Open Writing

Things become very complicated and lines become blurred when it comes to writing in the openness of an online accessible blog as we have been doing in class. There are very many consequences to writing in the openness of online. One thing about writing online is that anyone who has access to the internet can access it and read/comment on what you have written about. There is really no way to protect your blog from being read or commented on by outsiders. There is no fool prove way or guaranteed way of being all of your blogs private. Another consequence of writing online is that it never goes away. There will always be a permanent record of what you have written, when you wrote it, and who commented on it. You can delete it all you want to but it will never be completely gone, that is impossible in this day and age. Another thing is that not everyone that reads what you have written agrees with you. Therefore other people may feel the need to say mean or hurtful things to you on your blog that you may neither want or appreciate. It comes with the nature of an online blog and it is something we must all deal with. The benefits of publishing a blog on open, accessible internet are definitely present as well. Presenting your thoughts and ideas on such a public forum is a great way to receive positive and constructive feedback from classmates and other followers. This is a great resource that most will appreciate when writing a blog. Some of the comments received on blogs will make your day and some will even help you improve your argument or statement on a certain topic. You also receive different aspects of the topic at hand and get to see how other people view the same thing. A little variety never hurt anyone. In class, I believe we are fully exploiting the benefits of posting on an open, accessible internet website. We all have complete access to each of our classmates blogs and can comment as much as we like on each other's as well. It really brings the class together to see what their classmates think about the same topic and each blog shows the personality of the person writing it. It is always a day brightener to get a really helpful or complimenting comment from a fellow classmate. It feels good to know that you are not alone in your opinion of a certain topic. The challenges that come with the openness of an online blog are having to monitor and edit what you say because it is very much open to the public and it is at the discretion of the reader how they take the things you are writing. It is very hard to include context when writing in a blog so things may be taken in ways you didn't intend them to be taken. These challenges can best be addressed by proof reading and self editing every blog post you create and realizing that not only you but many many others will be reading what you have just written.