Wednesday, September 11, 2002
No bad vides today!!
I had six students present in class today--their assignment was to find a filter-style weblog, bring an example from it to class (either in the form of an overhead slide or handout), explain why they were interested in it, and then identify what made it a good (or bad) example of a filter blog. All six did a nice job; a couple were fantastic.
One presentation on an architecture student's weblog brought up the issue of using images--nice addition to our thinking about weblogs.
Another student showed a great example of someone who filters news stories. The student liked how the blogger provided a fairly objective summary of the story, then an insightful, entertaining, but logical anlaysis of some of the problems with the news story.
Two presenters refered to Slashdot . They were both surprised to learn that Slashdot is a blog, because they have been reading it for a while but didn't realize that they knew what a weblog was. The both liked the short, precise nature of most of the postings, and they like to read the comments on the piece. Seems to me that if students are reading comments on blog posts, they are pretty fully immersing themselves in a docu-verse where ideas are exchanged openly, actively, sometimes agressively. Our students may not always be eloquent in their expression of ideas, but they do seem to be highly engaged in the process of exchanging information and views. Gives me hope, and convinces me further of the potential value of weblogs.
The outstanding presentation of the day should have been filmed. The student started by saying that he couldn't really talk about good or bad weblogs until he knew what they were, so he tracked down a couple of definitions. Those definitions, he realized, were just from bloggers, so he decided he needed to go to some trusted news sources: New York Times, New Zealand Times, Newsweek. These sources confirmed his definition, and gave him some valuable statistics about the massive growth in blogging. He drew the conclusion that weblogging was on its way to becoming just a standard form of communication, like email.
But he wasn't done there. After he gave the defn, found the news articles, and drew this conclusion, he said he was ready to do his assignment, and went and looked at MicrocontentNews where he found a posting about all these mainstream media sites that are writing stories about Blogs: YAWNs (Yet Another Weblog Newarticle). He also found on Microcontent a weblog that he liked because of the concise, objective, filter items. He said that he had looked at some personal weblogs, but definitely prefers the news variety.
Can you guys believe all this stuff!? He established a definition, he cross-checked it with reliable sources (but then found a convincing source that made him question his reliable sources), drew an interesting and logical conclusion from the material he was reading, and then went on to provide a sophisticated analysis of various "texts" he had been reading. Suffice it to say, i was blown away--but I don't think I can take any credit for it.
Better post--don't want to lose this one.
I had six students present in class today--their assignment was to find a filter-style weblog, bring an example from it to class (either in the form of an overhead slide or handout), explain why they were interested in it, and then identify what made it a good (or bad) example of a filter blog. All six did a nice job; a couple were fantastic.
One presentation on an architecture student's weblog brought up the issue of using images--nice addition to our thinking about weblogs.
Another student showed a great example of someone who filters news stories. The student liked how the blogger provided a fairly objective summary of the story, then an insightful, entertaining, but logical anlaysis of some of the problems with the news story.
Two presenters refered to Slashdot . They were both surprised to learn that Slashdot is a blog, because they have been reading it for a while but didn't realize that they knew what a weblog was. The both liked the short, precise nature of most of the postings, and they like to read the comments on the piece. Seems to me that if students are reading comments on blog posts, they are pretty fully immersing themselves in a docu-verse where ideas are exchanged openly, actively, sometimes agressively. Our students may not always be eloquent in their expression of ideas, but they do seem to be highly engaged in the process of exchanging information and views. Gives me hope, and convinces me further of the potential value of weblogs.
The outstanding presentation of the day should have been filmed. The student started by saying that he couldn't really talk about good or bad weblogs until he knew what they were, so he tracked down a couple of definitions. Those definitions, he realized, were just from bloggers, so he decided he needed to go to some trusted news sources: New York Times, New Zealand Times, Newsweek. These sources confirmed his definition, and gave him some valuable statistics about the massive growth in blogging. He drew the conclusion that weblogging was on its way to becoming just a standard form of communication, like email.
But he wasn't done there. After he gave the defn, found the news articles, and drew this conclusion, he said he was ready to do his assignment, and went and looked at MicrocontentNews where he found a posting about all these mainstream media sites that are writing stories about Blogs: YAWNs (Yet Another Weblog Newarticle). He also found on Microcontent a weblog that he liked because of the concise, objective, filter items. He said that he had looked at some personal weblogs, but definitely prefers the news variety.
Can you guys believe all this stuff!? He established a definition, he cross-checked it with reliable sources (but then found a convincing source that made him question his reliable sources), drew an interesting and logical conclusion from the material he was reading, and then went on to provide a sophisticated analysis of various "texts" he had been reading. Suffice it to say, i was blown away--but I don't think I can take any credit for it.
Better post--don't want to lose this one.
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