Hup humm “Clears throat”
So In my most recent assessment of my blog I was given some very confusing advice. Apparently my blog, is… lets say too informal. Now I personally have noooooo idea what they were talking about. How could a blog I write be considered informal.
*Gasps in mock horror*
How could they possibly think that I, an RMIT student could possibly take advantage of the affordances of the medium and actually create some content that somebody other than my lecturer would want to read! I mean really, what am I? A media producer? no, no I am supposed to be an academic giving up all individual thought for the approval of my lecturers.
But in all seriousness I find this observation very interesting, I completely understand why this is important, in terms of properly assessing my engagement with the given course material. Personally I prefer a more informal voice in this blog, simply because it allows me to be more expressive and enjoy the process of blogging. However, I can see how this would make assessing progress more difficult if all they are receiving from this blog are puff pieces on what I like or didn’t like about the course. In any-case this blog is likely to take a turn for the critical, however, I still intend to blog in a relatively informal context. Allowing posts to be both reflective and expressive.
There are actually quite a few resources that suggest informal voice when blogging such as:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/writing-a-good-blog.html
http://www.topdesignmag.com/the-style-dilemma-formal-vs-informal/
As you can see there are Pro’s and Con’s to both styles. An informal tone is more accessible to a wider audience, it creates a space that readers can feel comfortable and relate to. However, it can some times come off as unprofessional. A formal voice, lacks accessibility but is very professional
I personally prefer a more informal tone, but I will definitely try in the future to become more critical with my blogging.