Alien-Human Hybrid

Labels: Sesame Street

Posted by Sara at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

I think Livejournal is different from "other" blogging sites, perhaps Livejournals aren't even blogs in the traditional sense (if there is a traditional sense). I think Suzan, who insulted our professor, said this well: Many of the entries in LJ may refer to events or discussions that happen in another venue, be it instant messenger, telephone, or face to face, and there is much recursive, esoteric, and self-referential conversation that takes place on LJ that simply doesn't occur in a one to many blog paradigm.

Livejournal hastens the process that Colin often diagrams in class: the one where X number of knitters are blogging and communicating with one another, and X number of Lamont supporters are blogging and communicating, and then some knitters crossover to the Lamont blogs because they're also Lamont supporters and vice versa. So there's this ever growing, ever changing blog community. Livejournal makes that process easier. You can set up a Livejournal, search for common interests and join communities based on shared interests. Then, through commenting in a community or clicking on a blogger's user info, you can decide to "friend" a blogger, allowing both of you to be on one another's friends list, which gives each of you permission to view each other's friends-locked entries. The cool thing is you always have control over who can view your entries. And you can even create your own community and decide who can and cannot join your community by becoming a maintainer of a community.

I've mentioned this before, but Livejournal is its own species, sort of.

I'll probably return soon with a list of some cool things I think are happening at LJ, but for now, it's me and my tissue box. We are one these days.

For the record, I disagree with this:
Colin said...
Well, I'm a very bad professor. There's no getting around that.
4:49 AM

Labels: Blogging, Livejournal

Posted by Sara at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

So. This is the first class I've missed, and I just want to comment on how fantastic it is to be able to check in at trinblogwarriors.blogspot.com and catch up on what I've missed, from the professor's perspective as well as from my classmates' perspectives. I know it's now common to use the internet and email and even Blackboard in academic settings, but those tools do not seem to provide the same communal feel that blogs do. Because this class forces us not just to absorb information and respond to it, but to respond to it in a public forum and then respond to the responses of other students, we really do form a sort of tribe, a close knit community where we can continually challenge ourselves. And where a sick tribe member can feel like she's still part of the campfire without really being there. (Is this feverish talk?)

My initial point (the one I intended to make) is that I think blogging is an amazing tool for the classroom, one that has the potential to keep everyone active in the discussions or, at least, aware of the discussions. Maybe blogging will grow in academic popularity?

I'm mixing topics here (forgive me, Nielsen!), but Livejournal is going to be an awesome thing to discuss. I can barely contain my excitement. Squee!

Labels: Academics, Blogging

Posted by Sara at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments

I'm sick, again. Twice! Twice in one semester! I'm sort of bummed about missing tonight's class because exploring the visual aspects of blogs sounds like a dandy way to spend an evening, but I promise I wouldn't be useful for anything other than spreading germs and blowing my nose.

The blog that Caitlin likes seems to be a perfect combination of visual stimuli and "wordsmithery." Caitlin and Dan discussed this a little in our comments thread. Each aspect appeals to me because I think the author is quite good at both of them. This is a blog I'll probably continue to visit.

As for the weblog usability guide that Steph found, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at the start because I'm (still) convinced that the anything-goes, frontier land quality of blogging is a huge part of not just its appeal but also of its identity. So maybe I wasn't the best person to read this. Regardless, I'm not convinced. Author bios and photos are, for me, the least important aspects of blogs. As this site explains: "What we tune in for is the author's voice, not their CV." I think what we're attracted to in a blog (and what makes us come back for more) is the voice, the writing, the ideas or emotions or even the particular slant of the blog. For me, knowing about the author always seems to take a back seat.

Also, Nielsen calls "mixing topics" a no-no, but wasn't randomness one of the primary "qualities of blogging" we listed in class? Part of the reason I return to the blogs I read is because I enjoy the surprise of what the authors say next. Variety is the spice of blogging, if you will.

