Reflections

The process of creating weblog
When I was told in class that the final assignment is 'WEBLOG', I felt that I'm in 'total lost'. Hands sweating, legs shaking...Well, things have to go on, let's get into the topic!

First-time experience has opened up the opportunity for me to learn more about blogging, from design to posting regular posts. As a beginner, I encountered a lot of problems especially when linking some of the texts and activating the hyperlinks. It made me go mad when my links are not working properly. Therefore, I seek advice from my lecturer, Ms Jenny, my course mates and friends. I also refer to 'About.com: How to Create a Blog Using Blogger' .It provides tips and recommendations in order to make my process of creating weblog easier.


Skills
After all, it's a good experience! I can't assure you that I know 100% about blogging but at least I managed to figure out some features and I finally created a blog.

Skills that I acquired throughout the process are such as designing a weblog, writing for web and some technical skills, such as creating hyperlinks, upload photos. I also learn how to maintain an active weblog, by updating the posts on regular basis and ensure there are no abusive acts.

Theoretical positions
Writing
"Be succinct!" as Jakob Nielsen termed (1997).

Designing
By referring to the Jakob Nielsen: The Top Ten Design Mistakes(2005) in order to avoid the Big 'NO' in designing my blog.

Multimodal
- I further understand the multimodal texts by applying it to my blog. My blog consist of more than one 'mode' that allow the users to generate meaning through a synchonisation of modes (Walsh, 2006).
- Various schemata is activated, such as background knowledge, genre knowledge, etc.
- The reader is engaged through the interactive experience.
- User need to understand the social purpose and cultural context in order to "fill in the gaps" (Walsh, 2006)


My Standpoint as a blogger
A blogger must ensure the followings:
- Has a purpose when blogging.
- Ethical practice to avoid legal infringements.
- Write well for higher readability
- Capture more users' attention
- Sensitive to the issues I posted on my blog
- Keep to simple yet presentable designs


Reference
Nielson, J. 1997, 'Be Succinct! (Writing for the Web)', viewed on 2 June 2007, URL: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9703b.html

Nielson, J. 2005, 'Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes', viewed on 2 June 2007, URL: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html

Walsh, M. 2006, 'The 'textual shift': examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts', The Australian journal of language and literacy, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 24- 37.