I love love loved being able to create Cosmopolitan Conniption for this university subject, Net Communications.
I really enjoyed being able to think creatively and originally, produce unique content and complement my written material with visuals and design.
I loved the freedom of searching for inspiration and experimenting and developing the concept of a blog in a niche. And I also enjoyed reading the theory and being able to engage with it and critically examine it further by having it in mind when practically creating this blog.
I also think I have developed a really useful skills set that can be used both leisurely and professionally.
In terms of progress, I have really tightened up my writing. I feel that with having an Internet audience in mind, I was forced to attempt to make my writing more engaging and exciting, not just for me but for an external reader. I have learnt to write more clearly and concisely as a result as no one really wants to read pages of waffling nonsense.
I was also extremely computer illiterate, very safe and slightly phobic when it came to the Internet pre blogging, however, creating this blog really gave me a sense of play and allowed me to figure out how to add in a bit of tech to my old school way of writing in terms of adding images, links and tags.
I particularly enjoyed adding images to my posts. I found this design element challenging but gratifying. I created each image myself and really wanted to put my personal stamp on them, I think this developed and got better throughout the weeks.
I have also learned to be more engaged and more of an active Internet user as previously I would simply read content, however, now I am more likely to comment and interact with the material before me.
Blogging bits which I heart:
- Dismantling the blogging stigma. I have realized that blogging is a legitimate media form and a popular and respected media outlet. It is not just parasitic but can provide really original thought, ideas and cultural commentary. Just check out The Huffington Post if you doubt blogging credibility.
- The rise of internet art, internet art collective Jodi in particular is a favorite.
- Terry Flew’s idea of Participatory Culture. That society and the Internet is networked and networking. That there is a culture of no hierarchy but equal and equally distributed, interactive, democratizing, freeing and engaging agency for the public on the Internet. It makes me feel like I am able to be more involved in Internet culture and not be a mere onlooker or passerby.
- Henry Jenkin’s comments about Convergence Culture. This is about the media converging onto singular devices and the mingling of traditional and new media forms. It feels very futuristic and will be interesting to see how this develops and evolves, the Apple iPad seems like a symptom of this.
- Axel Bruns on Collective Intelligence. The idea that not one person knows everything but as a collective community we can know something makes me feel part of something bigger, it is a connecting and collaborating force in the quest for knowledge.
Blogging bits to further investigate:
- The High/Low Dichotomy when is comes to digital culture. This idea comes from Olia Lialina and Dragan Espenschied’s Digital Folklore Reader. It is the digital culture continuation of traditional high culture and low culture which is seen as both ‘inspiring’ and ‘despairing’ but I am interested to see how digital culture walks this line and where it ends up eventually sitting.
- Danah Boyd’s theory of Networked Publics. I am interested to see how the public becomes more Internet dependent and savvy and how this creates a new public. I am also interested in how our Internet impressions and personas are managed and performed and how this will develop.
- Alan Liu’s philosophy on ‘the laws of cool.’ In anticipation of seeing how the definition and concept of ‘cool’ evolves and changes as the Internet does.
Flower Power, always uber cool
Dear David… any chance of a gossip session about ‘Comment Cultures’?
One of the aspects that I L-O-V-E about blogging is the ‘comments’ button. This is one of the features of a blog that really sets it apart from any other media as it is so instant, democratic and well, fun!
Commenting on other people’s blog posts is interactive, engaging and allows you to really immerse yourself and become part of the community of your favorite blogs. Commenting is a connecting force. It allows you to critically digest content and exercise a degree of agency.
Media theorist Henry Jenkins calls this activity ‘participatory culture’ where there are ‘low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement’ and ‘strong support for creating and sharing creations’ and ‘some degree of social connection’.
The blogger benefits from comments also. Comments give you a warm, fuzzy feeling within when you know that people are reading your work and allow you to review your material and analyze if it is unique and interesting, perhaps offensive or going to far and crossing an ethical line. Comments allow you insight into different perspectives on issues other than your own.
According to media theorist Geert Lovink, ’blogs create communities of like-minded people. Debates happen within homogenous web clouds.’ I agree that blogs attract compatible and similar people, I mean, why would we spend precious time trawling through blogs we hate? On the internet there is great variety and choice, there is something interesting to read for every person’s desire, no one is forcing you to read things that do not appeal to your tastes.
We can see this idea of blogs being ‘communities of like-minded people’ when bloggers link to other blogs they read and love or feature guest posts from other bloggers that are concerned with similar issues. For example, Style Lines, a fashion blog, encourages readers to also click on blogs such as, Somewhere Here, The Style Master, and Karla’s Closet. These blogs are quite similar fashion/style/trend blogs and linking encourages readers to embrace these other blogs if they are interested in this particular theme.
Lovink continues by saying that ‘most bloggers would admit that it is not their aim to foster public debate’ and that ‘if you disagree with a fellow blogger, it is unwise to write a comment.’
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with respectful and mannered and polite public debate. I think that bloggers realize that their view or take on any given issue or topic is just one of the myriad of possible stances and that healthy comment, even if in disagreement, is encouraged and accepted.
Often though, people who comment demonstrate no etiquette and are often extremely insulting or rude. This kind of negativity is most definitely not ideal.
If a blogger posts something controversial the comments should reflect that, their can be difference of opinion. But language needs to be considered carefully so as not to foster violent and harmful mentalities.
Check out this blog post and comments on Four Inch Heels Only . Comments included venomous threads such as ‘ if only the beauty pages of your magazine reflected some of the intelligence you show in your comment’ and ‘if you are so bitter and unhappy then leave, find something that makes you happy and better yourself. Right now your negativity is poisoning you and the world has no time for pathetic people’.
None of this is constructive or healthy debate, in fact, ‘debate’ in this case seems like verbal warfare and there is no place for this sort of behavior in the blogosphere just as it is not acceptable in everyday life.
In my own blog I would moderate such discussion, blogger participation is paramount in leading discussion and curbing unruly and frenzied commenters.
I like the take MamaMia has on comments: ‘imagine this is a dinner party. Differences of opinion are welcome but keep it respectful or the host will show you the door. If you’re rude or abusive, your comment will be deleted (so will comments responding to other rude comments because they won’t make sense – so save your breath). And if you’re offensive, you’ll be banned. Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re going to be – cool. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation…’.
This is brilliant and what all people should consider when posting comments on blogs. Often it is very easy to be poisonous when you are sitting safety and anonymously behind your computer screen in your pajamas but there is no excuse for spiteful comments.
Posting hateful comments reflects more poorly on the person commenting than on the blogger. One needs to be mindful of their own reputation also and their own internet persona and profile.
Comment culture is a symptom of our networked society however we need to be able to ‘protect against its dangerous aspects’ such as damage to reputation and overly condemnatory vicious discourse as media theoirst Howard Rheingold warns.
consider your words carefully before you hit SEND