newspaper, are they still important?

I came across an article a few days ago, it was titled “If newspaper die….” All of a sudden that article actually intrigued me to read it through. It did change my perception about the importance of newspapers despite the fact that most things are going digital in today’s society.

It may be convenient to read the newspaper over a cup of hot coffee in the morning, however, most people assume that the impact of newspaper closing would be minimal since they are able to get news elsewhere such as the internet, television or radio. In reality, should newspapers die, it can have a dire effect on both readers and advertisers.

Newspapers do carry advertisements besides having articles in them. Yes those advertisements can get annoying at times but they do have a purpose there. Advertisers find that newspaper are actually one of the most cost-effective ways to prmote their products compared to other mediums. In addition, newspapers reaches out to readers of all age groups and professions  . Eg, from a housewife in Jurong to a banker in Raffles City. Newspaper put ads infront of readers for viewing pleasure, should newspapers die, company sales could be affected.

Some may argue that advertisements can still be found through other sources of media, most readers will still find the newspaper to be convenient because it is much easier to check through a newspaper than searching through lots of website only to be bombarded with other information instead. Unlike TV or radio, advertisments air and disappear but in the case of newspapers, readers can always go back and check the details in the newspaper again later should they need to. Without newspapers, convenience of getting information is affected in a way.

The main role of the newspaper is to inform readers about the day’s events and the details about them. Although you can easily get the headline news through your phone or through  the news telecast, newspaper allows us to understand the news article better because we spend time  going through it carefully, in a sense we “digest” the article and assimilate it.

By comparing news on print, SMS and online news, printed news tend to give a broader coverage compared to the other mediums. News presented in a 160- character SMS are shorter, thus coverage of the news article is generally short, they don’t provide a full comprehension of the news for the reader, in a sense what the readers know after reading is superficial. Online news, on the other hand, is rather time consuming when it comes to accessing them and they are less portable compared to newspaper. In addition, online news does not allow for longer stories either.

Readers and advertisers both need the newspaper. Readers for their convenience and advertisers for them to put up cost-effective ads that will reach out to more people across different age groups and professions. Even in today’s society where digital solutions are widely embraced, newspaper still seems to our best source of news. As such,it is still crucial for newspaper to be around.

Web 2.0, the next big thing in internet

Web 2.0 can be deemed as the next big thing in the internet world.  What exactly is web 2.0? The term “Web 2.0” refers to a perceived second generation of web development and design, that aims to facilitate communications, secure information sharing, interoperatbility and collaboration on the internet.

In today’s context, has web 2.0 influenced the way we live our lives? i would say certainly in a way and it will be even more evident in the coming future.

One example of web 2.0 would be the introduction of  blogs. Nowadays most people own their own blogs for various purposes. Some use it to journal their own personal lives while some would use blogs as a medium to sell their products. eg online spree. With blog services like WordPress, Livejournal and Blogspot, creating your own personal blog is just a few clicks away.  In a blog,  a user has the ability to add links to whichever sites they would want to link to their blogs. When viewers access the blog, they are exposed to the different links as well.  In a sense, communications is being facilicated through the means of blogging.

Web 2.0 allows you to do more than just retrieving information on the web. Web 2.0 encourages both information sharing and collaboration. The famous photo site, “Flickr”, allows users to upload and share their photographs with the rest of the world. Viewers are able to view the photographs, comment on them, or even view the metadata of the photograph to know more about the photo, eg what was the shuttle speed, apeture settings and even what camera was used for the photo. Of course in the aspects of secured information sharing, users can choose to only allow certain information to be viewed by the public.  Web 2.0 focuses on collaboration as well. “Wikipedia”,  is a good example of a collaboration website.  Wikipedia allows users to contribute articles on a given topic, other users can edit and improve the content of the topic.

The introduction of Web 2.0 has led to the development of web-based applications.  Some of these web-based applications mimick the applications that normally run on a desktop. The difference is that these web-based applications run in an internet browser.

Take Google for an example, they are developing a suite of word-processing, spreadsheet, and slide-show presentation applications which they call the “Google Doc “.  When a user uses Google Doc, whatever he or she has done are stored and saved in a server known in the internet world as “cloud server”. This means the user has the ability to access his or her information at any place and at anytime, what is needed is an internet browser and internet access. Google has another suite of web-based applications that makes the best out of the advantages web 2.0 has to offer,”Google Apps”. Google Apps is a collection of web-based programmes that run in a web browser aimed mainly at small businesses. It allows users to share information and collaborate with one another over a secured network.

Finally, web 2.0 is not just about work, its also about fun and entertainment. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube , MySpace etc are based on the concepts of Web 2.0. These sites allow users to interact with one another on the internet. As matter of fact, companies are starting to see Facebook as a potential platform to promote their busineses and millions of dollars are already being invested in Facebook.

