ALJ301

Week seven’s topic was picture posting for web pages. To me pictures are a lifeblood to any internet site. Without them i would be unlikely to look twice at a web page. Why? Because throughout my uni studies we have been taught to look for high quality web sites, websites without pictures, letterheads or any notification are more than likely a site to steer clear of! Picasa as mentioned in the reading is a program i ahev experience with, and it is handy at best. While it does have editing capabilities they are cheap copies of the more delicate tools available.

Pictures are the hook a website must use to get readers. Like a slogan or catchphrase they have to polarize the reader, whether this is for god or bad it does not matter. Newspaper sites are a perfect example. If the have a headline picture of an explosion immediatley people will be interested to find out more. This is a critsism of Australian newspapers at the moment. The Age, my preferred paper has only one image on display, while it may be the leading story, if it does not interest me i will skip it. The herald sun on the other hand has scrolling headline pictures and i always glance at however many there are. The West Australian perhaps has the best scrolling pictures often showing all facets of the media.

Pictures should be given more thought in my opinion when trying to gather more readers!

Video blogging is an interesting field.

More than a normal written blog, the blogger i believe has to be much more interesting. And also appealing to the eye. Not in a personally attractive way, but with regard to body language, voice tone, demeanor and personality. Video Blogs are no different to TV in this manner in that it is very difficult to find a good host!

I think video blogs appeal to the lazy blog viewer. As we all know it is much easier to watch someones opinion rather than reading it. This is why i prefer the written blog and am not overly enamoured with the world of video blogging. While of course it has a bright future, i think written logs will continue to rule for some time.  

This week’s blog is about the wave of blogs hitting the world at the moment.

I’m a big fan of blogging, the trouble is finding the right one. The blog really is the new fad or tool for journalists all over the world. And with the power of the internet anyone anywhere can read it. With the advent of the internet on mobile phones, blogs are being updated more from anywhere. I recently got a new phone and it has quick links directly to the internet and to a blog address that I can type in. Although I don’t use due to the enormous expense!

Some of my favourite blogs come courtesy of www.espn.com. Everyday they select from blogs all over the net about basketball and promote a handful to the espn NBA website. Each day there is great debate about the blogs nominated with people either thrilled or disgusted at the blogs selected.

But blogs are not limited to the written word. Video blogs and podcasts are also taking the journalistic world by storm. I personally podcast the Hamish and Andy show, from the Fox FM website(www.hamishandandy.com.au). I don’t watch a lot of video blogs because they tend to eat significantly into my data allowance.

But while this is a problem for me the major problem with blogs is because of the huge numbers how can one choose? Finding a blog worth reading on a regular basis is difficult. The range and quality of blogs on the net is ridiculous. I like to use the big name media outlets to find a blog, like www.espn.com and newspaper sites particularly the times newspaper from London (www.timesonline.co.uk). Both recommend reputable blogs and writers from these sites recommend there own. My favourite of all though is without doubt Jeremy Clarkson. 

With video blogs, I’m not familiar with many but, one I have looked at in the past is an updating source from www.cricinfo.com. Every couple of days a new “blogger” usually and former cricket star voices there opinions on current topics. Names like Tony Greig and Ricky Ponting have there say and are then published on cricinfo.com. They are typically informative but not overly compelling. During the Olympics I found hundreds of video blogs from athletes. www.nba.com had blogs updates regularly from the women’s and men’s American basketball teams, which as with most things American very brash and pro America. Not my cup of tea!

But blog’s appear to be taking over, although I fear that the more people that write the more ordinary blog’s we are all subjected too unfortunately!!!! Filtering the crap will get harder and harder.