Chris's ERhetorics Blog

Blogs Revisited

2005-02-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

Throughout the quarter as we have read about blogs, discussed blogs, kept blogs, and researched blogs, I have continued to update my personal blog. My view on blogs has changed over the course of this quarter but not entirely because of eRhetorics. I discovered that people from my dorm had unearthed my xanga and were reading it on a daily basis. This altered my whole audience and thus, my writing. I found myself being careful with words and descriptions as to not offend any potential readers. As a result of this, I revealed less and less of my more private thoughts. Frankly, I didn’t care if strangers read the idiocies that came out of my head, but my friends knowing disturbed me a little bit.

To me, blogs will always be a journal. Even news blogs or thematic blogs such as this one are ideas and occurrences that happen to me in real life retold in virtual text form. What separates a journalism blog from a news article? It is simply a personal viewpoint updated daily on things that are happening to the author. This is a journal to me. Perhaps it has a little more substance than me talking about my day, but at its heart is a journal. I think blogs could have a very firm place in academia. Just because it is not formal writing doesn’t mean it should be discounted as a medium. What a blog lacks in polish it more than makes up for in honesty and spontaneity.

I think the class keeping a collective blog would be great. As long as entries were entered anonymously, I believe open forums about eSubjects as well as the class itself could be a great way to share ideas and express opinions that we might not discuss in class. I’d prefer this to the normal forum because it is a lot more fluid and changing. The strings and responses of normal forums just seem counteractive to natural conversation to me.

Overall, I’ve thought about the impact of blogs as well as the purpose. Even after viewing all these varieties, my blog remains a way for me to describe a thought or vent about something that’s annoying me. Perhaps as I experiment with my audience further, I will need to experiment with my style as well.

Presentation Likes

2005-02-18T11:41:00.000-08:00

For me the most important part of a presentation is a comfortable pace and eyecontact. It almost didn't matter to me what the content was in these presentations because for a lot of people, they were at different points in their research or ideas. I did not like use of aids that distracted the presenter. Reading off a paper was my ultimate pet peeve. People would look up for a split second and then go back down to the paper. If you fast forwarded the video they'd just be bobbing and nodding their heads. No good.

Actually a recent presentation is fresh on my mind for using pace and practice to deliver a presentation where she kept eye contact with the audience the whole time.

Video is definitely a great change of pace from simple powerpoints. There were a couple videos used that illustrated peoples points in a great way.

There were also a couple examples where presenters did almost an impromptu presentation where they were at the board and just talked. They were both great at using this technique to keep the audience engaged rather than seeming "unprepared". They were usually more prepared than most presenters because they knew they couldnt have any awkward pauses.

Online Communication

2005-02-09T02:51:00.000-08:00

As I perused the articles, I skipped over the AIM and blog ones and quickly settled on the online addiction article. I wouldn't say that I'm obsessed to the point of damaging my social interactions. I actually like using AIM to supplement my social interactions. I do believe that I spend too much time online but I think its a part of modern college culture. For instance, all three of my real classes this quarter require internet use. This class is an obvious one, but my Human Biology classes have online problem sets every week in addition to online readings, slides, and heavy e-mail contact with the CA's. The problem lies in that once I'm online doing work, I'll easily get distracted by AIM, espn.com, or any millions of things I can do from the comfort of my computer. I know for a fact that I can accomplish a million more things if I'm away from my computer, but I tend to think of the one or two things I can't do if I don't have it. E-mail is almost crucial to any extracurricular activity as well as getting help from peers and faculty. AIM is the easiest way to keep in touch with longdistance friends. Facebook.com has evolved into a national network. Its the ability of the internet to present those million options that is the problem. AIM alone can distract me for an hour when I should be working, but I still can't bring myself to sign off when I'm doing work. I'd call that an addiction I guess. But the fact of the matter is that at least at Stanford, no student can go a day without internet use. It has simply become to ingrained in our everyday lives.

The Next Presentation

2005-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

I'll admit I haven't put much thought towards the next presentation yet especially with midterms this week. My first impression was that I need to narrow my topic to one concrete argument. I think I wrote before about my anxiety over the specific single issue I was tackling. I know I have the general idea of how/why people create separate online identities, but I have not gotten to that one thesis sentence that slams the door shut. I guess that will come with more research. I at least hope it will. I'm not sure if I will do a pwrpoint this time after all that pwrpoint bashing. At the very least I will streamline it a lot more so it doesn't become a crutch (i hate crutches by now). I liked the added a/v aspects of some other people's presentation and might think about that.

RESPONSE:
I need to narrow my topic down or at least find that statement. I'm speaking in too many generalities right now. Also, I need to get my survey done and out because I've been dragging on it. Hopefully it will provide a strong argument for me or even suggest an argument. I asked Liz if she would be using pwrpoint and she guessed probably not. It will be interesting to see how many people will convert (since I think 93% used pwrpoint the first goround) to old fashioned non-pwrpoint presentations after reading about all the evils of it. I will probably still use it just with all the negative commentary in my thoughts as I make it.