Web 2.0 has lots of potential and i believe it will further be developed in the coming future.

A short personal experience of cultural differences and culture shock

I had my own share of  cultural differences back in 2004 when i embarked on a cultural exchange programme  with a group of university students to a rural part of China. The way of living the Chinese people have over there are totally different from what I am experiencing in Singapore. Naturally it did take a couple of days to adjust to their way of living.

How did i exactly managed to survive their kind of culture in China? Well, culture is a thing that must be first unlearned before taking on another new culture. By saying that I mean I had to put behind whatever culture I’ve learned and took on the new culture that I’m exposed to. That’s the kind of attitude I had to adopt there, being open and receptive to their way of life, and being respectful to their culture.  As soon as I learned about the do and don’t of their way of life,  I had to keep a constant lookout for my verbal and non-verbal cues. This is where cultural norms kicks in, telling us what we can or cannot do.

When i first stand foot into the villages over there, a sense of lost,disorientation and confusion kicked in. The only question that flooded my mind was, “am i going live here for the next 2 weeks?” Everything around me seemed threatening in a way, perhaps i was being too overwhelmed by the kind of living standards adopted by the locals. All such confusion and disorientation is what we know as “Culture Shock” One example would be the locals there assume all males smoke. I was offered a cigarette by the host and naturally i had to turn down their offer because i do not smoke.

Luckily for me, the people there were very much warm and welcoming despite the weather, it was winter during my time of visit. The first few days were definitely unpleasant because of the unfamiliarity there, the next few days significantly got better.

I actually got to visit some of their primary schools which was a major eye-opener for me. If I would to compare their schools to that of ours in Singapore, I think we do not realize how fortunate we are. Picture this, their classrooms consist of really old tables and benches and that means you won’t really have a comfortable seat throughout the lessons.  Each classroom were about half the size of the classroom in a typical Singapore primary school, yet they were about to squeeze in 40 students. There were no such things as projector, visualizer or an OHP; they only had a chalkboard to write on. However the lack of such luxuries did not hinder their determination to learn.

What my group and I did with the primary school students were that we shared mainly about Singapore. The culture we have in Singapore, the multi-racial background and also on the geography of the country. Its was shocking news to the students when we told them China is 20,000 times the size of Singapore, you can literally see some of their astonished faces which was priceless. Naturally, they shared about their cultural values to us as well.   Most of such exchanging is what we called “Intercultural Communications” Language wasn’t much of a barrier because we were able to communicate in mandarin with them, occasionly we would also converse in simple english with them.

We had the opportunity to visit one of their English schools which was definitely much well-equipped compared to the schools in the villages.  We actually screened a local movie for them, “I Not Stupid”, basically a film by Jack Neo about the primary school education system in Singapore. The students got really excited because not only do they get to see the culture we have in Singapore, but also they got to see how Singapore looks like in the film.  I remember they really enjoyed that film very much, the AVA room was filled with laughter that very night.

Who says cultural exchange is boring and unexciting? You get to see and live the unexpected, immerse in a totally different culture and most of all, trying their kind of cuisine.

Communications in groups

Communications can be in many aspects, eg interpersonal, cultural, corporate, organisational. etc. Since this week’s lecture is on group communications, i have decided to write a short entry about communications in groups aka group comms.

A group comes together mainly to tackle problems or perhaps to get tasks done.  Why form a group to solve a problem? Why can’t it be done alone individually?  The reason is mainly because being in a group has more benefits than doing it alone. Firstly, when you are in a group, there’ is group synergy, more inputs are being generated compared to the amount of inputs generated by an individual. Secondly in groups that are cohesive,  they lend support and meet each member’s interpersonal needs. In addition, the amount of workload can be divided equally among the members as well.

As a group, it is no doubt important that both individual needs as well as group needs are met. There is a pressure when it comes to balancing both individual and group needs. For example some of them would be to recognize that full membership of the member comes with time, acquiring idiosyncrasy credit by conforming, recognizing written and unwritten norms that govern each level of membership and finally recognizing the legitimacy of individual and group goals.

As such, effective group interactions are necessary to tackle such problems. Every member must be able to take up both task and maintenance roles. Task roles simply mean adopting behaviors that will help the group to accompish its task efficiently and on time. Maintenance roles simply mean having the behaviors that will enhence the social climate of the group, in a sense promoting and encouraging cohesiveness within the group. Some examples of the task roles would be “Initiator”, “Information Seeker” etc. “Encourager”, “Harmoniser” are examples of the maintenace roles.

Another problem that would probably be faced by most groups is something known as  “Groupthink“. Communications theorist, Irving Jarivs gave his definition of what groupthink is.

