So, I am sitting in the relatively empty Informatics lab during our first day of “virtual” class. I’ve been checking up on each group’s blog, reading some of the postings in detail, and others only superficially. Right now, I would say that some of the blogs are off to a very promising start, while others need think about how they are going to start becoming really good. I’ll be sending out the first set of grades on the blogs not this weekend, but next. My main focus will be on the content of the blogs: are the postings interesting, original, provocative? Are you developing a “voice” or tone for your blog?
I would suggest that you reach consensus within your group that you are OK with one another editing your posts. There are spelling and grammar errors out there, and that really affects the ethos of your blog.
The next week will be a bit strange. I do want to look a bit more at the practical aspects of blogging, including how to make your blog look unique and interesting. I also want to work a bit with the idea of presenting a public face, and how “personal branding” might be tied to blogs and other online technologies. On the other hand, it will also be a bit of a “field trip” week. Not necessarily for you, but for me. I am doing a couple of presentations in the UK this week. I’ll blog the outlines of my lectures, as well as some observations based on what I hear.
Finally, this is the last entry in which I’m going to put [MITIA] in the title. You can still know which ones are class-specific, because they will be in the MITIA category (look up to the right of this entry).
One Comment
how does one use the technocrati site: for example, one establishes the readership, works out the kinks and grammer issues, and then one starts flowing with a theme and “mission” towards an authentic voice.
the idea to get a certain idea out, get sample opinions, and then work on getting persons to be active paticipants, seems difficult. Most blogs, even the ones written by activists, do not get persons to do more than “whine” about a problem.
i guess reducing whining would be an interesting outcome.
Over the years, with poetry, i have witnessed that to get instant recognition, one learns to “whine” about political issues: but becomes very dated very quickly. The best poems are those that are focused on self invention, or even better, invention of different voices for different visions.
i think the same applies to blogging.