Talk about PhP or writing?

Jeff on Babel expressed an interest in talking about the blogging experience in terms of the different types of software; drupal, mt, etc..

That kind of feeds into the argument of blog as technology versus blog as rhetorical space. To some, a blog is the software and the user's experience with the software, and because of that they focus on the technology that makes blogs possible.

To others, blogs are experiential in terms of an individual's relationship to a blog as relationship, whether as an individual or one of a community.

I think I'd like to stay away from the technology experience. I'm as geeky as the next gal (ok, maybe more so), but I would really like to contribute more to the discussion about what people do when they blog. I'm most interested in group blogging and blogging as dialogue, since it relates to a looser definition of "argument."

I think getting bogged down in the technical details sets up for that criticism of "we're talking about technology and not writing."

I'd rather talk about blogging as writing.

Birth of a blogstory

Blogs ability to perpetuate memes is codified via Anatomy of a Blogosphere Story. The article examines 45 blogosphere stories, tracing their movement from blog to blog. Interestingly, they pointed out the role of mainstream media in the initial proliferation of blog stories, acting as a catalyst for fueling the frenzy of further stories. The middle ground is what I would expect, punditry, online voting and summary posts all frame the initial stories issue in a unique way. It also mentions the "branding" of stories via keywords ("googlewashing"). This once again paints the universal usage war with a negative and conspiratorial brush. It also talks about phases of the meme's spread, where phase 1 are the "a-list" bloggers talking amongst themselves, then phase 2 is where google opens up the conversation to a wider discussion via indexing, and phase 3 is where the conversation is further opened up. I need to think about this more. That really puts blogging in an anti-democratic light. Does the spreading of memes really rely so highly upon a few select "a-list" bloggers? There is no ground swell, but rather a focusing of worldly attention by blog-intelligencia? Does that just make a-list bloggers a substitute for major media, one whose motives may be different but whose influence is nonetheless powerful.

Yes, I'm still at the Sev

I'm still at the Sevilletta, but I wanted to pass this on: (yes, they have T-1 lines at the Sev). This Times piece on reputation management (and the perils of not spending your words wisely) demonstrates another reason why an online writing course is worthwhile, especially in regards to argument.

Out of commission

Finals are over! Now, I only have to survive the program review; a three-day road trip of meetings and conferences and gatherings. I'll be back mid-week, posting more skeletal part of my thesis. s

MT Posting Instructions

Here's the most detailed instructions I can think of to teach newbies how to post and send their initial notification.

Appendix A: Instructions to the {insert team/group name} blog interaction.

The new blog {insert name of blog} is up at its temporary location at {insert URL}.

My challenge to you:

Log in and post a brief biography about yourself. Who are you, where did you go to school, what do you see as your role in the class?

How to enter the secure URL:

There are two logins, one to let you see the secure site and one for your personal userid (use this only if you are using a password-protected site) Note: If there is not a secure URL, you can just go to the blog's url at {url} and log in using your personal userid and password. To log into the secure website:

1. Go to the secure site at {insert URL}
2. The security login is: {insert userid}
3. The security password is: {insert universal site password}

(you will need to do this whole security login/password step twice) 3 After you put in the login and password, you will see the blank blog with {insert blog name} at the top.

How to log into the blog

1. To activate your userid you will need to click on the "post to {blog name}" link towards the bottom of the page in red. It will prompt you to enter a personal login and a personal password. Below is the preliminary list of personal logins for everyone {include list of names with userids}. The personal password for everyone is initially {insert generic password}, without the paranthesis, all lower-case.
2. Once you've logged in, you should change the password immediately. To do this click on the "Edit your profile" link. The profile area will allow you to change your userid, password, and contact information. It also prompts you to add a clue for password recovery (it asks for birthplace). Click 'save' to save your results, and the next screen will tell you that your changes were saved.

You are now ready to post to the blog.

How to post to the blog

1. At the top of the page, use the drop-down menu to select {our blog name} (it will be selected by default) and hit 'go' (you can also use the 'menu' and 'main menu' links to do this)

2. Select 'new entry' from the menu bar on the left. It will take you to the 'create new entry' screen.

3. At the new screen, type in a title and select an archive category from the drop-down menu. For now, select "biography." {these categories are customized for the blog in use}

4. Next, the "Entry Body" area is where you type your post.

If your post is very long, post the first paragraph in the "Entry Body" and the remainder of your post in "Extended Entry". This will create a link at the bottom of your post where people can view the complete entry. Post your entry by selecting the "save" button at the end ("preview" if you want to view it first). Wait for the site to rebuild (it will say that it is rebuilding). The "edit entry" page will tell you that "Your entry has been saved. You can now make any changes to the entry itself, edit the authored-on date, edit comments, or send a notification."

To send a notification

Notifications let everyone know that something new has been posted to the blog. They are very important, especially for new bloggers, to keep everyone abreast of what is being posted to the blog.

1. To send an email notification to us, scroll down to the end of that "edit entry" page (past the save/delete buttons, all the way to the end) until you see "notifications."
2. Select "include entire body" and the entire post will be emailed to everyone on the notifications list (which is all of us).
3. You may then select "view site" from the panel on the left and the site will open in a new window (if your browser isn't set to refresh every time, you might need to reload the browser a few times for the updated information to appear).
4. The site will open in a new window, but the "edit entry" page will remain open in a different window.

In the future, you can edit any of your entries by selecting the "edit entry" button on the left panel, and then selecting an individual entry to be modified/deleted. You can only modify/delete your own entries.

To comment on an existing post

1. To comment about someone else's post, on the blog's front page, select the "comment" button at the bottom of the post that you'd like to comment on.

2. Fill in your userid and email address and then make your comment. Comments are automatically emailed to everyone on the notification list.

Questions?

You can contact me at {insert email address of webmaster} (IM: {insert IM} or via phone at {insert phone number}. Let's blog!

Could this be true?

Another blogged inquiry.

Currently making the daypop rounds is the blog of "She's a flight risk," the supposed blog of an heiress walking away from her life and her parents.

Wired is running a story illustrating the discussion of credibility of the story. Many folks are blogging their true/not true predictions as well as "this is a great read regardless" opionions.

Dialectical Blog?

Chuck Paine suggested an excited new way of looking at the blog/meta-blog construct. "Dialectical blogging," similar to the dialectical journal like the one illustrated here.

It's a simple visual way of looking at the act of meta-commentary without having to go into theorhetical mush. This teacher used dialectical journals with her seventh grade class in a way very similar to how we'd use them in a blogged 102 class.