As a Seton Hill University freshman, I was assigned to Dr. Jerz's Writing For the Internet Course. I knew little about blogging or actually what the term meant I had no idea when I stepped into the classroom. I have shared my thoughts upon this blog and maybe will continue to do so throughout the rest of my years upon the Hill, a little less acedemics on here, that's just preferance though. I hope my spelling will improve and my blog will also decide that it is time to move on from December 5. What is important now is that I switch into my Dr. Suess mode to create the Ode, as well as cover page, to my blog. *This is the creative part of that creative writing major ;-)
Ode to My Weblog Portfolio
How I know soon I will miss
the late nights of staying up trying to finish this.
Cursing to my computer and running to the lab
Praying for an empty seat that I can nab.
This portfolio started on November 1, Reality and Blogging: A Line to Draw
Adding to that was Blogging as a Social Action: My Point Of View what would be next no one foresaw.
The next notable entry happened to be
The comeback of my Pat O'Brien's wiki!
Next came the entry The Class I Could Have Attended From Bed
in here much about academic blogging and visual blogs was said.
Another more exciting entry, not just pure class
Was 100 Minutes of Interactive Fiction, an assignment that could have been a pain in the *Dr. Seuss would never use that word!*
Following that was the mad rush to complete
The Panels of the portfolio this was quite a feat!
Seems like we were shorted on presentations in this section
Then came Charachters of The Blog, my personal reflection
Visions of a Blog show blog inhancement by photograph
Check out the section on American Elf for a quick laugh.
Teenie Bloggers opens up the next topic like we totally talked about
Like teenage girls are running the blogs, but women are getting out.
For the last panel the topic was simple yet awfully complex,
He Said or She Said, is all about IF and the battle of sex.
To my weblog I fluttered one more time, frustration over took me
Out came Time Travel November 5 and the smile on my face shown of my glee!
I printed out my comments because I have no other links on this page
The comments are in the portfolio, but the links aren't here out of rage.
Along came this cover entry filled with the most important pieces of my weblog file,
Now it's only 5:05, the day before it's due, so I'm finishing with a smile.
Did you ever try to read my blog and click back on the previous entries, perhaps you noticed that everything before November 5th takes you to that day. When clicking on November 5th you get November 9th. Finally anything beyond the 9th gives you Novemeber 29. whoa...what in the world is going on?!?!?
Now I understand that I had problems in the past where you would go into my archiving and then it would end up just leading you to an error page. Now I have like this total time continium thing going. It is completely crazy, can you believe it? This completely makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs. Valerie I must recgonize you being involved in project Fix Sam's blog...but oh dear what have we done?? I think it's funny, you know you spend one class period trying to figure out excatly what went wrong where and you create some kind of alternate time impaired blog universe! Wow, is it me or did anyone else notice this? I fear I do not have to many blog fans simply because I do not blog as often as I should. In the end it becomes stressful to me, it is because I don't feel I have a public writing ability, as much as I do enjoy writting. I was thinking about creating a little ode to Jerz's class, but then I don't want to sound like a dork, maybe it will be part of my portfolio, maybe it will be my coming out.
For now it's off to the web? For I must find more information and create lots of fun new things, that will all revert back to November 5 the day that shall live forever within all of us, or at least my blog. :-P
Heck I don't even like November 5 nothing important even happened then!
Slowly the insanity of my portfolio is taking over :-)
I would like to thank Chris for the wonderful subject he presented upon, because the thought never did cross my mind!
Gender Benders one of the most interesting blog entries and presentations thus far. Maybe it just interests me so much because I am writing an Interactive Fiction story myself. I suppose at first I didn't think about it simply because my story originally took place in a store, so naturally I assumed you would play a femine role. Sorry, to sound a little sexist, but it took place on Black Friday, and any man who actually does know what this is wouldn't dare step out the door, as long as he was sane and unmarried I suppose. Now that I have changed my story and setting I never seemed to think if I was dealing with a male of female hero or heroine. So to try to figure out my characther a little more in dept I decided to answer some a Chris's questions.
