The Blogging Experience

I thought this blogging experience proved to be a good learning experience for me. I had never blogged before, so it was a good hands-on in discovering the other methods of communication through the Internet.

I learned how much information is accessible through peoples' opinions. I also learned how there is someone out there who has an opinion on just about anything. Search a blog for any interest of yours and you will most likely find someone's opinion on it.

This blogging experience is a great way to remain in contact with people all over the world. It allows you to hear the voice of individual people without the processed news that is filtered through the standards of that specific paper, etc.

On a practical level, I also learned how to input a hyperlink! Yay! That was cool.

I think if this blog was done again, it would be interesting to throw a topic out there for everyone to discuss. Although we were titled the "Journalism Blog" it was still very broad. It would be interesting to get an ongoing discussion...like Stewart did in the listserv exercise. I think then peoples' opinions would really shine!

2006, brought to you by you

I found this article in the A&E section of the New Yok Times, and I think it perfectly wraps up some of the content we've been learning about in this course. The article is about blogging and the Internet media and how much of an impact it truly has on our culture. Billions of dollars are being invested into this media.

The article is sarcastic in the beginning. I like when it says, "Imagine paying $580 million for an ever-expanding heap of personal ads, random photos, private blathering, demo recordings and comcorder video clips. That's what Rupert Murdoch did when his News Corporation bought MySpace in July."

The author is demeaning our culture in a way, mocking how ridiculous we are that because so much money is being invested in things like Myspace. When you think about it, that truly is the essence of Myspace. Is the author right in his conviction? What do you think?

Read more here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/arts/music/10pare.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

They "might" run for the presidency...that's as good as saying Kohl's just might have another sale!

Politics is an interesting sport...what a strategy.

After reading the New York Times article announcing that Senator Barack Obama might run for the presidency, along with other candidates, I couldn't help but wonder who devises these plans.

How can anyone who is considering running for the presidency make a public announcement, but still be "thinking" about it.

It's not hard to see that this is another political strategy that my novice political understanding could hardly figure out, except for the possibility of greater exposure with the anticipation of the big announcement committing their race to the media's attention.

One man, Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, actually devised his plan to announce his running two years before the 2006 election. Was this a big mistake? Has his glory already fizzled out and mixed in somewhere with the election news?

Whether announced before this year’s elections or after, one would hope the presidential election would be based on more than media strategy...but I guess that's a hope older than my 23 years of understanding.

Bolton to Resign as U.N. Ambassador

U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down in a few weeks when his temporary appointment expires. Democrats and some Rebublicans opposed Bolton's nomination back in August 2005 because there were concerns about his brusque manner. Senator Joe Biden, a democrat from Delaware said "he saw no point of considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again" and Senator Lincoln Chafee, a republican from Rhode Island said he would not back Bolton because of the message the vote sent his party. However, President Bush stated that he was, "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from recieving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate." The White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination last month. But with Democrats capturing control of the next Congress on Nov. 7, his chances of winning confirmation appear slim.

What say you?