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After reading the two blogs (Wonketette and Daily Kos) I was more influenced by Daily Kos. I found this blog to be more appealing visually to start off with. Also, the topics covered were a little more my speed. I am not a major follower of politics and I found these blogs much easier to read and relate to. At this point I am still just getting to know the different candidates and after reading Daily Kos I feel more educated about each of them. Daily Kos seemed to be a little bit more professional than Wonkette.

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After reading both Scoble’s rules of engagement for the blogosphere and an article off of Jezel.com (Women Of All Ages Feel Better When They Wear Things That Fit) I found that the post did in fact follow many of Scoble’s rules. “This is advice that could be used by professional woman of any age, but her book has been packaged to play on women’s fear of aging in a youth-obsessed culture.” This quote both tells the truth and uses a human voice. The author of this post also puts the information out in the open, she is not trying to hide anything. I have seen the author, Jessica, write numerous posts on Jezebel, so I would trust this author.

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After reading “Take An Obsession, Then Feed It!” an interview with Nick Denton I have a much different outlook and understanding of the blog world. First, Denton talks about why he hires unknown writers for his blog sites rather than writers with track records in the media. Ultimately, he says “the fact of the matter is that the market for writing talent in the United States us extremely inefficient..” In addition, Denton states that certain topics do very well in blogs, things that people are passionate about (i.e. politics, sex, gadgets, cars, etc.) In conclusion, Nick Denton has a very different outlook on the blog world from many other bloggers, this makes him unique, but interesting in his work.

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In my view the impact of blogging on communication that is not business or profit related is more important. I feel this way because I feel like it is more real. Baker and Green state “There are some 9 million blogs out there, with 40,000 new ones popping up each day. Some discuss poetry, others constitutional law. And, yes, many are plain silly.” I think that this is how blogs have the biggest impact; people just saying whats on their mind, getting their thoughts out. No matter what kind of blog is being written (whether it is an individual blog or not) I think it has an impact. Either way there is going to be somebody reading that blog and it is going to affect them, whether it is positive or negative. Individual blogs are easier to relate to and in many cases easier to read. When it comes down to it these blogs are the ones with a greater impact in my opinion.

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I chose a post from Jezebel.com called “I Can Has Breakup? 33% of Boys Are Okay With Breaking Up Over E-mail” (http://jezebel.com/357068/33-of-boys-are-okay-with-breaking-up-over-email) This post is about a survey that was done that concluded that one third of men think breaking up over an e-mail is “decent behavior”. Aslo, men are more likely to have a secret e-mail account. On the other hand, Jessica states that “Woman are more prone to virtual snooping then men are.” Unfortunately, I cannot post on Jezebel because you need a username to do so, however, if I were to post a comment I would tell the author that I enjoyed this post because it is comical, but also interesting.

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The blog I chose to view was Hossein Derakhshan. His blog is very simple, but appealing. There are pictures at the top of the page and the rest is mostly words. The page is mainly white with black text, the title is green and the links are orange. All of the posts are on the left side and all of the links are on the right side. The blogger of this site is Hossein Derakhshan, also known as Hoder. His style of writing is intelligent and sophisticated, however, it isn’t over the top. His topics are all about Iran, some post titles for example are “Reviving the Iranian Revolt”, “Does Chomsky know that Ganji calls for foreign intervention in Iran?”, and “Clinton is dangerous for Iran”. As blog exists today I think that it still corresponds with MacKinnon’s statement. I think this because the blog seems very popular among young Iranians and as MacKinnon said on page 330 “The blogs have become one of the few places where young Iranians can speak their mind and get to know each other online.”

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After reading “A Webblog Saved My Life Last Night” I had to stop and think, do i agree or disagree with what Waldman is saying? The conclusion I came to was that I disagreed with Waldman. I think that there nothing wrong with a mother having a blog, but for a mother to be spending two or three hours a day blogging is a bit ridiculous. Waldman discussed different intimate details of family life on her blog (i.e. her genetic termination, her sex life, and her feelings for her children) I feel that she is getting too personal, and the fact that she publicized her suicide note makes me wonder. She states that she has a very mild form of bipolar disorder and that she had recently switched medications, by writing the online suicide note she was obviously crying out for help, however, i feel like in a way maybe she was just looking for some attention. Waldman stated that she wrote the post in the middle of the night, if she was seriously thinking about killing herself don’t you think she would have done it before anyone saw the post? I highly doubt anyone is up at that time reading blogs.

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After both reading “My So-Called Blog” and thinking about my own personal beliefs I have concluded that I agree with the statement that ”Parents should not monitor everything that their middle school children write online.” Middle school can be a very difficult time for many kids and blogging is a way that many of them deal with what is going on in their lives. Most of the things that kids are writing on blogs are innocent, and if your kid is having a really difficult time they most likely are not going to write it for everyone to see. A blog is almost like a publicized diary, there is no need for you to read your child’s diary unless there is a true concern. Nussbaum writes that “Blogging is a replication of real life: each pool of blogs is its own ecosystem, with only occasional links to other worlds.” (page 358) There is very rarely a threat with blogging. Kids will be kids, so let them be. Until there is a reason for parental interference, just trust that your child.

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The three social computing technologies that I am most interested in right now are email, online auctions, and text messaging. E-mail, short for electronic mail, started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate. It is an extremely popular form of communication among all age groups. Online auctions are basically the same thing as regular acutions, they are just done through the internet instead of in person. Text messaging is all the rage these days. It is basically like instant messaging between two people through cell phones. The three kinds of empowerment of marginalized groups that I am most interested in right now are single parents, teens, and medical conditions/illnesses. All of these are pretty much self explanitory. Two geographical areas that I think I’ll start looking at are Europe and the Middle East.

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After reading Davis Kline’s “I Blog, Therefore I Am” I have a much better understanding of the media and culture aspect of blogging. For the most part I agree with what Kline is saying, however, there was one statement that I have to question. The statement made by Kline states that “blogging’s ultimate product is empowerment”. I see where he is coming from when he says this, but I feel the ultimate product is self expression. By definition empowerment means 1.) to give power or authority to; authorize, exp. by legal or official means. 2.) to enable or permit. Expression, on the other hand is defined as the expression or assertion of one’s own personality, as in conversation, behavior, poetry, or painting. In my opinion self expression is a much more fitting word. I can’t say that I disagree or question anything else that Kline saying in this chapter.

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