Work in progress.

Blogging Portfolio II

This half of the semester I've blogged less, yet I think I've learned more. It feels like when I post, I post something substantial -- an actual work of thought, as opposed to current event links. Even though random links are fun to post and generate good reader response, I often skimp out on commentary, and feel like I'm just filling a post-a-day quota.

Even though I generate the most comments from non-academic link posts, I also figured out a way to trick people into reading my homework. After I saw As You Like It, I blogged about it for class. However, I did it in a very light-hearted manner, so that anyone who was interested in seeing Seton Hill's production might read the entry. Two bloggers who weren't in my class posted comments about their desire to see the play. Even though they had to study As You Like It for class too, they didn't respond academically. Thus, people do read my homework for fun.

The most rewarding blog entries of late was my examination of Caliban's mirror and Computer assisted text analysis. After reading Dorian Gray, I had questions about the use of Caliban, and where the mirror came from. I used basic CATA skills to search the text of the Tempest to try to find the "mirror" passage, which is probably an interpretation of an interpretation by people who aren't reading the text closely enough. People who need CATA. Or, it might be a meme, of sorts. Anyway, it was rewarding to then do a presentation on CATA and realize that it is an actual form of scholarship, rather than just a "Julie needs to solve puzzles" compulsion.

However, I felt that my CATA blog entry was much better than my actual presentation of it. I'm not sure whether I was just tired that day or I didn't practice it enough, but my presentation felt dull. It was as if I couldn't make the class love CATA as much as I do. Either way, it was a great learning experience for me.

I've also continued to work on making my weblog fun for the non-aesthetic reader. That means a smattering of random link posts for crowd pleasers. I also still use my blog as a tool for self-reflection. I blogged about my writing burnout, and my job search. Sometimes I feel self-indulgent for journaling in my weblog, but I think that as long as I don't do it too often, my audience won't mind. Either way, it helps me think things through.

Although I don't have a theme, and can't fit into a weblog mold, my mix of career reflection, academic work and entertaining links seems to be fitting together rather well. I've been blogging less, but I feel like I've been producing more quality posts than before because I am learning about a lot of things I never considered before.