In IF games, I don't feel that gender really needs to be specific, depending on the storyline. There are rough females out there, for example the Laura Croft figure, but mostly when it comes to adventure you have the male characther in the lead. As well as romance, if you a dealing with an interactive romance I would suppose it would be more femine based, so you would want a female lead.
Out of the three methods, I am personally choosing just not to make the gender known, I feel this would work the best, because then in your mind you are actually the characther. So not only does the characther take on your gender but your traits as well...maybe that's a little to in depth?
I think males have a harder time fitting a female part, even if she is tough. When men run into a tough women they even have a hard time admitting it. Mainly I think it is because there is to much emphase on masculinity, and video and computer games are more for a guy then girl.
Of course other forms of media have gender specifications, look at video games, personally I think they are sometimes a little sexist. Most of the time you have this brute guy running around like a nut, bumping into to this overly sexy, disproportioned girls who are half naked and pretty much just there to give you some kind of instructions...ya that's the kind of superhero I wanna play!
I'm really glad that Chris brought up this point, eventhough it didn't change my plan on writing and my characther still remains genderless, or maybe genderful. Is that a she said or a he said?
Women and Children Last?
So this is like the lastest and totally greatest of the bloggers. Can you believe it, OMG! It's teenage girls! Well, technically, and let me make this very clear, for about 2 months I am still a teen at 19! Of course I am female, so am I in classification with all these teenie boppers? I would hope not, in class we disccussed that these young girls will keep this up and improve over the men and almost dominate the computer world. When you look at the fact though there are more adult men blogging than women. Vicki's Blog does a great job of summarizing this.
Now down to the hard cold facts, when you are a teenage girl, trust me it was a recent experince, you have a lot of drama in your life. This is an era where we are more focused on technology, where else can you talk to you friends and vent about your day at the same time, while talking to 4 or 5 people at once? The internet of course, I am a prime example of this, I will be blogging and on AIM and talking to my friends while doing my homework. It's a lot easier than begin on the phone, maybe that's just a personal opinion. The only problem I for see is that these girls are using blogs to get them through the hardest parts of thier lives. Trying to hide thier stories of crushes, and emotions from thier parents, yet sharing them with the whole world at the same time. These girls are getting stress relief from this.
The sad truth of all this, as thier lives wear on and they grow up, they learn to cope with things and begin to mature. This is when the blogging becomes less of a nessacity and more of when there is time basis. I'm sure there are still some girls who will continually update there blogs, through out thier adulthood. Yet, when it gets to this point we have more men who are blogging because they are making a career, a life on the computer. Where as more women are drawn away from it and into new more demanding lifestyles. Not saying that women are incapible, or that they loose interest, it just seems that women lead more demanding lifestyles, especially with the onset of children. Sure it would be great if we all had those extra minutes in a day to just sit down rest and talk about what we've been through but there isn't always time.
Visual Blogs
Personally, I am not one for pictures on my blog, occasionally I would like the ability to put a funny cartoon or something cute like that up, but like I said I don't have the ability. It is still an interesting concept though, to make almost a scrapbook from your blog. It has to have a nice sentiment to it.
Leslie started her own visual blog, and personally I think that it is coming along quite nice. Not only do I question if I have the ambition but the time to do this.
I guess it would depend on the extent of the photography or whatever it may be on the blog. At one point yes, I thought about photography as a career, something like that would definately inhance my personal career. It would be great show as a portfolio, and I think that I would inhance my own ability. Now personal pictures, kinda freak me out, I'm still very skeptic and paranoid of the internet, it has a lot to do with personal things. This is something that I would never do, even when I see web pages with someone's picture on them, I begin to worry just a little bit, about how private there life really is.
American Elf is more my kind of blog, if I could draw...lol looks like I'm out of luck when it comes to pictures. This blog seems to be personal, but this person never reveals excatly who they are. Leaving some intimacity from his readers.
Images do hold a great deal of information, especially on blogs. I feel that sometimes we forget that are blogs are universal. Which means just because you understand it and so do your friends, if you have a reader from across the globe they may not. Pictures do convey much information, but is there a line to draw when it comes to something personal? Pictures do a certain flare to blogs, they make them something special. Look at blogs with cute little cartoons on them, even Stefanie's Blog gives insight into her, before you even look at an entry.
