Blog Taxonomy

With the increasing blog growth over the past few years, blog directories have come in handy to help users search and locate blogs based on topic or type. On the other hand, blogposts in a blog itself can be classified too, by adding tags to them for easy reference. As metioned in the previous post, there are basically two main types of bloggers; those who blog for fun (the hobbyist) and those who blog professionally either for work purposes or to gain income. Smich (2010) argues that there are various kinds of blogs which range from diary types to news information types.

The blog classification system that I am familiar with is based on the content or topic of the blogs. White (2009) states that most bloggers write about several subjects and both personal and professional topics are equally popular. However, there are five main types of blogs and this includes collaborative blogs, tutorial blogs, travel/cultural blogs, fashion & lifestyle blogs, and personal blogs (Belardo, 2010). This classification approach is very straightforward and quite prevalent. Smich (2010) also classifies blogs into ten main categories such as personal blogs, business blogs, collaborative blogs, and educational blogs among others.

Margaret Simons argues the need for a new vocabulary for internet-based publications and describes the term ‘blog’ as ‘manifestly inadequate’ due to its diminutive differentiation (Funnell, 2008). Hence, she has come up with her own blog classification approach with nine types in total. The following is a summary of Simons' approach.

1. Pamphleteering blog - point of views on current issues/politics
2. Digest blog - collection of facts from other resources with little analysis
3. Advocacy blog - pushes one point of view in an issue
4. Popular Mechanics blog - how-to/tutorial blog
5. Exhibition blog - showcase one's work to an audience
6. Gatewatcher blog - blogs which keep an eye on the media
7. Diary - personal blogs
8. Advertisement - a blog solely for advertising purposes
9. News blog - news/information surveillance blog

Her classification system is no doubt similar to the five main types of blogs suggested by Belardo. However, with more unique blogs on the rise, I believe Simon’s approach is a more prescribed version compared to Belardo’s, as it is easier to organize and identify blogs which have a combination of different styles. Hence, Simons' taxonomy of blogs is a better system to categorize the multifaceted blogs that is available.

References:

Belardo, M 2010, The 5 types of blogs; which one suits you best?, Inkrebels, viewed 29 September 2010,<http://www.inkrebels.com/insp/the-5-types-of-blogs-which-one-suits-you-best/>

Funnell, A 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, The media report, viewed 29 Spetember 2010,<http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>

Smich, M 2010, Different types of blogs, myhosting, 8 April, viewed 29 Spetember 2010,<http://myhosting.com/blog/2010/04/types-blogs-2/>

White, D 2009, Day 2: the what and why of blogging, Technorati, viewed 29 September 2010,<http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-2-the-what-and-why/>

Blogging Phenomenon & its Benefits to Society

The Blogging Trend

Blogging has taken the world by storm, especially in the technology savvy community that we live in today. Technorati has tracked over 50 million blogs since 2006, with an astonishing rate of 175,000 new blogs a day! So imagine how many more blogs have been created up till this day since their annual reports began in 2004. This is the new alternative and modern trend of writing, be it for news purposes, entertainment, or as a personal diary. Blogging is also becoming more mainstream, though not replacing the traditional media.

According to Sussman (2009), the majority of bloggers are a highly educated and affluent group, with research showing that almost half of them having a graduate degree. Besides that, demographics show that two-thirds of bloggers are males aged between 18 to 44.

(Source: Technorati.com, 2009)

McLean (2009) reports four different types of bloggers which are the hobbyist (72%), part-timers (15%), self-employeds (9%), and professionals (4%). The hobbyist blogs for fun, without earning any income as compared to part-timers , self-employed's, and professionals who earn money from it. Thus, in a nutshell, the blogosphere in 2009 focused more on professional bloggers and micro-blogs.

However, this blogging trend varies from country to country. In Europe for instance, blogging is not a popular trend among the people. Only 2% of them write blogs, 11% reads them, and 37% are not even aware of blogs (Rubel, 2006). Whereas compared to America and Asia, the blogging trend has been picked up quite fast in the past decade. Some of the popular American entertainment blogs include perezhilton.com and people.com.

