As I noted on the syllabus, the posting you do on your blog and the comments you leave on others’ posts count towards your participation grade. So, if you have not done so already, please create your own Blogs@Baruch site and share your URL with me. Instructions for doing this are here.
I am asking all of you to post regularly over the course of the semester. Please post a response to the prompt below by the end of the week. Keep in mind that your blog is your own corner of the web and you may post to it as often as you like.
I also ask that you read and comment substantively on others’ posts. The more you comment, the richer the blogging experience will be for everyone. I am not going to require you to comment a specific number of times but will suggest that you should try to comment at least two or three times a week. If you are someone who tends not to speak much during class discussion, commenting frequently is a great way to make up for that and ensure that your participation grade does not suffer. I’ll say more about commenting in class.
At this point, you’re probably wondering what it is you will be blogging about. Rightly so. So here’s our current blogging prompt:
The Prompt
For your first post, I’d like you to react to The Medium is the Massage. Find something in the text (a passage, an idea, an image, etc.) that struck you as particularly interesting or provocative or difficult and discuss it. Explain why it struck you the way it did. If you choose to write about a passage you didn’t understand, help your reader understand why you found it difficult. If you choose one that you found interesting or provocative or prophetic, be clear about why you responded to it the way you did.
Please feel free to include videos or images or other media in your post.
VERY IMPORTANT: Please be sure to select “blog assignments” in the list of categories on the right before you publish your post. If you don’t see that category, feel free to create it by clicking on “+ Add New Category.”
Before you write: Keep in mind that your post is not a term paper. It should be more exploratory and open ended (not to mention shorter). Your post’s goals are to 1) enable you and your readers to play around with new and interesting ideas and 2) to generate conversation rather than present a finished, polished argument. I don’t expect you to have all the answers, but to move towards finding them. Don’t be afraid to ask your readers questions.
I am happy to discuss post ideas with you so if you are stuck and don’t know what to post about, let me know and we can brainstorm together. If you have questions about the blogging assignment in general or any aspect of the prompt above, feel free to ask it in the comments to this post.
A Note on Blogging: A blog is a kind of online journal or diary. Blog posts are usually less formal and more conversational than the sort of academic writing you are typically asked to do. There is more room for creativity and experimentation here than in the typical academic paper in no small part due to the fact that you can easily incorporate various media — still images, video, or audio.
Your audience and purpose are different here as well. You’re writing not for a professor to whom you hope to demonstrate mastery of your subject matter, but sharing ideas with a broader audience — your “readership” — who, in this case consists of your classmates, me, and whoever happens to visit your site and read your post. Keep in mind that your writing to this blog is public — don’t be surprised if you get a comment form someone not enrolled in this class.
Try to have fun with your posts and comments. Keep in mind that your blog is your own space to publish stuff you create. Make it a home on the web. Take pride in it.
you found interesting or provocative or prophetic, be clear about why you responded to it the way you did.
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you have written the most important part in your post (i.e. So You Have a Blog . . . (and Your First Prompt))