So I decided to check out Jana's blog from 2007, for the sole reason that her name brings back fond memories of childhood (Jana is a nickname my mom calls me). Anyway, let me start off with a disclaimer: I am COMPLETELY new to blogging... I wouldn't call myself a dinosaur but I'm not especially computer/internet/any king of technology-savvy. This is my very first blog. So you might call me a foreigner to this medium. But I, like Lynch notes, attempt to to perceive this environment in some ordered patter, though as a newcomer I may not pick up on the nuances and specific details that a "native blogger" might.
Like all other blogs, at least those on blogger.com as far as I know, the blog posts appear ordering from the most recent at the top, and at the very bottom is the oldest.... well the oldest unless you click on "Older posts." To the left (which is the opposite of my blog), is a picture of Jana, and below are links ordering blog posts from year and month. At the bottom, there is a link to an "about me" section. This main page isn't exactly comfortable for me, there is something about it that makes me uneasy-- not Jana's blog in particular, but all of these blogs in general. My preconceptions (probably because my social networking consists of Facebook, and in the past Myspace) would lead me to expect the main page to consist of primarily getting to know the blogger, with a picture being a main focus and other basic personal information... then providing links to specific blogs. Somehow I find it troublesome that there are long blogs one after another, scrolling scrolling scrolling. Well, those are just my initial feelings.. which I'm sure will dissipate with exposure, just like anything else.
Enough about me... let me try and explain how I think Jana dealt with this bloggy environment. The most recent blog post at the top had been her first update in a while. Hence the title, "Update." This one dated Aug 16, and the most recent one before this was May 21. Of course, a lot of time has passed and I'm sure a lot has gone on- since this most recent one is taking place in Amsterdam. Jana tries to compensate for this passage of time, but realizes way too much has gone on to touch on everything. She separates paragraphs by first discussing how she has changed her project topic.. then describing the social scene... then briefly describing Vienna. Jana tries to create order out of all of her thoughts and events she feels she should record, which I know seems like an impossible task once so much time has passed, and she does this by structuring her blog so that each paragraph can deal with one specific theme.
Jana creates order in her other posts, and is understood easily because she uses socially constructed norms of utilizing space. In one post, she records an interview, first providing the setting and description of the interviewee. Then she records the interview by Q and A, for example:
Q: How are you today?
A: Dandy.
This is a common way to record interviews, although frequently Q & A would be replaced with the interviewer's and interviewee's names. To most of us, this seems to give an interview more validity, rather than paraphrasing or summarizing in paragraphs. This structure is supposed to transmit the exact words of the interview.
Another post is made specifically to discuss problems that have arisen in the research topic. Jana lays out each problem in numbered paragraphs. This is much more easily absorbed and understandable -- I specifically chose this one to discuss because others that were structured in long paragraphs, one after another, seemed much harder to digest. I also find it interesting to note that this post with easily comprehensible structure and order is discussing ways in which aspects of her research project have been dismantled. I find that I use organization to alleviate anxiety that I am experiencing with projects or paper. Perhaps I feel that an orderly structure of an outline or proposal will result in everything falling into place and working out right. Maybe Jana felt the same way...?
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3 comments:
Fantastic post, Cassie. The response to the very text-oriented way these blogs present seems right. It harks back to the etymology of blog, with the log-os (logos= word) foregrounding the text-y texture.
cassie-
nice intro! by situating your perspective and experiences, your frame of reference, you accomplish two things. first, you let the read know where you're coming from and second you provide some nice examples of order in an online environment.
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