alizae Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 (This post may be useless, but it's simply my defense for why blogging is a good form of writing.I know this is a completely wrong forum for this topic.) I'm currently working on my blog and the plan is actually to create a literal work instead of some plain old diary. (It doesn't need to published, just written.) But it still seems to those so-called serious writers do not accept blogging. Do you have any opinion about this? I read a blog about this issue (yes, I see the irony). He says that blogging is a great way to practice (so he agrees that blogging is good) but then he bashes the whole concept! I disagree with him. Of course blogging is different than writing a serious novel, but it's not supposed to be the same thing. He says: Blogging is instant. It happens immediately. As soon as you press “publish,” your article is live for the world to see, free for people to react and respond to your content. (So, why is this a bad thing? Sure, you may release material that is not perfect but you can always go back and edit them. I see blogging as a literal work that is constantly evolving and living its own life. It's different from regular novels and it should be different. I see the concept of constantly expressing your work as something good. Letting your material rot in your computer isn't going to make it better. It will still be the same process. Write, proof read and edit even after it has been "published".) Because blogging allows you to reach your audience instantly, it’s tempting to hit publish prematurely, to jump the gun on the creative process, to not let it run its course. Good writing takes time. And the expediency of blogging can subvert the process of getting to your best content. Again, I say, proceed with caution. (Yes, of course there is this problem, but if you never publish anything you won't have any audience at all. You can always polish your blog into something good with time. It is possible to turn it into a real book in the same way as regular writing.) Anyone can blog. In fact, many do. But not everyone has something to say. (Duh...But if you have nothing to say you cannot write a real book anyway.) While writing for others isn’t necessarily bad, it can’t be primary. You must first write for yourself (Of course I'm writing for myself and writing what I want! I never write anything "popular" just to get audience.) You started this whole writing thing, because you had a passion and a voice. You had drive and something to say. (Why would this have changed just because I use a blog?) Take the time to write something worth reading, something that your readers will appreciate, even if it doesn’t mean you blog every day. (I know, I’m sort of breaking my own rule here, but this is just that important.) (Now he contradicts his own words! Aren't we be supposed to be writing for our own sake?) Before the days of instant gratification when you had to actually pitch a piece before someone would consider publishing it, writers took time to consider what they wrote before sending it off to an editor. (Yes, but publishing a post is never the final version! It's simply a draft that is out there for the world to see while it's still evolving! Why is that wrong?) You may find yourself publishing just for the thrill of taking your content live for others to praise it. (Ok, now he finally says something that makes sense. This is most likely a reason for the addiction, but without any thrill there is no point to write! If you simply write on your own desk, you will easily get bored. By having your work constantly out there you will be able to motivate yourself to write and improve yourself! It's like sparring in martial arts. You will improve yourself quicker if you need to fight real fights instead of doing shadow boxing.) My view: If I really want to write this project into a real novel, then I will be able to do that even though it's already out there. Of course there will be typos and such in blogs, but any draft will have those problems and it takes time to polish *any* writing. A blog is simply a draft that evolves in real time and lets the world be a part of the process. That's why it's a *different* form of writing, not better or worse than conventional writing. A writer needs to write a lot! And throw away a lot! Sure, most of the material in a blog will be thrown away, but it's better to thrown them away after giving them a chance than before. I've seen good blogs that have bad entries. It doesn't mean I hate the blog simply because it's not perfect every day. And there may always be small pieces in the posts that are good. So, the blog had a meaning even though it wasn't perfect. Blogging gives a higher motivation than doing it alone. Thus the work will evolve in a faster way. You just need to remember to work on your old post and understand what needs to be deleted from the final version. (Just my thoughts about blogging and why art needs to be alive instead of being dead.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddison Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 100% with you hunni. I blog, not daily, when I want to. People read it, most don't comment. I have a counter so I know how many people look, they aren't people I know. I don't give any one my blog details. This isn't a blog but have you read "We Need To Talk About Kevin" , by Lionel Shriver? This is a book written in a series of letters to her husband, it is fictional but I enjoyed this book and the style very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 No, I haven't. Could you explain what you mean by mentioning that book? You recommend people reading it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddison Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 I do recommend reading it as it is a good read. It was recently made in to a film, which is good but the book is better. What is interesting is that the entire book, is written in a series of letters, retrospectively to her husband. It is fictional but it reads in some ways like a blog, although it is the re-telling of events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Ok Then it might be something I might enjoy. Thank you. I'll try to see if I can find it somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddy harper Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 i blog on this forum and i find it helpful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily-Bee Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 It sounds to me like your blogging is very much connected to your need for approval and attention. There is nothing wrong with that in itself except that you open yourself up for dissapointment. People can be critical, its hard to build up a big audience etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 In a way writing is "giving without taking" because the writer can only share with the world and never take anything in return. In a way writing is never selfish because writing is about expressing your own thoughts and giving them to the world. The obvious problem/dilemma is: to never share with other people or to share (and somehow be "guilty" of the crime of acting selfish). