Summary

This chapter had many main ideas, but there were three main ideas that really stuck out. They talked a lot about the modes of self-representation. These three modes are quantitative, written, and visual. An example of quantitative would be an activity tracker, an example of written would be status updates on Facebook or blogging, and an example of visual is posting selfies on Instagram. In the text, the author referred to todays technology as a convex mirror. The convex mirror distorts the image of our life. The ways things are today with technology are a lot different than the way they used to be. Many years ago, people had a hard time finding access to pen and paper. Today, there are many ways of communication, some of which include status updates on Facebook, sending a Snapchat to whoever you need to talk to, or even just picking up the phone and dialing their number. Everyone has access to the internet somehow, and they are able to communicate with anyway they see fit. This gives everyone the ability to share whatever they want, whenever they want. Communication has been reshaped extremely over the last couple decades, and I’m sure there are many changes to come.

Key Terms & Main Idea

Convex Mirror: A curved mirror in which the reflective surface bulges towards the light source.

Self-Representation: A movement to encourage people to represent their own interests.

Lurker: People who watch and read a profile, but do not participate in conversation. (Term found on Page 13)

Selfie: A photograph that someone has taken of themselves, usually with a smart phone, and shared via media.

Micro-Celebrity: Self-crafted, average person, who gets a taste of fame with an audience outside of their friends and acquaintances.

There are many different types of self-representation that have been around since the beginning of time, but that advancements in technology have changed our perspectives of ourselves and others. Technology distorts our vision of who we really are.

Making Connections

If you ask people how things have changed over the last few decades, some will say mannerisms have changed, some will say school systems have changed, but many would say that technology has changed. Some say it is good change, and some say it is a bd change. Technology has impacted our lives greatly, allowing us to communicate with people from across the world, keep in touch with old friends easier, and it has even impacted students greatly. But, it has also had a terrible impact on us. Bullying has become more common in many variations, sex trafficking is on the rise, and the way children feel and think has changed drastically. Technology is portrayed in a very negative way, and I believe that this article does a great job explaining self-representation and the impact it has on social media and the positive side of technology advancement. On page 13, it talks about how images are the primary content of many social media sites, such as Instagram and Snapchat. Markham stated that “to recognize our own existence in any meaningful way, we must be responded to.” This is especially true in todays society. Younger generations jump to conclusions that unless they are noticed in the world, they don’t matter, but if they would step back and look at how important they really are, their perspective would change.

After reading the article called, “Why Blog?” I discovered a couple of things that are important to know while blogging.

1. Blogging opens doors to many new opportunities for creativity.
2. It is important to have an open mind when it comes to blogging, or writing in general.
3. Blogging gives you the opportunity to write about anything and everything.

Blogging is like decorating your new house. You have the opportunity to paint, choose carpets and flooring, pick out decorations, and buying furniture. You can either go above and beyond and get things you’ve never seen in anyones home before, or you can just copy what everyone else does. It’s the same concept when it comes to blogging. When you are building your blog, you have the choices of all different types of themes, several widgets, adding custom pictures to your blog, and choosing whatever topic you want to write about. You can either find . very well put together blog and copy everything that they did, or you can design it in your own way using your own ideas. Whatever way you choose is fine, but customizing things your own way opens so many doors for developing new ways of thinking, writing, and developing your own blog.

When it comes to blogging, having an open mind is another really important characteristic. When you have a closed-mind, you are open to new ideas or concepts. You don’t want to have you ideas challenged, so instead you keep everything you write about very similar. With an open mind, you are more willing to try new things. You are more willing to step outside of the box, and maybe even write something that you never thought you would ever write about. You can develop new writing techniques and new topics to write about. This is a good way to keep your blog interesting to readers.

The last thing that this article really made me focus on was the way blogging can expand the ideas and topics you may choose to write about. When it comes to writing, everyone is unique. Everyone thinks differently about topics. One example that sticks out to me is writing about yourself. When given this as a topic of writing, some will choose to write about their family, their job, where they have gone or where they go to school, and maybe even where they live. Other will tell you their age, height, weight, the color of their hair, and what size shoe they were. Some people may even write about their hobbies, sports they may play, activities they are involved in, or some of their greatest achievements. Even when two people are writing about the same topic, their papers or blogs could be completely different. It is important that in your own blog, you choose to express yourself and show you readers who you are. It is important to really let your writers know who you are. Don’t copy someone else’s blog just because their writing is so much more complex and more creative than yours is. Expand your own writing and make it just as good as theirs.

Summary

This article really focused on one main thing, what is important to know when it comes to blogging? A few things the author stated was,

1. “Becoming good at anything worth becoming good at takes a lot of time.”
2. “Blogging is an excellent opportunity for exploring and developing intrinsic motivations for writing.”
3. “Blogging is an experiment, on exploration into what the genre could do for me and other rhetoricians.”

These 3 things, to me, meant that becoming a good blogger is going to take a lot of time, blogging isn’t always easy, but each new topic is a new adventure and you just need to run with it, and lastly, I don’t know what blogging will do for me, but it might even have a lasting impact and I’m willing to give it a shot. Blogging won’t always be easy. You need to be open-minded and as creative as possible, but it is a great way to possibly discover something new about yourself!

Analysis

Many points that the author made in this article really got me thinking. One statement that really stood out to me was on page seven of the article. It stated, “It isn’t particularly useful to try to understand “how to write” in a general way. Instead, you need to learn how to identify the particular writing practices at work in the specific writing situations that you face as a writer.” To me, this means that instead of being so focused on how to properly write, you just need to take an idea and run with it. Everyone that is writing is writing about something different and are faced with different tasks while writing. An example being, people writing for a literature class are faced with different tasks than a person writing a paper for a biology class. The author stated 3 main questions to ask yourself when you begin writing:

1. Who is your audience?
2. What is my purpose?
3. What is the genre in which I am writing?

Although this may not be useful for everyone, I feel that I will constantly be asking myself these 3 questions to help me while facing a difficult topic in writing.

