Your Voice is a Gift

After reading "Blogging Back at the Right' by Michael Berube, I am much more enthused about offering up my personal opinions to the public through this blog. Maybe I just like to push people's buttons, but I enjoy when my writings affect people so that they are inclined to write back positively or negatively. Plus, in a situation where someone writes back about me, I can have easy access on my blog to retort.

By publicly commenting on an issue, I can get my (often twisted) viewpoint on a situation out in the open. For some odd reason, I feel like my opinion is not represented in the mainstream media so with a blog I can at least get it out there. If other people can read my opinion then all the better.

Some disadvantages include having my opinion stolen without credit. If a reader takes my opinion to spread it off as his or her own then that would suck.

Keeping a blog is much different than writing in The Mirror. In the newspaper, nobody can have instant access to responding to what I write. They would need to look up the address for the paper and reply. Also, I can edit my column to clarify on a topic or post a response to there response within seconds. If I wanted to have a response published in The Mirror it would take up to three weeks.

Neuromancer Questions Part 1

On first thought, reading this book in a writing class did not strike me as that unusual. After all, the book is an excellent example of a well-written novel. After getting through the first couple of chapters I understood exactly why we were reading Neuromancer by Willam Gibson. The book is chock full of terminology and issues relevent to the study of Digital Writing.

Some terms that are used in the book are commonplace today, although their meanings in the book are a littl different.

Cyberspace: a "consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts". the bodyless world of the future, p. 6 & 51
Ice: Intrusion countermeasures electronics, breaks into a system in cyberspace, p. 28
Go-to: doing a scan on someone??, p. 34 & 35
Matrix: a vast "consensual hallucination" p.5
Joe-boy: thugs, lackeys that hang around, p. 16
Simstim: Simstim deck, a 'meat toy' p. 55
Coffins: place near the port where some people sleep, very small and cramped with a computer in there, p. 8 & 9
Virus: a la Mole IX that messes up cyberspac, p. 82
Deck: object used to transport a person between cyberspace and "real world", used w/ trodes
Zaibatsu: company, government?, p. 50
Meat: a "real world" person
Microsoft: angular fragments of colored silicon mounted under oblong transparent bubbles on squares of white cardboard. p. 57
Artificial Intelligence: computer knowledge like Wintermute, p. 72 & 73
Subliminals: bad things that AI can do? p. 90

Viewing the impact that this novel has had on our vernacular, I would say that it is very prophetic. The visuals I have of the book are extremely close to those of The Matrix movie which only came out 7 years ago. Although I have not yet finished it, the book is extremely close to how I picture technology in the present and future.

Blog Review!

Pittsburgh Sports

While searching for a blog that was interesting and serious, I stumbled upon one written about the current state of sports in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Not only has the professional football team advanced to their first Super Bowl in 11 years, but also the greatest athlete to ever play in the Steel City recently announced his retirement.

One aspect of this blog that caught my eye is the localized content. With the Jerome Bettis and the Steelers in Super Bowl XL and Mario Lemieux hanging up his skates, the city of Pittsburgh has two of its biggest sports stories in a long time, at the same time. While many people watch SportsCenter, a national television sports show, and are aware of both of the major events written about in the blog, few people probably saw how huge these events are for the city of Pittsburgh.

A great aspect about blogs is the attention they can give to certain topics and issues that a larger medium (i.e. ESPN) cannot. Stories that go otherwise unnoticed by the mainstream media are written about in great length by the people who know most about them, locals.

A huge negative aspect about this blog is the typographical error where the author uses 'nun' instead of 'none' in the opening paragraph. That is inexcusable. Granted, the blog may not have a spell check feature (I cannot even get it to work on this blog), but that is a rather big mistake. While the mainstream media may not give a story the amount of time a smaller blog does, at least they double-check their stories.

"How to..." Response

In his on-line article, "How to Write a Better Blog," the author Denis A. Mahoney gives numerous tips for improving web writing, specifically for blogs.

One similarity between Mahoney's conceptualization of writing for the web and my experience with writing for other mediums is discussing something new. "There's nothing new under the sun" is an accurate (albeit overused) phrase, but there is always a different view to take on an issue. If a certain idea has been beaten to death by other writers, I try to take a fresh and original approach to it.

One difference between his article and my experience is the style of writing. Depending on who one's audience includes, a writer needs to use phrases and styles that will attract them. Just because some "poorly crafted phrase" is used frequently on MTV doesn't mean it should be avoided if the audience is comprised of mainly MTV viewers. A writer needs to know his or her audience.

"Blogs are simply glorified diaries!" Mahoney would disagree with this statement since he is aware that blogs may have widespread audiences. Although he encourages a writer to describe personal experiences, he also explains why there are strict rules that govern how a person writes. Grammar, punctuation, clarity and other characteristics of well-written blogs do not apply to personal diaries since very few people read them.

I agree with Mahoney's idea to ammuse your readers with anecdotes. This is essential to having a blog (or other written work) that will entertain readers and keep them coming back. Boring or uninteresting writing will lose readers immediately. Also, no matter how quirky one's sense of humor is, someone out there will connect with it.

I disagree with his idea that "amateur" writing is bad for the internet. Any blog, ranging from a college professor's to a junior high drop out's, equally deserves webspace. Every writer, independent of age or ability, offers a unique and interesting viewpoint that should be shared. If you don't like it, don't read it.

My New F.R.I.E.N.D.

Janine D'Amura loves F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and can recite almost every line from all 10 seaons of the show with her roommate. She especially enjoys hanging out and watching the DVDs in their townhouse on campus. The reason she got into the show is because she grew up in Brooklyn and can relate to both the scenery and characters. She most takes after the character Chandler because he is funny and sarcastic.

As a senior, Janine wants to go to grad school out west to become a teacher after she graduates. She would love to eventually be a college professor and teach modern literature to students. This works out well because Janine is a double major in both English and Communication. She enrolled in this particular class because she has taken classes before with David Sapp and really enjoyed them.

Janine comes from an Italian background and explored her heritage two summers ago when she studied abroad in Florence. She really enjoyed her time over there. She has two dogs, Lulu and Pacha, and likes to hang out with them as well as her friends.

Check out Janine's blog!

Testing some blog stuff

Hey, this is my first time working on a blog. It seems rather easy and interesting.

Here are some of my varied interests:

1. I like the Washington Redskins. Check out their official website.
2. I like good tunes.
3. I like beverages, especially fruit punch.