Blog: Writing and Research

I think one of my strengths was speaking to the whole group and speaking loudly. That is one of the things I focus most on. I get nervous when I talk in front of a group so that doesn't help either. If there was anything I would change it would be adding some visuals. I had a visual to show but unfortunately we didn't have enough time for me to show it. For my blog though there weren't many images so it was hard to find something good to put in but I feel that every powerpoint presentation should include some sort of visual that way it doesn't keep the audience from being so bored just reading text. Something else I would improve on is the content in the presentation. I feel as if I didn't contribute enough content wise for my presentation. I think I made up for it by explaining every single bullet point. Presentations reach a point where theres too much information on one slide. I felt that mine was below the minimum because it only included like 4 bulleted lines with one or two words. I think of the presentation to be like a reminder as to what you are talking about. It is sort of like a note card. Then again I also think that there could have been a bit more information. Overall I think my presentation went really well besides the fact that I was really nervous.

What to add to my research?

I am suppose to pick a section from "Blogging" that I must add to my essay. One of the passages I will choose is from the chapter of "Blogs as Self-exploration". I chose this section because I feel that it has a connection with my blogger. My blogger does a personal blog and even though he posts about his personal life, he sometimes posts about his current situations as well as his past. With his current situations he normally reflects what he has accomplished or failed and tries to revise the outcome. It did not matter to him what he did in the end. Most of his posts will consist of himself exploring his life, like self-exploration. That is why I chose this section to add to my research.

Research Changes

Based on feedback from my group and the teacher, I am on track and the only thing that my blog lacks is a thesis. So the only thing that I will work on is the thesis. I might also make changes to better connect the elements in my paper. This is because I feel like my paragraphs don't flow so well. That is why I am working on making connections. I will also form a thesis for my paper. There is nothing else I believe I can change. I have backed up my elements with examples from my blogger. All I really am missing is the thesis and maybe a better connection between my elements.

Blog research progress

From my last post I decided that i wanted to follow a sports blog. To be honest I was struggling a lot to find a blog that would keep me interested as well as be a good candidate for this research. Not to say that I am not interested in sports but I just didn't think someone blogging it would keep me entertained. With this in my mind I set out to search for a new topic. So I have switched to the subject of Pop Culture. There is this blogger (I guess you can call him a vlogger because he makes video blogs) that really caught my eye. I have been following this user for quite some time but recently for 2 months stopped following him. When I say follow I mean subscribed yet I haven't really watched his video log posts. I am subscribed to his other channel which is more news oriented and I have been keeping up with that one. I have skimmed over some of his new video blog posts and they seem to be very random in general. I assume he will talk about that certain topic in the title within his videos and voice his opinions about it. His website is http://phillyd.tv/ and the place he keeps his video blogs is http://www.youtube.com/user/PhilipDeFranco. I personally would not reference his main site because he does not keep his video blogs updated with his youtube account. You can see that it is in a blog format and he links his videos with an embedded video itself but it is not up to date.

So with that cleared away I want to answer the question that was asked. I believe that because I am using a video blog as my reference, I can much easier pin point identities that the blogger has expressed. I can do this easier because it is like I get a one way face-to-face time with the blogger and have it almost feel like an actual conversation. Don't get me wrong though it is still going to be hard work analyzing these blogs to find his identity that he portrays. I just have a better vantage point than others because they don't exactly get that same one way face-to-face time when reading a written blog. I mean surely you can imagine the writer speaking as if you and the blogger were the only ones in the room. It will get the same effect. So far I have not been faced a difficult challenge in analyzing this blog. The blogger expresses himself very much and voices his opinion to his followers that care. From the recent video I find evidence that he is self conscious of his health. He starts a new weight loss program for himself where he tries to lose 20-30 pounds in 30 days. I guess one of his identities is he cares very much for his health and wellness. Throughout all his blogs he talks about different things mostly pertaining to him or just things about pop culture. It gives me a lot of room to work with and I hope to dig up some more elements that may help me support my argument.

Blogging by Jill Rettberg

Bloggers more and more these days are becoming part of the mainstream media. Rettberg says "On an everyday level, as blogging has become recognized as an important part of the media ecology, bloggers have been more likely to receive passes to press conferences and political conventions, which allow the bloggers to report first-hand on these events rather than leaving them to rely on reports from traditional journalism"(Rettberg, 89). Instead of bloggers having to rely on journalists for their concrete information they can get the upfront, close and personal experience. The way I think of it is that it is a primary source rather than a secondary source. Since blogging has become part of the mainstream media, it is almost certain that bloggers will get a chance to join a press conference or do an interview just like journalists have been doing for quite some time.

In response to this I think it is great that bloggers get a chance to become journalists. They get to cover all the controversial material out there and present it on their blog site. It certainly gives the society more resources to cross reference with. It may even give other journalists more sources to cross reference with as well. Before blogging came into the mainstream media bloggers had to reference to other journalists who got their information from primary sources. This meant that their information is secondary and very unreliable. Now these bloggers can get their information first-hand and it allows for less referencing to other journalists. Being a blogger and journalist is almost identical now that blogging has entered the media.

Writing and Research

If there are any two types of blogs that I want to study it is either a personal blog or a filter blog. I want to see what it is like to be in someone else's shoes by following their blog. I also am very interested how the filter blogs work. I imagine that for a sports blog the author would post updates on things going on in sports. I am not quite sure about it but I am really interested in seeing one. If I were to pick one over the other it would definitely be a filter blog about sports. I hope to gain more knowledge than I can ever imagine from blogs as I study a blog about sports. Hopefully in the near future I will start my own blog. I plan to make that blog about a topic I chose rather it being an assigned assignment that goes towards my grade.

Who am I as a writer?

I am not much of a writer. I can say that I am a work in progress and forever expanding my knowledge of writing. I don't write much unless it is required in class. I never really write for fun. Most of my writing is done as class work when assigned to do so. I feel like I can invite writing into my life and learn much more as well as using it later in life.