Images are enjoyed from one person to the next, they really do impact us in different ways. Sure, someday things might change and images might be all over the place. Personal photos are not my style, something creative I would love to just browse through, of course cute, amusing images will catch anyones attention. For now I'll stick with my own imaging :-)
Looks good to me!
Kaycee Nicole
Kaycee Nicole was an internet hoax, about a leukemia patient who was telling her story online. She had a great fan base until her tragic death on May 15, 2001. Then her fans decided they wanted to attend the funeral and there was no forwarding address or place to attend. This is when the truth came out about Kaycee Nicole, she was just an older woman who was using Kaycee Nicole to maybe get a point across. Maybe the point of Kaycee Nicole was to raise awareness of leukemia. Possibly even this woman created Kaycee Nicole to write a story and Kaycee was just her main characther. Want some more information on Kaycee Nicole, check out Evan's blog.
Dear Raed
Raed is the story of a young Iraqi citizen telling his story among the chaos. His entries can be very sentimental at times, and right now everyone is wondering of his dissappearance. Raed has been inactive since August 2004, and he is extremely popular. Raed does have an interesting story to tell, through out his hiatus and everything, it is welcoming insight, into a world we know little about.
Neha's Blog has some of the best links and information on the mystery man.
She's A Flight Risk
This tale of an heiress who is running, sparked my imagination. I thought that the story of Isabella was extremely interesting. A run away "princess" who has enough money to travel the world, and still hasnt gotten caught. She is still updating frequently. Isabella is leading every little girl's dream life, even if it is true or not. Even if she is the truth or not, She's A Flight Risk is worth taking a read. Some great information is on Moria's Blog
Personally, this happened to be the most interesting panel this semster, at least that is what I believe. I recently check the She's A Flight Risk Blog, simply because it's a great escape.
Where do I begin with this one? I'm going to try to make my game summary short, because I'm in some serious pain and having a lot of problems with my wrist and still have two papers due this week so I am trying to save my energy.
I played five wonderful Interactive Fiction games. The titles were pretty much my reasoning for picking the games. We'll start with the two you will find on a different site than the other three.
Hunter, in Darkness, and Spider and Web can be found on these pages. Pretty interesting games, yet I didn't do to well on them. Ok, so I died twice in 10 minutes while playing Hunter, in Darkness, but it is a really detailed story! I mean I was amazed at the description of some of the things in the story. I could actually feel the cave while I was standing in it, briefly. Now when it comes to Spider and Web there wasn't quite as much description, but it was still kind of a good story, as long as you can follow it. Spider and Web, is different in the sense that if you don't take the time to look at things you never learn and understand what to do in the game. Like our practice game, there was a very special thing on the floor, this isn't what the description in Spider and Web was like unless you actually looked.
My next ten minute game was Alice In Wonderland I was super psyched for this game. Me and Alice have a connection, you can't break it, I know everything about this story or movie ever! I guess I was wrong, or was it the writing style? This game had no description nothing to it! Some of the pharses were, you enter the forest, you're surrounded by trees, well obviously! I felt super dumbed down when I played this, but hey, no big deal right? It was only a waste of ten minutes that's not to much of my life missing for playing on the computer, I'm sure I've done worse.
This was the last game I played and anyone who wants to give it a try and gets past talking to Keegan at the bar tell me! Chicks Dig Jerks I read the prompt and thought, this should be interesting. I mean after actually trying to play games that I thought I could beat, why not just have some fun with this right? So I tried to! That didn't work, all I accomplished was missing at kicking my pager, and dancing like an asshole. I mean don't get me wrong, if you're looking for a laugh, this is the game to play. If you actually looking for a game, go some where else.
Finally came the 1 hour game challenge, so I picked something that looked interesting and easy at the same time. I am such a dreamer! This is Narcolepsy the wonderful game I spent an hour with. Narcolepsy and I had it's ups and downs, in the hour that we knew each other, but in the end, I don't think it worked out for us. Although I got to become a secret agent, wear x-ray goggles, be buried in sand, find a remote control, go to the beach, etc, it was pretty action packed. Yet, I just hit a point where I had no sense of direction so I just aimlessly wondered for 20 minutes until I could quite my game and feel satisfied. I mean the game just has a young sense of writing, like someone who hasn't had the chance to experince the world on there own yet. I mean heck the kid in the game can't even drive, and blames it on Narcolepsy, but I think it has something to do with age. Simply because of some of the rest of the story line, like the SOFA police and goofy things like that. It kept me amused for an hour at least and I didn't have to think about real homework, so it was pretty cool.
