The whole blogging experience

Reflecting on Blogging as Narrative and Genre

The course for Narrative and Genre was one of the most interesting and enriching I have done in Journalism this year. It combined everything we had learnt in Journalism and media studies throughout the year into a package that integrated theoretical and practical knowledge. It gave us the opportunity to explore new technologies and mediums of communicating with people but a chance to showcase our writing.

Having to work in a group was extremely challenging as you no longer can work on your own time but to accommodate other people around you. Also the collaboration of ideas although beneficial does pose the obstacle of not everyone always seeing the same vision. Although the course posed challenges with time management and differences in opinion and focus the advantageous part was the writing was still individual assignments. This struck a balance between keeping things new and fresh having different perspectives but also gave also allowed your own individual style of writing to excel.

I felt my productivity throughout the course was good. I did not miss any deadlines and contributed significantly to the group. Having tight deadlines motivated me to be as professional a journalist as I could. Having many assignments also allowed me the opportunity to consistently improve my writing over the course and that reflects not only in my blog posts but my marks as well.

I found that because a blog is such a personal space that although we were given a brief of ‘surviving first year’ the best story ideas came from personal experiences and strong feelings towards certain issues. As a first year I found there was no shortage of story idea’s, it allowed me to not only be passionate but inspirational as well. The briefs we did find for our assignments I actually found incredible helpful and important in guidance in the right direction. It can at times be very difficult to find a focus or direction for a story but the briefs gave clear instructions of what was expected with more than enough scope to add ones own personal imagination and creativity.

The chance to discuss any problems you might have had with your blog not only with other journalism students but also with tutors was extremely helpful. I felt we were all thrown into the deep end with a medium many of us had very little experience with. The meetings allowed me to ask questions and sort out any niggling problems or misunderstandings related to the blog and to assignments. I thought that I actively participated in meetings and tried my best to work towards a great blog.

This has been the most important part of this course for me. It gave me the opportunity not only to look at my own experiences in different perspectives but the chance to share them. When you write something it suddenly lets something out within you and you feel a little freer. The letter to my younger self for example was the most rewarding exercise for me. It gave me a retrospective look at myself but also a chance to share something deep and personal. Not only bring able to share your experiences but share others who were feeling similar emotions is a wonderful learning experience. I definitely came out of this with a different mind set. In terns of growth professionally, it gave me the chance to write. An opportunity to explore different genres and styles of writing, from the opinion piece to this reflexive one they have all been a chance to improve my writing and grow as a journalist.

I will admit it was quite a challenge working within the constraints of a specific genre, especially when it came to the assignments not always complimenting our blog character. However these challenges are important to growing as a journalist. It let you develop ideas in new directions and experiment with different genres.

Admittedly this is the biggest problem I had with the entire course. Whether or not blogging is journalism? The fact that anyone can produce this type of media in a way undermines the entire concept of journalism. My personal feeling towards journalism is that it should not live in the technological world of blogging. Yes it a wonderful spheres to spark conversation and create debate. But at the end of the day all it consists of is different people’s views and opinions. Journalism involves more than just opinions, it all those news values that people find important. If blogging could be regarded as journalism what would be the need for journalists? I feel that the journalists report the news that sparks the debates on blogs. I feel it is important that we distinguish this difference between blogs and professional journalism. We as a n audience trust journalists to do a specific job and because anyone can blog it is necessary as a n audience to be a lot more analytical and cynical of the information we are receiving. However as an aspiring journalist I do feel blogs are a wonderful space to practice and perfect your writing. It is great opportunity to improve your writing skills and say something important at the same time.

The strengths of this theme meant a clear focus. You knew exactly what was expected of you and what the purpose of your blog entailed. Also as first years it gave you first hand knowledge and experience, who better to talk on such a subject but first years themselves. Unfortunately the weakness of being confined to this theme often made it difficult to come up with new fresh stories. As everyone is in the same boat only so much can be experienced. The same patterns and clichés come out of this theme.

