Thursday, January 21, 2010

Weekly Blog Post 3

I created the class list and checked them all.

Weekly Blog Post 2


This video was very quick and intense. The main point that I got out of it was the vast opportunities the Web can provide us with. We are able to reach many different people, at different times, and in different ways. It adjusts the view of audience as was thought of in written essays or presentations in person. You no longer have a specific idea of who will be witnessing your argument. A lot of various people can get to your production on line at any time. You then have to chose how to direct your purpose. You can direct your purpose at one group of people, like for instance doctors or lawyers, or you can try to make your argument more broad so that many different types of people can identify with it (both the lawyers and the doctors).

There is so many different ways to present your ideas on the web. You can use video, audio, text, pictures, or even a compilation of the different mediums. This means you have to really think about which way will be best to establish your purpose and to attract the wanted attention. But you also then have to have the skills and means to create your idea. Then the thought of where to put it: what website do you post your ideas? Or do you make your own? Search engines are a great way to find information but you have to label your ideas correctly just to be sure that it will be linked to the topic it is about. The largeness of the Web can scare away some people from using it. For example, my grandpa refuses to even own a computer because one he doesn't want to have to learn how to do it, and two he just thinks it is pointless because he grew up just fine without a computer. The Web is definitely something we have to adapt to, and will continue to have to adapt to it as it changes. It has made a lot of information easily accessible, but not necessarily all of it is reliable.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Weekly Blog Post 1

"A bad book is as much of a labour to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author's soul."--Aldous Huxley

This quote attracted my attention because I think it makes a good point that people should consider when writing and reading or working with others' works. When writing, it reminds you that you do need to put in a lot of thought and effort into your work but that the amount of thought and effort does not directly correlate to the success of the work. This enforces the importance of having peers look at your work and criticize it for you. That will show you if all your work is paying off and turning into something good, or if you are working hard in the wrong direction. When reading or working with another author's work you should keep in mind again that the success of the work does not directly correlate to the work put into that work. So don't judge the efforts of the writing just by the quality of the work. Which is hard to do because you don't usually have the opportunity of seeing the authors hard work. When editing someone's paper, if it's just plan bad, try to find what they are trying to do and explain to them how they are failing.

To me, it's basically just saying that life isn't fair, but specifically talking about writing a book. If life were fair the effort you put into anything would directly correlate to the success of it. Unfortunately, in some things, including writing, some people just got it while others may not. This is somewhat discouraging to me because I've never been real proud of my writing, or felt confident with it, so this just scares me that I could put in a lot of effort and still just not have the good result I am striving for. I hope I always am able to find reliable people to look at my work and criticize it many times in the process but also that I will think thoroughly and critically if I am communicating my purpose with the audience effectively, not just putting my thoughts on paper.