2nd Post on Week 8
"What is Netspeak?" I'm sure that many of us wonder what it is even though we are actually really used with it in our daily lives, especially when it comes to writing. According to David Crystal (2006), netspeak is better known as written language which has been pulled somewhere in the direction of speech than spoken language which has been spoken down and that he calls it a "third medium", given that it is not simply a collective of spoken and written language.
Basically, netizens (citizens of the internet) make use of netspeak to write for non academical or informal texts, due to the fact that texts take longer to type than say. Besides, it is often very complicated to guess the tone of voice used by someone communicating through the text. Therefore, we need a new method that will be faster to type as well as the ability to include feeling to the words in order to manipulate the text, and this new medium is best referred to netspeak.
Netspeak, a sub-dialect of English uses abbreviations in replacement of words or syllables to speed up the typing of very common phrases or words, knowing that the abbreviations used are understandable. In addition, another aspect of netspeak is the use of graphic smiley faces. Emoticon, a short form of emotion and intention is frequently seen in the form of sideways smiles to denote feelings such like happiness, depression, anger and so on, or to express sarcasm and humor too.
However, netspeak needs to be done in moderation as we cannot assume that everyone has the same interpretation on the things that we are saying like we do. Here, I append several instances of individual's substitutions and abbreviations in netspeak language and their meanings.
1. lol - laughing out loud
2. bff - best friend(s) forever
3. idk - I don't know
4. pos - parent over shoulder
5. rae- raising / raises an eyebrow
6. afk - away from keyboard
7. brb - be right back / bathroom break
8. c - see
9. u - you
10. ur - your
11. l8r - later
12. cya - see ya
13. ltns - long time no see
14. a/s/l? - age/sex/location?
15. oic - oh, I see
16. btw - by the way
17. myob - mind your own business
18. jk - just kidding
19. jc - just checking
20. gtg - got to go
21. omg - oh my god
22. np - no problem
23. rotfl - rolling on the floor laughing
24. ttfn - ta ta for now
25. thx - thank you
26. ttyl - talk to you later
27. tmi - too much information
28. wth - what the hell
David Crystal in his book entitled Language and the Internet agrees that netspeak is non-standard, playful (which I can wishy-washy), highly deviant in bending the usual rules of language, tolerant of typographic and spelling errors and full of new words too. Nevertheless, he is fascinated by its variety and innovation, and devotes much space to describe its special character (Quinion).
Furthermore, David Crystal suggests that the phenomenon of netspeak is going to change the way we think about language in a fundamental way, because it is a linguistic singularity-a genuine new medium. Moreover, he also believes that netspeak provides a creative way to communicate faster.
To be brief, netspeak is the words, idioms and peculiarities of spelling and grammar that are characteristic of online documents and communication (McFedries). It is obvious that netspeak is booming the online society, but at the same time, promoting incomplete and inaccurate knowledge as a mean of convenience and saving time will most likely result in confusion among younger generations about proper English and the way it is instructed in the classroom.
References:
1. http://www.coursework.info/University/Mass_Communications_and_Documentation/Media Studies/Electronic_Media_Studies/What_is_NetSpeak_L95419.html
2. http://http//blog.joshtheaspie.com/2008/04/10/what-is-net-speak/ak/
3. http://http//blog.joshtheaspie.com/2008/04/10/what-is-net-speak/
4. http://http//www.lisamarieshaw.net/web%20impact%20report.pdf
5. http://http//linguistlist.org/issues/18/18-777.html
1st Post on Week 7
SOCIAL NETWORKS
FACEBOOK VS MYSPACE
On this week, our task is to look for two kinds of different social networks and find out not only the comparison, but the aspects that tie them as well. This is such an interesting task to me as social network nowadays has been something that people, especially young ones crave for. Since more and more people are talking about Facebook, I rather chose this social network for the information about it are so many to be figured out, whereas MySpace, on the other hand, has its very own specialties and weaknesses. Down here, I’ve prepared some similarities and dissimilarities between these two social networks based on my findings.
Similarities
1. Feature
Both Facebook and MySpace create the same feature to make posting pictures easier. Myspace has been introducing "tagging' mates online onto pictures quite recently which has been done by Facebook before. Besides, Myspace has also created the "News Feed" feature, in which friends can see any updates make by their other friends on the sites, just like Facebook had. In addition, the signing page for both Facebook and MySpace is closely similar to each other.
2. Navigation
The navigation for both social network are decent, even though I believe many people would probably prefer Facebook than MySpace for it superior search in obtaining the specific people's profiles.
3. Messaging
Users are able to leave their messages to their friends in the profile and make use of the basic mail systems if they have either Facebook or MySpace account.
4. Community
Groups are available in both sites, even though Facebook seems to develop bigger groups as the preference of it among internet users is higher than MySpace does.
5. Design
The site's organization for both social networks look well-prepared as the layout are being nicely organized . Furthermore, both sites' customization enables users to do whatever they wish to do, from adding to removing application.
6. Media
Uploading, embedding and posting videos, as well as the tool like flash players which can be utilized by both sites' users make them even more enjoyable. Thus, the meaning of sharing is applicable through these social networks. Not only videos can be posted to others, but also pictures, songs, and many other means of media can be shared through Facebook and Myspace accounts.
Differences
1. Information
Facebook - Users need not to put in so many information as it is one’s option whether to put in his information or not.
