Blogs Classification.

Just like fashion, blogs have different styles and classifications. According to McLean,2009, bloggers/ a person who has a blog can be classified into a few categories based on what they write about and how often the blog. First of all, there are the hobbyists in which these people blog about their lives, hobbies or to voice out their opinions about something. These kind of bloggers make up the majority of the blogging world in which their sole purpose in blogging is for the fun and entertainment. The name for this blog as some put it is called the Exhibition blog(Simons,2008).

Next there is the kind of blog that called the advertisement blog where these blogs make it their main purpose is to advertise something, a product, food or even places which they recommend to travel. Besides that, there is a news blog which has information about the latest news, happenings and media conferences(Simons,2008).Such examples that are available in our country is the Malaysian Insider and Malaysia Kini while there are newspaper blogs in other countries which are quite well known is The Big Picture, Washington Wire and many more(Owens,2009).

In my opinion, blogs can be categorised into personal or impersonal/neutral blogs, political and non-political, entertainment or academic blogs. In a personal blog, there are postings about your daily life, friends and things happening around your personal life. A neutral blog is a blog about almost anything from how good the weather is today to how you saw a cat cross the street.  Political blogs are blogs about politics and the government. Entertainment blogs are about fashion, lifestyle and to the newest and latest gadgets while an academic blog is where one can learn and glean useful information from.

References

McLean,J,2009, "State of the Blogosphere 2009 Introduction, Technorati.com, viewed 28 September 2010, < http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009-introduction/ >

The Media Report, 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, ABC.com, viewed 25 September 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm.

Owens,S, 2009, "The 50 Most Popular Newspaper blogs",Bloggasm.com, viewed 27 September 2010, < http://bloggasm.com/the-50-most-popular-newspaper-blogs >

Blogs as a current phenomenon and the benefits to community.

First of all, in this era of advanced technology, it comes as no surprise that almost everyone that you meet on the street has a blog. What is blogging you may ask, well to put it in simple terms,  Blogging is like a diary, except that it is done online and on a website where anyone can access it unless the blog has been privatized.  

Blogging is now a current phenomenon with people of all kinds of ages and from all over the world having a blog. Each year, the size of the blogosphere increases dramatically and is expending from one end of the world to another.The size of the blogosphere recorded is 133 million which was in the year 2002 but it will have increased a lot more in the past few years(Technorati,2002).

In Malaysia, it has been known to many that there are restrictions to how one can freely express themselves. Due to the many laws imposed onto the citizens, many Malaysian's have to voice out their opinions online which turned out  to be restricted as well. In 2008, Raja Petra Kamarudin was jailed for allegedly causing racial tensions in his blog(Joshi,2008). Therefore, we can conclude that in Malaysia, most of the blog trends are to voice out their dissatisfaction and discontent in the government and many other things but there are many blogs pertaining other things such as food related blogs which are growing to bigger numbers. 

References

Joshi,V, 2008, "Malaysian Blogger jailed for 2 years",The Independent, viewed 14 September 2010,

< http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/malaysian-blogger-jailed-for-2-years-939340.html >

Winn, P, 2009, "State of the Blogosphere:Introduction", Technorati, viewed 16 September 2010,

< http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-introduction/ >

A Good Powerpoint Presentation.

In my opinion, a good powerpoint must have some kind of information pertaining the subject.These notes must be short,sweet and to the point. Besides that, a powerpoint without any illustrations or pictures will bore the audience in addition if the person who presents it talks in a monotonous tone.

An example of an interesting slide.

These are a few simple steps to a good powerpoint presentation.

1.Color and Background

According to Donald R. Clark,the color and background of a powerpoint presentation plays a major role in capturing the attention of the audience. He gave the perfect examples of how different colors affect the mood and how colors are able to connect to the audience. This is supported by the article written by Marquez(2010) where it is written that when making a powerpoint presentation it is advised to use a simple background to avoid accidents where the the message written is unclear.

2.Simplicity

The number of slides should be kept to the minimum as too many slides will cause the audience to lose their focus and will soon be unable to concentrate. The slides should only have the main points and the rest of the explanation should be done verbally. Verbal explanation will also help the presenter to engage and interact with their audience. A word of caution, do not rush when explaining as the audience needs the time to read the notes on the slides. This can cause confusion as the audience try to connect both the notes and the explanation.

3.Illustrations/Pictures

Schriver(1997) made a point that communication enhanced and is made easier when images/pictures and text are fully utilized. Studies have shown that people's attention are easily captured with the use of images and pictures therefore,a good powerpoint presentation needs to include picture and images such as graphs and photos to illustrate further the topic.

References

Marquez, Z 2010, How to make a good powerpoint presentation, Ezine Articles, viewed 30 August 2010, < http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Good-PowerPoint-Presentation&id=4313178.>

Kress G & Van Leeuwen, T. 2006, Reading Images: Chapter 6 The meaning of Composition 

Rothman, S 2005, What makes good scientific and technical writing, Associated Content, viewed 3 September 2010, <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/what_makes_good_scientific_and_technical.html?cat=4.>

12 tips for creating better presentations, Microsoft at work, viewed 5 September 2010, http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/skills/presentations.aspx. 

What is a good powerpoint design?,presentationzen.blogpsot.com, viewed 6 September 2010, <http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/whats_good_powe.html>

www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/templates/presentations.ppt

 

 

Purpose of Blog.

As the title suggests, the purpose of this blog to discuss about the media and publishing issues that are present in today's society. As we all know, the media do not report about the truth only but also deceive and twist the truth. Therefore, I believe that by pointing out and researching more about what the media reports will not only help me to grow as a useful person to society but to also help discover the truth for others.

The topic of my discussion is the truth about the media: Truth or tale. My target audience would be the teenagers between 12 to 18 as they are gullible and usually just swallow the news fed by the media.