Presentation Reflection

My presentation on my essay definitely had its pros and cons. On the positive side it felt good to talk about my essay and be able to think through it. Dr. Thompson also brought up an interesting point about the symbiosis element of my essay. She thought it might be good to emphasize it more in my essay but I’m kind of struggling with that. If I emphasize it too much more it’s going to become the main idea of my paper and that’s a problem because that element kind of strays away from the research question. I want to discuss it but I need to make sure my paper is mainly about identity. On the negative side I had a few hiccups with my powerpoint and I think might have been standing in a way that was isolating one side of the room.

Blogging passage

I already integrated a section from Blogging into my essay so I’ll just discuss that. I chose to use: “Blogs are a social genre. Bloggers don’t simply write to their ‘Dear Diary’, they write into the world with a clear expectation of having readers. That Readership does not necessarily need to be very large. On the internet, everyone is famous to fifteen people” (Rettberg 57). The quote struck me as something that would integrate perfectly into my paper. I used the passage as a springboard to argue that blogging can work just as well with a large following as it can with a small one. The quote is something I agree with but I believe it can be expanded as well.

Writing Conference

After the writing conference, I’ve decided to make a few changes to my paper; but overall, I’m feeling pretty confident with it for the time being. I’m going to tweak my thesis to encompass my paper better and I already basically know what it will look like. Beyond that, however, I think I’m going to wait for more feedback before I make any other major changes to it. Dr. Thompson seemed pretty happy with my new thesis and overall direction with my paper. The next step is to email my paper to my peers after I write in my new thesis and then start to prepare for my presentation.

Research update #1

Trying to analyze my research blog, “Brian’s Soapbox”, has been somewhat challenging but my work is already yielding results. I’ve found that it’s easy to get dragged down in the details in the blog due to the vastness of it. However, his biography page gives me some background information on his interests and helps give a sort of foundation to his blog. It doesn’t take a lot of analyzing to figure out that he uses his blog as a “soapbox” to interact with and express himself to his many fans. He makes his passions such as his love for animals and astronomy abundantly clear. I’m already finding strong evidence to support a paper and I know that more will present itself in the coming days.

Reading

"At some level, it doesn't matter whether the blog is 'real' or 'true' or 'authentic'. It doesn't matter whether the videos of crying children and anxious mothers were  really posted to YouTube by teenagers in Beirut as Israel dropped bombs on their city. We have already heard the news of the bombings of Beirut and the attacks on Baghdad from mainstream media outlets. The primary function of these blogs and videos is not to be a factual report or confirmation of what is happening. They are highly subjective, emotional reports on events that we already know are happening. Baghdad was being invaded as Salam Pax blogged. And really, all the Lebanese teenagers or Salam Pax were telling us were things we could have imagined for ourselves - but we still wanted to read or see them from people actually experiencing the events. In this sense, the truth of blogs may have more in common with truth of novels, art and poetry than with the facts presented by journalism" (Rettberg 93-94).


Paraphrase: It often doesn't matter if a blog is completely factual because people simply want to relate to people experiencing current events.


This passage is particularly interesting because it separates a certain style of blogging from mainstream journalism. It explains how blogging can fulfill a natural human need to relate. It is a need to connect with others that is embedded deep within the human genome. This necessity to relate is something that mainstream journalism is often unable to fulfill. Due to the need for humans to connect, blogs like that of Salam Pax can become incredibly popular. It’s as if you know the blogger personally even if he doesn’t exist in reality. The reader is able establish a deep emotional connection with a current event. The factual nature of mainstream journalism is a polar opposite to emotionally driven journalism. Blogging allows for an entirely understanding of an event that mainstream journalism simply cannot provide. The passage compares the cold hard facts of mainstream journalism to the deep emotional connections that blogging is capable of providing.

Interests for research

It would be interesting to follow a blog containing sports or entertainment. Both of the genres are major interests for me and to be able to follow blogs under these topics would be exciting. Because I track these things on a daily basis, following a blog would only be natural. From my research, I hope to gain further insight into topics I'm already well-versed in.

Who am as a writer?

As a writer, I'm someone who always strives to improve. I'm always trying to learn more. I undestand that perfection is impossible; however, I wish to come as close as possible.