JMS1 Blogging: Reflexive piece
A term devoted to blogging is a trying time in a JMS1 student’s life – but when better to be an amateur at something than in first year? Here are my reflections on the course.
Productivity is determined largely on how busy you are with other work. If I had to study for a Legal Theory test, I would avoid my blog like dining hall meat. The thing with blogging is the more you do it, the more you want to do it. If you receive positive feedback, you feel recognition from what is an otherwise anonymous audience. If the comments are negative, you want to clarify your point of view, re-iterate your post and counter their argument e.g.“Beit is the best girls residence on campus!”
I think I lot of story ideas are generated from other blogs, particularly when your blog is narrative-orientated. I was inspired by provocative bloggers like General Futch who declared “This is my opinion and I make no apologies for it.”
In my opinion, by constructing our first-year oriented blog within a narrative genre we restricted ourselves from posting entries about what was happening in Grahamstown. With no real experience to write about them, I chose rather to leave things unsaid.
I must admit I sometimes felt frustrated at my group’s attitude towards experimenting with the medium. The only way to learn how to better your blog with edited photos, widgets and xml coding is to test it out. No one is good at blogging! People become good at it and even when you think you are good you can improve. I think the technological aspect is scary because with every other task everyone was more than happy to contribute. We resolved the problems of diverging from our chosen genre by brainstorming what we could blog about (long distance relationships, drug abuse, language barriers etc).
In terms of personal growth I think my growth was just that – personal. Unfortunately, no amount of Alette whizzing a cursor around a vast screen at Eden Grove could teach us the intricacies of blogging. You can only really develop your skills in front of your computer screen. I would give myself an eight out of ten for development but most of it was technical more than anything else. I think particularly writing for a first year audience lulled you into a false sense of comfort - you felt you knew exactly what you were talking about and needed to draw from nothing other than your own experiences.
Being confined to a genre changed the experience of reporting because you constantly have to ask yourself what is relevant to your audience and your theme. The restrictions make it easier to a certain extent because you already know what kind of an angle your pieces will take. I think the types of posts we were instructed to produce were helpful because they added to this direction. It enabled us to try out that kind of post whether it be opinion-based or focused on a particular person. The encouragement to produce additional posts meant that we could apply what we had learnt with more freedom. I would not say that I tried out a lot of different writing techniques however. Instead, I developed a level of comfortable expressing myself within the mould laid out by genre.
I certainly feel that blogging can be journalism. It can convey news events with their corresponding news values and often the personal approach taken is more appealing. There is no difference in power between the consumer and the producer: it is produced by someone with no more than a computer and an internet connection. Blogs are readily accessible (especially using sites such as Amatomu) and it is easy to select exactly what you want to read. If you want a satirical approach you can get one – with a click - and I think this makes it a particularly satisfying form of journalism.
The JMS 1 2008 theme of surviving first year was powerful in that we could relate so strongly to it. Everyone’s experiences of first year are relevant as we are neither the first nor the last to experience them (much like a Smuts boy). I think a major weakness is the lack of engagement it condoned. Entirely within my comfort zone I sat blogging in bed - sipping on Rooibos tea and oblivious to the world and its events. The life of a student in Grahamstown, however unfortunate it may seem, is isolated to a large extent. With a campus that engulfs a lot of the town, events at Rhodes seem of disproportionate importance given their lack of context. Maybe our blog was an accurate reflection of that.
Very little research was done in light of the close proximity between our lives and the topic. I think this was self-evident because posts were often followed by a flurry of comments given the author had written from a narrow-minded point of view. When sources were included though, I felt uneasy revealing anything unflattering and in retrospect, I think this resulted in an artificial rosy-tinge. What surprised me was that questioning someone was awkward no matter how well you knew the person. Instead of the sources being wary to answer I found myself being wary to ask.
Overly concerned with ethics given the possible vast audience, I questioned if it was not hard-hitting journalism we were aiming for then why should feelings be hurt? Can you, for example, say that someone is a virgin, or occasionally smokes marijuana - or is that revealed in confidentiality? I still feel as though these issues remain unsolved and the uneasiness left me thinking “rather be safe than sorry.” One of my friends was however, upset when his monthly income was revealed on someone’s profile of him and another disagreed with dismantling someone else’s opinion.
