my super blog

            After reading the interview with Robert Scolbe” and reading his Weblog Manifesto, I went on Blogs I’m Watching to see how many of the Scolbe rules went along with the blog I read.  The blog that I looked at was called “Girls Stop rape, through “sexual restraint!”.  A rule that Scolbe mentions in the manifesto is that a blog should always tell the truth.  The writer of the blog Heather Mac Donald says that the statistic of 20 to 25% of college women being raped is total fiction.  I found this very disturbing because it was hard to believe that people would lie about these statistics.  Another way that this blog is living up to Scolbe’s manifesto is how Mac Donald is honest and uses her voice to make points heard.  A part in the blog where it might not be following some of the manifestos is that a rule listed is “Don’t ignore”.  In Mac Donald’s blog she ignores many things.  I do think that the principles of the Corporate Weblog Manifesto are good standards because they all make sense and give a blogger a good outline to follow.

Since Joi Ito has been blogging for so long he never seems to get tired of it. It is easy to see that he still has interest in blogging because when asked why he is still motivated in blogging, he says because he gets comments that increases his knowledge.  Therefore he gets a lot of feedback and he learns from it and finds people with some of the same interests.  Following further Joi Ito was asked why he thinks blogging has become such a big phenomenon. Since a lot of people could have different views Ito explains that he thinks it’s because most people have the interest in commuting with other people and finding things out.  Furthermore Ito was asked what would be some challenges for creativity for the internet.  Since blogging is so popular he thinks that it might be hard to keep the internet as open as it is now.  Lastly Joi Ito is very fascinated by blogging and has done a lot to make it more of phenomena.

I believe that the impact of blogging on business is more important.  After reading “ Blogs Will Change Your Bussiness” by Steven Baker I learned how effective blogging was on business.  In the Chapter it says that blogs “ will shake up everything about business—including yours”.(Steven Baker&Heater Green)  In blogs about business it talks to you about politics and how the presidential races are going.  Baker and Green believe that the impact of blogging on business will one day create a mass media of bloggers.  Many companies buy blogs so that they can see if their company is a success or not.  Businesses that have blogs are able to see what people think of them.  This allows the business to stay the same or make changes.  Blogs allow people to see what a company looks like and what it might offer.  The impact that blogging has on business is a very strong one and will continue to become stronger.

            In Rebecca Makinnon’s blog it is put together In a very organized way.  The name of her blog site is calld Rconversation.  It is set up in a very fashionable way with a picture of Makinnon and a way to contact her.  The page is set up with all the stories that you can click on and read.  The way the blog is set up is in a professional way with colors such as red, white, and blues.  One of the links that was on the blog Rconversation that I read was “ Assessing Speibergs withdrawl from Bejings Olympics”.  The style of writing in this blog was very informative and gave me a lot of information on the subject. Rebecca also posts things on her wall like different pictures and videos to watch.  I think that Mackinnon’s view on the blog is a good one and her blog was easy to find and easy to find information.

As I was searching through the blogs I came across one that was posted on Jezebel called “Do School Shooters Snap because of A Crisis of Masculinity?”  In this article it talked about the man that shot the people at Northern Illinois University.  The man killed six people and wounded many more.  The question that this article brings up is why he did what he did. One of the issues that could possibly be the cause of the shootings is the question does masculinity make a man snap.  A professor from UCLA says that the man went mad because of the crisis of masculinity.  He talks about the book he wrote and how there are so many violent video games and movies.  The professor says that boys watch these things and want to display violence.  After the massacre the Steven Kazmierczak girlfriend was interviewed on CNN.  In the interview she quoted “The person I knew was not the one who did that.” “He was anything but a monster.”  People that knew Steven said he did not fit the typical shooter like the one at Virgina Tech.  I thought this article was very interesting because it described possible reasons on why Steven might have shot so many people.  It is frightening because he was never expected to do anything like that.  It is a good article for people to read because it allows people to be aware of the traits a troubled person might have. 