Labels: Blogging

Posted by Sara at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

All this talk of blog aesthetics pushed me to devote my entire Friday morning to fiddling with my blog. Delightful, really, because what else would I be doing the day after Thanksgiving besides still digesting all the turkey and stuffing and potatoes and rolls I consumed?

It's a bit belated, but in the spirit of the holiday, here are some things for which I am thankful:

1. Good health, my own and that of those I love.
2. Matthew, my partner, my touchstone, my fellow odd duck. Especially for managing to not only accept but to also love the things about me I am as yet unable to accept about myself.
3. My mother who incessantly reminds me that life and love are all the reasons one needs to spontaneously break into song. Quite simply, she reminds me that it's okay to be happy.
4. My friends who, despite the fact that each of us claims to either generally dislike or feel horribly awkward around other people, have brought abundant light into my life for many years.
5. Those small but essential things: my warm home, more than enough food to eat, music, good coffee, gin & tonics, and The X-Files.
6. Books, the best and most faithful friends a gal can have.
7. My bed. Seriously. It's my favorite location.
8. Hope and perseverance.

It's funny. Once you start thinking about it, there's so much to be grateful for.

Labels: Gratitude

Posted by Sara at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

I love this time of year. I truly love it. I'm a cheeseball in general: I love every holiday and will probably become (in the not-so-distant future) one of those women who wears giant "holiday" sweaters and turtlenecks and who goes just a little too far in decorating her house for each holiday, even the small ones.

But I'm particularly festive when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's such a warm time of year, and sometimes I find myself smiling for no reason just because of this thing we call the "holiday season."

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, fellow bloggers!

Posted by Sara at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

I'm back. From the flaming pits of hell otherwise known as annotated bibliography, which, by the way, I believe to be more difficult to produce than the actual critical essay. The process is intense: read as much material as humanly possible relating to your essay, discern what is useful and what is not, re-read the useful ones, succinctly summarize each of them and finally, bring it all together by relating each piece to your thesis. Oh, and do it in an orderly fashion. Or else!

Moving, er, blogging on, pseudonyms are kind of interesting in themselves, without considering the anonymity of them. What I mean is, the pseudonyms people choose are often revealing, just not revealing of identity. Think of Caffeinated Geek Girl, Bitch PhD (which was listed somewhere in the reading for tonight's class and which I like), Whiskey Bar, Spazeboy. They all hint at certain qualities of the blogger, either real or desired. So I think that pseudonyms, though commonly used to maintain anonymity, are chosen as a sort of mark or brand. A "hey, this is me" kind of thing. Of course, there are probably many instances where this is not true, but I think that because there's always some desire to personalize what you write and what you create, to mark it in some unique way, to own it or at least attach yourself to it, pseudonyms represent the blogger, if not identify them.

I chose to be known as Sara, my real name, when I post, but I put considerable thought into my site name and my url. Why? Because I wanted this blog to represent me in some way.

Also, the nutsy boltsy link about how to post anonymously is sort of strange. Solid advice, but it has me thinking about how I generally avoid blogging about work, about specific people or revealing events. It always seems like the "right" thing to do, but it would be such fun to let loose and blog the way that I journal. Maybe I should?

Labels: Academics, Blogging

Posted by Sara at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

What is your relationship to information?

When initially asked, I thought of myself first and foremost as a collector of information, in the old-lady-with-lots-of-antiques sense of the word. I enjoy information. I’m pleased to neatly stack it in my brain, dust it occasionally and drag it out when the moment requires it. I take great comfort in gaining information and in knowing that there’s always more out there for me to collect. Information is a thing without end.

Then I thought of myself as a collector in a less flattering, slightly creepier sense. I’m (psychotic?) obsessive about it in some ways. If I’m genuinely fascinated with something or someone, I simply cannot. get. enough. I often think of my life as a series of obsessions. And when I’m obsessed with something, I will turn the world upside down and shake it to discover all of the information I possibly can about the Obsession. It becomes a quest, simultaneously sustaining and challenging me. I live for what I love. It’s intense. And the interesting thing is: when my Obsession fades (and I can never tell when it will), it still retains its original vibrancy and glory. Even as I delight in a new obsession and embark on a new quest, I still revisit and adore the old. The information I’ve collected still glimmers.

