For starters, I'm thrilled to death that with this new mode of communication called blogging, I do not have to deal with lost letters, lost calls, or even lost e-mails. True, with "infinite" storage space offered by Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail these days, messages seldom bounce back; but then, an over-active spam filter may still decide to screen out your laboriously typed mail. So far, none of my blog postings have been lost, and I also get the chance to correct typos which does not involve wasting paper or having to write the entire note again!
On a more serious note, I list below the major aspects/influences of blogging that I have noticed in our ways of communicating and creating/participating in the community.
1. Global connectedness: Blogs enable us to reach out to people we do not know, sometimes in places as alien as Timbuktu. Not only does this phenomenon help create an online community of people that may never have known about each other otherwise (and may never actually see each other ever), but it also opens our minds and hearts to opinions that are induced, shaped and coloured by exotic, unique and potentially educative cultures, civilizations or milieus. Some of us may have had reservations initially about communicating or exchanging ideas with strangers, but since we started attending this multi-media class, and after reading some of the listed blogs, even an introvert and private person like yours truly has gotten hooked to blogging!
2. Speed: It is a key factor in facilitating global conversation. What took months and years earlier, can be achieved in a matter of minutes or hours now through the Internet.
3. Uncensored discourse: Personal or independent Webcasting offers a great platform for global discourse on various issues. While a newspaper blog site may edit out your "politically incorrect" or otherwise disagreeable posting, a personal Weblog can reach out to everyone. It can serve as the voice of conscience, garnering support for, or opinion against, issues of local, national and international concern. The zillion web postings on global warming, Iraq and Tibet are cases in point.
4. Alternative journalism: As an extension of the above-mentioned idea, bloggers can practice alternative journalism by reporting raw feed on Weblog or expressing unedited and out-of-the-trench points of view with the help of live video and Web cam. When individuals become publishers in the free cyber world, they can write without the restrictions and constraints of institutionalized media or the establishment.
5. Serving the community: Weblogs are a great place for those looking at posting personal profiles for public viewing. Thus, it could become a dating service, as Paul Andrews points out, which may be considered yet another form of community service!
6. Serving academic purposes: Our interactions with instructors and fellow students through blogspot.com postings prove that blogging can be a highly convenient, New Age teaching tool. It is an engaging way to teach a class while simultaneously demonstrating the use of a new mode of communication. This is where theory and practice converge.
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3 comments:
Well, I think you pretty much said it all. There truly are many benefits of blogging. I think I like best how you said that blogging offers a place for theory and practice to converge. There is so much to learn from others,and blogging offers many different people from many different places a place to converse freely.
I agree with Robin, you did pretty much cover it all. Everything you mentioned in your post is a positive reason for blogging. I know that I am even considering doing this on a regular basis. I think that it has helped me to be able to get my thoughts together about what has been read, as well as getting feedback.
I am so excited that you guys are blogging-converts. It is a beautiful thing.
I was drawn to your comment about "global connectedness". I agree that the Internet offers limitless potential for reaching out to new people, but I wonder if it really changes our worldview as much as it could. What I mean is, in the US it seems that TV and print news still focuses so tightly on US-related matters that we often forget there are other countries in the world. Maybe it will just take a while for the larger society to catch up with the shrinking of the world as seen online. The potential is there, but I think society has a way to go yet.
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