“Groupthink is a mode of thinking people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when memebers’ strving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action”

The most common reason for groupthink would be the members being unanimous in their thinking and decisions -makings that they neglect alternatives which could be better than what they have in mind.  Some other symptoms of groupthink would be the group has the illusion of invulnerability, the members believing in the group’s own morality, members assert pressure on other members who dissent. etc

Therefore grouplink is something that will would compromise the efficiency and output generated by the group, thus it is important to eliminate it. To deal with groupthink, a group should appoint a devil’s advocate should any illusion of unanimity surfaces in the group. The group should also pay attention and be open to alternatives as well. In addition the members should monitor the behavior of the group and look out for any symptoms of grouplink. It is always beneifical to idenify the symptoms early and cut off grouplink before it compromises the group.

Lastly, a group will go through developmental stages. These stages will simply reflect on which phrase the group is in, from the stage of idenifying the task all the way till the stage of completing the task. There are there models of group development out but they do share some similarities in the stages. Out of all the three models, they do touch on the stages of  “Identifying task”, “Relationship between members in the group” and of course “Getting the task done”.

In closing, effective group communications is cruial for a group to function at its utmost efficiency. Individual and group needs should not be overlooked as well. Having effective group interactions will not only help solve problems but also to build cohesiveness in the group.

Interpersonal comm seen in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

404px-Benjamin_Button_poster

Originally uploaded by @macbrat

I wouldn’t actually say it is a romance film but it does touch on the area of Benjamin’s love life with one particular love interest whom he knows since young.

Coincidentally this week’s comm lecture was all about interpersonal communications. I will just touch on abit about the things both Benjamin and Daisy went through and how some aspects of interpersonal comm is seen and applied.

When Benjamin first met Daisy, (they grew up in the same caretaker’s house) she asks Benjamin to go with him underneath a table where they each share a secret about themselves. In this aspect, a Relational maintenance process is seen and that’s  the process of self-disclosure. This is also the point where daisy knows about Benjamin’s illness, he was young but his body is that of an 80 year old.

Relationship maintenance process is also commonly seen in the movie especially in the areas of conflict where both parties had a different perception.

For example in this scene, Daisy eventually becomes a successful dancer in New York city. Benjamin gives her a surprise by going to one of her dance performances after which Daisy invites him to a party with her fellow dancers. However Benjamin is disappointed by the kind of social lifestyle she is going through and he walks out of the party much to Daisy’s displeasure.

Another example would be when the two of them were alone. Daisy lights up a cigarette much to Benjamin’s dismay. Again the whole context of that scene is on how Benjamin is disappointed at the kind of person Daisy has become. Daisy does give her own perception by saying that’s the kind of life she leads as a dancer, everyone of her dancer friends do that. Clearly there was a clash in perception.

Relationship maintenance process involves “relational needs” as well.  In the film, Benjamin leaves New Orleans with his tugboat crew for a long-term work engagement; Daisy asks him to send her postcards from his travels, which Benjamin does.  In this case, it was “distance vs intimacy” Benjamin did send her postcards from his travels but eventually he fell in love with another woman. This news was conveyed to Daisy via one of his postcards, leaving her heart-broken.

You may have thought that was the end of their relationship, but no, they did get together. There was this scene when daisy returned to the caretaker’s house where she grew up in and happened to meet Benjamin there. Now that Benjamin is of the same physical age as her (Benjamin grows younger day by day) ,they fall in love and move in together. They experience the 1960s together  in large part blissfully but increasingly aware of Benjamin growing younger while Daisy grows older.

However the relationship didn’t last. After Daisy gives birth to a girl, Caroline, Benjamin, believing he cannot be a father to his daughter due to his reverse aging  and not wanting to burden Daisy with having to raise two children, sells his belongings, leaving them to Daisy and Caroline before leaving them both to travel the world.  I would attribute this to “Dyadic processes” under Relational Dissolution.  “Dyadlic process” means statues or problem and in this case,  Benjamin clearly knows that his reverse aging will be a problem for both Daisy and Caroline.

At the end of the movie, Benjamin has grown into a 5 year boy because of his reverse aging illness.He was eventually found by social workers and they give Daisy a call because they saw her name writen all over his diary  Daisy moves into the nursing home where Benjamin grew up and takes care of him as he becomes a confused 5-year-old boy with a growing temper. This scene can also be an example of  the “Resurrection Process” under Relational Dissolution on how they move on from there with Daisy having to look after him as a kid.

Sometimes interpersonal communications can be seen in most films, not necessarily romance-genre only. But being able to identify them makes the study of communication interesting.

Non verbal cues do communicate a message…

Communications comes in both verbal and non-verbal, as a matter infact they come hand in hand to send a message across to the decoder. non-verbal cues can re-inforce your verbal cues.

