea that ‘destroying democracy to protect democracy’ is simply wrong.

Without a doubt there have been some glaring ‘holes’ in proceedings since 9/11, see for example: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/1851038.htm

However, is the argument that governments should always act ‘under the light’ as clear cut? Consider the ‘cheating spouse’ analogy. If you see your friend’s partner cheating, would you tell your friend? If you were the unknowing victim in that scenario, would you want to know? Or is it a case of ‘what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you’?

Hmmm, perhaps it’s not as clear after all…

Self-censorship: Musings from Singapore

Singapore’s reputation is that of a law-abiding, tolerant, conservative society, modern and underpinned by tradition. Despite a noticeable liberalization in certain areas, its media is still considered to be highly regulated by the government. The ‘heavy artillery threat’ of defamation suits is also somewhat of a disincentive to open debate or local political criticism.

But if the internet allows vocal freedom without restriction, ie, allowing suppressed demographics in places like Iran and Egypt to challenge governments and policies, is it used similarly in 'regulated' Singapore? Well, no it isn’t. Why? Sinapan Samydorai, from Singapore’s Think Centre, perhaps touches on the answer when he talks about journalistic self-censorship embedded within the local culture, ie, mirroring Asian and Confucian values such as respect for elders (read: government). Then again, there’s still the possibility of legal action as two Singaporeans discovered, now in prison under the anti-sedition law.

It may be that fear curtails dissent, but personally I’d just like to think that Singaporeans are morally upstanding, considerate and generally good people, which is why online ‘evil’ so rarely emerges from the island nation. An analogy is the gun policy argument, that it's not the gun that's evil but the person holding it.

For more background see ‘the changing media environment in Singapore’ from ABC’s Media Report: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/1841546.htm

Freedom of Speech: Blog Musings

As a phenomenon, the humble blog is nowhere more powerful than where it punches a hole through oppression and over-regulation. In fact, the blog is forcing social injustices onto political agendas around the globe.

In the Middle East, traditionally a conservative, religious environment where mainstream media is tightly regulated and controlled, blogs are growing in popularity especially among women. See ABC Media Report: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/1855144.htm

John Naughton in his article 'Blogging for Freedom' also describes how blogs are bypassing government control for free expression in Iran. See: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1951481,00.html.

No doubt the freedom the internet affords is doing much good around the world. However, the same freedom can also be abused: spreading intolerance (OK, let’s call it hatred), destabilizing the status quo, defamation and so on. I immediately thought of some questions:

• Does the internet represent true freedom of speech?
  


• Is the notion of self-censorship for the internet sufficient regulation?
  


• If further regulation is needed, what should it look like?

Perhaps the title of this post should have been ‘Blogs: Good vs Evil’ instead.

Multimodal Design: Academic Musings (Part Two)

‘Jumping, skipping and surfing’ is how Schriver (1997) describes the reading process online. Walsh (2006) says that online readers are involved in a ‘recursive, interactive process’ engaging with fragmented sections of information via multi-directional reading paths.

Readers also have high expectations of what information a website will contain. Walsh uses http://www.wolf.org/wolves/index.asp as a case study to assess how a typical person ‘reads an internet site’ and asks how they gain meaning.

Kress (in Snyder, 1997) also acknowledges the ‘non-linear, rhizomic organization of [online] content’ versus traditional text book reading. He concludes that electronic documents are ‘[a] resource…not read but used’.

What does this mean in practice? Online readers will scan, jump around and pick up the selective information they desire ‘blurring the line between reader and writer’. Document designers are therefore challenged with orchestrating complex multimodal, multimedia textual production into useful, bite-sized information chunks that do not disappoint in content.

Multimodal Design: Academic Musings (Part One)

Theorists tend to agree that a world ‘on the visual space of the screen…will have far reaching repercussions’ in terms of how readers obtain meaning and understanding and which will require ‘a new form of representation, [a] new theory’ (Kress in Snyder, 1997). Walsh (2006) also considers ‘the context of changed literary practices’ in her article titled ‘The Textual Shift’ and explains that ‘reading [in a multimodal environment] involves a different process than the reading of words’. Schriver (1997) agrees, and in context of multimodal communication indicates that document designers need to resist what Johnson (1994) calls ‘romancing the hypertext.’

So, the convergence of technology into multimodal websites means designers will need to ‘understand the semiotic potential of each mode.’ Got it? OK, put more simply the internet brings words, pictures, audio and video together into a new medium of communication. People ‘read’ this medium differently (ie, to a text book) and new theories of understanding are therefore needed. Part two to follow…

Best Blog Design: Practical Musings

A good starting point is Jakob Nielson’s website: http://www.useit.com/. He reminds us that online readers will scan text quickly (and in an ‘F-shape’ pattern) and therefore a webpage should use:

• Concise and scannable text to improve usability
• Effective headings, sub-headings and bullet points
• Easy-to-understand, commonly used language to aid ‘findability’
• Information-carrying text to lead titles and headings to aid searches
• The inverted pyramid and hypertext theories of writing style (most important points first)

Parker (1990) also offers online design advice such as making content 'bite-sized', restricting text to one column and using plenty of white space around the page. Nielson also discusses the top ten mistakes that are made with web-pages such as legibility and failure to tell readers what to expect when they click on a link. I hope this blog doesn’t break any of the rules!

Separately, websites that win awards are good inspiration. There’s nothing wrong with emulating the best-in-class webpage designs. Try this one: http://silentbits.com/2006/06/22/top-20-weblog-designs/

Modal Musings: An Introduction

Gunther Kress refers to the ‘deep shift taking place in…media and modes of representation’ (Snyder 1997, p. 58). This shift, towards digital media, throws up all manner of issues for our consideration, for example:

• the convergence of various modes of media
• the impact on (and future of) printed media
• the changing face and demands of media audiences
• new media genres such as blogs and how they are used

I have created this blog primarily to consider, discuss and comment upon issues facing the media industry, such as those above. Writing a blog requires some thought. In addition to creating the blog and fussing over design details (more on that later) the content should be planned with the intended audience firmly in mind. I hope my musings prove useful to persons who share my interest in ‘all things media’.