Monday 25 October 2010

The blog thickens...

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts regarding their experience of blogging in the CGArts course. All your comments are useful, as they both confirm and challenge established theories of what constitutes an online community. I've been doing a lot of reading over the last couple of weeks (due to the fact that, like many of you, I have a scary deadline approaching...), and some interesting points have come out of the literature. If you have a few moments I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on the following question  - if you don't feel comfortable answering then please don't feel obliged to.

According to an article by the author Martin Dugage (2004), in order for an online community to function effectively it is necessary for the community to be 'closed' - i.e. not openly visible to everyone on the internet. The justification for this is to allow trust to build up between members of the community. So my question is:

How do you feel about the fact that your blogs are visible to anyone on the internet? 

Any and all comments gratefully received!

7 comments:

  1. An interesting question, and actually a question that I never thought of before.

    Now that I have finished Uni I love that my blog is open to anyone. The industry is big, but actually it's quite small in terms of people knowing one another. So it is a great way of getting 'known' if you're work is good enough of course. It's also a great way for potential employers to see more about your workflow, and what you can do, or even general attitude.

    I think for people on the course, as long as they censor what they are saying properly it's okay. It's also of benefit to the course, because prospective students can view blogs and see what would be expected of them and better judge whether it is for them.

    To be honest, most people post more personal things on their facebooks and twitters, so i'm sure a blog isn't of concern.

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  2. I have found one downside of this being public (today) being that if you have a creepy ex that tries to find out everything you're doing it shows up when your name is googled.

    BUT- without that problem, I think its great for it to be public. Especially as (in agreement with Jon) potential employers can see your workflow, skills and attitude.

    Personally for me, I have a lot of friends and family abroad or generally far away and its a great way of showing them my progress and what I get up to at uni without having to send loads of emails etc.

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  3. Also, I meant to add, as long as you keep things professional I don't see what harm it could do. It can still be personal as in the way you develop on the course but just don't make it into some kind of facebook page where people can find out personal details about you without asking for them so they are sensor-able.

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  4. Thanks for your replies, Jon and Nat. Did you find that you automatically censored what you wrote from the very beginning of the course because you knew you know your blog would be public? How much guidance did the tutors give you around how to blog appropriately?

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  5. I didn't automatically censor, no. Airing dirty laundry and posting things that just weren't of interest too anyone looking at it (namely Phil & Alan). But those two are very clued up on what needs to be there and what doesn't, and will soon make sure they tell you to stop posting certain things at once.

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  6. I agree, a favourite comment mentioned is 'don't put what you had for dinner... ' which gives you a clue about what dribble nobody wants to read about. I had censored from the beginning mainly because I didn't know how to blog or what to blog about so I wrote for example, about my trip to lebanon- and it ended up sounding like a holiday brochure and didn't even interest me when I read it back as it was highly impersonal. I soon took this down once I had some summer project material to post. Alan and Phil are very on the ball incase there is something you shouldn't post though, example, a fellow class member had his bike stolen recently so he posted his mobile number up in his frustration incase anybody had heard/ seen anything but Phil took this out of the post as soon as it was spotted as it is not a great idea to have your number public.

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