B. Classification of Blogs & Opinion about the Most Appropriate Classification Approach.

The growth of the cyber world contributed to the increase of the number of bloggers and blogging in the world. Hence, blogs today are classified into various genres (Belardo, M 2010) such as:

Collaborative Blogs: A blog constructed with multiple links or with multiple authors in support of a certain thesis.

How To/ Tutorial Blogs: Useful informative blogs for the purpose to guide and teach others on a certain subject.

Travel & Culture Blogs: Similar to advertising but promotes a certain location while providing special offers to travel while enabling people to share their travelling experiences.

Fashion & Lifestyle Blog: A creativity sense in dressing in accordance to the latest styles and trends.

Personal Blogs: The most practiced blog among the society mainly teenagers expressing daily routines, hobbies, interesting events and more.

These blogs can comprise multiple topics relating and depending to its subject matter such as politics, fashion, history and law. Blogs today are not only being posted via desktop but also with the aid of mobile devices which gave the term ‘moblog’.

The information projected is also spread with various media types with the help of vlogs, linklogs, sketchlogs, tumblelogs and more where it is in a video format or drawings which are more interesting. Business and corporate blogs also have status in terms of publishment.

According to Margaret Simons (2008), a prominent Australian blogger, Simons came up with nine types of blog which is:

1. Pamphleteering blogs
2. Digest Blog
3. Advocacy blog
4. Popular Mechanics blog
5. Exhibition Blog
6. Gatewatcher Blog
7. Diary
8. Advertisement
9. News Blog

                Blogs today are difficult to classify as they fall upon more than a single genre. As a result, we are able to understand why Simons had created these blog classifications. Although its field is vast detailed and wider compared to the various classifications, it is quite similar. The Diary blog for instance is similar to personal blogging and the pamphleteering blog is similar to collaborating blog. I find these classifications quite alike but the only difference is Simons touched more into a detailed group of categorization.

Referencing:

1. 1.       Belardo, M 2010, The 5 Types of Blogs | Which One Suits You Best?, Ink Rebels, viewed 3^rd May 2011, < http://www.inkrebels.com/insp/the-5-types-of-blogs-which-one-suits-you-best/>
2. 2.       Simons, M 2008, Towards a taxonomy of blogs, Australian Policy Online, viewed 3^rd May 2011, < http://www.apo.org.au/commentary/towards-taxonomy-blogs-0>
3. 3.       The Media Report 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, viewed 3^rd May 2011, < http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript)>

A. Blogs As Current Phenomenon & Benefits To The Community

According to Hopkins (2009), the size of blogosphere has come into a calculation halt in 2008. Thus, in 2009, there were no statistics provided on the value of the blogosphere ever since. The size of the blogosphere came to a halt with the value of over 70 million weblogs and growing until today although the size is immeasurable (Sifry, 2007).  In 2010, the number of bloggers was not specified. Instead, a survey was conducted among 7,205 bloggers from all around the world by Penn Schoen Berland (Technorati.com, 2010).

Source: 

http://www.leehopkins.com/secondlife/2009/12/26/technorati-and-the-size-of-the-blogosphere-it-cant-be-that-hard-to-figure-out-surely/comment-page-1/

In 2010, a tremendous growth in mobile blogging was the key trend aside from smartphones and tablet markets blogging worldwide including Asian-Pacific countries. Another main unexpected trend was also the usage of blogging by mothers (Sobel, 2010). Due to this occurrence, Technorati has focused the blogosphere mainly on females commencing in 2010.

Source:

                                          http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/page-3/

There are many types of blogging and each serves a different purpose which can either be from informative news to a diary or advertisements and many more. In 2010, Asia scored the highest in terms of blogging followed by Europe and then China (Internet World Stats, 2010). 70% of Malaysians refer online, mainly blogs, during elections to decide who is a better candidate for their up-bringing country (The Star Online, 2008). For China, retail blogging is the best way to sell items which contributes to their growth in economy. China now ranks second taking over Japan's spot in the sector of economy (Hurst, S 2011).

