The Blog that I chose was Stuff We Like: Lights Out Sleep Mask, it talked about a new sleep mask that lets you open your eyes and you still like its dark out. Its also very comfortable, and breathable. Even though the blog is short it still lives up to some of scoble’s principles. First off they author explains all the new features of the item and tell you where you can purchase it and how much it will cost you. There is also links to other sites telling about other similar products. The author also gives her personal opinion and a story of how she used it and it really worked and was comfortable. This isn’t a very long blog so there isn’t much else to say about it following or not following scoble’s principles. But after reading his interview there was one thing that he said that stood out to me, which was that a good blog has two things: its passionate and its authoritative. Personally this blog is somewhat passionate, I mean the author really believes in the success of this product, which is always a really good thing.

After reading the interviews I choose to comment on Joi Ito’s interview, “Japanese Blogger Champions Internet Democracy” His interview talks about blogging on the Internet and the challenges he has faced. In addition to that he talks about the money issue in blogs, how many bloggers spend money to operate their blogs and yet many of them don’t get paid money when people read their blogs. Also in the interview Joi was asked, “that bloggers are being heard without much difficulty. But their not getting paid. Do you see that as a problem?” As a result his response to that was, “ I’m not influenced by my advertisers, I can say what I want, I can tell people this is my damn living room and I can do whatever I want here.” This to me is accurate blogging is your own opinion; you should be able to say what you want.

After reading, “Blogs will change your Business” in my opinion I think that blogging on communication that is not business or profit related is more important. The reason why is because a lot of times blogs aren’t heard by everyone so what good does it do for your business if no one reads it. In the book on page 224 they say that “companies over the past few centuries have gotten used to shaping their message. Now they’re losing control of it.” This just shows that companies are slipping in what they’re putting out on some blogs. Also people with in companies are blogging and some are writing things that shouldn’t be said since they’re working for that company. Another thing said in the book relating to what I just said is companies are now drawing up norms for blogging behavior, so that employees know what’s in bounds, and what’s not. My discussion of Baker’s and Green’s is in fact addressing the larger matter of blogging about business doesn’t really get much accomplished and in so ways in can get you into trouble.

The Blog I choose from my list “BLOGS IM WATCHING” was Do women predict the future differently than men do? I found it on Jezebel.com. The title was the first thing that caught my eye just because there are always studies about the way men and women think and how some people think that men and women are so different. The blog talked about how scientists from Harvard did a series of mental excises, first they had to remember a recent event and then had to imagine a future even and the results were surprising. It turned out that women and men use the same part of their brain to imagine events. Also that men and women relied heavily on the hippocampus, which is a part of the brain. So men and women may have different opinions on event but they use the same part of the brain to think of the events. I thought that the blog was well written because they sited a source from an author who published articles in the journal Hippocampus. Also you know that the information your reading is truthful because it was done by scientists.

The Blog I chose from the interview with Rebecca Mackinnon was, cyber.lawharvard.edu/globalvoices. When I went to the blog the first thing I noticed was you can chose different topics from world regions to different topics that you want to read blogs about. There was also a map that had a certain country. There was also different blogs on the left and on the right was links to other blogs. The title at the top said Global Voices in black and there was a picture next to it. Under the title it said, The world is talking. Are you listening? The colors were blue and green; you could also view videos, podcasts, and photos. I agree with what MacKinnon says about the blog because it allows you to hear what it going on in different parts of the world, it also tells you the date of when it was written. MacKinnon talks about how Global Voices can help people understand what people go through in different parts of the world. OF COURSE, MANY WILL PROBABLY DISAGREE WITH THIS ASSERTION THAT global voices really wouldn’t change much but I believe that it can defiantly help some people understand what challenges people face in other countries.