I also consider my relationship with information to be, to some extent, one of advocacy. Politically, I’m just about as far left as you can go. I have a passion for Women’s Studies and feminist theories, which often shows itself in the kind of information I collect and disseminate. I use what I learn, whether in academia or through another writer’s blog, to educate other people and (sometimes) persuade them to change their thinking. I firmly believe knowledge is power (is that a cliché yet?) and I believe sharing information can empower and enlighten people. Hence, the “About Face” and “Voice Not Bodies” links on my “Good Sites” roster.

Finally, for me, information is (sort of) a form of self expression. This blog, though now dear to me, is not what I would consider my most honest, creative self expression. Creative writing – poetry and short fiction – is where I express myself, where I experiment, where my emotions pulsate beneath the words, where I abandon my shy exterior. (This is not, of course, to suggest it is any good.)

Until this class, I was unaware of the relationship between information and creative writing, but there is one and it's strong. The information I collect, the information I want to share and the information that disturbs, challenges or pleases me always seems to wriggle its way into my writing. Characters, plot points, descriptions, settings, word choices are laden with the information I absorb.

And that’s my story.

Labels: I'm An Old Lady, Information, Writing

Posted by Sara at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm excited to launch into this week's assignment and discuss my relationship with information, but I think a "thank you" is in order. Thanks, CT Bloggers! You were engaging and informative and challenging. Not to mention, it was wonderful to see the faces behind the blogs.

Labels: Academics, Blogging

Posted by Sara at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

I shall now be known not as Sara but as The Thing That Does Homework.

I've been drowning in a little sea I like to call Annotated Bibliography (AB), so I haven't posted much about what we're discussing this week, unfortunately.

A few notes:

1. Our leader's post is hilarious.
2. Kristen wrote a very thoughtful, well-written post that you might want to check out.
3. This was an interesting read, particularly the conclusion:
Internet political professionals often concentrate our attention on the particular tools we use to get our messages out, but the real effect of the Internet and the electronics explosion of the last 15 years has been the immense deepening and broadening of the sea of information in which we now swim. Our biggest task is just to get noticed as we drift along.
4. LamontBlog's "Last Call" post was fitting: a showing of success rather than defeat. Though Lieberman may have won, Lamont didn't lose. Well said: We took on one major party in the primary, and we won an historic victory. But, in so many ways, we had to take on the combined efforts of two major parties in the general - an even more herculean task that, amazingly, we almost pulled off too.
5. I'm looking forward to tonight's class.

Labels: Academics, Blogging, Politics

Posted by Sara at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments

I can't. I can't write this annotated bibliography. I've done, oh, 85% of the reading (a good thing), but I cannot bring myself to sit down and start putting the damn thing together. I just can't.

Labels: Academics, Blogging, Internet

Posted by Sara at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

A story: It is my day off and I've decided that, for the first time in months, I will allow myself to sleep until I want to get out of bed. The groundskeepers of our condo complex have a different idea, however. They decide to use The Loudest Leaf Blower Ever right outside my bedroom window. At 8:00 in the morning.

That's all I have to say for today.

Labels: I'm An Old Lady

Posted by Sara at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm posting mostly so that visitors of my blog (if there are any) don't have to face Flukeman's evil eyes right away.

I'm also posting to retract my statement about changing my "I voted today!" sticker to a "I voted today! For nothing!" sticker. I really wanted Lamont to win and (foolishly?) believed he would. Seeing the results gave me flashbacks to Election 2004, which was a truly traumatic experience for me, so I overreacted. A bit.

There are some decidedly good things about this Election. And for now, I'm going to focus on this.

Labels: Politics

Posted by Sara at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments

I love the way Flukeman breathes in the X-Files episode, "The Host." It's so sinister and threatening!

Labels: The X-Files

Posted by Sara at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm disappointed.

I feel like changing my "I voted today!" sticker to a "I voted today! For nothing!" sticker.