The amount and type of research depended entirely on the assignment we were given. For example the profile article your most important source would be the person you are profiling. A letter to your younger self means a source is not really required as it is a reflection of your own personal feelings and experiences. I think that because a blog can be so personal you are often less inclined to be as worried about research, and that is why we need to be more analytical of blogs in general. This is also why professional journalists still serve a very important place in the media. The research we conducted was mostly in the planning stage of our blog, taking a look at other student blogs and deciding what would be relevant to ours. Also how blogs work in terms of themes, widgets etc… I learnt most importantly that research does not always yield the results you were hoping for. Also you need to have a sound technological/computer background if you want your blog to really be a success as it is not very extremely user friendly. When it comes to coding etc… it is important to have prior knowledge in that field.

Blogging was at the end of the day a wonderful learning experience. It took us all out our comfort zones and let us explore new avenues. Most of being used to hard news writing from the first term, this suddenly let us experience different genres and experiment with their conventions. It was a chance for us to produce a piece of media that has the potential to be read by millions. It was a chance to sharpen and improve our writing and explore a medium that is growing extremely fast in contemporary media. My only concern it being in contradiction with the point of journalism it was none the less a course full of potential.

Bridge xxx

Corporate Shmorporate

I completely agree with this post (http://executiveladder.typepad.com/the_executive_ladder/2008/10/top-10-steps-to-catapult-your-career-up-the-corporate-ladder.html?cid=136189271#comments) where you say that networking is the key to great success (point nine) due to the exposure that is unavoidable. The internet is massive and there is no dark corner on this earth that has not been tickled by the tentacles of the web. It is a great tool for meeting people and making contacts. The possibilities are endless and the right people can be contacted within a few minutes. This is the positive aspect of “It’s not what you know, but who you know”. There is however a negative side of this phenomenon: there are those who know more than anyone else but are still not getting rewarded for their knowledge or know-how. I find it unfair and feel that there is no justice because it is inevitable that many of the people who have the contacts are possibly going to jump on the band wagon and go for a free ride to the top. Whereas those who have the knowledge are never going climb any corporate ladder because they are left without contacts and forced to use their own devices which are seldom sufficient. In an ideal world, we as humans would be able to strike that balance of knowing people and knowing content. Until then, we can only hope justice prevails.

You are part of the select few at Rhodes who can write tests and do assignments without attending lectures and still receive good marks. There are, however, roughly 6300 students at Rhodes of which I say about 300 are capable of doing what you do. For the rest of us, we have to attend lectures because we need that little bit of extra material to base our studies on.

You say “we are here to pass, especially as first years”. Rubbish! To get accepted into Journalism II, we need at least 65% at the end of the year to even be considered a spot. Just a pass will not suffice.

R75 a lecture? If that money was coming out of your pocket I’m pretty sure you’d reconsider missing all those psych lectures. It’s your parent’s money that you are throwing under your shoe and on which you’re stomping, not yours.

As for me, I’ve got a dawny tomorrow so I’m going to get some shut-eye. I hope you reconsider and attend your last week of lectures in First Year.

Superman

Nice guys!! I like how you guys turned that guy into the murderer. He went from someone we started liking and could relate to and suddenly turned into the villain when he decided to pull out the scissors on that innocent girl. Your use of Propp and his characters was unique and fun; I loved how the girl was the damsel in distress and how you made us hate the guy. You then whipped out that awesome twist where it was revealed that the guy was actually just writing a book about those exact events and was not the villain at all but more a hero for being able to be imaginative enough to create a story like that! Enjoyable as well as funny! I had to laugh at the stereotypical comments made about being stoned.
Superman

That is an amazing story. It is awesome to know how positive people can be about such serious issues and this allows us to look back at ourselves and consider ourselves fortunate. I also agree with the direction that Bianca is now taking; focusing more on the academic side of varsity instead of the overwhelming social side. By using Propp’s theory relating to the hero and villain in narratives, I feel you have rightfully portrayed Bianca as the hero of your profile where she encounters the villain of Cancer and other kidney related ailments. All in all, a wonderful, light hearted story that is well told in the form of your writing.
Superman
www.gspotinformer.blogspot.com

