It’s been quite the semester. Never did I think that I’d be blogging. I had a really negative view of the whole system. I thought it was a forum for people to whine, bash, and complain and I realize now it’s not true. Now, I see that it can really be a useful and educational tool. However there are pointless blogs still floating about. But those are the blogs giving blogging a bad name. The good ones can be learned from. For instance, I learned the true power of blogging and that many people can respond to many other people and this has become the communication standard for the future. Crazy. Also I learned that people are fascinated by the color pink and celebrity gossip, and the man known as Perez Hilton. Also crazy.
Earlier in the year, I had to read Andrew Sullivan’s “Why I Blog.” It was an insightful essay and one I agree with tremendously. He describes blogging as, “the spontaneous expression of instant thought—impermanent beyond even the ephemera of daily journalism. It is accountable in immediate and unavoidable ways to readers and other bloggers, and linked via hypertext to continuously multiplying references and sources.” Spot on. The instantaneous quality of blogging makes it so unique and interesting to watch over time. Sullivan alerts us to the joy of reading what you immediately felt about some of the biggest events in our history. I also felt his point about blogs now being anchored in fact due to hyperlinks was incredibly poignant. I know I tend to feel that blogs are not too credible, but with the need for hyperlinks, blogs are becoming more factual.
As far as new media goes, my view on text has been turned upside down. I now view all types of mediums as a way of communication. No longer am I limited to getting a point across via words. Pictures, video, and audio (not necessarily with words) act as a way of establishing what one wants to say. For instance the sounds of a beach create the setting in one’s mind just as much as the words one could use to describe the beach. Also these pictures tell us a story without words.
Because of this, I see writing as a much broader medium. I feel like podcasts and pictures can be a form of writing and storytelling. That is cool to me. New media, you’re a cool cat, shaking up the world and whatnot. I really can’t wait to see where things go from here.
Posted by trevorsjg 