Labels: Politics

Posted by Sara at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

I just switched to the beta version of blogger!

Also, vote!

Labels: Blogging, Politics

Posted by Sara at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

Monday's class, despite Colin's absence, was wonderful. The casual group discussion allowed me to get to know the people of the class, not just the blogs of the class, which was a pleasant experience. Everyone was really engaged in the conversation and each person offered a unique perspective.

We dug into some interesting stuff about ethics in blogging, including the negative aspects to the anarchic internet "frontier land." While it's exciting to explore this generally lawless territory, there is both offensive and frightening material open for all eyes. Kristen, for instance, mentioned a particularly disturbing blog about abortion. And Kirsten, in her blog, addressed the issue of using full names when making threatening or disparaging remarks in blogs. The problem is, it's very hard to decided what, if anything, to do about such things.

It was great to bounce ideas around in class about possible accreditation for blogs/bloggers, guidelines about using full names, guidelines similar to or different from journalism guidelines and -- if we were to establish such guidelines -- how they might change in a political/journalistic blog vs. a personal blog.

Still, for me, the bottom line is that, for right now, the unrestricted nature of the internet prevents us from developing serious guidelines for everyone. And isn't some (or much) of the appeal of the internet and of blogging its freedom, its spontaneity, its anything-can-happen quality?

Either way, Monday's class was "good times."

Labels: Academics, Blogging

Posted by Sara at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

This article presents a vague set of blogging guidelines based on the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. I think it's a nice idea. And I think Jay Rosen's suggestion is really interesting (excuse the length):

What do we, as a community, need to do to enhance the respect internet journalists receive in the world at large? My first answer is: we have to look for it.

We should major in transparency; the “major” media will take a minor in that. Diversity of outlook in the reporters ultimately improves the reporting. The blogosphere has advantages there, especially as it does more reporting.

I think we have to accept that Big Media, which isn’t going anywhere, is society’s default legitimacy-distribution machine. But that doesn’t mean it works well. The machine itself can lose legitimacy without exactly falling apart. If you’re an upstart publisher of news and you suck at it, Big Media will try to ignore you. If you’re an upstart publisher of news and you’re really good at it, Big Media will try to ignore you. Then when you assume the shape of a writes-itself story—first bloggers to go the political conventions!—Big Media will over-cover you, spreading a small bit of understanding over lots and lots of stories. Six months later it’s time to debunk the trend they missed, then over-hyped and finally misdescribed. It’s not personal. It’s protective. It’s also cheaper than figuring out what’s going on.

And, I also think that no matter what guidelines are created or what ideas are brought forward about internet journalism and blogging ethics, there's still a kind of untamed frontier land quality about blogging, as we've discussed frequently in class. And as Jay Rosen goes on to say:

What some people can’t seem to get over is that other people can say any damn thing they want on the Internet! How can you trust any of it? is their natural reaction to all open systems. Closed systems—and professional journalism is one—develop trust in one way. Open systems have to do it a much different way. Expecting one to look like the other is unreasonable.

On the one hand, I appreciate that internet journalists and bloggers want to be taken seriously and respected (and hence, would benefit from ethical guidelines). On the other hand, I'm attracted to the wildness of the internet, the "anything goes" quality of it, and the fact that I have to do a little extra work to find the truth (or rather, to find the nearest thing to the truth). Perhaps as we move forward and as blogging becomes more important, we'll start seeing more stringent guidelines and ethical codes, but how, then, will the frontier land change?

Labels: Blogging

Posted by Sara at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments

Friday night, as I sat in the movie theater watching The Departed and becoming increasingly disappointed with it, I kept thinking, "I have to blog about this." It wasn't until the next morning when I realized that blogging or thinking about blogging or thinking about the world in terms of blogging has become a daily occurence for me.

Funny, you know, how your blog insidiously creeps into your every day life, your mundane thoughts and routines.

