Surfing into the blog

I consider myself a basically new blogger having started this experience just a couple of weeks ago. I see this blog as my own first serious attempt to get into cyberspace and a good chance to get to know a world of interesting tech-ideas that might be useful at any time.

Thanks to Sarah, our guide on our journey through the blogoshpere in English, we first learnt how to access to a blog, which is our course blog, and after that how to properly use it. In doing the first e-tivity I recognize once again how difficult writing down something is and not only because it wasn’t in Italian, our mother tongue, but because not all students enjoy writing.

Blogging gives us the chance of expressing our “voice” and to develop our interests without any particular constraints. We have just to keep in mind the blogging etiquette, only a couple of basic rules that one must consider as a blogger: don’t forget to sign comments, identify yourself properly, leaving a contact where other readers can reach you, always quote sources, respect copyright laws, never leave spam comments, don’t be rude, etc…

Useful links where you can find some interesting stuff about blog behaviour:

the bloggers disclaimer
cafe mama
a learner's impression on blogs

In the 2^nd week of our course we actually surfed into the World Wide Web looking for blogs: everyone got lost in there. We discovered online journals whose topics included the owner’s daily life or views on education, politics, environment, cinema, animals, cartoons or what ever subject was important to bloggers. However, blog means something more: it goes beyond a simple homepage or an online diary because whenever a blog is posted it can be commented on by others. You leave your comment and get feedback from others, thus creating a sort of forum. They’re also full of links which help bloggers in their searches on a particular subject; they create a sort of inter-blog conversation.

After two weeks of blogging how can I sum up the blogosphere’s genre?

Well, the tone used is quite informal and the language's plain and easy to understand. A blog post as well as a comment are made of short sentences. Redundancy must be avoided. However, we have to keep in mind that the kind of language may change together with the kind of user who leaves his/her bit on the blog. Different topics may also influence the way of writing.

What blogging does for students who are learning English?

I think it encourages students’ initiative to write, it gives them the chance to get in touch with a colloquial English that is impossible to find in a course or study book. I’m sure it will enrich our vocabulary and we will express ourselves in a better English.

Now I see blogging as a great challenge in learning English, as an open dialogue over important themes which will help us in making richer our knowledge.

I wish you all great fun !

Alice