So many blogs!

I've actually already read through most of these... so just bare with me -__-; (i forgot about the post slowly part)

The more I read these articles, the more I suddenly realize how all of them pertain to me! It's quite an enlightening experience, and I feel that this class impacts me in more than simply academically, it also helps to expose me to new things. I'll get more on this later in the post (or possibly in future blog entries)

First off, the short article on the history of web blogging is interesting. I feel especially close to the issue because both my parents are computer engineers and my dad worked at Netscape; I was surrounded by talk of next-gen technology and the internet. I also remember the time in which (as the author said) web blogs and person html sites used to be only maintainable by those with html knowledge, limiting the actual sites out there to be very little. Slowly this changed though. Interestingly enough, my memories of this all changing distinctly coincides with the explosion of internet blogging / journaling websites and the advent of online social networking. In particular I remember this, because a bunch of my friends at introduced me to "xanga", and although I never really put a lot of time or effort into it, it struck me how fast the web was growing. As the author says, it really is the ease of use that has allowed the web to trickle down it's everyday use to the public-- from the homeless guy, to the EMT, to particularly Lynn Gomm and her son. I find her entryto be the epittome of what I have found myself to expect from personal blogs. Being a veteran blog reader myself, most of these *personal* style blogs speak of the individual's life. It doesn't have to be much-- in fact some of the best blogs are not dramatizations (at least I think...); the more honest and real the blog, the better it is. In this example, there is a certain catharsis in speaking of your child and the personal struggle going through and expressing the feelings of sadness, anger, frustration, fear, etc of learning of your child's lifelong impairment. To me, I find it touching and appropriate to her life. Many people fear that the internet is a disease in which estrange people from each other, but I argue that there is a sense of place and intimacy in sharing one's most personal thoughts through this medium of text known as blogging.

*sigh* If I had my own blog (actually it's something that have considered in the past) I wonder what I would write about? Lol, who would want to hear about the life of some sophomore university student at some middling overshadowed college in the silicon valley?



This is the list of all of the blogs that I read...
May or not pertain to class, click at your own risk.
All of them *should* be SFW

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/jul/05/nhsstaff.society
http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/apr/04/observerreview.britainuncovered
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/jul/05/nhsstaff.society
http://www.tonypierce.com/blog/2004/06/how-to-blog-by-tony-pierce-110-1.htm
http://www.sixapart.com/blog/2004/07/blogs_bandwidth.html
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/formation_of_norms.html
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/women_and_children.html
http://www.myboyfriendisatwat.com/
http://waiterrant.net/
http://anonworkblogs.blogspot.com/
http://purplepiranha.blogspot.com/
http://ambulancegirl17-151.blogspot.com/
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/
http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/
http://randomreality.blogware.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/28/japan.socialexclusion
http://ubuntupoint.com/
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/
http://www.gaijinsmash.net/
http://www.shrinktalk.net/