Today I read Dennen’s (2014) article
about blogging newcomers. As a
newcomer myself, I thought I should probably
collect some background
knowledge. I was always told I should keep a blog
because I have some
very interesting things happen to me (like losing my
passport on the way
back from Canada and trying to hide out on a bus to cross
the border) and
a way of telling them that seems to keep people interested. I
was never
one to keep a journal, except for classes, no matter how hard I
tried, so
blogging never appealed to me and it is still a challenge for me to
do so.
However, after reading Dr. Dennen’s article, I realized that blogging
isn’t
just my journal on the internet. I never knew that it was such an
interactive
activity and I definitely never considered the community aspect of
it. Similar
to many communities, you will be welcomed but you are expected to
learn
the ins and outs, tone and dynamics of the community you are a part of. I
was most drawn to the support aspect of blogging. I feel like a lot of people
are succumbing to the pressures of life and blogging can be a way to raise
red
flags and to get that support one needs that might help people through
tough
times.
The community is definitely one element of it. Before blogs as they are known today there was livejournal — a community of people journaling together. There are other forums for engaging writing online that are less communal than the blogs that I studied. We’ll look at one of them (medium) next week.
ReplyDelete