Blog Infant

Like many who have already posted, I will admit that this class blog was my first blogging experience. What I liked about the blog:

• The ability to read classmates' thoughts on the readings helped me more thoughtfully respond to the articles and books. I wasn't simply reacting to the readings; the blog allowed me to digest additional context and perspectives because of my peers' analysis.
• Other postings unrelated to the readings opened up a world of literature, parody and scholarship I never would have found without the blog. Thanks!
• The blog encouraged us to form a community beyond what I usually experience as a part-time student who visits campus twice a week. While I still don't know everyone's pseudonym, it was nice to understand more about my classmates' perspectives beyond what you can discern from class discussions or ten-minute breaks. I don't think I would have reached beyond my ol' technical writing buddies without having familiarized myself with others on the blog.

What frustrated me about the blog:

• Often, I felt the need to just post something in order to meet a class requirement. This frustration may have more to do with my unfamiliarity with blogging combined with my overwhelming workload this semester, but I often wondered if I was really contributing anything that a fellow student could use or reflect on.
• While some of you disagreed with my reticence to post on external blogs during a brief class discussion, I have to admit I still felt reticent all semester. Though many of you encouraged me by assuring me any posting would be anonymous, I sadly regressed into feeling isolated without a cyberspace community. Just as I would rarely if ever interrupt a conversation I walked into in person, I would rarely if ever contribute to a blog I hadn't been monitoring for a while. And unfortunately, there just wasn't time during my juggling act. It wasn't clear to me until late in the game that my contribution on this end might have publicized our efforts and lured external folks to our discussions. I'm sorry I didn't contribute to that.
• I have to agree with ehrengard and jb that the visual style of our blog made it difficult to follow a strand of comments or related postings. Some of us tagged our postings, but in no real systemmatic way.

Having said all of this, I want to end by sharing that this has been one of the most active group of classmates I've encountered in terms of discussion, both verbal and written. Thanks for making the semester interesting and lively!