What is a Blog?

Wikipedia defines a blog as: "a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often in reverse chronological order." Blogging is the posting of journal-like pages to a website. While these pages can contain photos or media, they are primarily focused on the easy ability to post written thoughts to a website. The postings are organized chronologically. Typically, a blog post can be commented on by others, allowing for a dialogue on a the topic of the post. Teachers and educators have used blogs to allow for what is commonly called "peer review," meaning that students can post writings or assignments to the web, and other students can respond or encourage through the comment feature.In a broader and more educational system, blogs are about communicating. You observe your experience, reflect on it, and then write about it. Other people read your reflections, respond from their perspectives by commenting or writing their own blog article. You read their perspectives, often learn something through their eyes, and write some more.

- Blogging is about reading and writing.
- Literacy is about reading and writing.
- Blogging is about literacy.

ASSIGNMENT
You will create a blog on some aspect of the media. For the duration of the unit (until October 23) your blog will replace your media log entries. You will be asked to contribute three or four entries centred around a theme of your choice (i.e. evaluating your favourite television show, band or website; writing reviews of video games; or exploring how social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace operate). Your blog can also be a commentary on anything we’ve discussed in class. If you’re having trouble, each week I’ll provide some topics or websites you can visit to get the ball rolling, which you'll be able to find here.

Homework: For Monday, October 1, please prepare a informal paragraph describing a possible theme or topic for your blog. I will return these with feedback and suggestions the following day.