Purpose: To explore some blogs and search the Internet for blogs that interest you in order to become aware of how large and varied the blogosphere is and to. To start looking at some of the characteristics of blogs as a genre.
Task: Search for blogs that might interest you by going to Technorati and searching for a word, e.g. “Islam”, in blog posts, in tags or in their blog directory (please choose blogs in English). Read some of the blogs. Choose one that interests you. Come back to our course blog and write a comment to this post about one of the blogs you have found. Give us the url and explain what you like about the blog and why you would recommend others visiting it.
Start considering how blogs are written and how links are used in blogs. What kind of language is used (formal, informal, vulgar, elegant)? How do bloggers make use of links in their posts? At the end of your post, write a few sentences about your initial observations of the styles used on the blogoshpere.
N.B. Make sure you sign your post and be concise ;-)
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After a very very very long lookup, i found an attractive post in a blog; i didn't understand how technocrati works so i found it hard to search for interesting things in blogs; i hope that my achievements could be attractive for you.
RispondiEliminaThe link is this:
http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/uk-appeals-courts-are-soft-on-terrorist.html
This post concerns the position of the UK courts about the terrorists. If you click on one of the other topics under the post, you will find many posts about this topic; you can click on “islamic terrorist” and you will read something attractive.
I was not searching for a topic like this, but when i found it i thought that it was interesting. In this blog Merv uses both an informal and a formal language; i could say that the language is easier than a journalistic one, but it's similar. It's not a personal blog; it concerns a particular passion of the writer, but he only wants to make us know what's happening (for example) to the terrorist in the different countries. Some blogs contain posts with private interpretations of facts or topics; other blogs are more critical and their target is to start a discussion. I think that my blog will contain private interpretations of the video conferences but also my thoughts about some attractive facts that happen in the world.
See you on my blog
(i'm so sorry for my writing english)
Martina
Hi Martina
RispondiEliminawell done on being the first to complete the assignment - an interesting blog you have chosen. The style of the posts is very useful and one you might consider adopting - he starts by quoting some source he has found on the web or in a newspaper, then he adds his comments on it. I'm not sure I agree with you that "he only wants to make us know what's happening ..." as he is expressing quite strong political views (is that what you mean by private interpretations?), though perhaps it's not so easy for you to identify his views. Try reading some more of his posts and identify Merv's political views.
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RispondiEliminaI have just finished to read again some posts of the blog and I think that i couldn't explain in a good way my point of view; what i wanted to say was that some blogs are private and people talk about private emotions, feelings or something like that; they also speek about their condition in the society, but always talking about their feelings. The blog i've chosen reports some articles and the writer gives his interpretation and his point of view about the things that are written in those articles. I think that this is a good way to carry on a blog.
RispondiEliminaFirst of all I will like to apologise for the delay, I had some technical problems due to some thiefs that stoled my pc. I haven't looked on Technorati for the blogs since I have already my information network on the Internet. One of the blogs I found to be very interesting deals with the Western "myths" about the Muslim world, in this case Pakistan:http://rodrik.typepad.com/. The post on which i choosed to focus my attention is this one: http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2009/06/the-madrassa-myth.html
RispondiEliminaThe author, as I learned, is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. The post deals with the wrong perceptions of the Pakistani realities something that I always try to avoid( is not easy!!!). The language of the post is quite formal and academic, first of all because of the delicay of the matter, but nevertheless pleasant to read. The post is not addressing the general public,beeing more a correction of a misleading article of the NYtimes which, i quote,:"was widely recounted by members of the U.S. House of Representatives with suitable outrage during the House Foreign Affair’s Committee hearing on legislation providing a new aid package for Pakistan".The article, which I also read when it appeared months ago,emphasized the centrality of the madrassa system in the education of the young Pakistanies with complete disregard of the private sector school system which is, as the post demostrates, of crucial importance in order to understand Pakistan's realities and therefore the sectors on which any aid package should focus. What i like about this blog is the fact that in a short article is capable of shedding light and deconstruct the too often misleading Western perception about the Muslim world, due,maybe, to an iresistable convenience for oversemplifications.
For what concers blogs generally I tend to agree with what Martina posted. I personally like all kind of blogs as long as they say something interesting and avoid the platidutes off conventional thinking,about the language matter I think that each bloggers should use the language that he thinks shapes better his/her ideas.
IOAN
minor correction: because driven by enthusiasm I have failed to read the responses to the article I have posted, If I would have read them before proably I would have been more circumspect.
RispondiEliminaI was looking for a blog focusing on Women and Islam. The Irshad Monji’s one has been the most interesting I’ve found: http://www.irshadmanji.com/blog-. She is a Canadian journalist; she has written for New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, Al-Arabiya.net and other major news sources. Furthermore Irshad is pioneering efforts throughout the world to promote Muslim reform and moral courage.
RispondiEliminaHer blog is curious because she uses it in a very dynamic way. The topic of the discussion, that in this post as in the other are always connected with her general project, is taken from an article of an online newspaper; beginning from this, she launches a provocative question in another social network (Facebook) and then, here in the blog, she sums up some of the most notable comments . In the end a new question is asked.
If on the one hand any opinion is clearly given by the author, on the other hand I find indirectly she does: the matter is very disputed and a drastic decision like a ban on the use of the burqua it’s inappropriate. Moreover , thanks to her continuous “prodding” the readers, they get more and more involved in the subject and in her project, which is probably her main aim.
The language is very simple, clear and quite informal, as generally I have found reading other blogs, probably because they have to be as understandable as possible for everyone. A big difference I have noticed instead, it’s that in this blog there isn’t a passive and a bit boring “copy and paste” of other article, but, as I have described before, the links are used like points to develop, making the blog peculiar.
Hi Ioan and Martina - interesting posts and also very interesting blogs you link to! Keep looking at blogs, how they work, the language they use, the amount of discussion they generate to get ideas for your blogs! Remember also to have a critical eye - find out who's writing, where they're from, what they do, who they represent, what agenda they might have and, as Ioan suggested, also reading reader's comments may help you interpret the blog!
RispondiElimina