Networked Media // Week One Reading

Don’t write on your blog? That’s a paddlin’.

Since the first day of uni, and throughout the entire course that was Media 1, myself and fellow students were meticulously encouraged -albeit forced- to blog. It was inescapable. The blogging raged on, and found its way into our bloodstreams and our brains. And here I am now in my second year of the BComm Media degree, still blogging. What has changed in those short twelve months however, are my feelings and thoughts toward the act of blogging; especially in media education – duh doy. At first it seemed to me as pretty pointless and a drag, but now I realise it has its beneficial merits in education and general communicative prospects. These advantages being heavily asserted in this weeks’ provided reading by Adrian Miles.

Blogs “allow writing with a diverse range of ‘voices’ including scholarly, personal, professional, conversational and humorous” (p.66), which is a relief and a comfort to me because by no means could I have kept this place of mine serious and completely scholarly. It would have drained the soul out of me and my writing. But praise! I am free to be me, let my authorship avail and develop my online persona (another favourable use of blogging raised by Miles).

Other obvious points of the usefulness of blogging in educational domains include:
– the encouragement and support of reflective and process based learning.
– peer support and collaboration
– providing a portfolio-like, record of achievements and works.
–  creating “interlinked, networked, fluid and distinctly contemporary writing practice and communicative space … and effective learning environments” (p.66).

Further, Miles comments on the importance of not only blogging about educative environments (eg, tutorials, lectures, readings, etc.) but also about the extracurricular life of the blogger; which is something that I really think I need to focus on more. As this blog is a place I can openly give my own opinion on things I take interest in and including these personal posts would give my blog a bit more me.