What are we doing here?

Blogging is its own art form or genre and follows its own rules.  That is to say that it differs from other kinds of writing we do in college.  It's more formal than taking notes or compiling a notebook.  It's less formal than writing an essay.  Within that range, the formality of blogs depends on the audience. 

So who is your audience?  You are writing for both me and your peers and anyone in the general public who is attracted to blogs about writing.  Be creative in trying to figure out the appropriate style. 

And look around at other blogs to get a sense of what works best.
These are
some links
to some
awesome blogs
that I
enjoy. (This is a small sample.  And not written by students.)  One of these bloggers, Prof. Michael Berube, once observed that some blogs come raw and some cooked.  IMO, the best blogs are medium rare.

Notice the things you like about these blogs and try to replicate some of them.  Images rock.  Links are very cool.  Take advantage of the blogging medium.  And, yes, if you are as cool as Jay Smooth, you can do video-blogging--it requires the same rhetorical skills but a lot more cooking.  And things like video cameras.

All of you have signed up to be responsible for kicking off our blog conversation each week by Sunday midnight.  (You don't have to wait until then to get her done, btw.)  On those weeks, you need to post a useful summary of our reading.  What is the purpose of a summary?  Try to decide that before you begin writing it.  And remember who you are writing it for.  Then think of an open-ended, conversation-starting question to kick off a conversation. 

The rest of you will need to reply to the question in useful, open-ended ways.  Replies have their own kind of rules, which are different from posts, so read around to see what people usually do.  The purpose of this blog-conversation is for you to help you get a handle on the reading and to get used to writing every day and maybe to generate ideas for and get help with your formal essays.  Plus you'll get familiar with a new form of writing that certainly looks as though it is here to stay.

Have fun!