Commentary

On page twelve of the article, the author states, “Most importantly, as you develop a writing habit, you begin to think less about needing a reason to write.” I really agree with this statement because since the beginning of high school, writing has always been something I have avoided at all costs. Some topics are easier to write about than others, but when a tough topic came along, it was very intimidating for me. I always have a hard time getting started. I’ll write my first paragraph and then delete it and repeat this 3 or 4 times before I finally just decide to go with it. Once I start to get into the grove of things, writing becomes much easier. Ideas begin to roll and before you know it, the paper is finished. With blogging, there are so many opportunities for exploring new things and developing writing techniques. I connected with this well because after just two short weeks of blogging, I have discovered that there are many, many topics to write about. Each one is unique, and I am looking forward to the new writing techniques that I many come up with.

Well, setting up the blog was easier than I thought. Reading directions step by step can really help, surprise surprise! I am a “techy” person and have been using electronics for as long as I can remember, so setting things up like a website or person account are easy for me. Sometimes it can be frustrating, but you work through it!

While setting up my blog, almost everything went smoothly. One thing I had a hard time with was deciding what to write my blog about! Deciding what would interest my classmates, my professor, and anyone else who may come along this blog in the future! I also had a hard time deciding on an interesting title for my blog. I am not a very creative person, so that’s part of the reason I chose just to blog about myself. Can’t be that hard to write about yourself, right? One thing that really frustrated me while setting up my blog were all the pop-ups that the website was sending me. I would barely finish one thing and it was already telling me to do another thing. I would hit the “x” button to close out of it and it would go away, and as soon as I went to do the task, I had already forgotten what it was. Good thing they have a checklist!

In response to what we discussed last week about thinking, this blog required quite a bit of thinking. Setting up your blog required you to think about a URL you would be able to remember easily, deciding on a title for your blog and deciding on a profile picture and blog cover photo. Now, I don’t know about you, but there aren’t normally things I think about on a daily basis. I’m used to thinking about things like, “What should I make for dinner?” or “What is the weather going to be like tomorrow?” Maybe even, “What would happen if a person lived to be 200 years old?” I found this to be a fun, new experience for me and the ways I was thinking really interested me. When it came to writing posts, I was thinking about what I should write about and what I shouldn’t write about yet, but maybe in the future. I was thinking about what I could include in my blog post to make it more interesting and appealing to the audience. I was also thinking about ways I could have more emotion in my posts. How could I make this most a little bit funny, but also show that this is a serious topic? That sort of thing.

Overall, setting up this blog was a good experience. Not everything can go along just perfect, but you just have to move past it. I am excited to discover new ways of thinking as I work though my posts, and ready to become more creative as I go along! This is all new to be, as I have never blogged before, but I am looking forward to it! I hope anyone reading my blogs is interested and wants to keep reading about me and my life! Everyone has a story to tell, and I am glad I get to share mine.

Thanks for joining me (:

Hello! My name is Lauren Baker, which some of you may already know. This is my first post, so bare with me. Before I start writing anything, I want to tell you all some things about me that may be important throughout my blogging experience. I am going to be writing a personal blogs, so posts will be about me and my life, things about my past, things about my future, etc.

To start, I am the oldest of 4 children. I have a younger sister named Morgan and she is 15, and I have younger twin brothers named Gavin and Landon, and they are 10. My siblings mean the world to me, and I would do anything in the world for them. Sure, we may argue, bicker, and cause each other an immense amount of stress, but at the end of the day, their happiness is so important to me.

When I was just 10 years old, my parents got divorced. This was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through. How is a 10 year old supposed to understand why mommy and daddy don’t love each other anymore? I’m positive that other people have gone through much worse, but this was life changing for me. At 10 years old, I was staying home alone with my siblings, cooking them supper, bathing them, helping them with school work, and doing any house chores that needed to be done. My parents were absent daily from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm. at 10 years old, I was expected to “watch after” my siblings. at 10 years old, I grew up. My childhood consisted of me being the “mother hen” to my siblings. This caused me to mature a lot faster than most people at the age of 10, but it made me who I am today.

I know this may make my parents look like bad people. Leaving a 10 year old home alone with 3 younger siblings really isn’t ideal for todays society, but it happened and it’s done with. My parents have turned their lives around for me and my siblings. My mom, Danielle, works 2 full time jobs and never sleeps. She lives paycheck to paycheck, but is putting food on the table every night, keeping a roof over our heads, and putting us to sleep with a smile on your faces. She is the most selfless person I have ever met, and I hope to be half the women she is someday. My dad, Troy, work 1 full time job and is always stressed. He worries about us kids constantly, but never falls short of giving us everything we could ever ask for. Even when money is tight, he finds a way. Both of my parents would do anything to make sure us kids are happy and healthy, and I couldn’t ask for better parents. They have supported us kids in everything we have ever done, and that’s what’s important.

Now, as far as for me, I am happy. I am a freshman here at RCTC and I am majoring in Nursing. Right now, I am working as a Certified Nursing Assistant at a nursing home in my hometown. I know, I have the title of a “professional butt wiper,” but my job is truly rewarding. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I live about 25 minutes outside of Rochester with my significant other, Josh. We have 2 kittens named Milo and Tiger, and plan to be getting a puppy in the near future. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, catching up on Grey’s Anatomy, and baking.

Throughout this semester, I will be posting on this blog. I hope you choose to follow along with me, and continue to learn more about me. Below I have attached a couple pictures as well.

Thanks for joining me!

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