Overall, I feel as though blogging is an underrated medium. It has uncapped potential which can be freely released only by an astute and enthusiastic author – any takers?
Posted by Megs
Productivity is determined largely on how busy you are with other work. If I had to study for a Legal Theory test, I would avoid my blog like dining hall meat. The thing with blogging is the more you do it, the more you want to do it. If you receive positive feedback, you feel recognition from what is an otherwise anonymous audience. If the comments are negative, you want to clarify your point of view, re-iterate your post and counter their argument e.g.“Beit is the best girls residence on campus!”
I think I lot of story ideas are generated from other blogs, particularly when your blog is narrative-orientated. I was inspired by provocative bloggers like General Futch who declared “This is my opinion and I make no apologies for it.”
In my opinion, by constructing our first-year oriented blog within a narrative genre we restricted ourselves from posting entries about what was happening in Grahamstown. With no real experience to write about them, I chose rather to leave things unsaid.
I must admit I sometimes felt frustrated at my group’s attitude towards experimenting with the medium. The only way to learn how to better your blog with edited photos, widgets and xml coding is to test it out. No one is good at blogging! People become good at it and even when you think you are good you can improve. I think the technological aspect is scary because with every other task everyone was more than happy to contribute. We resolved the problems of diverging from our chosen genre by brainstorming what we could blog about (long distance relationships, drug abuse, language barriers etc). In terms of personal growth I think my growth was just that – personal. Unfortunately, no amount of Alette whizzing a cursor around a vast screen at Eden Grove could teach us the intricacies of blogging. You can only really develop your skills in front of your computer screen. I would give myself an eight out of ten for development but most of it was technical more than anything else. I think particularly writing for a first year audience lulled you into a false sense of comfort - you felt you knew exactly what you were talking about and needed to draw from nothing other than your own experiences.
Being confined to a genre changed the experience of reporting because you constantly have to ask yourself what is relevant to your audience and your theme. The restrictions make it easier to a certain extent because you already know what kind of an angle your pieces will take. I think the types of posts we were instructed to produce were helpful because they added to this direction. It enabled us to try out that kind of post whether it be opinion-based or focused on a particular person. The encouragement to produce additional posts meant that we could apply what we had learnt with more freedom. I would not say that I tried out a lot of different writing techniques however. Instead, I developed a level of comfortable expressing myself within the mould laid out by genre.
I certainly feel that blogging can be journalism. It can convey news events with their corresponding news values and often the personal approach taken is more appealing. There is no difference in power between the consumer and the producer: it is produced by someone with no more than a computer and an internet connection. Blogs are readily accessible (especially using sites such as Amatomu) and it is easy to select exactly what you want to read. If you want a satirical approach you can get one – with a click - and I think this makes it a particularly satisfying form of journalism.
The JMS 1 2008 theme of surviving first year was powerful in that we could relate so strongly to it. Everyone’s experiences of first year are relevant as we are neither the first nor the last to experience them (much like a Smuts boy). I think a major weakness is the lack of engagement it condoned. Entirely within my comfort zone I sat blogging in bed - sipping on Rooibos tea and oblivious to the world and its events. The life of a student in Grahamstown, however unfortunate it may seem, is isolated to a large extent. With a campus that engulfs a lot of the town, events at Rhodes seem of disproportionate importance given their lack of context. Maybe our blog was an accurate reflection of that.
Very little research was done in light of the close proximity between our lives and the topic. I think this was self-evident because posts were often followed by a flurry of comments given the author had written from a narrow-minded point of view. When sources were included though, I felt uneasy revealing anything unflattering and in retrospect, I think this resulted in an artificial rosy-tinge. What surprised me was that questioning someone was awkward no matter how well you knew the person. Instead of the sources being wary to answer I found myself being wary to ask.Overly concerned with ethics given the possible vast audience, I questioned if it was not hard-hitting journalism we were aiming for then why should feelings be hurt? Can you, for example, say that someone is a virgin, or occasionally smokes marijuana - or is that revealed in confidentiality? I still feel as though these issues remain unsolved and the uneasiness left me thinking “rather be safe than sorry.” One of my friends was however, upset when his monthly income was revealed on someone’s profile of him and another disagreed with dismantling someone else’s opinion.
Overall, I feel as though blogging is an underrated medium. It has uncapped potential which can be freely released only by an astute and enthusiastic author – any takers?
Posted by Megs
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