Reflection

Process of creating my weblog

As this is an educational weblog site, information posted are linked and cited to credible sources. In the process of creating my weblog,

• I used http://www.blogger.com/, by creating an account domain.

• There was no need designing the web page, since the page has already being designed.

• Since it is an educational weblog, personal information is not needed, and also web designing

• I went straight ahead by posting information on the web page, by using credible sources.

• Plagiarism as a key factor is being considered. According to Schirato & Yell (1996, p123) “plagiarism is the sin of failing to recognize the copyright holder-in effect, ‘stealing’ his or her work”.

• An academic discourse should acknowledge the work of other writers, so Reference list are provided at the end of each posts. And also an inclusion for comments.

Skills I acquired

Although blogging is not for everyone, the skills I acquired is that one should write to communicate well to the readers, according to Schriver (1997, p 493) ‘readers infer much more from the document than the author’s message’.

Theoretical positions I developed

“Because we live in a ‘knowledge economy’ that values information and constantly relies on communication, success in a profession depends on the ability to communicate well’ (Putnis et al, 1996), so the language being used is kept simple for easy reading.

Standpoint I adopted as a Blogger

The purpose I had when blogging was for informational articles that helped me to develop my points on Blogging issues, classifications of blogs, media & publishing issues; and designing for online vs. print to be discussed on by weblog.

I was sensitive to culture, since ‘we make meaning as members of a particular culture, a particular society, a particular social grouping or community’ (Schirato & Yell 1996).

As a blogger I must design well to engage the readers’ thinking and feelings, since readers of a web ‘rarely read web pages word by word, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences’ (Nielsen 1997). These designs include

• One idea per paragraph & bulleted list- a reader attentions needs to be caught by the first few words in the paragraph
• Sub-headings are included and are meaningful
• Hypertext links that links readers to other sites and when too much information is loaded on a single page
• The eye-movement of the reader- since ‘they simply leave’ immediately they are done surfing for information ( Nielsen 1997) document designer ‘ need to minimize eye movement’ because the user’s attention span is short, it is harder to read from the screen and users just ‘scan the net’(Duff & Mohler, 1996) .

Reference:

Duff, JM & Mohler, JL 1996, Laura Lemay’s web workshop on graphics and web page

Design, Indianapolis: Macmillan Computer Publishing.

Nielsen, J 1997, How Users Read on the Web

<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html> viewed June 13, 2008

Putnis, Peter & Petelin, R 1996, Professional communication: principles and applications, Prentice Hall, Sydney.

Schirato & Yell 1996, Communication & cultural literacy: Anintroduction, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonard’s, Australia, Chapter 3: Communication as social practice, p.43-65.

Walsh, M 2006, “The ‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 24-37. (UNISA electronic library)