This is my posting for my English Paper 1st Draft....I hope this works!
English 112
Papia Bawa
April 22, 2008
Sherri Moore
Blogging? What is that?
Want to get a message out? Start a Blog! Blogging is a loose contraction of the term, “Web Log.” It is a newer way of talking and having a conversation on the internet. Most people have heard the word blogging, but just don’t know what it means. Well you might say, “What is a Blog?” A blog is a unique type of webpage; it is like an online journal that has a many different appearances. Blogs are a set of reversed ordered journal entries with a title, date and time stamp. Blogging is kind of like texting or emailing to someone, with the whole world being able to add to the blog. There is a whole gamment of genres to blog to. It is like you are picking a topic to discuss, you put it out there and others read the blog. If they are interested, they will add their comments to your blog. Then you might ask, “Who is blogging?” Blogging is an opportunity for all people to tell the world what’s on their mind, to share their passions, to inform others of current events, or to tell them what’s going on in their business. Yes, there is still a lot of banter, but it is the reader’s responsibility is to sift and choose their blogs. Blogging helps tell the story.
On examining behind the scenes of weblogs, we can look into the common ground that all bloggers share, and that’s the format. The weblog format is the framework for our worldwide blog experiences. You need to create goals and objectives for your blog. You must define your audience, know what their wants are, and figure out how to meet their needs. Before you plan to start your blog, you should plan some topics that will start the initial conversation. Blogging can be set up at little or no cost at all, and be used for a wide variety of things. Some people blog just for the fun of it, others blog for business, teachers are starting to use blogging as a writing tool for their classrooms. While still others blog to keep in contact with their customers, employees, friends, family, and co-workers.
There are several options you can choose from when starting a blog. One option would be a free service, such as Blogger.com. Another option is to pay to have someone set your blog up for you; show you ways of how to get visitors to your blog, and to keep them coming back. A good way to compose your blog entry is to use Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word will let you check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Once you have a finished blog, you can then log in to your blog service and click on “New Post” link. This will bring you to a small text box, and then you can go back to your Microsoft Word document and cut and paste it in here. There you can select “Preview” to see what your final blog posting will look like, if you’re not satisfied with it you can go back to your text box editor and make the changes. There are also many directories that you can submit your blog to, such as blogwise.com, yahoo.com, and a variety of others. Most blog services are very user friendly and helpful.
A business blog is one that businesses keep employees informed of company meetings, activities, and events of the business. There is an abundance of talk around the blogosphere about how to make a blog appealing to readers. Here are some things to avoid when making your blog:
· Avoid dark backgrounds-they make it difficult to read text
· Keep the site simple-too much clutter will cause visual overload
· Make any music optional for the reader-music may distract the reader
· Title should be descriptive and engaging-reader may not find your blog if not informative enough
· Update your blog-assures readers won’t get bored
Although having a business blog, according to Nancy Flynn, “Employers who are committed to complying with government regulations, preventing accidental misuse and intentional abuse and reducing the risk of litigation and other blog-related disasters are advised to put best practices to work by focusing on the three E’s of blog risk management.”[1]
Flynn also encourages the use of the three E’s, for example:
1. Establish policies.
2. Educate employees.
3. Enforce policy with discipline, coupled with blog content management and the monitoring of technology.
There is also a risk to a business that employees may post company confidential information. Companies need to somehow monitor the blogs and educate the employees. Companies also need to decide how far they want to encourage blogging on company time.
Personal blogging can be a great deal of fun. Personal blogs can be very informal, deeply personal, whimsical, and on any topic imaginable. They can have a conversational tone unlike a more proper speech. A blog post is usually an opening to a good dialogue, instead of an argument already arrived at. As bloggers we should update our site often on the content, and encourage responses posted by others. You may want to periodically review the postings to see if they are going in the direction you planned. If not, maybe you could redefine your approach to get your blog back to where you want it. It is important to keep blogs updated frequently, otherwise your site will become stale and readers will look other places and soon ignore your site. It is also helpful to post pictures as often as possible appropriate for the current discussion.
This is a Photoblog from Reuters about Ninja’s.
Reuters Blogs Photographers
What makes a great picture?
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April 18th, 2008
Ninjas - in text or pictures?
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Posted by: kim kyung-hoon
Tags: Reuters Photographers, Iga, Japan, Japanese, photographer, real ninja, reuters
It is also very important that you always be aware of personal safety issues. Try to be as anonymous as possible and never post your full name, address, or any other personal information that would enable a stranger to locate you. This is especially important for teenagers who are vulnerable to internet predators. You should also be cautious of the photos you post that might identify your location. If you meet someone on a blog, don’t meet with them in person unless you are certain of their intent and their identity. If you plan on meeting a person from a blog, plan on meeting in a public location with plenty of people around.
There is educational blogging for students with their teachers. Blogging is not about writing like writing an assignment in English, it is about a conversation. If you will think of blogs as conversational direction, it will then become easier to understand how blogs can be very influential in education and the classroom. A good use for blogs in the schools is to extend the classroom conversations to a widespread audience. The power of the blogs is in the thoughts, comments, and the dialogue that they initiate with the students, which can go in any direction. As with personal blogs, student blogs have the same safety issues that should be addressed.
Finally, blogs are a great chance to expand your knowledge of a variety of topics. There is political, travel, fashion, projects, music, and legal blogs, the list is endless. There are also audio blogs, sometimes called podcasts. Another way to blog is a moblog, using your PDA or cell phone devices. There are blogging communities that several online communities connect people to blogs and bloggers. There are also several search engines that allow you to search for key words in the blogs title, and will turn up a vast amount of listings.
Overall, anyone can blog with minimal experience and expense. It can be extremely fun and financially profitable for many people. It provides great opportunities for personal growth and sharpens communication skills. It can open up your eyes to the many different people and opinions in this world. All people in this world are not honest and some may take advantage of naive bloggers. Teenagers are especially vulnerable to the many unscrupulous people on the web. It can bring a whole new community to home-bound or elderly people that can not otherwise have this daily communication. As bloggers, we are enjoying a progression of communication, unlike we have had before. Most importantly, enjoy the dialog that will take place between you and the world!
Here is my new blog site! http://cleogirl006.blogspot.com
[1] Nancy Flynn