Yo Pistol Pete!
I hear you... The friendships that are formed here in Rhodes are that which will last for a life time. And I am so glad you too have a positive outlook on Rhodes; I love Rhodes and all the new things I have learnt about myself as well as other people. I completely agree when you say "work hard, play hard and above all just relax", because that is exactly what I wanted someone to tell me when I was about to attend Rhodes. I did not want to hear about the bad stories or the possible struggles I was going to face, I just wanted to know if i was going to enjoy my time so that I could then take the bad along with the good.Keep up the awesome blogging!
Superman
www.gspotinformer.blogspot.com

A Reflection in the Mirror of JMS1

Five gruelling weeks of action packed Journalism including neither conventional essays nor reporting, but blogging. Assignment after assignment was steered my way but when it did seem to get too much and I tended to feel rather overwhelmed, I was, without fail, spurred on by the ring-masters Alette and Sim, our lecturers.

I was assigned my group in which I would be working with during the course of the term. Four girls just as determined as me to get the most out of this unusual course. It was not all rainbows and butterflies working in a group though. It was terribly difficult when it came to brain storming and idea sharing because, naturally, we all had different ideas and wanted them to feature on our blog. A compromise was reached and the product included a little something from everyone.

I personally think I brought a few unique ideas to the party and contributed with a lot of effort regarding the initial starting up of our blog at the beginning of the term. Tedious nights were a regular occurrence while trying to find suitable templates and other gadgets to add to our blog on the most random sites the internet had to offer.

In attempt to not fall under the category of “random internet site”, we tried to stick to our theme of the blog when posting new material. These attempts included relevant pictures, relevant gadgets and of course relevant content that added to our blog’s image and theme. I did not have a problem when it came to our story ideas because I was required to either write about topics that were already close to me or we were given exceptionally basic guidelines from our lecturers and tutors regarding the other pieces that were due. Commenting on other pieces written by fellow class mates was by far the most fun. I was given the licence to critically examine their pieces as well as give them my own feed back hoping they would read it and appreciate what it was that I had to say.

Keeping to the overall theme of “Surviving First Year” was not very challenging and was, in fact, rather easy. There were times I had wished that there were no constraints but I realised that later on in the future, these constraints will be everywhere and I should therefore get used to it and use it to my advantage. The reason for me coping with the theme was because it was something I had done and am still continuing to do. I have spent nearly nine months at Rhodes and have learnt so much about myself and the people around me. I have become independent and enjoyed writing about my journey as a first year and sharing any tips that I possibly could. When I say sharing, I mean writing a piece and putting it out on the chopping block awaiting judgement; judgement from the public and no longer just my tutors or my lecturers with whom I have a relationship.

Knowing that there was an actual audience that could possibly read my piece, I was forced to research material in depth so as not to make a fool out of myself by stating facts that did not exist or making presumptions that were incorrect. It was extremely daunting knowing that my work was no longer in the safe confides of the JMS faculty at Rhodes but was now possibly circling the deepest, darkest corners of the continent and, therefore, had to be top-notch. To make sure my writing was unique and hopefully well accepted, I chose my sources carefully. I needed material that was interesting, original and relevant to my blog. All my sources provided me with wonderful content and were particularly open to being interviewed and included in my pieces that were later on published on my blog. Luckily I was not faced with any obstacles too great to conquer such as ethical issues or personal clashes. My skills as a journalist have improved thanks to these interviews and also the demand of reliable sources for my content.

After speaking to numerous second and third years also doing Journalism and hearing that they did not do blogging in their first year, I find myself among a fortunate group of students who have been exposed to the world of blogging so early on in our studies. I loved the practical side of journalism that was brought out by blogging and feel that I performed much better when dealing with practical assignments as apposed to the theory surrounding journalism. I honestly believe I rack up a respectable 9/10 in terms of my growth that was brought about by the blogging course. The practical side fused with the theory learnt earlier in the year was a magical combination and re-ignited my love for writing and expression.