Things to Improve

Here are a few things I would like to improve within this blog:

Living off the Internet

Reading response to Rettberg Chapter 6

Advertisements have always been a big part of the Internet.  It is only natural that advertisements found their way to blogs.  This reading by Jill Rettberg of the University of Berger explains how advertisements have grown on the Internet and how they affect blogs and bloggers.

The Internet has been an important tool for businesses since the beginning.  The Cluetrain Manifest was one of the first websites that tried to help businesses be successful online.  It was written by consumers for businesses.  I found this to be interesting because in today’s digital age

Bloggers vs. Journalistic Verification

Reading Response to Rettberg and Kovach

These readings bring back the question “Are bloggers journalists?”.  What do you think? Are bloggers journalists?  I believe there is a difference between bloggers and journalists.  Journalism is a professional career while blogging is not.  However, blogs can be journalistic at times.

Digital Literacy, Blogs, and Social Media

Reading response to Rettberg Chapters 2 & 3

Bloggers heavily rely on technology in order to be able to maintain their blogs.  Jill Rettberg, a professor at the University of Bergen, explains how technology has changed journalism and how the Internet and digital literacy are shaping society.

Blogging is one of the driving factors of digital literacy.  Digital literacy is quite simply society’s ability to use technology.

Links: What Makes Bloggers different from Journalists

Reading response to Brian Carroll’s Writing for Digital Media Chapters 4 & 7

Chapters 4 and 7 in Writing for Digital Media were both very informative about how to best make use of digital media, especially in blogs.  Also, these chapters made me think more about the differences between web blogging and professional journalism.

Chapter 4 details how to make use of hyperlinks, fonts, headings, and other organizational tools to make blogs standout and easy to follow.

Credibility and Smart Blogging

Reading response: Brian Carroll’s Writing for Digital Media chapters 2 and 3

Reading chapters 2 (Digital Media versus Analog Media) and 3 (Screen Writing) were both very interesting and helpful.  These two chapters made it clear to me how important being clear is when it comes to blogging, website design, video presentations, to name a few.

I found the section in chapter 2 on credibility to be very interesting.  Credibility is one of the most important things in any form of writing.  Carroll details the important steps to built credibility.  These steps are identifying yourself to the reader, be free of bias, and also be transparent.  Following these steps will help to establish accountability and credibility.

Google and Electracy

Reading response to Carr and Ulmer

The first article I read was Nicholas Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid and it outlines what he believes to be one of the biggest problems with the Internet.  Over recent years, as a whole, society has become more dependent on the Internet.  Carr explains how the Internet constantly surrounds us and how this constant contact with the Internet is slowly changing our brains.

Mission Statement

Mission Statement:  I plan to use this blog as an opportunity to learn more about digital communication.