Let's blog !

I had a very surprising experience with my first surf into blogs: as Sarah suggested I went to Technorati and looked for the word “tourism”; 41,458 results flowed from “all blogs” with “some authority” in “English” of course. However I wasn’t actually satisfied with my research having just a list of blog links regarding space journey, forums about people who had great experiences travelling all around the world and so on. Therefore I tried to refine my research looking for “tourism AND culture”: I had “just” 3,874 results where, however, I was attracted by the etiquette “University diaries”. I got to know a blog where a professor of English from Wisconsin University describes the American university life and he aims to change things and to solve problems. I found it very interesting! I think it’s a great effort in trying to fill the gap between professors and students which is particularly stressed in the Italian university. In these last days they were talking about the number of college students who are, on the average, more into the drunk thing than probably ever before: many students and other professors are replying to.

There was also something else in this blog that caught my interest: the students too have their own sections not only to reply to the professor but to keep a sort of diary of their considerations and opinions about what’s going on in their Country as well as in the world, quoting, for example, from the newspaper.

My second attempt with Technorati was searching something about “Giuseppe Tornatore”, the Italian Oscar-winning director with his latest movie La Sconosciuta. I was once again pleasantly surprised to discover an Italian magazine forum where foreigners share information about travelling and living in Italy, region by region, town by town. And I can tell you for sure that is quite funny reading about our Country from other completely different points of view; I guess it’s another chance for Italians to try to better understand their own native land.

The Wisconsin college students’ blog is quite different from the Italian magazine forum: for instance, in the kind of language used, formal and stylish for native speakers at the University and informal, simple, not refined for foreigners who share their experiences made abroad. The kind of language changes together with the kind of users who leave their bit on the blog. The use of links works in the same way: the links are in strategic points in the University blog (they refer the reader to other useful blogs, to important newspaper websites and so on) while, in the second blog, there aren’t any links which refer to something having a great value.

Have a look at both of them and let me know what your impressions are:

http://margaretsoltan.phenominet.com/2006/10/river-that-eats-college-students-heres.html

http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy_regions/lazio_abruzzo/2006/events/rome-applauds-the-return-of-the-director-of-cinema-paradiso/

Alice