So, the movie: Contrary to apparently 93% of critical reviews, The Departed is not a very good movie. Pardon my language, but it was a cock movie, one of the biggest cock movies I've ever seen. I'm fully aware that there are better, more intellectual words for this. I could call it a hypermasculine narrative or say it was celluloid drenched in testosterone, but when the film is rolling, the phrase "cock movie" just fits so well. By that, I don't mean it's a male movie or a movie about men or male relationships or a masculine quest for power. I'd have nothing against that. I mean, The Departed is one of the most sexist, "phallocentric" films I've seen in a long time. In it, uniquely female things (menstruation, female sexual pleasure, female genitalia) are disregarded, degraded and used as insults in casual conversation. Not to mention, there's only one female character, a Harvard-educated psychologist, who could have been a positive representation of women had she not slept with both of her male patients and passively accepted that there are some things her boyfriend does that she's just not meant to know.

I understand that most people probably won't walk away from the movie with this impression or be to bothered by it, which is fine, but it's not a very good movie even if you were to remove all of that. The performances were great, but everything else was just sort of...tepid. I wish I went to see Running With Scissors instead.

There, that's my review. I'm really going to get on with the whole "ethics of blogging" business now, I promise.

Labels: Film

Posted by Sara at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, Dan's blog prompted me to explore my corner of internet fandom, The X-Files. And the massive amount of websites, forums and blogs has prompted me to consider delving deeper into this, perhaps culminating in a final paper. So, without further ado...

X Marks the Spot, or Good X-Files Sites:

-For a brief synopsis of the show's characters, plot lines and history, Wikipedia actually does a pretty nice job. I guess that makes sense because, as we've talked about, many of the people on Wiki are geeky, passionate types with strong (obsessive?) interests in one or a few subjects. Perhaps glaring errors on The X-Files Wiki page have been avoided because the fandom is enormous and its members are so fastidious.

-A great episode guide, including summaries and memorable quotes, can be found here.

-There are quite a few forums, but the definitive one (in my opinion) is Idealists Haven, a registered users only forum with scads of XF material. It's a wonderful fan space. This one is newer and smaller, but a bit more personal. Television Without Pity has one. TV.com has one, too. To name a few.

-Myspace has an interesting set up of all of the characters. Mulder and Scully's blog entries are voice overs lifted from various episodes. I'm not at all sure how this works. Is one person controlling them all? Is each one a different individual pretending to be a character? Do many people edit each one?

-Livejournal has great a blog community of XF fans.

Even though this particular topic is of interest to no one but me, it's interesting to consider both the vast amount of websites, blogs and forums there are for only one subject and to consider how they are run, how the information spreads and what codes or what rules each website follows.

The internet has been a perfect place for fandoms. Before, if you were really interested in something or someone, you could join fan clubs for a fee and wait anxiously to receive a newsletter or a promotional piece or new information. There wasn't as much contact with other fans. You might have known they were out there, but meeting them or communicating with them was a difficult process. With the internet, obsession can blossom. You can communicate with other people who are interested in or passionate about the same things as you. You can blog about your obsession. You can explore many fan sites for free and with just a click of the mouse.

It's kind of brilliant, really.

Labels: The X-Files

Posted by Sara at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

We're asked: What is it about blogging and humor?

There's a short and easy answer: Because everything on the internet is designed to be fast-paced, if you're going to stay with a page for a long time, it better be high-quality and of particular interest to you or it better have enough humor to move you along. I believe this is true, but I have an inkling that there's more to it than this. Sure, it's easier to glide through a blog entry if you're entertained by humor, but why is humor so common? Why use it more than, I don't know, images or very short sentences/posts or bulleted lists or lots of links? It seems to be one of the most common qualities of blogs; they're funny. Perhaps it's more about humor than about blogging. What I mean is, humor (in any form) is a sort of speedy thing. A joke can be long, but the "hit," the pinnacle, the funniest part is quick. And wit is best when it's quick (hence, quick-witted). Humor is a punch -- fast and powerful. Even stand-up comics always seem to move and speak with unearthly energy.

Maybe blogs are a perfect medium for humor rather than humor being a perfect device for blogs?

Labels: Blogging

Posted by Sara at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments