E-tivity 2 : Feedback

Hello there all,

You think exploring the blogosphere is hard work, you should try reading all of your posts and clicking on all of your blogs! Just joking :-) I really enjoyed hearing about all of your experiences and clicking around to see what you’d found. In addition to the aim stated in the e-tivity, the aims were also to help you understand how vast it is so that you’ll appreciate the tools we’re going to use to filter information on the Web and to help you get to know each other a little better. For example, many of you found blogs on travelling, while others focused on more social-political issues, and others yet on hobbies and things you simply just like.

Just a few observations. I noticed that two students received comments from blogs they had linked to. How did that feel? Then I wondered: did any of you leave comments on the blogs you visited? If not, why not? I found a few I left comments on J Then I noticed many of the blogs you found were written by non-native speakers of English in English. Why do you suppose these people choose to write in English if it’s not their native language? Finally, Martina also talks about the authority of the blogger and how you judge the quality of the blog. What criteria did you use to judge the authority of the blogs you visited? I noticed that some of you found blogs where the most recent post was a long time ago. One criteria you should always use is how often posts are published and how long ago the last one was.

I’m going to use your words to comment on your impressions of the blogosphere and the genre of blogs. I’ll be sending another message where I focus more on the language, by looking at the posts written by groups A and B.

Impressions of the blogosphere

You got tired…

So, surfing the blogosphere is pretty exhausting...(Enrico)

You got lost…

I lost myself on the net looking for blogs which could catch my attention and two or three hours later I found them. (Davide)

Perhaps, lost in technorati like me?! But, in the end, after hours and hours spent searching for blogs, I decided to suggest you these three wonderful blogs! (Elena V.)

..uf, I just got back from very long trip around the blogosphere. I have to say that I do feel overwhelmed with information right now. There is just so much out there to explore, read and learn about. (Nina)

You had fun…

I have never been very interesting in navigating blogs, but I enjoyed doing it! There are many things you can learn! (Claudia)

My trip around the blogosphere has been very interesting. (Marina F.)

is a so fashinating world....there are any sort of blogs that you can visit and so many interesting things to read and see. (Imma)

You felt frustrated…

I have to admit it was pretty tough and took me quite a lot of time to find out which blogs to choose for this week e-tivity, as there where so many I actually find myself 'drunk' of blogs. :-D (Anna, Group I)

I spent a lot of time searching for interesting blogs on the topics that I chose but I don’t believe I succeeded. (Elena B)

Bloggosphere is something I'm experiencing for the first time and I'm a bit disoriented. (Eva)

You did it!

At the beginning I had difficulties in finding the blogs, but then I tried to focus on my interests and I managed to find two blogs. (Giovanna Sim)

After having spent hours and hours on the blogosphere, I've finally found something interesting! It has been a hard work because there are so many blogs!!! (Sara B.)

Language

Some thought it was informal

I would say that the authors mostly use simple language with many colloquialisms and slang words in order to make their blogs more informal as possible, so that the readers can easily interact with them. (Valentina)

It looks as if the persons who wrote posts were directly addressing to somebody they know well. (Elisa S.)

the language must be clear, simple, colloquial and informal, as it is in a usual conversation.

(Alessandrasq)

Others thought it depended on the context

The language depends on the writer and his purposes: it may be quite formal for professional comments and technical details or informal if the writers decides to put more of themselves in their posts. (Federico)

the language can vary from specialized to everyday according to the topic and the audiance. It can be also spontaneous, just like a real conversation, or a little bit more planned when it describes something. Of course, the formality of the language used might be influenced by the relationship between bloggers and readers. (Selena)

I noticed that informal blogs containing personal experiences (I would call them ‘diary-blogs’) tend to be shorter and simpler than those dealing with more delicate and complicated issues of general interest (religion, education, linguistics, war...) , even if slang is sometimes not so easy to understand. (Elisa C.)

Others noticed a difference between posts and comments

Both blogs have an informal style, which can be seen in the use of abbreviations, smileys, colloquial expressions (like for example "by the way"..) and in the omission of the grammatical subject (like in the sentence "Can't wait to try this out.."). In particular, an informal style characterizes the comments visitors leave on the blog. (Marta, Group B)

Then I noticed that, usually, posts are longer and more formal than the comments people leave, which contain much more colloquial expression ( Oh my gosh., Cool!, Wicked!). (Sara DT)

Style

the name of the blog has to attract the reader’s attention, and the layout needs to be appealing but not too sophisticated. (Federico)

The impression I got was that writers were more interested in conveying the message in the most effective way, than respecting grammar and style-formality. (Anna, Group I)

There’s one thing I’ve noticed in almost all the blogs I visited: the clearness of the layout and the simplicity og the design. (Elena B.)

Importance of linking

The idea of sharing all that we know and post it in our blog is supported by the use of links. Every blog has its part reserved to links, that are a series of blogs connected to yours that deal with the same topic. This allows you to surf and immerge you totally in the topic you want, to meet people with your own interests and above all to learn and compare what you already know! (Giovanna Sperotto)

generally the structure of blogs consists of quite little pieces of information, well divided and normally characterised by links or words in bold. (Anna, Group I)

Job well done :-)

Sarah