“We must write with an awareness that we are writing in the presence of other texts.”
-Landow, George P. Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006. Print.
It’s like my father always told me: “we have two ears and one mouth, use them in proportion.” We often write without thinking about the presence of an audience. We may not even concern ourselves with other texts, but outside texts are extremely useful and they are there to be used. Texts are there to teach, debate and refer to. They also carry a weight with them whether that is scholarly or not. Hypertext is particularly useful as it provides a means to be able to link to other texts. It’s a handy tool which basically makes the internet a smaller place. Linking and connecting to other work, sharing and collaborating is what blogging is about. It allows us to actively participate in the blogging world and not just be an audience or a writer but to be a part of what is happening. Certainly by blogging online it gives us a reminder to write for our audience as, opposed to writing solely for individual purposes, as blogs are virtual diaries which an audience can read (or interact with) as soon as they are published. And really, if you’re writing a blog, your purpose is to have it read, so why not form interaction with blogs, yours and other inclusive?
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