...Wait. "Rebecca" and "weblog" both aren't recognized by Firefox's spellchecker? Uh, okay. Anyway.
Chapter 1 defined the differences between types of online journal thingys (blogs, notebooks, and filters), and went on to describe different roles blogs play in the vast internet landscape. Personally, this chapter didn't really grab my interest. I've had a blog of some kind since I was 16, so I basically already knew that blogs show different points of view and encourage online participation. I've also taken all kinds of media classes, and therefore also know that blogs "promote media literacy" (to borrow from the chapter's sub-headline) and are NOT a form of journalism. Interesting information, but it's difficult for me to sit down and read a chapter full of stuff I already know.
To go out of order, chapter 3 talked about starting a blog, and also didn't really hold my interest. But like I said, I've been doing this for quite a while, so this chapter contained even more no-brainers. This chapter was designed more for people who have never blogged before... perhaps, in the context of the class, it would work better to read this chapter first? I know a bunch of my classmates have never blogged before and are still trying to fully wrap their brains around the concept; but at the same time, this chapter focuses more on posting for the first time, which we, as a class, did on our own a week and a half ago.
Chapter 2, on the other hand, held my interest much more (and not just because it was shorter). My expectations for this book were to teach me how to be a better blog writer as opposed to a blog understanderer (yes, that's a word now), and this chapter started hitting on the writing aspect. The information in this chapter was still very easy for me to grasp; it's no-brainer information that I didn't know. If that made sense. Probably not.
I did enjoy the self-awareness section, though. Quote time (p.29):
A blogger who complains weekly that she is tired of her job will begin, eventually, to enumerate the particular circumstances that make her so miserable. Writing the same thing over and over, she will confront the problems she is not addressing and will be moved to make a change.
Story of my life, yo. Story of my life. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the middle of a whiny blog entry, had an epiphany about the topic at hand, and ended the entry on a completely different note than I intended.
To summarize: the chapters lead to a 2/3 majority vote that the book is kind of a disappointment so far. I hate to say that, though, because the two chapters I didn't really like were chock full of great information. So I'm not saying it's a bad book, by any means; I'm just blaming my disappointment on the fact that I'm ahead of the class' collective blogging curve. I'm hoping the rest of the book will, overall, fit my expectations of it.
PS: the "3177" tag is for classwork. Yay university class codes. Watch for a non-classwork update soonish.
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