Nicola.Jayne

1. An ongoing commentary and discussion on media issues in Australia.

4. iBooks or Hardcover Books?

4. Apple iBooks is a new form of publishing and technology. Especially popular on the Apple iPad. Having an iPad is definitely more of a want rather than a need, I know this because I have one. Essentially iBooks is an Apple iPod, iPhone or iPad app and can be downloaded through the App Store. It’s again the way to get books by downloading them, but you must pay for many of them. The iBooks App allows you to store thousands of books on the one device. Out of the three Apple products the iPad is the best one for reading books on because the screen is the perfect size but for me personally after a while my eyes start to hurt. I prefer hardcover books. Although in saying that 100 books on the iPad is easier to carry around rather than 20 hardcover books.

At many were worried about this App replacing traditional hardcover books but I doubt that will happen as many still would prefer to have the hardcover than just a document on a computer. But the design of the iPad and the App is sleek and easier, which it is. iBooks is easy to use and if you find the writing and font of the book hard to read you can zoom in, which you cant do with ordinary books. The iBooks application is designed to look like a book case with all your purchased books covers on the shelves (FIGURE 1), which I believe is quite effective.

Figure 1

Posted June 17, 2011 at 4:12 pm

5. Blogging Communities

5. The two blogging communities I chose to follow were the photography community and architechture community; mainly because I find both topics interesting. Now every blog does indeed have their own personality to say the least but these two are an art/design based community. The main ideology behind the architecture blog is that they post photos of new designs, newly built houses, sketches, anything to do with architecture and discuss with others of the community their thoughts on the photo or sketch etc. They also do this with new architecture books coming out or design principles, basically anything to do with architecture is put up for discussion but I particularly noticed the photo side on things; which leads me onto my next blogging community.

The photographic blogging community is extremely creative. They post all sorts of new photographic techniques to old-school vintage portraits. Vintage portraits with the use of old-style filters is my favourite (for example the bike pictures). I love new photos with an 80’s twist. Anyway amateur photographers to professionals post their work and leave it open for either comments or discussion of concepts, anything really. Amateur photographers mainly seem to look for guidance and tips on how they can improve, whilst professionals just simply share and display their works. One thing about the photographic community is it’s rather inspiring and amazing what people can do with a camera and technology software like Adobe Photoshop. 

Posted June 17, 2011 at 4:04 pm

6. Radio National

I know, Radio National, a typical choice huh? Well its an important source of information as well as some great opinion pieces. It has a range of subjects and topical issues within the site, plus many of the transcripts. 

Posted June 10, 2011 at 12:26 am

6. Little Green Grammar Book

The Little Green Grammar Book is one of the best books to read if you hate grammar. I hated learning about grammar, especially in primary school but when I got given this book I found grammar so much more easier to learn about. The book written by Mark Tredinnick, who puts his own humour and comical quotes within the book; thus definitely making grammar bearable. I added this to question 6 because I do believe it is a great tool to assist people who struggle with grammar or just hate learning it because it’s quite boring. Grammar made easy….yes please. 

Posted June 10, 2011 at 12:20 am

6. Writing for todays workplace

6. 

Writing for today’s workplace: writing in the modern workplace can be a difficult and daunting task, but professionals can produce high-quality documents simply by applying a few proven prewriting, writing, and design techniques

by William H. Baker

It is a great article I found for design issues, writing and editing including typography etc for the modern workplace. It covers all the important elements necessary to be a writer today in a modern world. I would in the future refer back to this article for tips and tricks also. It is a credible article being from the CBS Interactive Business Network site also. 

Posted June 10, 2011 at 12:15 am

6. Frankie Magazine Forum

6. Frankie Magazine Forum, I’ve linked you to the forum but the overall website is great. The design of the website is just as great as the magazine. Plus I love the forum because you can tell them what you want in future magazine, what you don’t want, what you like and what you don’t like. 

Posted June 10, 2011 at 12:04 am

Reblogged from architectura

Posted May 23, 2011 at 10:31 pm 1852 notes

7. Google ditches newspaper archive plan

Google ditches the idea of uploading thousands of hundread-year-old newspaper archives. Google executives had the idea of uploading and digitising old newspapers in order to make them more accessible to the public. Google started this project with the newspapers ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Washington Post’. However these newspapers in themselves took up enough time to scan and upload. This digitalisation has also caused controversy with Murdoch and the British Museum.


Personally I believe that uploading the archives may be a timely and difficult task but would indeed help the general public access the information more easily than with print newspapers especially if the newspaper is international to their country. However the original print itself is indeed valuable and credible piece of history. I do completely understand why Google decided to not go on uploading newspapers because it seems to be a very costly and timely process. 

Halliday, J 2011, ‘Google ditches newspaper archive plan’, Guardian Newspaper, viewed on the 20th May, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/20/google-newspaper-archive-online>

Posted May 23, 2011 at 10:26 pm

7. Twitter 1, Judge 0, as gag collapses

7. Tweeters have appeared to win in the battle with the British Judicial System. As it states in an article in ‘The Australian’ 

“A gag order imposed by one of the country’s top judges has been flouted on the social networking platform, by members of the news media, and now by a parliamentarian who has revealed the name of a soccer player involved in a sex scandal.” 

This article goes on to explain the privacy infringement of soccer player Ryan Giggs, who got exposed to the general public by Twitter. In minutes from the Twitter post, journalists knew, soccer fans knew and even the Prime Minister knew.

It is quite clear how technology like twitter can assist the media especially from credible sources like parliamentarians and judges. The medias changed completely as some feed off of Twitter and other social networking sites. This however can have negative affects on famous people or anyone in the lime-light as their privacy is therefore taken away. It is taken away because people have the freedom to post anything on the internet, plus if many people post the same thing it causes attention that the fact may be true about someone. For example “Ryan gigs cheated on his wife” if thats posted by 50+ people it will gain attention from media. 

The Australian, ‘Twitter 1, Judge 0, as gag collapses’, viewed 13 May 2011, <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/soccer-star-ryan-giggs-has-been-named-as-the-man-behind-a-super-injunction-to-prevent-a-sex-scandal-from-being-aired/story-e6frg6so-1226061650090>

Posted May 23, 2011 at 10:05 pm

sunsurfer: Piano Tree, Monterey, California photo by glowininja

Reblogged from sunsurfer-deactivated20110911

sunsurfer:

Piano Tree, Monterey, California

photo by glowininja

Posted May 16, 2011 at 11:17 pm 21212 notes