Reflective

Throughout this period of assignment, there are several important values that I’ve learned that could help me improve in writing and blogging. Blogging can look easy as it seems but there are a techniques and regulations to writing to follow from the design, the content and the layout of the blog itself.

 Karen Marcus (2009) mentioned that the content of the blog is the core to the information therefore; one must practice ethical writing to ensure there is any misleading information. It is taught that we should check our facts and be sure to cite the source of information to ensure the credibility of our writing is proven and also to avoid plagiarism. We should also write accordingly as we alter to different culture so we have to be sure of our language and our choice of words (Rich 2010, p.50).  Martinec and van Leeuwen (2008) did also provide information on how to create an effective and interactive layout for the readers to read.

With all these techniques applied, I have learned blog writing and also create an effective communication tool.

Martinec & van Leeuwen 2008, ‘Simple non-linear models’ in The language of new media design.

Rich, JR 2010, Start your own blogging business, Entrepreneur Press, Canada.

Marcus, K 2009, ‘Ethical Writing: What you need to know’, Final Draft Communications, viewed on 7^th June 2012, from http://www.finaldraftcommunications.com/ethical-writing/

Sex Advertising ?

Fragrance is part of the fashion line that can be considered quite exclusive but it has quite a different approach to advertising and promoting its’ product as compared to clothing lines. According to Sarah Oaks (2012), advertising perfumes in this competitive world nowadays isn’t easy because they are advertising a product that can’t be decided through the naked eye. Due to the fact that of all products that rely on sex to sell themselves, perfume is one of the product out there that relies heavily on sex advertising as scent is intrinsically linked to desire and sexual attraction. Out there today, most of the perfumes out there rely heavily on sexual attraction on the advertisement to promote and it is actually showing positive results in sales (Pearson 2008).

The reason that this is happening is because sex sells. According to an article by Bridgette Desmond (2008), the average person sees 1,500 advertisements a day on average and for an advertisement to stand out; it has to create an image for the viewers to not forget. This approach of advertising does provide a promising outcome to the business but it also brings negative outcomes not to the business, but to the culture. Products mostly uses sexy female contents such as half naked body or so to promote but this has eventually created a cultural difference and it harms the image of women nowadays. A report shows that the highly promoted of sexual values in advertisements shows degrading portrayal of women with overtones of violence, sexual domination and bestiality (Onyejekwe 2005). It is slowly damaging the value and the image of women today by degrading them for profit purposes and it is not a very wise thing to do. It is very common to see a women half nude to almost nothing in an advertisement promoting a product with a sexual touch on it. One of the reasons why would women or the community agree to do so still is probably due to the promising pay they received and also the brand that will carry their image around in the fashion world.

Desmond, B 2008, Sex in Magazine Advertising: Examining the past 15 Years, viewed on 5^th June 2012, fromr http://www.unh.edu/sociology/media/pdfs-journal2008/DesmondEDITED.pdf

Onyejekwe, CJ 2005, Advertising and Exploitation of Female Sexuality, viewed on 7^th June 2012, from http://www.quietmountainessays.org/Onyejekwe.html

Pearson, A 2008, ‘Perfume on Trial: The Truth About Our Scent Industry’, Daily Mail, viewed on 5^th June 2012, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-550511/Perfumes-trial-The-truth-scent-industry.html

Sarah, O 2012, ‘The Highly Sexual Art of Selling Perfume’, Daily Life, viewed on 5^th June 2012, from http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-beauty/the-highly-sexual-art-of-selling-perfume-20120518-1yvd4.html

Stop Kony 2012 - It just wouldn't stop spreading

A video of a campaign to stop the warlord, Joseph Kony had gone viral through the internet on Youtube and Vimeo. Joseph Kony is one of the most wanted warlords in the world who believed to have kidnapped 591 children in the past three years to recruit as his fighters, human shields and spies to build his army (Smith 2012). This video that is viral on the internet can be found easily on Youtube and Vimeo that had gotten a few million views and in the video, it gives a brief summary about Joseph Kony and his activity. It then further explain how serious the issue is becoming and later on the campaign ‘Stop Kony’ is introduced to gather funds and make Kony ‘famous’ so the US Government will continue the hunt for Joseph Kony.

The campaign ‘Stop Kony 2012' had gone viral since it was published on youtube and vimeo and transmitted through the internet and it just wouldn’t stop. This has also caused a misinformation and the credibility had been doubted since it hasn’t included any reliable sources. According to Silverman (2012), it is proven that incorrect information travels further and faster on social networking sites such as Twitter than corrections. Twitter is not one of the top-10 tools of communication to share information on the internet due to the vast amount of users in the world today (Norton 2012).

 People tend to perceive that the information on the internet is credible especially if it is in a form of a video, because people would assume that film makers would have invested the same effort in reassuring the credibility of the information just as much effort as they invest in making the film (Flanagin & Metzger 2000). In another words, with the technology nowadays will not stop passing from one to another when it hits the internet in fact it might even multiply by numbers which also is prune to misleading information or incredible sources.