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 except that you open yourself up for dissapointment. People can be critical, its hard to build up a big audience etc. This applies even to every form of interaction with other people. To opposite to this would be to never care about interacting with anyone, but that is usually not the best way to live. Besides, I strongly disagree when you say "you open yourself up for dissapointment". This is an excellent way to kick any addiction. And since writing and blogging is an addiction, the best scenario for me would if people kept disliking as much as possible so that I would lose all hope. That would not be a fun scenario, but I could stop writing and go back to a life where I wouldn't have to care about other people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract312 Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Just like everything, blogging too has many advantages and disadvantages. However, blogs are a revolutionary medium, and a few months ago, I actually wrote a paper about the scienfitifc importance of blogs i.e. using blogs in scientific research. Language Log for instance is a blog about language and language related subjects and some of the most renown linguists (such as Geoffrey K. Pullum and Mark Liberman) post there. It offers a very inspiring and (to a degree) revolutionary view of language, something you will very rarely find in textbooks, most certainly not in the ones dealing with traditional grammar. You wrote some very correct and precise things about blogs in your opening post. It indeed is evolving and it indeed has its own life. However, I think that the dude you quoted is right as well,those are all the dangers of blogging one must be aware of. There are horrendous blogs out there. However,I don't know the context, so I won't make any further comments on whathe said. All in all, good luck with your blog and to answer your initial question, no, blogging is not stupid. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Absolute423, may I read your article? It seems like a great idea to use blogging in science. Most of the time scientist refuse to share anything so maybe it could be a way to introduce communication into scientific work. I am aware of the dangers. But I still think that those horrendous blogs would be just as lousy even if they were published as real books. Maybe a bit more polished, but a bad writer cannot be good by simply working hard. (But of course it's possible for them to grow into better writers and eventually be good.) However, it's true that a good writer may get really bad by not working hard enough (when falling into the dangers of blogging as the original blog I quoted said). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract312 Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Alizae, you really are a clever girl! Yes,methodology as a branch of philosophy does point out the fact that science has become inaccesible to the "common man" due to many reasons. And theblog definitely can be used to make a change in that context. Thank you so much for being interested to read my paper.It would be my pleasure to send it to you, however, the paper is written in my native language, not in English. In case you can understand Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian,please let me know I would be happy to send it to you. If not,then I will just post my bibliography, perhaps that can be useful for you. For the sake of illustration I'll just post a paragraph ofthe section that points out the importance of Language Log U članku koji se zove „If they give me more is OK“, objavljenom 26. marta ove godine, Pullum analizira sljedeći primjer: „I ask my team for 100%. If they give me more is OK“.[1] Ovo je zapravo slogan na reklamnom plakatu, i mnogi su s nevjericom posmatrali ovu gramatičku konstrukciju. Ali ne i Pullum. On tvrdi da je ovo situacija kada se kondicionalna if klauza koristi kao subjekat rečenice na jedan vrlo neuobičajen način, pri čemu semantička interpretacija „if they give me more“ je sinonimna sa „for them to give me more“.[2] Blog, uistinu, predstavlja jedan novi kontekst u kojem se mogu voditi rasprave za koje nije bilo mjesta u tradicionalnim gramatikama, a čak ni u trendovima koji su uslijedili jer su se oni bavili drugom problematikom, kao naprimjer ulogom pragmatike u izučavanju jezika. Rezultati ovih rasprava su iznimno bitni za dalja lingvistička istraživanja jer se bez imalo straha dolazi do zaključaka koji su prije par decenija bili nezamislivi. [1] Geoffrey Pullum. “If They Give me More is OK.” Language Log. 15 April 2012., http://languagelog.l...du/nll/?p=3865. [2] Geoffrey Pullum. “If They Give me More is OK.” Language Log. 15 April 2012., http://languagelog.l...du/nll/?p=3865. To cut the long story short, Pullum here analyzes a contruction "If they give me more is OK" which is a slogan on a billboard I think, as a case where a conditional clause is used the subject of the sentence in a very unusual way in which case the semantic interpretation is synonymous with 'for them to give me more". Mind you, this construction would usually be seen as ungrammatical. And bibliography which I promised to post: Bibliografija Printani izvori: 1. Flynn, Nancy. Blog Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public Relations, and Legal Issues. New York: AMACOM, 2006. 2. Forrester, Duane. How to Make Money with Your Blog: The Ultimate Reference Guide for Building, Optimizing, and Monetizing Your Blog. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 3. Hall, R. Scott. The Blog Ahead: How Citizen-Generated Media is Radically Tilting the Communications Balance. New York: Morgan James Publishing, LLC, 2006. 4. Hewitt, Hugh. Blog: Understanding the information reformation that’s changing your world. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005. 5. Serfaty, Viviane. The Mirror and the Veil: An Overview of American Online Diaries and Blogs. Netherlands: Editions Rodopi B. V., 2004. Izvori s interneta: 1. Dave Munger. “How to Write a Good Research Post.” Science of Blogging. 10 April 2012. http://scienceofblog...rch-blog-post/. 