A  non-verbal cue can land you in hot soup if you are not careful such as in the case of  Teenage Disney star, Miley Cyrus.  Apparently she was in a photo with a group of friends, one of whom is an Asian. The actress and singer made a slant-eyed gesture in the picture and was accused of making a racist pose.

Miley did defend herself by saying that she was simply making a “goofy face” and had no intention of poking fun at any ethnicity.  She did apologize if the picture causes misunderstand.

Whatever the case may be, this news piece certainly reminded me of how a simple non-verbal cue such as making a slanted-eyed gesture can spark off a conflict to the point of being labeled a racist.

Non-verbal cues are receiver-oriented, they are the ones who will attach meaning to the non-verbal cues sent out by the senders. In Miley’s case, i believe the non-verbal cues sent out by her was misunderstood by her receivers/decoders, thus there was a miscommunication that she was making a racist pose.

In addition, non-verbal cues can be normative and idiosyncratic in interpretation.  It normally happens in a group  where the cues are socially agreed upon and that they are used in specific relationships. Such as in the case of Miley, her group of friends in that photo may not find that pose to be offensive and they may just interpret it as she making a funny face at the camera, however to the others outside of the relationship, they find it to be a racist pose.

There are so many ways to send out a non-verbal communications cue. It can be done through your body languages. It can tell alot about a person based on their body languages alone. As a matter infact, it is one of the most common methods to send out non-verbal cues.

Paralinguistics, the study of vocal non-verbal cues such as for example the the tone, volume and pace of the voice.  Meanings of non-verbal cues can be conveyed through time and physical objects as well.  Another way would be through the eyes, that is why people say “eyes are the window to the soul”.  For example the verbal cues sent out by a person contradicts with the non-verbal cues sent out by his or her eyes.

At the end of the day, it is always good to remember how a non-verbal cue can be accepted within a specific group or culture but not necessarily by everyone else, thus it will be better to know how to send out those cues at the right place and time, reducing the possiblity of a miscommunication.

Simple views on advertisements

While searching for Thailand comedy trailers on you-tube, i stumbled across several advertisements done by the Thai people and some of them turned out to be extremely humorous but yet brought the message of their product through.  After taking a few minutes to reflect on the advertising culture in Singapore, it came to me that Thailand uses more of humor to reach its audiences, connecting to them in a light-hearted way. Don’t get me wrong that Singapore advertisements are not as humorous as theirs,  some of them are funny in a way too. for example, the M1 advertisement which involves several employees trying to impress their boss with their new strategies and products, with the boss’s approval, the employees break out in 2 thumbs-up posture.

I guess in every country, the ways of connecting to their audiences are different. Advertisers have to pay attention especially on the culture of the country and also the general beliefs of its citizens. For example, in Malaysia,  advertisements of alcohol are banned in the country but not smoking. This is in accordance with the fact that muslims are to avoid alcohol because of their religion.

Cultural studies perspective of communications is often taken in account if an advertisement or product is allowed in a certain country. Such as in China, they banned a Starbucks outlet located in the Forbidden City which is easily understood why the Chinese carried out that move, they do not want an American symbol to be in a site that is of great historical value to China. There are lots of examples out there which has to do with the cultural studies perspective of communications.

How exactly does an advertisement attract its audiences and to be able to say that the ad campaign is a successful one?  It can be based on four qualities. Frequency, Contrast, Intensity, Novel Stimuli.

Frequency being on how frequent the ad is being screened. By saying this, i mean how many times does it get screened on television and even on the big screen in cinemas before each movies.  Printed ad plays a part too, how much of those ads are seen in newspaper or magazines. Lastly not forgetting the streets where big posters of your ads can be displayed for the public.

Contrast will focus on how different is your ad from the others. There can be one general product  but yet there are hundreds of advertisements on it out there.  How are you going to sell your idea in such a way that it stands out strikingly different from the rest?

Intensity. A good advertisement is one that retains in the mind of the audience after they have watched or seen it. Some factors include a strong graphical element, a catchy theme song used in the ad or even the creative use of text to create some memorable Catch Phrase. eg  the catch phrase of Kit Kat is “have a break, have a kit kat”  Its simple yet it registers in the mind of millions of people in the world.

Novel stimuli. Does the advertisement trigger or evoke you in anyway?  Take the smoking advertisement for example where one woman is seen talking with a pair of  rotten lips because of mouth cancer. The normal reaction to most audience is they feel disgusted by what they saw, it injects fear into them especially younger audiences. This is also an example of “Intensity” at work because the rotten lips were the point of focus for the audiences and it remains deeply rooted in their minds even after the ad.

Overall, all the four qualities mentioned should be at work to ensure a successful advertisement. One missing quality will indirectly have an impact on the overall success of the ad campaign.