VIC Module 7 Discussion and Project - Dancer 17

Prof. Elio L. Arteaga VIC3002—Visual Design for Media Module 7 Lecture Notes Blogging Web logs, or more commonly “blogs,” have gained much media attention lately due to their increasing popularity. A few years ago, if someone had mentioned the word “blog” to you, you probably might have said, “not on the rug—I just had it cleaned.” Today, over 63.2 million blogs populate the Internet, and about 175,000 new blogs are created daily. Bloggers post 1.6 million new entries to those blogs each and every day. What is this new technology? A blog is a type of Web site, originally intended to be an online journal. Automation controls enable people with average (not super-geek) computer literacy skills to easily post new entries, reference sources, incorporate visuals, reply to postings made by others, and moderate discussions. Blogs enable users to post text, images, audio, video and interactivity and share them with people all over the world.1 It’s not surprising to understand that blogs and the Internet are the next natural extension of people’s need to communicate, beginning many thousands of years ago with cave paintings and maturing after Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press and handset movable type. What makes blogs so special? Blogs represent the democratization of knowledge and information. When the Internet was born, anyone with a computer, network connection and some very geeky skills could post information on Web pages. The Internet required its Webmasters to learn complex HTML coding or be able to use a Web page creation program, such as Dreamweaver. But blog technology changes all that. Once a template is quickly set up, blog team members can easily post stories. New stories “push down” earlier postings, so blogs display entries in reverse chronological order. Visitors read the postings and can leave comments, which other visitors can read and comment on as well. Blogs can be about anything—news, politics, fashions—and each blog usually follows a specific theme. A blog’s strength lies in the community of readers that forms around it. This cohesive community of diverse people with varying computer literacy skills can only be possible with a technology that makes such communication transparent and seamless—the blog. Blogs vs. Plain Old Web Pages HowStuffWorks.com does a great job of explaining the differences between regular Web pages and blogs. Visit http://computer.howstuffworks.com/blog.htm for more information. A typical Web site consists of a home page with several, sometimes thousands, of subordinate pages linked to it. A blog is different: a blog is often a single page, with several entries arranged from newest to oldest. Frequent visitors to a blog will see the most recent posting at the top of the page. Once they begin scrolling down, they may see earlier postings that they’ve already read and stop at that point, since they may only be interested in new information. Older information is still available in the archives, but most people will mainly be interested in what’s new.

























































 1
Gordon, Derek. (2007). About Technorati. Retrieved January 24, 2007, from technorati.com. Web site: http://technorati.com/about/ 


Take a look at my own blog, eDesign, dedicated to presenting graphic design news of interest to students and professionals in the South Florida area (http://eliodesign.blogspot.com/). I’ve selected a Blogger template that sets up all the formatting attributes for me: the headlines appear large and bold. The body text appears a comfortable reading size. Links are in orange. Images wrap around text. Quoted material appears inside a yellow rectangle. I’ve used graphic design techniques applied to formatting attributes to structure complex and varied information in order to present it to readers as a unified whole. Following are descriptions of the recent importance blogs have had in sharing relevant, newsworthy information with the public. In most cases, blogs report on significant stories ignored or minimized by national mainstream media. Political Blogs You might never have heard of the Downing Street Memo had it not been for blogs. The memo was first published in the British newspaper, The Sunday Times on May 1, 2005, alleging manipulation of the UN inspection of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction as a pretext to remove Saddam Hussein from power by force. But the Memo went largely unnoticed by US newspapers. Liberal-minded blogs such as BradBlog.com and DailyKos.com helped bring this controversial news story to Americans’ awareness. Two months before the 2004 Presidential Election, Dan Rather of 60 Minutes presented a series of documents negatively criticizing George W. Bush’s service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War Era. Almost immediately, conservative blogs such as LittleGreenFootballs.com challenged the authenticity of the documents, citing that the document’s typography pointed to the make and model of typewriter used, which hadn’t yet been invented when the report was allegedly written. As a result of further investigation, CBS issued a retraction, and blogs began to be accepted as a new legitimate form of mass media. Citizen Journalism While the mainstream media directs Americans’ short attention spans to stories such as Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, Britney Spears’ breakup with K-Fed (now Fedex), and Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch, bloggers participated in creating a firestorm over the 2006 Dubai Ports World controversy. In February 2006, Middle Eastern-based DPW purchased several ports in U.S. cities, raising concerns over security and terrorism. Public outcry forced DPW to offer to sell its ports back to American entities. Once again, mainstream media turned attention back to celebrity gossip, but persistent bloggers noted that as of June 2006, DPW still quietly owned ports in 22 U.S. cities. Today, many Americans get their news from blogs, in addition to the regular mainstream news sources. Helen Berggren is a writer for the Miami Herald. She was my student in Spring 2006 when she produced http://itsyourthoughts.blogspot.com/, posting her own stories and images. Her first entry is a touching story on rescuing animals from cruelty. Corporate Blogs Corporations use blogs as public relations tools for communicating directly to their target consumers. Blogs such as Dell’s Direct2Dell.com promote the company, but also provide a forum for consumers to relate their experiences, positive or negative, to the company and each other. The blog then facilitates a way for the business to fulfill its promises to the consumers.