In the Huffington article she talks about how blogs have made such a big impact on the mainstream media.  She says that with blogging you can find out things such as politics and what is going on in society by simply looking online.  Huffington also talks about some low points with blogging.  She says that since the there are such popular things going on that are posted people spend more time looking at that than anything else.  She says that it is so much easier to go on blog and find out things because she says when you watch the news you can miss things.  In the interview she says that blogs can be used internationally.  She talks about a boy that is only eleven who uses blogging.  I don’t know if that is a good idea because although you can find good things on blogs there are also things posted about sex and drugs.  Huffington really wants blogging to become more popular and believes it will be.

Some social computing technologies that I’m interested right now are blogging, texting, and instant messaging.  I never really knew much about blogging but I found out that it is a website that provides information such as the news and other topics. It also allows people to leave comments on the particular blog.  Another form of social computing is text messaging.  Text messaging is being able to send messages wireless to your friends.  The great thing about text messaging is that you can do it with your phone rather than a computer.  The next method of social computing is instant messaging.  Instant messaging allows you talk to your friends over the computer.  Unlike email with instant messaging you can get a response right away.

            There are many kinds of empowerment in marginalized groups but some that I’m really interested in are gays, single parents, and teens.  There are many talks about gays and gay rights in the world today.  One of the major issues is gay marriage and I think it would be interesting to learn more about this issue.  Another group is teens.  Everyone at one time was a teenager and it is probably one of the hardest times a person will go through. During teenage years you go through things such has puberty. Teens are also faced with issues such as peer pressure.  Teenage years are not easy to face and by doing research I would be able to find out more about teens.  Lastly I found some information on single parents.  I found out that more than 20 million children in the US live with only one parent.  Separation or death is the most common reason why there are single parents, and the other one is death.  I would like to find out more on the struggles on being a single parent because I don’t really know what it’s like. 

            One geographical area that I’m very interested in is Africa.  I have heard many things about Africa like how they struggle with such as food, the economy, and Aids.  Africa is one of the most populated places and with all the struggle going on in places such as Darfor I would like to know more about the country.  Another country I’m interested in is Iraq. With the war going on In Iraq it is a country that I think I need to know more about the country.  Iraq is in the middle east and there are a lot of customs that they practice that I find interesting and want to know more about.

            A passage in the Chapter I Blog, Therefore I am I question the bottom passage on page 238 that continues on to 239.  This passage talks about how much blogging will one day change are media.  I do believe that blogging has become more popular but Kline says it will one day take over the media.  I don’t really agree with how Kline thinks that blogging will over come things such as newspapers.  I feel that people still receive or look at newspapers everyday.  I feel this way because before taking the class or reading this book I didn’t know you could find news and other things about the world by reading blogs. Kline quotes “Today only 54% of American Households read a newspaper.” Kline strongly believes that blogging will take over the media. I would have to say that I disagree because before now I never really knew much about blogging.

The product that I decided to choose was Aussie Hair Spray.  I use this product almost everyday to style my hair, and I would have to say that it lives up to what it says it will do.  Aussie hair spray promises to keep your hair style holding perfectly all day.  It guarantees your hair to stay in place and give your hair more style.  The website I looked on to get information about the product was http://www.drugstore.com/qxp27143_333181_sespider/aussie/instant_freeze_hair_spray_maximum_hold_non_aerosol.htm.  I thought this was a good website because it gave accurate information and also listed that you can buy Aussie in any local drug store.  From my experience with the hair spray I found that it does work as well as it says it does.  My hair is very curly and hard to tame, but with Aussie it stays in place all day. I would have no complaints with the product and it defiantly meets up to its promise

In Chapter one TORWAD A MORE PARTICPATORY DEMOCRACY it says that political bloggers haven’t had much impact on American political life.  People argued that some people don’t even read blogs, and others argued that a lot of young voters actually did read the blogs.  A man named Ralph Nader said that nobody really pays attention to the political blogs.  I would have to agree with him because before I knew what a blog was I would have never known that you could read political blogs.  I don’t know if I would be the first one to find a political blog fascinating but I think they are a good idea.  Young voters that are really interested in blogging could go on the blog and read about politics. Putting things about politics on blogs might encourage more voters to read them and therefore this good is a great idea. I learned that from this chapter not only can you just write things about you, you can find out things about other people