Assignment 3

Our group thought this would have been a great first assignment because it introduced us to the basics about blogs. Each article that everyone read and shared introduced something new about blogs and since a lot of us came in inexperienced in the field of blogging. This may have been a better way to introduce us to some history and the way they work. "What we write does not define us as bloggers, it is how we write about it." ( What we are doing when we blog)

One aspect that Rebecca Blood points out in her "Weblogs: A history and perspective" is that by regularly blogging you will become a stronger writer. However, this is not typical because blogging is such an informal writing area and is used as an"outbreak of self-expression" as Blood calls it, that the language and grammar fall short. Looking through other people's blogs (not in the class, just exploring) there were tons of spelling mistakes and uncapitalized words. Overall, it may help you to clarify your ideas but it does not make you a stronger writer.

From a business perspective, the development of blogs has been great. Many corporations are investing in the development and ownership of blogs. They have become a great space to advertise in and connect to a different demographic. Blood states that corporations are becoming more and more interested and are building a "tighter" hold on the Internet. However, people have been creating fake blogs that Google and other search engines have taken as valid information. It is harder and harder to fight by corporations to keep valid information available because these people are using old blogs that are unused to post bullshit. "Spam + Blogs = Trouble" explains how it is harder to fight since spam doubles every 6 months.

From an election and campaign perspective, people may develop their views politically and may be influenced by other people's comments. In "Blogging Theory", the idea of having blogs that may have similar topics but have author's with various ideas is introduced. This may be interesting during the election when people are debating topics about policy and who they are going to vote for. Their personal beliefs may become stronger which was an important aspect that Blood introduced it.

Comments and blogs are sometimes extremely outrageous and it is hard to differentiate which is legit. It is hard for people to realize what is the truth and what is not. "Trolls among us" explained how people are using the Internet to do awful things. Such as the people that use the Internet to convince people to kill themselves or break people into emotional distresses especially the commenting area on blogs as "Blogging Theory" explains people can comment whatever they want and is not controlled which can cause people to go into emotional distress.

"A blogger's Blog: Exploring the definition of a Medium" explains that people like to write knowing that they have an audience and they like to represent their views. They like writing things that they feel people will comment about and that hard core bloggers rush home to check their comments. They can also learn as Blood states that their perspective is "unique and important."

Since blogging is so informal, how can you be analytical and informal at the same time? You can write alot of bullshit but how can you write analytical bullshit for a college level class. (What we are doing when we blog)