After reading both Waldman’s and Huffington’s interviews I found huffington’s a lot more interesting. There were more statements that I could agree and disagree with. The first statement that I found was “Blogs have made a huge difference because they have broken the monopoly of the mainstream media.” What made her respond the way she did was this question, If campaigning, advertising, and opining haven’t changed things the way you would like to see them change, how can a simple blog make a difference?. I think that Huffington is mistaken because she over looks the fact that things haven’t changed much people will believe there own political views, I don’t believe that reading a blog can change a persons mind totally. I mean yes it can help give a person more knowledge on what they think but if you look at times now a days blogs still aren’t a huge part of peoples lives. The second statement I found was “If there’s a fact that a blogger put’s out that’s wrong, the changes of it being corrected quickly are very great.” I agree that bloggers have the power to change what each other says, since so many people can visit a comment that you left on a blog because my experience with blogs confirms it.

After reading Emily Nussbaum’s “My So-Called Blog” I agree that parents shouldn’t monitor everything their children write online. I know some people might disagree and say that if the child is young then they parents should have the right but the only way a child is going to grow to be their own person is to have some freedom. A lot of times teens aren’t writing offensive things online they are more or less writing about their day they had or commenting about others. Emily Nussbaum’s states, “It’s possible to make posts private or “friends only” but many journal keepers don’t bother, or do so for selected posts.” (Nussbaum 356) So teens that write online can make whatever they say as private or public as they want it. So in hoping that you raised your child right you wont have to monitor what they say online because they will be smart enough to protect themselves.

For the Semester long project under the social computing category I chose instant messing and the reason for that is because among teens that is such a big part of how teens communicate. Everyday teens are online talking to their friends, sharing stories of how their day went and what they’re doing later that night. So I want to find out more about the topic. I also chose texting because it is another big part of how teens communicate and now a days some parents are using texting as a way to talk to their kids. Last choice was facebook because it has grown so much in the past year. It has a good and a bad side to it, it lets you talk to people who you may not see everyday but you can also attract people who are predators. In the marginalized groups I chose children mainly because I am thinking about becoming a teacher and want to work with kids. I also chose single parents because I can only imagine how hard it must be for them to raise a child with no help. My last choice was poverty because it has become a huge epidemic in our country as well as others. So I would like to find out ways that people could help. In the regions group I chose the US since I live in the US it would be good to know about it. Also Europe because I have been there before and I loved it, so I would love to find out more information about it. That’s all the topics that I am looking at for the semester long project.

After reading David Kline’s “I Blog, Therefore I am” I found a passage that I have a different opinion about then Kline. The paragraph starts off saying how even though blogs don’t always spark a new career change they help produce a new and powerful meaning in a blogger’s life. Foe example there has been a growing number in women who have turned to blogging as a mean to write down day-to-day struggles. Whether it is single mothers or women changing their jobs. It’s a way for women to share on their experiences and hear from other women. Also women get support on what they are going through, whether dealing with cancer or another serious illness. They can talk to new people and talk to them to share feelings and fears about what they’re going through. As I acknowledge what blogs can help these women do I question what Kline says because blogs aren’t the only way for women with problems to talk to other women. Now a days there are many support groups that women can go to or online. Also blogging is almost like keeping a diary. It has pretty much the same affect. So blogging while it is a growing trend its still not the only way to communicate with other people.

After reading David Kline’s “The voice of the Customer” I decided to go with option one. I picked GQ Magazine, which stands for Gentlemen’s Quarterly. It is found on page 107 in the book. GQ is a monthly magazine that is focused on fashion, style, and culture for men. GQ talks about many different articles such as food, movies, sex, fitness, music, travel, sports, technology, and books. It is an upscale and more sophisticated magazine then maxim or FHM. GQ Magazine was launched in 1957 in the US as Apparel Arts, which ended up being published for many years in competition with Esquire Magazine. In 1958 apparel was dropped from the logo after just nine issues. I found out this information using google.com, there were a few different sites that had the information I needed. What I like about this magazine is that while it is for men they way they talk about different issues and women the editors do it in a very classy way. A quote that I loved that was said in the product description was “GQ helps you look sharp and live smart.”