Week 2

My first exposure to blogs didn't happen until they emerged as a story covered by traditional media. At that time, my impression was that blogs were largely forums for self-indulgence (and if my memory serves right, this was how they were often depicted in the stories that wrote about blogs as an emerging trend). Rebecca Blood's article suggests that this impression might actually have reflected the predominant mode of blogging at that time. I know that I was quite content to ignore blogs, blogging and bloggers.

Reading about blogs and blogging this week made me realize how the many blogging features I have simply accepted have their own unique history. It was interesting to note how functionality taken for granted can have such an effect on the ways in which people blog. For example, according to Rebecca Blood the simpler interface offered by Blogger helped create a more personal style by making it more natural to post personal thoughts and reactions.

I have to admit I was surprised to read that blogging origins stemmed from user collections of links to various sites. Understanding Blogging as a tool for up-to-the-minute-second news reporting also provided me with a new vantage point with which to percieve current blogging trends.

It was not, and is not, as some people might beklieve, simply a vanity affair with oneself. Blogging is a forum for free speaking ideas to evolve. For expertise and knowledge to be shared. And for emotions and anger to be expressed.