2. Geoffrey Pullum. “If They Give me More is OK.” Language Log. 15 April 2012., http://languagelog.l...du/nll/?p=3865. 3. “The History of Blogging.” Structured Information Standards, April, 12, 2012. http://www.sgmlopen....-blogging.html. 4. “History of the First Blog Ever Created.” LISNews: Librarian Blog, April, 15, 2012. http://lisnews.org/node/27808 5. “Informacijsko doba.” Wikipedia. April 11, 2012, http://hr.wikipedia....rmacijsko_doba. 6. “Blog.” Wikipedia. April 14, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract312 Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Those funny symbols and letters occur every time I used a letter which does not exist in the English writing system but does exist as a sound or some variant of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Oh, no....my Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian is really lousy...would take me years to read it....Why didn't you write on English? I'll try to look at those other articles. When I mentioned science blogging I was actually referring to blogs that would be used for scientists only. I work as a scientist myself and I've noticed that most of the information is not shared. Not published. Rarely even shared in the same department. I was thinking that it would be a good idea to make the scientists communicate with each other by blogging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract312 Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Good idea, but I think that's what the scientific journals, conferences, seminars etc. are for (to a degree). Plus, your know that the dream of the society where scientists would be free from the pressure of the institutions and many other aspects of the society, which actually have nothing to do with science, is unfortunately just a dream. Only in that kind of society information would be shared in the way you would like it tobe shared.This way it is subject to many restrictions just like the science itself. But still, changes can be made, and that is a lovely idea you suggested. I agree that blog could be used for those purposes you mention, but I think the it could also be used to for what I already explained in the other post. To answer your question....because that was the requirement. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Journals are insufficient. They only present a partial truth. Conferences? Those are hard to organize. Seminars? Yes, maybe. No, why is my idea merely a dream? There are already online forums that are used in a similar way (those are excellent sources because they give material that will never be published!). I cannot see why it wouldn't work. Of course scientists don't really want to share their unpublished work with the whole world, but there are many small details that will never really be published and it's a shame that they disapear from the scientific society. I'm not saying that they should blog about their new discovery, but may simply give tips on how to solve certain problems, equations, chemical reactions, lab techniques. You know, stuff that is not critical for the publication, but still important to share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract312 Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 I said it was a lovely idea and that it is possible to make a change ie that the idea is feasible. The idea of no limits whatsoever on sharing serious scientific research results and scientists being completely free to conduct research as and when they want is what I described as a dream for the reasons I explained which pretty much revolve around the pressure and restrictions. It was a more general comment on what you said, a more general remark INdirectly related to what you said and it was pointing out the problems the science has been facing in the context of society. Your idea is good and I stated that in my previous post as well and I encourage you to contribute to realizing it as much as you can. Blog is different from the official scientific publications, yet professional scientific blogs offer information that is in no way inferior to the ones in official scientific journals. Therefore, blogs actually fight the problem I described in my previous post in their own unique way, so of course, making a change you're mentioning is not a dream. There are actually many great scientific blogs and many sources on the Internet that do provide information you are seeking for. You have mentioned this yourself. And the best part is that they present information in language accessible to most people. Language is not restricted to the scientific register as is in the official scientific publications. Once again, your idea is good and I wholeheartedly support it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizae Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 And the best part is that they present information in language accessible to most people. Language is not restricted to the scientific register as is in the official scientific publications. I presume you have never visited these forums...They are written by scientists to scientists. They are not sources for general information since they do not present the scientific work. The purpose is to ask other scientists help for your own experiments/projects. Sure, the language might be less formal, but it's almost incomprehensible unless you know what it is about. Besides, scientists are horrible writers! If you are interested here is a random post that may be useful but no "comman man" would ever be interested about this: http://www.cognigenc...2-May/3922.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract312 Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 I said what I had to say, wished you what I wanted to wish you. I am am very well acquianted with the kinds of blogs you are mentioning. Language Log is that kind of blog,yet very different from Andrew Carnie or Andrew Radford. However, I honestly don't see the point in any further discussion as this is becoming a Beckett drama scenario. There are things which are understood and which I thus didn't want to specify such as the fact that there is not one single form of a scientific blog. I was on about one form of the blog and one purpose of the blog fully aware of other pruposes and forms as well, yet I mentioned one form and one feature/purpose to make a point. We obvioulsy don't understand each other well. All apologies if I misunderstood your words and/or was digressing. I accept my responsibility in the conversation. Thank you very much for the link,I had a nice time chatting with you, you are a very clever girl, and best of luck in the future. Peace out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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