Hypertext

2005-01-31T02:08:00.000-08:00

I read the “Hypertextnow” article because it relates to my everyday life. I always think about this contrast between reading paper and reading computers. I have to admit, I’m not a paper reader at all. My mom would beg, plead, and force me to read books and newspapers as a kid, but I refused. It wasn’t a problem with reading, though. I constantly swear that I have A.D.D. I rarely found a novel that could hold my interest enough for me to finish it through. I did better with newspapers and magazines, but often only reading about tech or sports. Not until I discovered the wonderful world of online reading did I go crazy. I constantly check ESPN.com, MSN.com, newspaper websites, etc. to read articles online. For me, it’s an issue of being able to find an article on exactly what interests me. I can browse a bunch of titles and click, there. I find exactly what I want when I want. Newspapers and magazines still make me flip and search. It was interesting when he talked about the Bolter test, because I’m in bed as I type right now. Before I can even think about going to sleep I click through my favorites on my laptop laying in bed and will read a few articles that interest me. I don’t have to have a preplanned book when the world’s at my fingertips in my laptop. I think that’s what the author’s getting at. For all the nostalgia books bring, the incredible power of an electronic reading device is limitless. So thank you Mr. Dell.

Powerpoint

2005-01-23T03:01:00.000-08:00

"Power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely." -Vint Cerf
Until I read this article, I never really thought about the negatives of a Powerpoint. I guess this has to do with the fact that I never used Powerpoint until I got to Stanford. They just seemed to be an easy tool to present information. I guess my hidden agenda in using Powerpoints is the problem critics like Norvig and Tufte are discussing. I'll often use a Powerpoint as a "distraction" that adds to my presentation without me actually having to add much substance at all. I'll go so far as to agree with the critics that the widespread use of Powerpoints by modern students is along the same lines as Cliffs Notes and the MTV-ization of youth. Often the flashy thing holds our attention over the more concrete thing. Perhaps the simplest way for a person to mask a thinly informed report is to add a fancy Powerpoint that didnt take more than 20 minutes of clicking to complete. At the same time, I like to use Powerpoints because they emphasize my points while I expound on them. I like the analogy to an AK-47 used by Norvig. A Powerpoint only cheapens the information it presents if the presenter chooses to let it. Its a weapon that can strengthen an argument or bastardize it. In the end, I'll agree with both sides because I use Powerpoints for both good and evil.

Oral Presentations

2005-01-19T01:37:00.000-08:00

Not feeling this topic for some reason.

Jan. 10 Research Ideas

2005-01-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

Well, the first idea that popped into my head was of course to write about AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) again. Christine knows that that was my topic for my PWR1 paper so I'm not sure how kosher it would be to do the topic again. That's honestly the aspect of digital culture that influences my life the most I think. I'm currently on AIM right now getting people together to play basketball tonight. Perhaps I can shift my focus on AIM to a different aspect for this project. In PWR1 I focused on how AIM changed college social interaction. One aspect that I wanted to write about but never got to in that paper was the realm of away messages and profiles on AIM. I know a lot of people (of course not me) who regularly check peoples away messages or change their profiles. There are the philosophers, the comedians, the quoters, the notifiers. Everyone does things differently. I know that this area is a little too small to do a whole project on. But I think I could relate it to the creation of "online personas" in general. That is where my second topic comes into play. I'm also a personal blogger in my spare time so I'd be interested in writing about the virtual community of the blog world. On xanga, I find myself letting out my most personal thoughts for anyone to read. I complain, reminisce, and celebrate at the same time. Sometimes I'll post publicly knowing that one person in particular will read it. Just like on AIM, blogs allow people to create a virtual self. They choose what to project and what not to reveal. I think that would be an interesting subject to attack. Maybe do a little psych work but I know how I view things and interviews will always provide the best evidence. I'm actually not sure which one I'm leaning towards right now. AIM is my sentimental favorite but after writing about blogs, I'm interested in that too. Maybe I could combine them to one online persona thing including facebook and other sources too. All good ideas in my book. I guess that's where I'm leaning right now because I think I have a separate persona online than in person I guess. Maybe I'm just a nerd. Yea, I think it's that.

Linx:
IM http://www.bigblueball.com/
Xanga http://www.xanga.com/Default.aspx?

Jan. 7 First Blog Entry

2005-01-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

When I first read this assignment I told my roomate and he laughed because he has noted how nerdy I had become with my xanga-ing experience over the last few months. Actually, before I came to Stanford, I had never heard of a xanga or a blog or whatnot before. It was a friend in my dorm who had a link to her xanga site on her AIM profile that first introduced me to the wonderful world of blogs. At first, I simply read hers. One night I was pretending to study for chem and I decided to start my own. One of my problems has always been that I'll tell just about anyone what's going on with my life. Well with xanga, I began to write about anything that was stressing me at the time (whether it was my roomates, school, or exgirlfriend) without keeping much personal. I really said just about anything. My initial view of bloggers was one of "nerdiness" but I soon become absorbed in this world. I kept posting, joined blogrings from Stanford and Tampa, read others. Actually, one really interesting thing about my xanga that has arisen is my incredible curiosity with who reads it. I added a site meter to mine where I can see how many people read it as well as what domain they are using. I think it just adds to the nerdiness, but by now I can pretty much get a good estimate on who exactly is reading my site. It's actually interesting some of the people who regularly read mine. Another thing I found myself doing was writing novels instead of simple posts. A friend of mine cut and pasted a few of my entries into Word to get a word count. Some approached 3000 words. I had trouble writing 2000 word essays for class, but I could churn out a paper about what was on my mind at any given second. I've gotten better at keeping them short though. When I'm at home, I'll usually just recount the day or go on if I'm angry or sad. Like I said, I pretty much say anything that's on my mind. Randomly reading other people's blogs kind of weirds me out, but I do read a few people's regularly. On xanga, I can suscribe to my friends' blogs and read them all from one page. I'm not sure how all this fits into eRhetorics yet because I'm not sure what eRhetorics is yet, but I can say that I'm an active blogger. For some reason the words just flow when I'm typing on one.