Referencing:

1.  Hurst, S 2011, If You Are Going to Sell in China, Maybe Online is the Best Way to Grow, SDL, viewed 3^rd May 2011, <http://blog.sdl.com/blog/2011/03/if-you-are-going-to-sell-in-china-maybe-online-is-the-best-way-to-grow.html
2. Hopkins, L 2009, Technorati and the size of the blogosphere: it can’t be THAT hard to figure out, surely?!,  viewed 22^nd April 2011, <http://www.leehopkins.com/secondlife/2009/12/26/technorati-and-the-size-of-the-blogosphere-it-cant-be-that-hard-to-figure-out-surely/comment-page-1/>
3. Sifry, D 2007, The State of the Live Web, April 2007, viewed 22^nd April 2011, < http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000493.html>
4. Sobel, J 2010, WHAT: Topics and Trends - Day 2 SOTB 2010, viewed 22^nd April 2011, < http://technorati.com/blogging/article/what-topics-and-trends-day-2/>
5. The Star Online, 2008, Blogging In Malaysia ranks among highest in the world, viewed 3^rd May 2011, <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/3/nation/20827588&sec=nation>

Post 2 - Document Design

             In illustrating information, it is vital for a piece of information to be in an organized layout with supporting evidence (Rothman, 2005). A good powerpoint should have clear headings with informative bullet points should be use for an advance organization and to reduce reader’s time consumption. Give procedures step-by-step if instructions are required for the readers and mainly, ensure the information is pertaining to the topic (Putnis & Petelin, 1996). Information would provide useful is it is neat. In accordance to Anderson (1987), the author states by doing so, this enables the audience to read effectively and feel comfortable in understanding because the information they require are thoroughly explained and are in an orderly manner. Anderson further asserts that balancing the visuals is important base on markers, font, color and order so that it would be recognizable based on the flow of information. This is supported by Russell and Marguez (2010), as the author suggests avoiding fonts which are hard to read. In order for a good powerpoint presentation, avoid having too many slides, ask questions and speak clearly with energy or it will bore the audience. Keep track on the topic being discussed to avoid time and best yet, make full use of visualizations such as graph, charts and images (Marguez, 2010).


              In the previous group assignment presentation, I would comment on a few slides as shown below, had grab minor interest from the audience due to the unorganized chart and excessive words used. Therefore, color and lines were added to improve visual concentration and also bullet points. However, unused sections of the chart could be removed since it was not related to the topic to reduce confusion.

Lastly, we can improve the second slide by adjusting the writing skill as it is broken. Effective writing depends on the credibility and formality of writing.

 
Reference List:

1. About.com 2011, 10 Tips for Creating Successful Business Presentations, Russell, viewed 27^th March 2011, <http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointinbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tips.htm>.
2. Associatedcontent 2005, What Makes Good Scientific and Technical Writing?, Rothman, viewed 27^th March 2011, < http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error?cat=4>.
3. Ezine@rticles 2010, How to Make a Good PowerPoint Presentation, Marguez, viewed 27^th March 2011, < http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Good-PowerPoint-Presentation&id=4313178>.
4. Putnis, P & Petelin, R 1996, ‘Writing to communicate’, in Professional communication: principles and applications, Prentice Hall, Sydney, COA, pp.236-254.
5. Reep, D 2006, ‘Document Design’, in Technical Writing, Longman, New York, Pearson, pp. 133-172.

1st Posting - Purpose

The prospect of this blog is to discuss about the on going media issues occurring in the society. With social sites sprouting like mushrooms after rain, every individual's privacy is invaded. This could actually affect the individuals such as in many aspects especially in terms of career. This blog is mainly targeted to my peers and students undertaking a course which require future reputation.

image taken from http://ceoworld.biz/ceo/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/social-media.jpg