blogging
As a blogger myself I know the importance of creating an online identity. I started snooping around to see what has been written on blogging and how much people really know about it. It is strange to me that people still define a blog as an online journal or diary, because this definition for me is a bit out dated.
Blogging has moved past only being a journal filled with a blogger’s personal thoughts and experiences. Another definition I found was by Cedar Pruitt who said it is an “ongoing documentation that can be viewed by anyone in the world with access to the internet”. This definition is probably more accurate but it still doesn’t dig into the essence of a blog.
After sending out a survey on blogging to TUKS journalism and communication students, I was shocked at how little they knew. All of those who replied said they do not have a blog but interestingly one student replied saying “Yes, if Facebook counts as a blog”. It was a great shock to me to realize that there are people that are clueless when it comes to the online world. Personally, when I studied journalism we didn’t even glance in the direction of online media and that’s tragic.
When asked whether blogging could become a form of journalism most students replied “no” and said that it does not require journalistic skill. What is ironic about this statement is how incorrect it really is in terms of how many great journalists there are in the world who do not have a journalistic degree or ‘skill’.
According to Cedar Pruitt blogging has already started to have a powerful effect on mainstream media. An important characteristic of a blog that makes it different from other forms of information media is the ability of its readers to give immediate feedback by publishing a comment on a story.
The blogging phenomenon is here and it’s real, but what people want to know is ‘why blog?’ and the answer is clearly not reaching everyone.
Read more posts by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg
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Sounds to me like those students aren’t really very up to date with what’s going on in their field.
In the “real world” there are quite a few “real” journalists blogging, most notably those blogging on Thought Leader and The Times Online.
So why haven’t the curriculum/ lecturers caught up with this yet, one has to wonder?
The media landscape is changing and it’s changing fast, so they’d better step up or get left behind.
Well Amelia, maybe we should see it as a challenge or opportunity to promote the media landscape more aggressively in terms of why it is important for everyone to take part and ride this digital wave! (I still have Fred’s post in my head)
I have recently been chatting to some lecturers who were seriously in the dark. Although – it must be tough for educators to keep up. Makes me think of the slide in “Did You Know” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIDLIwlzkgY&eurl) where it states that the topics covered in 1st year will be outdated by their last year.
Also, amazing that students don’t see blogging as a form of journalism, as you’d think that they’d be the first to embrace ‘Citizen Journalism’.
So tell me Yolandi, in your opinion, what is the answer to the question: “why blog?”.
Rudolf
Well Rudolf, I think it is important to blog for the purpose of creating an online identity. It is a way of making a name for yourself. When looking at a journalist such as David Bullard’s blog – the Bullog (http://davidbullard.wordpress.com/) it is clear that a blog says a lot more about a person’s views, beliefs, interests and personality. This is important from a business/professional perspective because people want to relate to others and so, it creates better relations between companies, colleagues and potential clients.
Interestingly enough Rhodes University Journalism students are concluding a course in Online media including a bloggin course. Shows the difference maybe?
I’m glad to hear someone is starting somewhere. Hopefully other Universities will catch on quickly if they havn’t already!