Reflections....on blog creating.

I am already a registered member at www.blogger.com, but my blog was not updated periodically, so I believe that this assignment provides the morale to continue my involvement in the blogging world.

How did I register?

Initially, when I got into the website, blogger.com provided 3 simple steps of creating a weblog.

Firststep is to Create an Account. Under this step, I had to choose a username, password, display name. I had to also fill up my email address.

Second step is to give my blog a title and a web address. I would also need to do a “word” verification as part of the steps.

Third step was to choose a template. Voila!

As far as my blog is concerned, I tried to have a very informal approach. This helps me to throw in more creativity and ideas as I write.

In terms of colours, I have chosen “Black” as the background. Why is it so? I have two reasons: First, Black is a universal colour and my colour scheme for the words are in the combination of Red, Yellow and Green. This is to provide the contrast of words with the background.

Another reason on why I chose “Black", is because that is the colour outfit of the Zorro!!!

Digest #02

Digest #02

New Internet TV service for Broadband user
Yang, Huiwen, ‘New Internet TV service for Broadband user’, The Straits Times, 16.02.06, p.4

According to the Straits Times report by Yang Huiwen, from June, internet users are able to subscribe to a new video-on-demand TV service that features thousands of movies and Japanese and Korean drama for less than S$30 a month. Subsribers need to have a broadband internet access.

This will definitely interest Japanese and Korean drama fanatics, who will now get a chance to view these movies from the comfort of their home personal computers.
It is believed that this will add colour to the internet world, which already have audible internet blogs (refer to the review on Article #01 "An MTV Host Moves to Radio, Giving Voice to Audible Blogs by Belson,K).

Digest #01

Digest #01:

TV Licence Fee funded many programmes
Tee, Hun Ching, ‘TV Licence Fee funded many programmes’, The Straits Times, 20.02.06, p. 4.

As I was flipping through the newspapers, this article by Tee Hun Ching struck me. The article mentioned that the S$110 television licence fee that household pay annually, helps to fund the television programmes in the country.

It is because of this that the local channels are able to showcase several television programmes which include current affairs, arts and culture, local sports, local drama and various other programmes.

This is important especially when the nation is promoting the local arts and this funding could help to bring about and also serve as a motivation for the local arts enthusiast to further into their interests.

Review and Critique of Article #02

Article #02:
Online Players Come of Age
Day, M, 2005, ‘Online Players Come of Age’, The Australian, 21.10.04, p. 20.

There has been talks on the world wide web becoming the communications platform in the 21st century. However, the question is on how to make money out of it.

This article by Mark Day, cited several examples on how business could be derived via websites.

As a result of internet advertising, Stephen Mayne doubled his output while Tim Blair received global response in terms of financial contribution. Richard Ackland shared similar experiences as he had buyers demanding his online law journal, Justinian, after advertising it through his website.

However, not all web-owners shared similar experiences as some made losses. As mentioned in the article (Day 2005), some of these webowners were experiencing losses from web-users not willing to pay for the internet usage while others were being sued for defamation.

In order to get more eyeballs to their websites so as to make profits, the clients themselves have to be IT-savvy. Inevitably, such limitations would exclude those who prefer to derive information from books rather than from screen.

In addition to this, online publishers would also need to understand the market well before embarking on this new business platform. For instance, Richard Walsh changed his tactics by trimming down his lengthy 5000-word commentary daily to about 700 to 800 words. His efforts paid off as the number of subcribers started to peak again after dipping a period of time.

Branding also play a major role in the success of online bulletin. Blair, who originally started out as a freelancer, became an established writer after receiving about 20 000 to 30 000 hits on his articles daily.

Although online information is instant and easy to retrieve, its supply is dependent on its demands. Perhaps online information could supplement the other current source of information such as journals and encyclopedia.

Review and Critique of Article #01

Article #01:
An MTV Host Moves to Radio, Giving Voice to Audible Blogs
Belson, K, 2005, ‘An MTV Host Moves to Radio, Giving Voice to Audible Blogs’, New York Times.

With podcasting becoming the in-thing, even Adam Curry, former Music Television (MTV) host, has developed a software for the purpose of podcasting his shows. At $12.95 a month, subscribers can now listen to his ‘live’ show on (British, American or Australian ?) Channel 148, “Talk Central”.

With more people owning iPod and MP3 players, Curry is levearaging on this popular platform to promote his own product.

Indirectly, e-business is useful to Curry whom himself is an established celebrity MTV host with his own set of followers. Owning his personal channel only seeks to establish his status to a higher level.

Such entrepreunal mindset attributed hugely to his podcasting success as the advertising slots included in his radio were not as rigid as those in the mainstream radio.

About Me.....

Md Hazriq Idrus

Working as a Library Officer at library@esplanade, library of the performing arts, theatre is his greatest passion.

Starting with a supporting role in the "Indera Bangsawan" stageplay at Victoria Theatre with Teater Kami Ltd in 1997, Hazriq has since been heavily involved with other local theatre companies/ groups including Teater 2000 and Teater Titisan.

Has acted in local stageplays, conducted drama workshops and has been involved in Theatre-In-Education programmes and continues to love learning and sharing theatre experiences. His latest stage performance was in "Villa Singa" in August 2005, directed by a local prolific theatre practitioner, Nadiputra. Besides acting for stage productions, he has also appeared in several Malay television productions.

Besides, acting for stage or television, he also enjoys hosting events and functions. Currently Hazriq is learning to dance with Majlis Pusat - Kirana Seni to widen his knowledge in the performing arts arena.

Hazriq is also a big fan of Zorro.

Intro....

This weblog is created for the sole purpose of sharing the information on how to create a weblog and a critique of the two readings in my Document Design and Publication Assignment. Plus sharing of some of my favourite links in cyberspace.

This is one of my first few attempts in creating a blog and hope that it is useful for Internet surfers to read and engage in the issues that have been raised.