I really enjoy these few weeks of being a blogger. Instead of doing my own assignment and submitting it to the teacher, expressing my opinions on a blog enables my thought to reach a wider audience, which creates a stronger incentive for me to think deeply and put my thoughts into words. Whenever I finish a blog post, I keep looking forward to receiving comment from my teacher and classmates. I am eager to know how they feel about my blog post. These comments can enrich my blog by offering multiple perspectives of an issue, instead of just having my own viewpoint. For example, in my post about ‘Innovations in Writing for New Media’, Ken commented that she is concerned about the copyright problem that might arise by Issuu. This is exactly what I have neglected, and Ken brought it out so that not only me, but other bloggers can be aware of the copyright issue.
Through writing blog posts, not only can I express my thoughts to others, but I can also be inspired from reading my classmates’ blog posts. From reading Kitty’s post on video games, it reminded me that even though video games have existed for quite some time, it keeps on evolving. The video games that we played when we are small are different from the ones nowadays. Video games nowadays are more interactive and engaging than the ones in the past, and they require the player to make more decisions than before. Instead of passively playing with the game, now players can have a say on how the game should proceed, such as Spore, which was introduced in class.
Blog writing is an activity that allows a two-way communication between writers and readers. It helps getting a message across to a large number of readers in a short period of time. As I read from Kandice’s post, being a blogger entails responsibilities. There are certain ethical and copyright issues that I have to observe when writing a blog. This is useful advice for anyone who is interested in writing for the new media.
Source: cambodia4kidsorg
Links to the comments I’ve made to my classmates’ blogs:
The advent of new media writing tools has drastically changed our ways of reading and writing. From traditional books and newspapers, we now turn to computers and smartphones to read; we seldom use pen and paper for writing, but instead we relied on the computers/smartphones for content creation. Although these changes are seemingly beneficial in a way that it brings us the convenience of being able to read and write wherever we are, and compressed the sense of time and space between us, it raised a concern of the decline of literacy level, especially of the younger generations, who spend most of their time reading and writing on the internet.
Source: Swansea Photographer
In an article written by Motoko Rich in New York Times about the future of reading, he quoted some critics of new media saying that the multimodality of the internet is a distraction for students. For me, it’s true to a certain extent, especially when I read the newspaper online, sometimes there will always be a video embedded in the article, and I will tend to view the video rather than reading the whole article to save time. I will also click on the links in the news article and so I ended up not finishing the whole article.
In the same article, Nicholas Carr, the author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid” in Atlantic Magazine is quoted as saying that he thinks the internet has decreased his concentration span that he finds it difficult to read long books. Personally I only agree to his view to a limited extent because I think it varies from person to person. For me, it doesn’t affect me much. I still enjoy reading books more than reading on the screen. I find it difficult to read long texts on screen on the contrary.
However, there’re always two sides of the same coin. In an article of Steven Johnson, the author of Everything Bad Is Good For You, in the Guardian newspaper, argues that the studies about declining of reading and writing skills due to the popularity of Internet did not cover the whole picture as they omitted the reading and writing activities done on the computer. He also noted that instead of a decline in reading and writer, it is just a change in form nowadays. We are now practicing a new form of reading which involves shorter texts featuring multimodality and hypertexts, which doesn’t necessarily led to a decline in reading skills of students. As for writing skills, Johnson pointed out that we are writing more on blogs for a wider audience in the age of new media.
So, the debate boils down to what it means to be a 21st century learner...
Personally, I think new media has not affected my ability to read and write. On the contrary, I think it actually enhances my reading and writing skills. Before the popularity of Internet, I wouldn’t have the chance to read newspapers from all over the world as they are always so expensive. I wouldn’t have chance to talk to or chat with people from other cultures so easily. The new media enables me to reach out to a different world. Although in some cases where the Internet was being criticized for leading to the decline of students’ literacy level, I think to be fair, the tool should not be blamed; the responsibility lies on each individual on how to use the tool in a way that benefits you rather than the opposite.
After 7 weeks of lecture in Writing for New Media, I am really impressed by the number of innovative tools in the world of the new media to express ourselves! In the past, I would just use new media tools that my friends are using, and I was just the trend-follower. But now, after knowing that there are so much in the Internet world waiting for me to explore, I started to actively seek out new media tools which can help me express myself in a creative and individualistic way.
After the presentations a few weeks ago, I explored the web for some other innovative content-creation tools and here's what I found....issuu!
I came across it when I was reading the news online. I found this unfamiliar button. I clicked on it, and I was instantly attracted by the colourful webpage in front of me. It is a site which allows everyone to be a publisher. By simply uploading a document, I can instantly turn it into a magazine-like publication and share it with others online. Viewers can rate it or like it through Facebook, and they can embed the publications to their own websites or blogs. Sharing can never be easier!
Here's a way to recap our presentation on 280 slides using Issuu:
Issuu is supported by mobile devices like iPhone and iPad so you can read 'on the go'. There's no excuse for not reading anymore! Tools like Issuu changes our way of reading, making it a leisure activity that can be done anywhere, anytime.
Besides publishing my own work, I can also read other people's publications and comment on them. I also have access to magazines not available in Hong Kong for free! It creates an online community for publishers and readers. If anyone of you wants to be a writer, or if you have writer's block in need of inspiration, do check out this tool and don't be shy to publish your work online!
The digital tools that I use on a daily basis includes email, MSN and Facebook (and possibly Google+ in the near future). I cannot go to sleep without checking them. If I don't check them right away, I already feel I am falling behind with the latest news when others have already commented on the post right away. The situation 'worsened' after I started using iphone which enables me to check for updates almost anytime, anywhere.
In this course, I hope to learn how to make use of the Internet to enhance the readability and attractiveness of my writing, such as the use of multimodal sources in writing, instead of just using texts. I also would like to learn about how writing and reading in print differs from that in new media, as I spend most of my time reading and writing on screen rather than on paper.
Photography is one of my favourite leisure activities after participating in the Study Tour when I was in Year 1. In order to share my photos with my friends, I always like to explore different photo-sharing websites and editing tools. Here's one of my favourite photo-editing website: http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome which helps me rescue a poorly-shot photo.
