My learning experince

It seems this will be my last post for this class. It has been fun and very educational. And I will miss doing research for this blog. I enjoy learning new things as well as the research that goes into. My life has been so crazy that I don’t get to do things like this for fun on my MySpace blog anymore. And with having three other blogs (on MySpace) to maintain as well as a CafeMom journal, I don’t see this site living on past this class. I hope anyone who has come this blog has enjoyed it and hopefully leaned a little to in the process.

And now to answer my last blog project questions:

1. How did actively participating in online research and journalism through blogging affect you?

It was fun and a learning process at the same time. I never really looked at other types of blogs or cared before. Also, it was interesting to learn about E-Zines, newsgroups and the like.

2. Do you feel this project was worthwhile as learning tool in this class? Why or why not?

I definitely think it is a great learning tool. In this day and age, most people are on the Internet for everything. I use it to look up things, research places and items. And I use it for all my news (with the exception of all the fires we had last week.)

3. Looking back on your ratings and your research, what is your final thesis statement? Did it change from your initial statement?

My final thesis statement stays the same, “I believe blogging has significantly impacted the print journalism industry”. Not only from the things I learned for this project, but what I have learned about in other classes and my own personal experience.

Vanity and Information blogs

A vanity blog is a web log that the author uses to talk about their life and discuss their views about whatever subject grabs them. I decided not to blatantly self promote myself and my own personal MySpace blog, so the vanity blog I chose is one of my MySpace friends that I subscribe to; Chris (the political scientist). Last Wed he had a joke blog about our age group and what we remember or lived through. He has one about tipping in restraurants and what he experienced and feels is right. He even talks about his political views and encourages his readers to get involved in his discussions.

An information blog is a forum for the authors own personal interests, like football or Notre Dame or in the case of the blog I picked, Notre Dame Football. Since I love Notre Dame football, I thought this would be a great one. A Kevin Donahue writes this blog for the most part. I was impressed with the professional layout it had. It is almost like a news blog, but it is dedicated to college football and has different features and sections, one of them being my favorite college football team, Notre Dame.

And now to answer a few questions on this module:
Do you feel blogging particularly supports this type of journalism as compared to print media? Why or why not?
I think it does. When most of us read blogs or decide to subscribe to one, we pick ones that interest us. The vanity & information blogs still talk about current events or news articles. And they have an open forum so anyone can join in and discuss their views and help educate the masses.

What makes for a good info? Blog?
I think a good information blog consists of accurate information. On the ND blog, the author mentions the hideous uniforms they wore this last weekend against USC. Now if that were all he said about it, I would say eh. But he talks about where they originate, whey the supposedly brought these out and so on.

What makes for a good vanity blog?
A good vanity blog interacts with its audience. It talks about a multitude of things. It doesn’t repeat the same sentiment over and over again. And it is fun and entertaining.

In closing, I would have to say that my research done for this assignment supports my thesis statement on a level of five (based on a 1-5 scale).

E-Zine vs. the Blog

I have to say doing this project was hard. E-Zines are not organized very well as far as searches go. I was looking for a current event or news E-zine, and even under the different E-Zine directories, there seemed to be a lot of fluff. I finally did find a Republican oriented site though.
Project USA
It has a very organized layout and reads more like a newspaper or magazine. And they seem to be published on a schedule.

Where as the blog I chose has more a freeform feel to it and not only talks about politics but also other topics. It also allows you to comment back on the posts. Though with the blog, you tend to get the writers point of view, instead of an unprejudiced approach. So one needs to be open-minded and remember to take things with a grain of salt.

So to answer a few questions on these:
Which do you feel was more professional and effective?
The E-Zine was more professional though I think the blog was more effective in getting its message across.
Which was easier to find on the Internet?
The Blog was easier to find. I had more choices to pick from.
Which was easier to read?
The E-Zine was easier to read, though I think that has to do with the more professional layout.
Did they both cover the same current events?
Not really. After all the E-Zine only talks about the Republican Party and what is going on now. And the Blog is a Republican expressing his views and only posting what he wants.
Did you feel they were credible or trustworthy?
I think the E-Zine was pretty credible. The Blog varies on its credibility since it posts not only news but personal views as well.
Would you be more likely to feel a print source such as a newspaper or magazine was more credible than a blog? Than an e-zine? Why?
I would for the most part, but then again it depends on the blog or E-Zine. The one I chose has more of the writer’s views, making it less credible to me. Though there are plenty of Blogs out there that write more fact based information and keeps their personal opinions out of the equation.

I feel that the blog I chose today neither supports or uncorroborated my thesis statement (rating of a three on a scale of one to five).
[My thesis statement again: I believe blogging has significantly impacted the print journalism industry. Journalists are aware of the audience they have on the Internet and utilizing the potential. I think it would be remiss of the journalist community to ignore this market.]

Entrepreneurial Blogs and marketing techniques

Here is the second post/module for my Media and Society class.

The first thing we had to do was link an Entrepreneurial Blog to our blog:

http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog/
On this site the blogger posts different topics in order to help young entrepreneurs succeed in business. Just a few of the topics he discusses are Page Ranks, hiring & firing employees and building an effective website for your business.

And following that, we has to link two more sites we found that discuss the use of blogging as a form of business promotion:

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2005/01/blogging_is_the.php
The writer of this article states “that great blogs are about great journalism, which is about telling compelling stories truthfully and fairly (not impartially).”

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/05/BUG41CGI4K50.DTL
In this article it talks about how blogs have helped different small businesses grow. Such as the aspects of advertising for little or no cost and the ability to produce them with little or no technological skill.

Other ways one can market themselves are good old fashioned adds in newspapers and magazines or on radio and television as well as word of mouth. By blogging, one can save themselves money in advertising, get the word out about their product or service to a wider audience and put out updates faster than other means. As long as one utilizes their blogs lucratively, I believe blogging is an extremely effective alternative to the more common methods. By that I mean that one needs to keep their blogs updated, interact with the consumers posts and put a personal spin on things.

I believe on a scale of one to five that my research supports my thesis statement at a five.