Flanagin, AJ & Metzger, MJ 2000, ‘Internet-Based Information Retrieval and Evaluation’, Perception of Internet Information Credibility, Vol. 77, No, 3, viewed on 7^th June 2012, from http://www.jasonmorrison.net/iakm/4006074.pdf

Norton, C 2012, ‘Twitter stats and analytics tools - top 10’, Socialmediatoday, viewed on 7^th June 2012, from http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=SMC/165191

Silverman, C 2012, ‘Visualized: Incorrect information travels farther, faster on Twitter than corrections’, Poynter, viewed on 7^th June 2012, from http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-the-error/165654/visualized-incorrect-information-travels-farther-faster-on-twitter-than-corrections/

Smith, D 2012, ‘Joseph Kony kidnapped 591 children in past three years, UN report reveals’, The Guardian, viewed on 7^th June 2012, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/07/joseph-kony-united-nations-report

Peter Mayle's Sex Education Book Banned in Malaysia ?

Peter Mayle’s book titled, ‘Where Did I Come From’ is a book that includes the fundamentals of sex and sex education that is sold worldwide. However, the Home Ministry and Malaysian officials strictly ruled out the immediate action to stop the book ‘Where Did I Come From’ to be on sale in Malaysia (BBC 2012). The Ministry Deputy Education Secretary General Datuk Abdul Rahim Mohd Radzi said the sale of the book had to stop until a decision is made after they have properly studied the content of the book.

Abdul Rahim mentioned in a conference that the ministry was taking actions under Section 7, Subsection 1 of the Printing Presses and Publishing Act 1984 (Ahmad & Rahim 2012). He also mentioned that the content of the book has content that is too explicit and it might be educational to children from other countries but not ‘us’. The content include cartoon and illustration on love making and sexual intercourse information as well as how a male and female genitalia function.

I believe many are still confuse even myself because of the culture in Malaysia, which is a Muslim country and sex had been a sensitive or taboo topic especially in the eyes of the public. Sex education was also introduced indirectly to Malaysian Secondary School and Primary School in 1989 and 1994 consecutively (Jaafar & Chan 2008). This shows that the government is having the idea of exposing the younger generations to sex education at a younger age. Publishing this book is basically a stepping stone to sex education because it helps parents to educate their children in a safer form. Malaysian officials would need to go easy on sensitive topics such as sex because it affects the learning process and progress of the education system. It is wrong to ban a book which is so informative and educational but to compromise with the Malaysian culture, government can implement a law to bookshops to sell the books to only adults. Doing so would also help ensure that the information is delivered to the child properly with guidance since the concern of the government is that the content of the book might be misleading to children in Malaysia.

BBC 2012, ‘Malaysia ‘bans’ Peter Mayle book Where Did I Come From?’, BBC, viewed on 3^rd June 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17112635

Ahmad, ZA & Rahim, R 2012, ‘Home Ministry stops sale of 'Where Did I Come From' book by Peter Mayle’, The Star, viewed on 3^rd June 2012, from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/21/nation/20120221175525&sec=nation

Jaafar, A & Chan, SL 2008, ‘Design Approach of Malaysian Sexual Educational Courseware (MSE) for Secondary Schools’, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia, viewed on 3^rd June 2012, from http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2008/istanbul-meta/istanbul-meta/istanbul-meta-06.pdf

Kim Jon-Il's Funeral Photoshoped ?

Photojournalism has carried an image of truthfulness for a long time as the impact of visual image on a viewer tells them that a ‘camera never lies’. As a tool, the camera faithfully and unemotionally captures the moment in time (Lester 1999). The camera as a machine, it is only faithful in the hands of an ethical person. In the case of Kim Jong- Il’s funeral procession, there was an issue on the photograph released by the North Korea’s state news agency. An Image from ABC News shows the two different version of a photograph that can be found taken on Kim Jong-Il’s funeral ceremony (Mooney 2011). It has been discovered that the photo released by the North Korean state news agency was doctored.

The ‘mess’ which is the camera crew which wasn’t in formation was digitally removed with Photoshop. The reason for doing so is still unclear of but there was an issue about the right and wrong, and if it is ethical or not to do so. According to Lester (1995), words are vital in reassuring the credibility of a photo which means a photojournalist or art director should acknowledge the changes made on a photo if intended because the readers have the rights to know the truth and it is unethical to ‘lie’ to the public.

The reason of doctoring the photo was maybe to keep up the appearance of the image of the event (Seidl 2011). Personally I find it quite unethical to alter such modification to a photograph just to uphold the image of the profound status of Kim Jong-Il’s and the country’s ruling family that they remain in tight control. If they alter the photo for such reason, it creates a false image of the family and the perception of the public which in a away they are lying about themselves. According to the Society of Professional Journalist (1996), it is a journalist’s responsible to be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Therefore lying to the nation and the world would also mean it’s breaking the code of ethics for journalism.

Lester, PM 1999, ‘Picture Manipulation’, Photojournalism An Ethical Approach, viewed on 1^st June 2012, from http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter6.html

Lester, PM 1995, ‘Photojournalism Ethics Timeless Issues’, in Emery, M & Smythe, TC , Readings in Mass Communication, viewed on 1^st June 2012, from http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/photoethics.html

Mooney, M 2011, ‘North Korea Restores Order to Kim Funeral with Photoshop’, ABC News, viewed on 1^st June 2012, from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/12/north-korea-restores-order-to-kim-funeral-with-photoshop/