Journal Entry 4/17

I went on Jackie Chan's official website where he has a blog (vanity blog):  http://www.jackiechan.com/blog.

I also went on an information blog for San Diego:  http://sandiegoblog.com/.

The vanity blog was actually really boring, I think that was because I wasn't that interested in Jackie Chan's everyday life... I think that if the blogger is someone I'm interested in, then it would be cool to read their blog, as long as I was sure they were writing it and it wasn't someone that they hired to write for them.

The information blog was actually really interesting, I think that it is a great way to find out about something because the person writing the blog usually has first-hand experience with whatever he is writing about.  I liked that this was very casual and informative with no specific bias towards the subject (the bloggers right the good and the bad so you get all the information).

I do think that blogging supports this type of journalism because vanity and information blogs are just what bloggers want to read and right about.  If they want they can find out what Brittney Spears has been eating lately, or which celebrity got sunburnt during the spring break.  Bloggers want to read about which movies are good, what sushi is worth it's price and wether or not to visit their uncle's new house in the Bay area.  What makes for a good information blog is very simple- easy to read informative data.  What makes for a good vanity blog are two thing: knowing what your reader's want to know about you and keeping them interested and wanting to stay up to date with what's going on on your blog.

This research material I found really supports my thesis so I'd rank it a 5 (strongly supports my thesis) and I would not like to change my thesis.

Journal Entry 3/27

Hi,

This week I'll be going over entrepreneurial blogs and their uses by researching different websites. 

I found a website that a Matt Huggins uses to promote himself: http://www.matthuggings.com

Here he posts his bio and a lot of information regarding random business ventures he's interested and involved in.  This looked like a great way to promote one's interests and investments.

I found two other websites that talks about the use of entrepreneurial blogs:

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/entrepreneurial/10-best-entrepreneur-blogs-136886.php

http://www.blogs.wjs.com/independentstreet/2008/0613/15-entrepreneur-blogs-worth-reading/

Both of these links are promoting entrepreneurial blogs that the websites find to be either the most interesting or most successful, so I learned that using a blog to promote and market actually works and one can get noticed very easily by a simple google search.

I feel like a blog can promote a person way better than advertisements because they are present time updates on what the person is currently doing and it becomes more personal than seeing something on TV or hearing something on the radio.  Self promotion via TV and radio can also be a lot more expensive than simply paying for a domain or starting a free blog.  I do feel that blogs are an successful alternative than other self-promotion terminals because of how cheap and personal they can be.

I do think that this supports my thesis, and I'd rate it a 4 out of 5.

Journal Entry 3/22

Hey,

This week's entry is going to compare and contrast the difference between blogs and e-zines.

I went to Zinio.com and found a e-zine called Foreign Policy, then I went to blog.ForeignPolicy.com:

I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the same company's blog and e-zine. I found the blog to appear as professional as the e-zine, I know this is because Foreign Policy has experts write in their blog, and that their are specific editors that work out what goes in the e-zine.  I think this is one of the first blogs that I found to look and feel really professional while still having the sense of being a blog and not too professional (which some people like).

I found that the blog was a bit easier to read, but that the e-zine was more focused on certain current events while the blog was a mix of different stories with not very good composition.  While they didn't strictly cover the same current events, I found them to be very similar in topics.  I do believe them to be credible and trustworthy, I think that a print newspaper or magazine is just as credible as this e-zine and blog because of how experts write in both of them, and it's not just random people stating their opinion, but rather people with BA's and MD's on the topic or in political science.

I do think that this research supports my thesis because it shows I believe people to find some blogs to be just as credible as print newspapers and magazines.  On a scale of 1 - 5, I would say that this research is a 4!  I would still not change my thesis.

Journal Entry 3/13

Hey,

For this week's blog, I am going to start by comparing and contrasting a newspaper article online and a blog that talk about the same topic.

I chose Obama and his lift on Bush's reasearch restriction on stem cells.
Here are the two links to the websites I chose:

New York Times Article - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/us/politics/10stem.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=obama%20and%20stem%20cell%20research&st=cse

AOI Blog - http://www.aoiusa.org/blog/2009/03/obama-stemcells/

In the New York Times article, the writer introduces the article by giving a description of the organization of the event that occurred (a presidential ceremony). In the blog, the writer introduces the subject by simply restating the title of the article.

In the New York Times article, the writer quotes the president and others that were interviewed. In the blog, the writer is writing his opinion on the affect of the President's decision without quoting any authorities or anyone for that matter.

In the New York Times article, the writer concludes the article with a powerful quote from senator. In the blog, the writer concludes the blog with his opinion of what his group should do about the President's decision on lifting the ban on stem cell research.

I found the New York Times article to be informative and extremely credible. I learned about the ceremony that took place and exactly what was going to happen in the future with stem cell research. I found the blog to not be as informative, and it was plagued with a bunch of opinions.

I feel that blogging can be just as effective as digital media print as long as the blog is supported by fact and not just a rant about a topic made of pure opinion. A good news blog needs a combination of opinion backed by fact with good organization and nothing that distracts the reader. A good online newspaper is needs a good writer that keeps the reader interested while not distracting him with typos and grammatical errors, also enough promotion for people to want to read the online article. Generally, I find the online newspaper more credible because of how it's written, I find them to be a little more professional and opinions are usually backed by facts (stats, graphs, quotes, etc.).

The research I just did does not support my original thesis because I found the article to be much more credible and informative than the blog (which makes it more effective and impacting to the newspaper industry). I would rate it:
2: Somewhat did not support my thesis.

After this research I would actually like to change my thesis... but I might just keep my thesis to see if I can back something I don't believe :)

Journal Entry 3/6

Hey!

My name is Christian Domingo. This is my first "blogging" adventure, and I'm pretty excited :)

I'm taking a class at College of the Canyons on media and society and am required to create a blog, so here it is!

I am for the thesis statement, "Blogging has significantly impacted the print journalism industry."

I researched this topic and here's a summary of what I found from three different websites:

Is blogging a credible source of information?

From here, http://www.defenselink.mil/transformation/articles/2006-06/ta062906b.html, I found that blogging may be a credible source for information. It talks about how there are hyperlinks that reference the information posted so that the blog is not all opinion, but has a foundation in truth from at least one source. This article also goes over how to read a blog so an analyst can understand the blogger.

How effective is blogging, i.e. are blogs effective at reaching an audience?

From here, http://www.michaelsweeting.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/blogging-the-most-effective-medium-to-reach-a-large-scale-audience, I found that an average of how many blogs are created a day, and that blogs are one of the most effective ways to reach large scale.

How has blogging influenced journalism?

From here, http://www.journalism.org/node/11966, I found the different reactions from newspaper editors about the web and blogs (short for web logs); almost half of the newspaper editors were excited, and a little more than half were conflicted while a tiny percent was worried. I also found a statistic on how much time newspaper editors spend on newspapers (63% of their time), blogs (5% of their time), and on both (30% of their time).

I have taken the stance that blogging has significantly impacted print journalism because I think that blogging is more reliable and credible than print journalism. I feel like bloggers don't have political or profitable reasons on what they post and what side they take because most blogs are free to read, as opposed to the newspapers that are sometimes controlled by much larger corporations that will lean a certain way for political reasons. Blogs are more down to earth and honest.