Prevalent Blogs

In the Malaysian blogosphere, there are certain blogs which are more prevalent than others. The majority of the influential blogs write about personal events, accounting for 28% while 16% write about politics or technology (Loone, 2007). According to Wong (2009), some of the top bloggers in Malaysia include Kenny Sia (personal blog), Anwar Ibrahim, and Lim Kit Siang (political blogs). The benefits that these blogs bring to the Malaysian context are that society can have an alternative point of view without strict media censorship through these political blogs. Personal blogs on the other hand, make way for entertainment and advertising purposes.

References:

Loone, S 2007, ’50 most influential blogs in Malaysia’, Sloone.wordpress, weblog post, 6 February, viewed 13 September 2010, <http://sloone.wordpress.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/>

McLean, J 2009, State of State of the Blogosphere 2009 Introduction, Technorati, 19 October, viewed 15 September 2010, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009-introduction/>

Rubel, S 2006, ‘Blogging slow to take off in Europe’, Micropersuasion, weblog post, 3 April, viewed 13 September 2010, <http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/04/blogging_slow_t.html>

Sussman, M 2009, Day 1: Who are the bloggers? SOTB 2009, Technorati, October 19, viewed 15 September 2010 <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-1-who-are-the-bloggers1/>

Technorati, 2006, State of blogosphere, viewed 13 September 2010 <http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000436.html>

Wong, A 2009, ‘Top 100 Malaysian blogs’, Rice blogger, weblog post, 7 May, viewed 13 September 2010,<http://www.riceblogger.com/top-100-malaysian-blogs/>

Document Design

To prepare a good power point presentation, one must first understand the concept of document design. As defined by Reep (2006), document design refers to the exterior or the physical appearance of a document. It is important to remember that a document not only consist of words and text, but also includes visuals such as pictures, diagrams, tables, and so forth. Thus, both the written text and visuals in a document ought to support each other to reach its audience and grasp their attention effectively (Reep, 2006). Marquez (2010) also cites speaking clearly and interactivity with the audience (which I think my group could improve on) to avoid uninteresting and mundane presentations.

First, we will look at layout. According to Putnis and Petelin (1996), a good document design must highlight the most crucial points and assist the reader to read the content efficiently. Some of the vital fundamentals in designing a document are a smooth flow of information, balancing positive/negative space and visual/text weight, consistency, sequence, and so on. Reep (2006) also suggests format elements to guide a reader through a document and retain key information. These would comprise of written cues (i.e. headings, headers and footers etc.), managing the white space (i.e. margins, columns, indentations etc.), color, style, and typography. In terms of typography, Russell (n.d.) advises to steer clear of fancy fonts, capital letters, and messy punctuations. In our first slide as seen below, we made a mistake of using fancy fonts for the title and difficult-to-read fonts for the group members' names.

Next up, writing. Putnis and Petelin (1996) argues that there is no right and wrong in writing; instead it is in the given circumstances and readership that constitutes an effective writing piece. For instance, lengthy elaborations in an academic essay may be useful to gain additional marks, but may fail to reach an audience in a presentation which requires straight-to-the-point information. In another slide below, it shows a clear mistake of having too much texts and explanations. The point was not straightforward and hence, failed to reach the audience.

Moreover, Rothman (2005) states that a good piece of writing must communicate specific information directly and literally. The slide above obviously fell short of this. Hence, one must not only consider the situation and audience in writing, but must also be able to communicate precise points rhetorically in order to deliver the main message to the readers.

References:

Marquez ZL 2010, How to make a good powerpoint presentation, Ezinearticles, viewed 27 August 2010,

<http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Good-PowerPoint-Presentation&id=4313178>

Putnis P & Petelin R 1996, ‘Writing to communicate’, in Professional communication, Prentice Hall, Sydney.

Reep D 2006, ‘Principles of document design’, in Technical writing, 6th edn, Pearson Edu, Inc., New York.

Rothman S 2005, What makes good scientific and technical writing?, Associated content, viewed 27 August 2010,

<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error>

Russell W n.d., 10 Tips for creating successful business presentations, about.com, viewed 27 August 2010,

<http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointinbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tips.htm>

Purpose

This weblog is created as part of our task in the Issues in Publication and Design subject. The main purpose of this blog would be to share personal opinions in discussing current media issues in the field of publication, as well as the principles and functions of document design and layout.

The target audience of this blog would most likely be college students interested in gaining more information about publication and design, as well as our subject lecturer who will be monitoring our weblog progress here. :)