Maybe it's no surprise, given how empowering it can be to have one's own thoughts transported instantly across the globe. But once there, they become fodder for anyone who is inclined to turn an author's words against him."All they have to do is print it out and they have proof," Milwaukee lawyer Scott Taylor said.
I admit it. I was one of the first students at Seton Hill to have a blog, for example, my entries date back to September 19, 2003. Not unlike many first-time facebook/myspace/blog users, I was a little obsessed for quite some period.
Oh, how the times have changed. I shudder in fear at some of the things I've written (so much that I'm not actually planning on looking at any of it for awhile, a long while in fact). While I take the time to remember (and be reminded by Dr. Jerz) that the Seton Hill academic blogging community is not intended to be a formal panel review of your ability to participate intelligently, it um, is.
The online forum makes it so. Yes, I agree with the classic defense of any material found on the internet. (Don't necessarily trust material on the internet, because any fool can put something online.) At the same time, as it was told to Bill Schacker by Amy Eisman, "students were more likely to discover boundaries themselves, sometimes by a rough experience."
In a nut shell, be careful what you type for, it's not only found, it's found all the time.
That's right, Diana. We're getting practice writing for a real audience, and that means thinking carefully about the image you want your writing to present. Since you were already online before you got your SHU weblog, you came into the picture with a clear sense of what's at stake. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at January 22, 2007 9:30 PMI avoid a lot of blogging for just that reason. The more high tech it gets, the more dangerous it is. It will be lovely when I'm 40 and I can still look at all the errors I made on my first freshman blog. Just lovely.
Posted by: HallieGeary at January 25, 2007 7:03 PM