Alright, now I can't feel my wrist and I hope you guys give some of these a try, seriously someone get to hit on a girl in chicks dig jerks, I wanna hear one of the pick up lines. :-)
Where do I start? I'm sure introducing what I'm commenting on is a good place. Well, the first section of what I am commenting on anyways. Emerging Academic Weblog Community, I thought about starting my personal response with the defination of a weblog, that is listed in there...but that'a a lot of space, so here is the defination of a weblog by Jill Walker. There's a lot that I know I don't follow in Jill's defination, but I think that may have to be a whole different entry, simply because of time, and I don't think anyone wants to read an eight page essay.
Ok on to the actually commentary, one of the first things mentioned is some of the dedicated bloggers that we have here. Personally, I know I could update a little more and put something other than academics in this blogs (well, the second half of the semster is more professional, so far). I understand though the relation, I may only have one class that contains bloggers, yet, some of my fellow classmates are genuinely dedicated to their blogs, through SHU or another source. Not sure if my involvement could ever reach that point, being one of those people who is making the blogging community not as tight as last year. It's sad to see as well that there are 160 bloggers here and people who are not utlizing what they have. Now, I know it's my choice after this course to maintain my blog or not, but I am going to try, I really am!
Perseus produced a survey about abandon blogs. This is kind of upsetting, that these people are wasting time setting up things just to leave them in the dust. Yes, I know a blog can be a lot of work, but if it's personal, there's not that much to worry about. You can't tell me in 2 months nothing interesting ever happens in your life?!? Then you need to get out!
Ok, on to the next section, where this one gets a little more creative. This article, Introduction to Imagined Community only contains one paragraph that I was interested in. It's the paragraph that contains the link to the Persues Report. Talking about how the "typical" blogger writes for a small audience. Now, I'm not sure where I fall on this blogging scale, but I think (please you guys who know what's going on correct me if I'm wrong) I would consider myself a typical blogger, what does that mean to me? That I am writing for a small audience. Wrong, this is the internet, now I'm trying not to sound super paranoid, but there are millions of people who have access to this. What if I randomly choose a word, that is not commonly used and make a big huge entry about it? Do you think people are going to find it? I think it will be found, especially if it is a lessen spoken of source, characther, thing, etc.
So then we get into the quote that is quoted by Lampa who is quoting Benedict Anderson, that I got from this article by Dr. Jerz (I know my blog equitte :-) ), "all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined." Pretty heavy? I was kind of stopped in my tracks at this quote, I really had to think about it. It's pretty philosphical, like making a judgement if something really exsists or not. After that reaction came the reaction that this is inspirining, but in a different matter, just another idea for a story. I'm not to sure about all the market talk that is next. This is why I don't publish on the net, anything other than my ideas, which could be copyrighted, or I'm sure if I was honest enough could lead to a law suit. I'm just giving away my opinion for free, nothing wrong with that, never planned on being an editor anyway, so I welcome anyone else free opinion. Ever notice how that word makes everything sound better? (And I'm not lying to you, you don't need a down payment for this kind of free, no purchase nessacary, I'm not kidding you!!!)
