A student in the course emailed me the following questions.
In our blogs are we supposed to have opinions? With our particular topics is it OK to comment on all different stories or do we have to stick to a particular theme (within our topic)? Thanks I’m just a little scared to post anything incase I’m doing the wrong thing
I thought some others might also be feeling trepidatious! So here’s my reply:
Don’t be scared!
The great thing about blogging is that it is an experiment – an evolving form – so there are no right or wrong ways of doing things. I have given you some pointers in class and you can look over them on the web site:
- go to assignments in the main menu click on the blogging assignment section in the left sidebar
- read the task description
- then for more information explore the articles in the righthand sidebar for tips and advice
The short answer is: in some blog posts you will be expressing an opinion – about either the issue or the media coverage in others you will be just noting that something new has happened or that you found an interesting article.
The thing about blogging is that the effect is cumulative. What I am interested in seeing is not the perfect blog post but the evolution of a vibrant set of ideas, notes and connections over the whole period that you keep the blog.
Regarding themes: As I said in class I suspect that during the first few weeks of posting your reach will be quite wide. This is the period in which you will be surveying your area and identifying:
- what are the key issues currently under discussion?
- what approaches are the media adopting?
- what are some examples of really excellent analysis?
- what are the resources available for reporters covering this beat?
- what are experts saying in other parts of the web?
- are the issues the same in the Australian media and UK or US ( or if you speak another language find out what is happening in non-english speaking media)?
Out of all this initial research you will find some things that you are interested in more than others and you may decide to specialise by covering one issue in greater depth, or you might decide to keep covering a few of them. Even at this stage it is good to keep an eye on the general field and report new developments that you find interesting.
You should also use the blog to post reflections about class discussions and the readings and how they relate to the media stories that you are finding.
This may seem a little overwhelming at first but you don’t have to do all of these things at once.
Blogging is all about bite size pieces and letting your discoveries lead you in new directions through creating links.
Start simply and see what happens.
