Reflective Summary of My Blog

'Writing blogs online really changes my values on sharing.'

------Wan Lee Kwan, Crystal 2011     

Before learning to write blogs online in Language and Digital Media, I admit I was a conservative person who thought communication/sharing can only be one to few but not many to many. In the past, I usually wrote diaries to record my life in a book, no matter things were happy or sad, I used to keep them in secrets; I read posts on facebook but seldom posted photos or left comments; I preferred face to face communication rather than sending messages through MSN and SMS. (Maybe because I am an Arts student studied Chinese and English Literature b4, hahahahaha) I only shared my life with my few best friends because I thought it is personal and private things which no need to share with publics.

I usually read books in my leisure time but not go online



I wrote diaries in a book to record my life




Besides, I had a bad impression on technological devices, such as mobile, computer, iPad, iPhone before un derstanding them critically because I thought they isolate and disconnect people as people addict to make new friends or maintain friendship online but ignore actual people near them, especially family members. (My sister always SMS and MSN at home 24 hours nonstop which I think she does not respect me.)

I do not want to become him--computer addiction

After understanding different digital media and experiencing witting blogs online, I discovered I like sharing things openly. After posting an articles or video, I received more opinions from classmates and we even have discussion online. When I read other articles and comments, it explores my minds and knowledge about online communication in different perspectives. My favourite sample post is Ideology Behinds Texts. Instead of posting written words to discuss the topic, I make a good use of multimodality: hyperlinks, youtube video clips and colour words. My blog also triggers a discussion of my classmates and me. I am happy to know new ideas and opinions from other.   

I have more communication opportunities in bloggings through them

Now, I know that blogging provides a chance for people to communicate and share, people actually can know more things through this collective and collaborative method. If people have good time management and schedule, there are many advantages in using blogging. I love blogging!!

I commented all my classmates' blogs at least once to express my opinion, I cannot show them all and bellowed are some examples.

Ursula:

http://en2848ursula.blogspot.com/2011/03/technology-as-employee-relationship.html#comments

http://en2848ursula.blogspot.com/2011/03/technology-addiction.html#comments

Summer:

http://en2848summer.blogspot.com/2011/02/working-together-on-web.html#comments

Sarah:

http://en2848sarah.blogspot.com/2011/03/am-i-add.html#comments

Pauly:

http://en2848pauly.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-post.html#comments

Maggie:

http://en2848maggie.blogspot.com/2011/03/games.html#comments

Julia :

http://julia0406.blogspot.com/2011/03/session-8-games-learning-and-literacy.html#comments

Claire:

http://en2848claire.blogspot.com/2011/03/normal-0-0-2-false-false-false-en-us-zh.html#comments

Aggie:

http://en2848aggie.blogspot.com/2011/01/digital-media-colors-my-life.html#comments

Aly :

http://en2848aly.blogspot.com/2011/02/auction-internet.html#comments

Joyce :

http://joycema-ma.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-post.html#comments

Ideology Behind Texts

Advertising is a form of persuasive communication to convince consumer to purchase products or services by showing the strong points but hiding the weaknesses. Advertisers are so clever that they always associate some kind of ideologies or qualities with products NATURALLY, audience always receive all messages from advertisement without thinking critically. For example, as advertisement says professionals use MacBook Air to do business so Peter should get one or Lucy should buy iPhone as trendy people use iPhone to surf on the internet all day all time.

Here is an advertisement of Apple MacBook Air, some ideologies and techniques will be revealed which are hidden in it.

Firstly, there is an assumption that notebook is still very bulky and thick which is so inconvenient to bring out. However, Apple MacBook Air is so thin which can fix in a paper file just like papers! It is so portable. The slogan ‘The world’s thinnest notebook’ delivers a message to audience that Apple MacBook Air is greater than other Macbook.

However, the advertisement does not tell consumer that some devices are missing in Apple MacBook Air so extra devices need to add on, such as CD drive and USB drive. Another advertisement Lenovo X300 reflects the truth of this for consumer. It is so funny!!





Social Networking and Me

In today’s lesson, when Rodney asked ‘how many facebook friends do you have?’ I was shocked because I did not know the exact number?! I normally accepted friends on facebook without knowing exactly who they are. (dangerous?!) People who ‘add’ me mostly are my primary school classmates (even I cannot recognize), friend’s friends or groupmates from interest classes. The question really make me reflect my attitude to make friends online. 


 Are the 'friends' on facebook really my friends???

Do friends must have actual contact?

Do virtual contact acceptable?

If I only chat with them once a month,

are they still my friends?

What does the word 'friend' mean?

I try to create my Friend Wheel on Facebook to understand my social networking. It can be divided into four groups: toastmasters, secondary school classmates, EP classmates, groupmates from interest groups.

My Friend Wheel on Facebook

I discover my friends are closely connected with each other (some of them are friends and I even do not know!!) Besides, I agree to keep strong weak ties as a connection provide a chance for people to contact. Friend A wants someone to be a part time tutor and I introduce friend B to A, it is a win win situation to benefit themselves.

