Summary of Blogging

When I first started this project I wasn't quite sure how I would respond to it. Over time I started finding this was less of a "project" and more a learning experience. Before the project I have never even looked at a blog. I really didn't understand the blogoshere. I now know there are many types of blogs that people can write. A person could use a blog to promote their business or write a vanity blog to catalog events in their own lives. Armatures and professionals alike can enjoy writing blogs.

I believe this project really helped me understand journalism. Everybody has to start somewhere. Reading and writing blogs can help to perfect ones journalism skills. Before this project I wasn't sure if journalism was a job that I might want to pursue. Doing this project has given me the confidence to post one of my pieces in an open forum and have other people read my work. I learned a lot about bloggers. I learned they come from all walks of life and are not just journalists. Anybody can blog and that is what I find most fascinating about bloggers.

I feel this assignment is extremely worth while. Instead of just analyzing pieces of media, we had the opportunity to analyze a piece of media and then create or own media. Posting our blogs on a public forum made the project hit closer to home. It was interesting to see my classmates views on the same topics and see what interesting blogs they came into contact with. With the wide reaching world wide web it is almost impossible for us to respond on the same blogs. We all have our own interests. I feel there is a blog out there for everybody to enjoy. Without an editor to hold back a blogger the possibilities for blogs are endless.

At the conclusion of this project I stand by my thesis. I rate my statement as a 5. I strongly believe that blooging will have some sort of impact on journalism. Blogs are an interesting form of media. Anybody with a computer can write a blog. Over time I feel that blogs may effect magazine and newspaper sales because free lance may begin to start ezines and blogs on the web. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future.

Information Vs. Vanity Blog

I continue my pursuit to understand the world of blogging better. Today I will look at information and vanity blogs in depth. A vanity blog is written by somebody who wants to comment on events that are important in their life. An information blog is written about an area of interest to someone.

I found a very well written vanity blog by Vikki Blake, http://furious-angel.com/me/. Ms. Blake lives in England and posts comments about her daily life. Blake boasts that she has children, is married, likes to design web pages in her free time, and likes to play video games. I picked her blog for many reasons. First, Blake lives in England. This shows how far reaching the Internet is. I can read about the daily life of somebody living in England, while I sit here and type in California. Second, I chose her article because of her unique writing style. Blake swears profusely, but I found this to be interesting. Blogs are essentially free press. Blake can say what she chooses with no repercussions from an editor. The reason this is important is because blogs will change how information is censored. Bloggers don't have to worry about censorship. Blake may loose a few readers, but she may gain a few as well.

My favorite story posted by Blake occurred on September 16, 2007. She posted a story about her and her friends playing Guitar Hero. Blake's kids were gone for the evening, so her and her friends had some drinks and played Guitar Hero until 3 in the morning.

The second blog I will analyze is http://www.davesfootballblog.com/, a blog dedicated to football. Dave Warner is a football writer for AOL.com, but he also writes his own blog that is purely dedicated to the coverage of football. Not only does his blog cover "American" football, or "Gridiron", but also covers soccer, Australian Rules football, and Irish Rules football. I am a huge fan of American football, so I was easily drawn to his web sight.

Both furious-angel.com and davesfotballblog.com are great examples of what a vanity blog and information blog should be. Blake's vanity blog was well written, informative, and captured my attention. Blake posted thoughts regularly and had a great bond with her readers. Warner's football blog was also well written and informative and he too posted blogs regularly. I am a football fan through and through. I believe any football fan would love to read his blog.

I believe both of these blogs show how computer technology will have a great impact on the world of journalism. These blogs strongly support my original thesis that blogs will have a tremendous impact on the world of journalism. Sure, a vanity blog like Blake's, may not have a profound impact on society as a whole, but she may touch the lives of a few, and to me that is important. Before blogs this may not have ever occurred. Imagine Blake propositioning the NY Times to print a story about her playing Guitar Hero with her friends. They would have laughed her out of the building. Here I sit thousands of miles away enjoying her blog. I think that is a profound impact. Don't You?

Ezines & Blogs: New Forms of Journalism

A couple of weeks ago I had no idea what a blog or ezine was. I had heard of them, but really paid no attention. I am know writing my own blog, and I have to say it is really fun. As silly as it seems regular folks now have the option to write there own journalistic pieces and submit those pieces for everybody in the world to see. The printing press enabled writers and political thinkers to have a voice that could be heard from afar. The Internet took it a step further and now allows the entire World to be heard. I will now go into more depth and explore blogs and ezines on the net today.

The ezine I stumbled into was http://www.opendemocracy.net/. I liked this ezine because it reaches the global market. The reason I find this to be so important is simple; it shows how far reaching the Internet is. This ezine can capture readers from all around the globe, not just the US. I found many current issues such as the war in Iraq, global warming, and politics in Europe.