MySpace - Users are prompted for more details as they can write such a great deal of information in their profiles.
2. Privacy
Facebook - Since it was originally created for Harvard students, it tend to be more private. The proof is, in order to view someone’s picture profile or many other information, we need to ask for permission.
MySpace - Open to as many visitors as possible due to its target, that is, having a bigger target groups. To avoid other people from viewing our information, we need to change it in the setting. Thus, our privacy as users is not protected.
3. Comunity
Facebook - Usually, buddies that we add are those who we recognize. Meaning to say that they are our real friends.
MySpace - Seems to be like a contest as everyone is trying to have the most friends regardless their previous relationship.
4. Keeping tracts of What's New
Facebook - Has a couple of feeds, which one of them is for telling others our updates, whereas the other one is for telling us our mates’ updates.
MySpace - In order to know if a friend add something new on his profile or to know that we have a new friend, we need to look for the information or the person himself.
5. Finding Old Friends
Facebook - Emphasizes on school and location. Therefore, looking for old buddies will be easier.
MySpace - Does not put the emphasis on real friendship, even though it let users to seek for old friends.
6. Social Networking Etiquette
Facebook - So far, the act of spamming is less done, so it provides safety for users.
MySpace - Spam messages are often intrude in users’ accounts.
My Preference
Honestly, I do not have neither Facebook nor MySpace account so far. But when I look at the environment of socializing among youngsters these days due to social networking (Facebook, with no doubt, the famous one), I was excited to find out any related information that can be compared between Facebook and MySpace, and not to forget their simmilarities.
Nevertheless, if I were to choose between the two social networks, I would probably sign in to Facebook rather than MySpace because of the privacy it brings about and the ease of looking for friends we have long not keep in touch with.
Tutorial Activity Week 6
Nowadays, writing and technology are like two elements that cannot be separated. I say so as I see that more and more people of these days putting information, pointing out ideas as well as express their feelings through writing with the help of technology. Among all of the tools that can be found provided by the technology are blogs and wikis. Here, me and my group mates namely Fatin and Aishah come out with the information regarding the use of blog and wikis in writing, stressing out both their pros and cons. Have a read... :-)
Tutorial Activity Week 5
This week, we spent our time finishing the activity given on the day before. Fatin, Aisyah and I worked together in gaining the information needed and we came out with a power point form. Nevertheless, there are some slides' designs that I've changed for my own satisfaction. The results are as follow...enjoy!
Tutorial Activity Week 4
For this week, we were asked to search one educational website that provides English language learning & teaching materials for all skills, namely reading, listening, speaking and writing using three search engines that are Google, Yahoo and Bing. In addition, we also need to search for translation machine that can translate the text from English to Malay and vice versa. Below are my findings regarding this activity :
Tutorial Activity Week 3
E-mail analyzation... :-) Starting this week, we were supposed to have at least 10 e-mails to be analyzed before the dateline that will be on February 14. The criteria that need to be analyzed are as follow:
a) Salutation
b) Smiley and emoticons
c) Short forms
d) Code switching
e) Trailing dotes
f) Capitalization and repeated use of letters
g) Hypertext, pictures and templates used
h) Grammatical aspects
Since we were asked to analyze ONLY neutral e-mail communication, I have difficulty in collecting those e-mails as they were deleted from my inbox quite a long time. So starting this week, I have to ask a lot of my friends to send their e-mails to me, regardless any topics that they want to write. So far, up to now I have six e-mails with me and hopefully I will get more e-mails next time..
Tutorial Activity Week 2
Before I explain further on the processes that I have done in making the advertisement, here I would like to tell that the actual advertisement is so much DIFFER with the one as shown below. For me, to produce an advertisement which looks exactly the same with the actual one does not require a lot of skills as it can just be a copy-and-paste process. So I came out with my own advertisement design, even though there are minor parts that I copied and pasted. Here...have a look...
These are the processes:
1. Firstly, I opened the Microsoft Word and start making the outside borders. Then, I made the title and emphasized it with Word Art, whereas for the other wording, I just did it with normal fonts. Next, I copied a picture and pasted it to the advertisement. Then, I copied two logos( Today newspaper and Warner Music Malaysia) from the internet and pasted them at the bottom of the advertisement. As for the last process, I filled aqua as well as purple colors to my advertisement.
2. I got the picture from a friend of mine, who lend me her USB flash drive. With her permission, I managed to copied her image to be included in this assignment.
3. The advertisement that I made is very simple. Basically, I did the formatting with Word Art and changing the picture with Jpeg, whilst the border line was designed with a 3D effect.
4. As a moderate user of computer, I usually type with only five fingers, that are two of the right hand and three of the left hand.
5. In order to come out with a proper command of English, I utilized the thesaurus to check my spelling and grammar. To enhance the graphic that I have designed, on the the other hand, I made use of the functions in Microsoft Word 2007, namely font color, shading, design effect and text highlight color.
6. Since the advertisement is very simple, I did not get any help from my friends, which means to say that I did it on my own. Nevertheless, I did asked my mates to observe it and comment on some parts that need to be improved.
7. As I mentioned earlier, I am a moderate user of computer. Therefore, I am not really good in typing, what more to say in designing. But if I were to rate myself, I would say 5 over 10 is equivilant with my typing and designing skills.