At last, I share a video clip about social networking, hope all of you enjoy!

Facebook and Identity

In the past, people normally wrote dairies privately in a notebook using pen. They are the written records for them to record their own personal feelings for self-memory and self-reflection. However, writing dairy is now no longer a personal event due to the technological advancement of electronic dairy services—facebook, twitter and blogs, it is now a published stories book for creating an ideal identity using languages and graphics; it is also a tool to socialize and ratify in-group identities.

My Facebook

The above facebook profile page is mine and I will use it as an example to illustrate how languages and graphics can create self unique and in-group identities, some ideologies will also be revealed and explained using the new media.


The language people used shows their identity. Regard to the facebook cover page, there is a sentence written near my name, ‘i gonna Australia asap!! lol, btw, 520, Australia!!’ This is a Netspeak which may only be understood by those teenagers who likes chatting on the computer or mobile. The sentence actually means ‘I go to Australia as soon as possible!! (laugh out loud), by the way, I love you, Australia!!’ Teenagers like the computer mediated language as they think it represents the identity of Generation Y and Z because it is their unique language. People who are not belonging to their group may not understand the languages. It is the reason why their parents do not understand the sentence as they are not familiar with the computer mediated language.

The parts of ‘information’ and ‘photos’ in profile page allow users to type their current location, relationship, birthday, educational background, interests and contact information. Users also can upload photos to show their current lives. Definitively, it is not a section simply for providing personal information; it is a part for creating self unique and in-group identities. The birthday and educational background indicate your generation as a teenagers or young adult. Besides, people draw inferences on a person quickly based on photos as some of the photos reflect your personalities which you want to show explicitly. For example, people think a person is outgoing, active, enthusiastic and independent if he/she likes travelling and organizing activities. A person is quite gentle and quiet if he/she likes reading or drawing.

Storybroad Design

Tilte: My unforgettable Memory
Editor: Crystal Wan

Storyboard 1

Storyboard 2



Storyboard 3



Storyboard 4

Online Animated News and Multiple Modes

Modern people rely greatly on multiple modes in every media due to a remarkable technological advancement.


Nowadays, readers are absolutely NOT interested in texts only contain words and few photos (they are so boring, modern people need a colorful life!); instead, people seek excitement from multimodal texts including animation, sound, color and visual organization. It is the reason why online animated news is produced to fulfill the need of modern readers.

Compare to online written news or newspapers, online animated news is not only inform the details of news but also entertain readers as they can achieve graphics, visual and audio enjoyment.


Now, an online animated news report from apply daily is used to act an example. The news is about an ambulance refused to send a drunken man to hospital as the health workers thought the man did not need emergency assistant, unfortunately, few hours later, the man died at home because of cramp. The news actually can be reported using 50 words (I used 34 words only from above description). However, it can be animated to a 2.23-minute multimodal video clip with animation, sound, color and visual graphics.

Firstly, the clip uses two eyes with tear and a title ‘ambulance refused to send a drunken man who died four hours later’ as a cover page. The crying face (image) of his wife creates an emotional effect to readers which is a sad story.

An opening with tears and title

Then, there is an animation to react the story; readers can witness the whole process through the animation. It causes a sensation which people should blame the health workers on ambulance.

An animation to react the news 

After that, in order to make the story more convincing, a narrative of the casualty is added to the clip.



A crying face make readers feel sad too



A narrative from the casualty. It is a real story !



I not blame the technique of using multiple modes in reporting news; in fact, it is a good entertainment to people. However, readers should be rational to analyze and criticize how truth the news is because selected data and animated clip may influence your determination. 

Sourse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEfuibmU9iM

Algorithms to Complete a Task

Task: how long before going out in the sun I should apply sunscreen

Location: Stanley beach

Date: next Sunday (6-2-2011)

There are many ways to solve this problem, 1) Read the label on the sun block lotion which show you the best way and time to use it. 2) Ask friends who have went to Stanley beach in winter before; 3) search information on internet from bloggers or xanga as people may share their experience on sun blocking.

As I have a computer in front of me, I surf on the internet to find out the answer. When I type ‘how long before going out in the sun I should apply sunscreen’ on Goggle and search, I was shocked as there is 336,000 results! (I will die if I need to read all this!) I only click those websites on the first few pages as they should be the most relevant websites. (the words are in red if they match the words I search.) But I still need to filter some data before I click on them to read. When I skim on the page, I discover that some data are irrelevant as they are about baby sunscreen or skin cancer.

The google page which I search the information

Next, I look at the titles. Some links show their company name so I realize the data is come from skin care companies, Some show the words ‘Facebook’ or ‘Blog’ after titles so I know the data are personal experiences. Some of them show ‘XXX.familydoctor.org’ so I know the suggestion may come from professionals.

Then, I read the description under the titles, if it seems relevant; I click on the link to read. However, after I read five websites (company, blog and government), I am shocked again as there are five different answers! I do not know which the best answer is! Then, I need to find out the accuracy of the answers by search the organizations or people.

Finally, I cannot find out the best answer as there is too much information on net!