Finally, (Sure you were wondering if there was an end, a point at all) is the Visual Blogs article , this is a NO NO to me. Like I mentioned before, I suppose it's a bit of paranoia, but I'm kind of against pictures on the internet, personal pictures. Let me change my perspective though, if I knew how there would be pictures that relate to things about me all over this page! I mean, I wouldn't directly identify myself, but all kinds of things about me that stand out. I would love to be able to incorporate picture or things that I find that identify with my blog entries. (This is a cry for help if anyone can explain, in very simple terms, how I can do this.) I don't know if you have noticed my pride everytime I actually accomplish something new with my blog, but I would love little gold stars for it! :-) Besides, that pictures on a blog to give a glimpse into your life, to make your personality come out just a bit more, to create yourself online, that's a wonderful idea. Something personal that makes things more comfortable is always a good idea. There is a line to cross I think with personal photos, you may think I was just raised in a paranoid world, but you never can really tell what other peoples reactions will be, in real life or over the computer. I've always loved this example, have you ever been talking to someone and before you say something, you would say that they can't be offended by what you say (or something of that matter). That's impossible you can't change someone's reaction, if they were going to be offended they still will be, regardless if it's shown or not. Same as the reactions to a photo or even just a voice (I've had my fair share of over the phone stalkers, simply because I have a cute voice...haha interesting huh?) Alright, I think I'm loosing my point, if I ever really had one!
Summary: I don't know if I wanna be a typical blogger. If you start something finish it. Inspriation is everywhere, even in blogs and articles that I didn't expect it to be. Beware cause your blogging community might not exsist if it's to large ;-)
Make sure you can take responsibilty for your own blogging actions.
Remember, be happy and comfortable with your blog, and always question if your readers exsist ;-p
Do I like wikis, do I have a positive or negative reaction?? No of course not, how could I make up my mind about anything?? Ok, so I have mixed feelings about wikis, not like Valerie, who seems to have her mind, and pasta of choice in complete decsion. I have mixed feelings about wikis, for almost the same reason she enjoys them.
I did not publicize my blog to my family for this reason...so shhh...
Wikis can be edited by anyone, much like the mention of wiki graffti, in Phantom Authority. Although I didn't understand much of this article I understood enough to comprehend this: I know people, for example, my sister's boyfriend, who thinks he knows it all, but to tell you the truth, for what comes out of his mouth a lot of it is bullshit. I'm sure we all know people like this, I use him as an example because at least if he ever does read this I can deal with him. That's not the point, there are people who think they are so knowledgable when they actually know nothing, how can this be a credible source. Now, I'm sure many people would look at me in the same way, considering my poor grammar and spelling, I know that when I research, I really do a good job though.
The concept of wikis is cool to me though, people adding and taking away what should and shouldn't be there. For example this is my wiki , about Pat O'Brien's Bar in Louisana, and people have added a lot to it, which makes me proud I started something interesting. Although all the information added was true, whose to say I didn't just create this place out of my head, I mean I had the option to do that. I suppose sometimes technology is just to much for me. Especially since Dr. Jerz has made me even more paranoid about the web, showing our class so many fake internet pages.
So what does this make me realize about my relationship with writing, I'm to attached to but it in the general public. Unless I have the correct facts, and it's structed right, bam I don't want anyone to see it, the reason I don't publize my blog. Trust me, I know my web equitte, and no one will ever get an e mail from me asking for a link, maybe just the opposite, asking you not to link! I like writing, but I guess at this point it has become a very personal thing to me. I'm slowly easing my way into publicity, I have a blog I write for the paper, maybe by the time I finish college I'll be every where and everyone will know my name, ok well maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
As in my previous entry which I just blogged before class, I mentioned a lot about reality T.V. shows. The selection that we read had a lot to do with their connection, or what they call their kairos, which is their time. I think it's always been prevalant in society, there are just certain points in time where we gain an awareness of something. Think about all the gossip, all the drama, lies, stories, everything like that you were told in High School, does it ever get any different? People are so concerned about the life of others and how they are portrayed to others, they will do anything for their fifteen mintues of fame so they don't leave this world a nobody.
The question is has blogging reached an age that it fits in to this? If blogging had come about in the 80's do you think it would have been as popular, or even in 2010? I believe so, I mean people desire for that look into another's life, to see what they envy and how they can control and obtain it. Everyone wants some part of their life to be memorable, now with so called "reality" everywhere, you have a chance. No matter when blogging was started, I think it could have been the original offset to the whole reality movement. It gives you a glimpse into gossip into something you don't have. You can sit there and read blogs of teenage drama and reminse in your head for the rest of the day, or comment and let you knowledge be heard.
