Sunday, 3 August 2008

Blogging and Writing : Same Difference?

I recently came across this excellent post by Terry Freedman, information and communication technology specialist

Terry is interested in the differences between blogging and writing and especially in the reasons why some writers blog and some don’t. He has put together a very thought-provoking short survey .

The following really got me thinking…

What is blogging?
It is a versatile form of writing that can be informal or as developed as academic writing, so how do you define it? It made me consider what I wanted my blogging to be…
Approachable in terms of readability, practical but also thought-provoking and hopefully useful to others.

What are the similarities and differences between writing and blogging?
The style? Writing sounds to me less spontaneous but more elegant and backed-up by evidence. The audience? I feel blogging is more of a reflective activity even if there is always a desire to reach an audience.

Where does microblogging fit in?
I see it as something quite different: even more spontaneous, sometimes even untidy but also full of creative energy as a brilliant way to bounce ideas off like-minded or very different people.

How important is dialogue between blogger and reader?
Essential! However, it is also so difficult to develop but microblogging can help a lot here by helping the creation of communities where people feel more confident to comment on each other’s posts.

I can’t wait for the results…

2 comments:

Michael Stout said...

Hi Isabelle,
My colleague Stephen Pijlaja is studying the nature of blogs and other computer-mediated discourse. You can see a powerpoint from a presentation he did on his blog:http://www.mysonabsalom.com/
Stephen is one of my friends on EFL Classroom 2.0 so perhaps I can put the two of you in touch.
Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hi, Isabelle
I've responded to your blog poblog (comments section)!

Interestingly, I kind of think the exact opposite to you: I sometimes write just for myself, with no intention of having any audience. However, I ALWAYS blog with the idea that it is going to be read by someone at some point, and therefore needs to be erudite and accurate! I know what you mean, it's just that I think the converse is sometimes true as well.