Circus of the Spineless
Circus of the Spineless #3 is up on Urban Dragon Hunters. All things
invertebrate, for your creepy-crawly pleasure...
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What is Blogging All About
Colin McEnroe's blogging course up in Connecticut is coming close to
the end. Several of the students have really taken off with this, new
to them, form of communication. They are posting like mad, they are
commenting on each others' blogs, discovering cool other blogs and
websites, and I am sure they will continue blogging long after the
class is over. I urge you to go and look at the comments on the class
blog and follow the links on the sidebar to student blogs to see their
posts. They have built quite a little mini-community of their own,
with a number of us voyeurs in the bleachers.
For the last class (which, I am assuming, is convening tonight), they
spent some time figuring out what to discuss, as there was no
predetermined assignment. In the end, they want to talk about what
blogging is, where it is heading, and especially what is the meaning
of the word "personal" when applied to a blogger.
Elin of Nileblog compares blogging and writing: "But it feels good to
blog, because we get to express ourselves as fully and completely as
we want. And no one interrupts. Or walks away. Instead, we get to
write it, so it feels full and permanent (even if only in cyberspace).
I think that's a good thing." She initially defines 'personal" as
'intimate' and loves how easy it is to find like-minded people in the
blogosphere. She then makes an interesting comment about the bloggers
in the basements of their parents' homes on this post on her
classmate's blog Bill's Blither.
The Screamin' Memey has finally learned how to do the links properly,
although the photos still overlap each other. Has the class built its
own anthill in the swarm of the blogosphere?
Transgenderedtrash of Don't do the crime if you can't..... disagrees
it's a swarm and is being generally pessimistic about the future of
blogging.
Christopher Michael of Metablognition has a rare angle on the blogs -
how do they both reflect and affect the way we think and function.
Then, he points to an interesting study (PDF) about teen use of the
Internet (19% of online teens keep a blog and 38% read them) and adds
a couple more to bolster his case that blogs will have effects on teh
cognition of its users, especially on those growing up blogging.
Semper Gumby cuts through the noise and disagrees with all of his
classmates on the meaning of "personal".
Eric on Don't hate, prestidigitate is exploring blogs as journeys, as
well as the conflict between anonymity and community. Is each blog, or
blogosphere as a whole, trying to go somewhere? Perhaps travel from
anonymity to community?
Brett of Nonsense has taken to blogging perhaps more than any of his
classmates, spilling out the details of his dates, emotions, politics,
and everything else, so he may have a diffent take on what is
"personal". He's also figured out recently how to make his blog look
all nice and pretty with some technical know-how I don't have. Is the
journey really the emergence of personality?
John of Jean DuBlog thinks that blogging is changing the meaning of
the word 'personality' and there is a difference between changing
topics and changing voices.
Erin thinks that there is a competition between online and offline
social life (and she failed to post het Friday Cat Photo). And she
points out that someone in that class discovered this article that
argues that posting a Friday Cat photo helps your readers remember
your blog better (so they''ll come back).
I hope they post some more after class meeting tonight, post their
final papers online for all of us to read, and I also hope they all
keep blogging.
Update: They had their class and some have added new posts:
Screamin' memey disagrees with Mark (transgendertrash).
Eric podcasts his final thoughts.
Shante of Blogging For Beginners added three quick posts in a row: No
one is alone, truly, Why lack of anonymity has ruined my love life and
some more on the personal....
Matthew of Perpetual Perpetuity started his blog as a kind of a time
capsule. It is maddening that some of the students have additional,
'personal' blogs that I cannot find and read...
JP of A Novice Blogger's Thoughts posts the first initial reaction. I
hope more is coming...
Finally, Colin, on his personal blog, nails the whole "personal"
thing.
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Blog Against Racism Day
Today is the Blog Against Racism Day. You should write something on
the topic today and send a link to your post here.
As someone growing up in Eastern Europe I feel woefully unprepared by
life experiences to write about this topic. Actually, I have mentioned
race here only a couple of times, and have written only one post
specifically about it. I don't feel I should try to write again about
something I have not lived through or even thought through
sufficiently to be able to avoid all the potential pitfalls. So, just
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