I think that's the only place where all this reality differs, you can use your personal experince to either learn something or give knowledge about what you know, and it can make an impact. I know there are millions of times when you just wanna slap the guy on the reality T.V. show cause he should have picked the blonde because the brunette is a slut, but you can't walk on the show and tell him that, now can you? Where on a blog you have the importance of comments, where hey if you find a kid who makes a mistake, you can help them through it, they can learn from something you have learned already. I know we all dream of that fifteen minutes of fame, but sometimes, what you tell people maybe that fifteen minutes, ya the entire world might not get to hear it, but impacting one person is good enough, to change at least one life.
The kairos of blogs I believe is somewhat perfect, yet like I said I really don't think it matters. Life is ever changing, but the desire for fame, for insight and for gossip, shall always be part of human nature.
Wow that seemed pretty informative to me. There are some key points I do feel I need to express. Starting with the media part of the essay. Now, there's quite a lot of useless text I feel in this part. At first I felt I was reading a current history book, then it actually begins to prove a point. Sure I've noticed it and everyone else has too. Hey I watched the Real World
-the first reality show, now I hate all those shows. I still dream of being on the Price Is Rightand the Whammy Show (which I believe is off air). Why is prying into someone's personal life so interesting? I meant look at the lengths we've taken it to. Shows like the Swan and the Biggest Loser -aren't these a bit demoralizing to anyone? Then again, are blogs? I mean if I was trying to loose weight, or seriously overweight, I'm not sure if I would want to publicly annouce it, would you? Has actual reality lost sight of public and private? With a blog I do understand though it's based upon your own comfort levels. There's a passage inBlogging as a Social Action stating: "the consumption of revealing images of and information about others appearance revealed and unguarded lives, often yet not always for the purpose of entertainment..." How does that make anyone feel? Yes, I wanna be a writer and write for entertainment purposes but not about my day to day life. Maybe I'm just anti media and anti publicity, I'm shy, I don't understand why someone craves to be the center of attention. I'm one of those people who doesn't even have cable, not just on campus but at home as well, because I feel this personal publicity is to much. There needs a line to be drawn when it comes to privacy, especially on the web, you never know who you are actually telling your secrets to.
Alright about weblogs as a genre, there's some pretty valid points. The three early features of a weblog (chronologically organized, links to sites of interest, and commentarty links), I believe still hold true and are weblog necessaties. For example, the other day I was introduced to the weblog, Dear Raed , if there had been no order here, this may have caused mass confusion. I mean I'm glad blogs are outher there doing great things like connecting nations-powerful step from technology there. When it comes to some sites like theWeblog Review , are they needed. I mean I understand about the Kaycee Nicole hoax, but that when undetected for so long. How do we know some of the other content carries cridentals? Also, I don't feel that blogs should really have genres, like adlut and teen, or news and personal, I mean are these actual charactheristics? I could be 58 and still sound like I have a life of "teen" drama, whose to place your personal style somewhere? I can understand clairfying news related blogs to where they belong. In a way, I believe, like mentioned all blogs carry a personal tone, they're all personal, self expression. Like the quote from Joe Clark "folks in the Internet biz, their entire lives are online."
I was pretty upset at one point, no one puts internal links in their entires according to the Persues Devolpment Corp. survey. If I can figure this out, anyone can!
In the pragmatic blogger section there's a lot I like. So many good quotes- "the oppurtunity to tell their story in a mediated form to a potentially large, though the distant and invisible, audience" that's empowering. To know someone in another county could read this and never know me, yet this is terrifying at the same time. All the talk about community and self expression in thik section gives a semi-sense of belonging. Simply because everyone knows anyone can have a blog. This means through no matter what, you can achieve acceptance. The words "a unique voice, a definite attitude, a clearer motivation" makes me think about persona. Just how you can mold yourself to be who you dream to be. Like I mentioned I am shy but this gives me some confidence. I'm ultimately critical of myself and this somewhat makes me feel that I don't have to be, someone else will be.
I guess in conclusion, I myself am much like a blog, a jubble of thoughts, full of contradiction. A very information, very long essay. I still stand with no real biased view of blogs and their community, or where they are going, or not going. I hope this essay stays with me and has some impact. As I really see it technology is always up and coming and maybe this is the next step, to something even more incredible.