Science Blogs The Huygens probe landed on Saturn’s moon Titan in January of 2005 and detected the presence of hydrocarbons. Most scientists today believe hydrocarbons—refined to produce petroleum—are of biological origin. But there is no biology on Titan. Or is there? Even if there isn’t, and you believe our supply of oil might run out in the future, the Huygens probe findings seem to suggest that an almost endless new supply exists elsewhere in our own solar system. Science blogs such as PhysOrg.com reported on the Huygens probe findings almost as soon as they were available. Science-related blogs are often criticized for their zeal in presenting amazing new findings to the public, sometimes skipping the peer-review process, potentially resulting in inaccurate information posted. Poetry Blogs Many use blogs to showcase their poetry, artwork and photos. Arlena Amaro, my student in Fall 2006, created Snapshots of My Soul (http://arlenaamaro.blogspot.com/), which she actively maintains, as a vehicle for her creative expressions. Visitors leave many positive comments. Artist Blogs Blogs are an excellent outlet for spotlighting your art, photography, sculpture, or craft. Mark Murphy’s blog (http://murphydesign1.blogspot.com/) promotes artists selling their works. Notice how he incorporates a short description of the artists and works spotlighted, which adds extra dimension to the visitors’ understanding of the artwork. Your blog project must incorporate similar descriptions of any artwork, photography, graffiti, etc. that you display. Personal Blogs Online journals are the original impetus behind blog technology. Many report day-to-day activities and thoughts that no one other than their closest friends would be interested in (“I woke up, felt bored, went to class, went home, and went back to sleep”). Amazingly, the Internet has become a vehicle for communicating intimate, personal messages with the largest audience known to any medium—the entire world. These social networking sites include MySpace and Facebook. Because we are practicing for writing in a professional environment, this type of personal journal is not permitted for this project. Incorporating Technology My summer 2008 student, Camila, created http://www.littleramonas.com/, a blog incorporating photos, video, slideshows, and even an online radio station. She incorporated this technology in a thoughtful way, enhancing—not detracting from—the blog’s design aesthetic. I encourage you to incorporate technology into your blog to enhance its interactivity. But beware! Many MySpace and Facebook pages are rife with gaudy design, blinking elements, and simultaneously-playing music and sound files that chase away visitors, rather than welcome and invite them. Video blogs are called vlogs. Examples include YouTube and Google Videos. Blogs showcasing photos are called photoblogs, for example, Flickr. Audio files can sometimes substitute for textual information in blogs. Audio files that are played after downloading to your computer or MP3 player are called podcasts. Apple’s iTunes Music Store offers over 65,000 free podcasts.2

























































 2
Apple, Inc. (2007). Apple iTunes – iTunes – Store. Retrieved January 24, 2007, from Apple.com. Web site: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/ 


Blogging Sites The most popular blog hosting sites include Blogger (http://www.blogger.com), Xanga (http://www.xanga.com), TypePad (http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/) and LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com). To Create a Blog: Using Blogger as an example, creating a blog is a simple three-step process:

Fig. 1—Screenshot of Blogger’s three steps to create a blog.

(1) Create an account. This is as easy as creating a Yahoo ID and password.

Fig. 2—Step 1: Enter your Gmail address and password.

(2) Name your blog. Establish a blog title and URL (the Web address).

Fig. 3—Name your blog and look for an available URL.

(3) Choose a template. A template establishes a custom look for your blog including backgrounds, headers, typefaces, and layouts. Blogger provides several pre-made templates ranging in design from formal and traditional to dynamic and funky.

Fig. 4—One of the many available templates in Blogger.

