I began this blog by researching what a blog is. According to wikipedia.org, a blog is a discussion or informational information site published on the internet. Blogging emerged in the late 1990s, many of these provide commentary or analysis on a particular subject area; some function as personal online diaries; micro-blogging featuring very short posts, while others function as online advertising of an individual or a company. A standard blog is composed of text, images, and hyperlinks to other blogs, Web pages, and other social media related to the topic. Some blogs have ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format. There is a wide variety of blogs: textual, art, photography, videos, music, and podcasts. In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources.
Some of the impact of blogging on our society and issues related to blogging revolve around legal and social consequences; such as: liability, defamation, employment, political dangers, personal safety, and behavior.
I have had some very brief and limited experience with blogs prior to this assignment. I have had so much fun exploring all of the different varieties of blogs that exist. Back in 2010, I tried starting a blog with a fellow UNM Lobo regarding some social justice issues but it never really took off. We both had a lot of transitions taking place with graduations and hadn't really thought about it since up until this assignment. I began by looking at blogs around education, policy and politics. I even registered to be on the mailing list of 6 education blogs and 2 political blogs and this is only the beginning. I’m sure that with some more familiarity I will begin to use blogs as a means of knowledge distribution on topics I am interested in that will arrive straight into my email.
Some of the problems I had were around privacy and finding a name for my blog. I had a really hard time coming up with a name. I wanted to name it after the book I will be blogging about but my boyfriend said that might be infringing on the books copyright. So, then I wanted to name it 'Z.Education' or 'A-Z Thoughts on ELL Ed' but my initials look like AZ, and I’m not a big fan of AZ’s education policies. Finally I arrived at: Alvarez, Z. Academic Language Diary. I named it this because my book of choice is Academic Language for English Language Learners and Struggling Readers by Freedman & Freedman. I also had some trouble getting used to navigating the webpages, formatting, finding a theme, and deciding on a layout.
The best blog I found was the National Education Policy Center blog
I think blogging might have a positive effect on my reading and writing in school because it's expanding my interests and allowing me to have an apprenticeship through a blogging medium empowering me to develop proficiency in a second discourse.
The issue that concerns me about blogging is privacy. I have a personal blog around my civil rights activism aimed to help guest contributors remain anonymous. So as a result, I was skeptical about creating a new blog on the same email. A quality blog is composed of good commentary, varied literary or data sources, consistent blog posts, and use of different mediums of information such as picture, video, and podcasts.
Blog entries are probably between 400 and 700 words in order to maintain your audiences attention.
I can fully understand and relate to your concerns with privacy, but you can create a blog that is moderated (by you) and that is also a members only space. So, I think while privacy can be an issue, it is one that can be overcome with a small amount of effort.
ReplyDeleteNancy, I loved your blog fyi! I know I can moderate the privacy settings but for the first hour and a half I could not figure it out. So, as a beginner…I just struggled with finding where to change those settings but once I figured it out, it was all good! Thank you for your comment. :)
DeleteThe issue of privacy is tied up with on-line identity--we can create identities just for the internet.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your concern about the book title also. I might investigate that issue. I think that it is ok so long as you are quoting it, citing it, and not cutting and pasting more than 10%.
You analysis of this experience is a great interpretation of Gee.
So, after doing some extensive digging like I mentioned to Nancy I figured out how to moderate the privacy settings. For the first hour and a half I could not figure it out how to change those settings but once I figured it out, it was all good!
DeleteOn the book title, I explored what other people did and I liked Nancy's the best. She explicitly tied her analysis to her particular book. That gave me the idea of incorporating it in the subtitle to give the blog some context.
Thank you of your feedback professor! This is a neat way to exhibit my academic work. With Google plus, this blog wouldn't be difficult to find to anyone interested in seeing an example of the graduate level work I'm doing in my program. I was initially hesitant but I'm really liking this!
I am reading the same book! And reading your blogs and others I am now noticing I forgot to mention that in my own blog, but I have enjoyed your input in conversations and look forward to reading your view on this book as well. Also I understand completely on picking a title and design. Especially when you know you have to stick with it although I just found you can change your title, just to let you know thought I think yours works perfectly :D
ReplyDeleteI too had an issue with figuring our privacy settings the first time I tried to blog, this time around it was just a matter of remembering what I did and how I did it. Look forward to checking back in to learn about the book you are reading and I'm interested to read Lurdes' post as well to see how the two of you transact with the text.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your privacy concerns and struggle to find a blog name! I finally gave up because I was wasting way too much time and couldn't think of anything creative :( I did giggle at your copyright infringement struggle and your initials looking like our less progressive neighboring state :)
ReplyDelete