I also found, http://www.bloggossip.com/, which is a blogging sight dedicated to blogs about headline news. This sight offers stories about US news, foreign news, entertainment, and sports. The sight is very well put together and has news about all the current issues in America.

Both opendemocracy.net and bloggossip.com were very easy to find on the Google search engine. I had no trouble at all finding these two useful sights and thought bloggossip.com was the easiest to read. Blogggossip.com had many bright pictures on the home page which attracted me to the web sight. The sight was very well formated and easy to navigate. Opendemocracy.net appeared to be a bit more credible. All of the stories on this sight were headline stories. One difference between the ezine headline stories and the blog headline stories were that the blog headline stories were geared toward entertainment. It seems as though entertainment is a classic form of headlining here in America, whereas in the global market, headlining is focused on serious issues, such as global warming.

Surprisingly enough both web sights, including the blog sight, seemed to be quite credible. I am still pretty old fashioned when it comes to were I get my news. For right now I think I will still get my news from the local news stations and the paper, but the ezine idea is growing on me. I can see myself trying to find more web sights like globaldemocracy.net. I don't believe a newspaper is more credible, but I still have to adjust to the new technology. As analyzers and readers of the media we must read and decipher what is true and untrue. I am starting to realize that liers come from all over. Integrity can be lost at a magazine, TV station, newspaper, or even a blog or ezine. Integrity can still be lost with an editorial staff, but that is a risk I am willing to take for "now". "Now" seems to be getting shorter and shorter the more I research on the topic of blogs and ezines.

I believe this research strongly supports my thesis statement. Blogs and now ezines are becoming extremely prevalent. The media world is being flipped upside down as new technology is being introduced to our society.

Entrepreneurial Blogs

Many businesses are now turning to blogs as a means of promotion. Realizing that this a trend on the rise, I have begun to question my original thesis as to how effective blogs really are. Sallie Goetsch, who lives in the Bay area, uses her blog, www.fileslinger.com/blog, to promote her web based business. She runs a company that assists people in backing up there computer files. In Ms. Goetche's blog she updates her customers with information about new computer based products. Ironically, Goetsch uses the same program that I currently use, Blogger.com, which allows users to post their blogs absolutely free.

Nate Whitehill also runs a web based business, http://natewhitehill.com/using-free-ebooks-to-promote-your-blog-or-business/ . Whitehill assists customers in creating blogs to promote their business. So essentially it is a blog to help other businesses learn how to blog. I found that to be quite interesting. Whitehill explains to his customers how to create a free ebook to attract new customers to their small businesses.

Is it possible to mention Bill Gates in the same sentence as small business owners? It most certainly is. The same technology small business owners use to promote their business is the same technology Gates uses to promote new computer software to the public. It should come as no surprise since Gates earned his fortune mastering computer software.

While not all blogs will be a success, blogging gives struggling businesses another outlet as a means to attract customers. Conventional outlets such as advertisements in the paper and public TV advertisements only reach a small percentage of the world's vast population. It is not far fetched to say that Ms. Goetsch or Mr. Whitehill could sell their services to somebody in China or India. The World Wide Web makes these connections possible. After finding this new evidence I would give my original thesis statement a 2. I still believe blogs have the ability to introduce fallacy, so their credibility is still suspect. After reviewing this new evidence I will change my thesis on my original blog and say, blogs will have a significant impact on the world of journalism.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/05/05/BUG41CGI4K50.DTL&type=business

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/operating_systems/gates_pushes_power_to_the_people_message.html

Impact of Blogging on Journalism

My name is Vincent. I am a communications major at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA. Someday I hope to become a sports writer or sports commentator.
I believe that blogs will significantly impact the journalism industry. Kevin Maney, of USA Today, had many interesting things to say about the world of blogging in one of his articles. Maney believes blogs might strengthen journalism because blogger's, like myself, will re-post his articles and discuss them in blogs much like I am doing right now. Larry Downes, a professor at the University of California says, " For the moment blogs are on the ascent to the detriment of other media activities." He goes on to say," The novelty of blogs will wear off."
Mark Glazer also reports on the growing trend of blogging. He calls blogger's "citizen journalists." Glazer makes an interesting point when he mentions Ad Hoc Journalism. A standard media outlet has editors that filter material within media articles. A "citizen Journalist" or blogger has no editor. Stories in the "blogosphere" tend to snowball and get a little out of hand with the lack of editors and professional journalists. When blogs get out of hand they tend to loose their credibility.
Although there is a serious potential for a lack of credibility when it comes to blogging, I still believe blogging will affect the world of Journalism.

www.consultwebs.com/articlesdt/law_firm_blogs.htm
www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/09/digging_deeperyour_guide_to_ci.htm
www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2005-05-24-blogs_x.htm?cs