Thing 4 (I think) - What’s Up With this Blog Thing?
February 17, 2008 by pilibrarian
#1 — Probably 5, maybe 6 years ago now, a tennis friend told me about her ‘blog circle’ of friends. At the time, I was spectacularly unimpressed. Why would anyone put a journal on the Internet for any and everyone in the world to see? And who the heck wants to read it? Ick.
I still feel that way about personal blogs. I know, I’m cranky. But I have come to see that the blogging platform doesn’t have to be about me and the insipid details of my personal life (unless you’re wanting a free hamster . . .). Thinking of blogging as a publishing tool (instead of an online ‘dear diary’) has really opened up opportunities for writing and communicating. It’s just so darned easy to publish a sharp, professional-looking website as a blog.
- What do you notice about the genre of blog writing in general?
- (How) is blog writing different from other types of writing? How is it similar?
One thing about blogs is that absolutely anyone with access to the Internet can self-publish for a potential world-wide audience. What’s the word? — ‘democratic’ (with a little d). Blog writing tends to be informal & conversational. The author is always present, often adding editorial comments and opinion. Personality and voice come through clearly. It’s timely. And compared to a lot of other writing, blog posts tend to be short.
- (How) is blog reading different from other types of reading? How is it similar?
For starters, there’s really no way to read a blog except by staring at a computer screen. When you read a blog, you are captive to the input of one author (or group of authors). Oh, and the reverse chronology of a blog site puts a much greater emphasis on now (like a newspaper). Reading a blog can be a lot like reading a collection of daily or weekly newspaper columns or feature writers, only backwards.
- How does commenting contribute to the writing and meaning-making?
The ability for immediate comments is what makes blogging different from a “Web 1.0″ website of opinion pieces, or a newspaper. It can connect the author directly to the reader, and vice versa. And it also can connect readers to one another, when someone responds to a comment rather than to the original post.
- Is there a “blogging literacy?” How does blogging affect the way we read and write?
Hmm. I’m not sure what this question is getting at. I can’t wait to read some other 23Ter’s posts to see what y’all make of this one!
- (How) can blogging facilitate learning?
Patrick House’s blog demonstrates what a blogger can learn way better than my nattering on. “The Scribe Post” at A Difference is, I think, a brilliant demonstration of what a community can gain from blogging. A great idea that works in a real classroom situation — a few years ago it could have been written up as an article in an educational magazine or journal, waiting months for publication (if there were space for it). As a blog post, the author got the article out one month into the project, with links to other blog posts to show, in addition to telling, how the idea works. Same with the SSR 2.o post.
And now that I’ve read Anne Davis’s “Rationale” post, I’ll end with — “what she said.”
So much for short.
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
Hi PILIBRARIAN! Thanks for the comments on my blog. Your Thing 4 blog is great!. The first blog that I actually ever read on a regular basis is the daily one that our friend who formed MARPEC writes every day about her Russian children. I eagerly read it to see how her parenting went that day and to confirm that others are experiencing the ups/down that I do….and I’m not going crazy some days!
This is a wonderfully written blog post! I can feel your enthusiasm about this new tool of communication and how you have moved from your original “diary” thinking and doubts to embracing this tool. I enjoyed reading your thoughts regarding the specific questions about blogging, particularly talking about the blog versus waiting for publication in a hard copy publication. I am curious about two things…one, how do you go about finding the blogs that are “worthwhile” without wasting an inordinate amount of time and two, do you really take time to read 67 comments of others about somoene’s blogs? I am still trying to discern how to best use blogs in my work and in my life…but I agree…”Dear Diary” is not one of options.
Dawn — I have found RSS feeds (not just blogs) to add to my reader in a couple of ways. The first few were ones mentioned by Allen November’s conference materials. From there, it’s like Shelley wrote — you see what sites are referenced by sites you already like (either linked in posts or in the blogroll on the side). For my “librarian” reader, I haven’t done much more than that and it can still be overwhelming! For the “debate” reader, I have actively looked for sites, using Google’s BlogSearch, and Technorati’s index.
One info tool that we may look at later on (??) is the Google Alert. Google’s software collates posts that include your key words — “energy alternatives, alternative energy,” etc — and sends an e-mail message every day with links to those posts. If an item looks good I check it out, and if the site itself looks to be useful, I add the feed to my reader. If it’s just the single post, I can add only that page to the library’s recommended sites.
Old-fashioned reading skills still come in handy in the computer era — I SKIM a LOT, especially comments. In the Reader, you can set the display for each post to either expanded view (seeing the contents of each post) or list view (only the post title is shown). I have feeds in different folders, and some folders I’ll read pretty carefully (library and book review sites) and some I go to list view (newpaper feeds especially) and only skim post titles for ones that look pertinent. Or I can just click “mark all as read” and make them go away
Out of sight, off my radar.
Hi!
This is a great post. I am glad that we are going to be “buddies” because I know that I will be able to learn a lot from you. There are things that you mention in this post that are very unfamiliar to me (I am very new to this scene!), so I look forward to asking you all of my silly questions!!!It is very easy to be intimidated by all of this info but what better way to learn than from a top-notch librarian!!! I am so fortunate to be in the midst of so many fantastic educators!