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Blogging

aybala50's picture

 After the class discussion on Thursday, I found myself thinking about the extent to which I blog and read blogs. In class I shared that I read a couple of my friends blogs and that I don't blog. I found, after some thought, that this is not true. This is my 4th class in which I've been using Serendip, hence I've actually blogged a fair amount through this site. As mentioned in class we all use blogs more so than we think, whether it be blogs about computers or any other research that is being done for classes. There are also a large number of students on this campus (or used to be) that visited sites like CollegeACB. I admit that I have been on this college gossip site and have read the material, though I have never submitted an entry on this site. I'm wondering more about what exactly constitutes a blog? To me, it seems as though it can be anything from academic to complete non-sense. Can it then be considered a form of genre without any rules?

Comments

rachelr's picture

What is a blog?

 It is interesting that no one in class mentioned Serendip. Could that be because the kinds of blogs we had been focusing on were either political or personal? Are we again trying to limit down the definition of the "genre" of blogs? I think that because the types of blogs are so varied that there can't be one clear definition of what a blog is. Merriam-Webster defines blog as " a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site." This is a broad definition that seems to try to encompass all the variations that exist. Urban Dictionary provides a more cynical definition: "Short for weblog. A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid, pathetic life. Consists of such riveting entries as "homework sucks" and "I slept until noon today"" and as "just another way to seek attention and sympathy from other people."

I don't think that blogs can be classified as a genre. People would want there to be subgenres for the academic, the informational, the political, the personal blogs. I feel like the people who feel compelled to classify everything into genres are not the people who would be the most voracious bloggers. It is the instant gratification, the unknown, the lack of boundaries, and the novelty of blogging that is attracting people, so I don't know if they would want to box themselves in by naming their writings as a genre.

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