This week, we spent some time thinking about web design considering foundational aspects and the basic, necessary elements to creating a web site. Through lecture and our class discussions, we discussed different available tools for building web sites, as well as the basic overview for the portfolio assignment in class.
Today, we spent some time continuing this conversation and critically discussed blogs. Let's continue these thoughts with a few possible questions for discussion. One question that we didn't spend much time on asked the following: what blogs do you follow, and why? Continuing this line of thought, what makes these blogs credible to you-- or perhaps not? Why are these ideas necessary for us to consider, considering that we are all coming from different backgrounds and moving our careers in unique ways?
Please feel free to respond in the comments or start your own post. As always, you are welcome to discuss something else entirely if you have another idea that you'd like to talk about. You don't necessarily need to respond to this post, although you can if you'd like. Looking forward to some thoughts!
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I sometimes follow the blog digg at digg.com I find it interesting because it is not limited to one technology or one theme. You can find a lot of different topics including news, tech, sports, as well as adding you own threads. Furthermore you can follow certain threads in the blog and I enjoy that feature. The thing is, with any blog, most information is largely opinion based. Sometimes people have really strong writing ability and can communicate and idea really well, but ultimately they are not credible as a source of information because their information is opinion based.
ReplyDeleteI use forums more frequently then I use blogs because in my field of study I often come across technologies that are not well documented. However, if I can find a tech forum I can usually find a thread from people who have encountered similar problems. Overall I don't do much blogging because my circle of friends keep me informed on issues that I would otherwise go to a blog for.
Ah-- digg.com is a good one! I think it's interesting that you brought up your rationale for using forums over blogs, Brandon.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I mentioned what sites I tend to prefer in terms of information seeking or opinions. I like lurking on Yahoo! Groups, Google Scholar, Google News, and I have a couple of bookmarks of sites that either aggregate content or are content-specific (i.e., rpgamer.com-- devoted to one genre).
One thing I am realizing is that it's often difficult to tell what is credible online-- that can be a process that really takes some extra time to dig up facts.
I use the web blog http://www.maximumpc.com/. I like looking for new technology and technology news and this website is one of the places I can get it. I think this blog is somewhat credible, but the technology news that I’m looking for is informative and not research. So for me, anyone can tell me what new technology is out there because I’m just looking for interesting information. There are credible Maximum PC magazine writers and editors that put their articles on the blog. And with members of the site writing their own articles on the Maximum PC website, I think there are editors that monitor posts. Plus the blog posters link their blogs with sources and product links so you can research to make sure it is credible. But like I said, I just want to know quick information on what’s new so this is great for me to keep informed without doing much research.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say I have never blogged before this class. I know it is a huge trend and most people have contributed or followed a blog in some way or another but I guess I never got into it. Now that I have contributed in the class blog I guess my interest has grown in blogging now I just have to find the right ones to follow.
ReplyDeleteFor about six months I have been playing around with Wordpress and using it for my personal blog. It's very easy to use and set up. I don't blog very often because I always forget to do it but I thought I would give it a try. As far as other blogs, I read Digg a lot and am a huge fan of Engadget.com.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that makes blogs credible, in my opinion, is the user base. Sites like Digg and Engadget have a huge number of users. Because there are so many users, the content being posted to the site is always under review. If something is posted that is false or fake, you will know about it immediately. Also, a lot of the users work in the field that they are discussing so there is a lot of information from people who are experiencing something first hand.
I have never personally blogged myself. I've often read blogs of my friends and wonder if I could do it. Sometimes, I find myself thinking about writing what I'm doing at the time in blog form for everyone to read. It's kind of weird but funny and interesting to think about trying to explain something that you do, to someone who may have never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteI think what makes a blog credible depends on the subject that it's in. I like to lurk on some pro waterskier's blogs every now and again and I know those are credible because they are talking about skiing which they are experts at. It also depends on what you know about the topic. For example, I have never read Engadget.com which Jared likes to read so I may question the blogs credibility because I have no background knowledge of the subject matter.
I can't say I've followed many blogs before. In fact, the only one I currently follow is this one, and I can only think of one that I used to follow: my best friend's personal, journal-type blog which he hosted on his Web site. (He stopped updating it long ago, presumably because he became a lot busier with other things.) Nowadays, I guess I mostly just Google relevant sites when I want to read about something specific I'm interested in.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did use to be heavily into Internet forums, going to some nearly every day in the past. Most of the ones I went to concerned video games, and one of them was about fan-made games based on a particular game series. The subject of that forum is very relevant to my current career plans, since I am planning to become a professional game designer; indeed, being involved with that site was part of what made me interested in game development in the first place. On that forum, I also learned a lot regarding how to make games and game graphics, partly due to others' advice based on first-hand experience (their source of credibility) in developing those things.
I expect that in many other cases as well, aside from my own, a person's choice of Internet reading and discussion activities has a distinct connection with their pursuits in life. It seems a good idea to take a look at all of our various preferences regarding blogs and related Internet resources, given that we tend to have different interests and backgrounds, because this might give us all insight into how closely linked our interests and blog/site preferences are, and how much differentiation there is between our various Web preferences which stems from our different backgrounds and career pursuits.
These are all some really great comments. I really love the insight everyone has provided!
ReplyDeleteFantastic, everyone.