Anyone with average computer literacy skills can create a blog following this process fairly quickly. The controls are intuitive—just experiment with the interface. Posting New Entries Once your blog is established, you can begin posting to your blog. From the Blogger Dashboard, click the green plus sign under “New Post.” Type a title for your posting. This is analogous to naming an article within a magazine, rather than the magazine itself, which is what you did by naming your blog. The large rectangle is where you write the main body of your posting. Just above are icons for formatting text bold and/or italic. You can also add external links, add quoted material, check spelling, insert images, change text color, change alignments, change typefaces and sizes, and format text for bullets and numbering. In Compose Mode, the interface is very similar to that of Microsoft Word. By turning on Preview, you can get an idea of how your post will look when you publish it.

Fig. 5—Blogger’s controls for formatting text.

Finally, click “Publish” and your blog is ready for the world. Project #2—The Visual Blog (worth 10 points) *Create a visual blog for communicating information to a real-world public at large. *Decide on a title and thematic topic for your blog. It could be on (almost) anything! Possible blog topics include (but are not limited to): travel journal, international recipe collection, sports news, clubbing photo-journal, original poetry collection, original photography or art gallery, political commentary journal, movie review journal, celebrity gossip journal, or many, many other possibilities. Your only limitation in this regard is that you can't submit a personal journal for your project--even though this kind of communication is prevalent on the Internet, this project's goal is for you to practice for a professional environment. *Make your blog scholarly and/or journalistic. This will be a great project for all the journalism and PR majors in this class. And if you're not in journalism or PR, this project will enable you to get an idea of what those majors entail. *Create a Blogger blog by going to http://www.blogger.com/ and following the three-step process listed on the homepage. Don't like Blogger? No problem. Your blog can be created in any blog- hosting site. Just keep in mind that your professor doesn't have—and never will have—a MySpace account (it upsets my graphic design sensibilities). So if you create your blog using MySpace, make sure that it is unlocked and viewable by non-account holders. *Create the following: *A thematic topic for your blog. *Five postings of 100 words (minimum) to 200 words (maximum) each. Blog postings should be short and readable in one sitting. *Proper spelling, grammar and punctuation must be observed. *Describe your opinion of the stories you reference or report on. Make clear what part of the story is your original writing and what part is referenced. *Cite referenced text by using hyperlinks to the original online articles. *Quoted material must appear visually different from your original writing. Change font, size, color, indents, etc.

*Online art or photography blogs, or recipe blogs, must include a 100 - 200 word opinion of the artwork or recipes presented. *Must not be a personal journal, as the goal of this course is to prepare students for writing in a professional environment. *Technology--photos, artwork, embedded YouTube videos, slideshows, radio stations, etc.--must be incorporated into each of the five post entries where appropriate. It's supposed to be a VISUAL blog for a visual communications class, remember? Incorporate multiple images per posting for full credit. *Nurture your blog community by encouraging participation from visitors. Respond to posted comments, and reciprocate on their blogs. Post your blog address in Module 7 Discussions so that your classmates can participate. Respecting Copyrights You must not infringe upon someone else's copyright. Anything you post must either be original, or it must fall under Fair Use guidelines: (1) use of a short quote or paraphrase for review purposes, (2) must be for a scholarly or academic purpose, (3) must not impinge upon the profit-making potential of the copyright owner--that is, you must not give away for free what is normally bought and paid for. Avoiding Plagiarism As far as academic rules are concerned, you must not, intentionally or UNINTENTIONALLY, represent the work of others as your own. To avoid plagiarism: (1) Paraphrase in your own words a short summary of the material, (2) Inject your own opinion, (3) Provide a hyperlink to the original referenced online material, (4) If you quote a short passage, make it VISUALLY DIFFERENT (different fonts, sizes, colors or indents) from your original material, so the reader understands that it's a quote, (5) Credit the source, including authors, photographers, videographers and artists. Review the Following: Remember also the lessons from Module 1 and the Aristotle discussion--we are moving from being a verbally-literate society into being a visually-literate one. That's not to say that people will stop curling up with a good book, or that scholarly or academic treatises that people need for work or study will go away. However, in most day-to-day communications, people prefer to read short messages, and be entertained, enlightened and emotionally-engaged by images. Once again, make your postings short--about 100 to 200 words each, and be sure to use images that support the text. Student's Name VIC3002--Visual Design for Media Project 2—Visual Blog Module 7, Week of _____________ URL: http://________________________________ Please post questions to the Module 7 Discussion Forum. Good Night and Good Luck!