English 320 Assignment
Week of January 20
Blog address: http://320community.blogspot.com
First finish up in-class work:
--Sign up for a gmail account and give your address to both instructor and group-mates.
--Inspect your “google account” products and capabilities, e.g. Blogger, Photos, uploading . . .
--Create a practice blog and send the URL to your instructor and group-mates.
--Don’t forget your visit to my office on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
Assignment for Virtual Thursday:
Due Friday, January 23 at Midnight
Overview: 2 specific comments to the class blog; begin reading journal.
1. Comment: Draft a short self-introduction (200 words max) and post it to the class blog as a comment. Blog address: http://320community.blogspot.com. Primary audience = group-mates, so aim for informality—no formal resume stuff. Secondary audience = instructor and the rest of the class. (Later you’ll expand, cut, and rework this text when you write your “about me” for your own blog.)
2. Comment: Explore 3 or 4 blogs from the list provided and comment about why you might choose to follow one and/or not choose follow another. Remember that you’ll soon have to choose two blogs to follow throughout the semester, so you’ll be developing your own set of criteria and establishing your own tastes. You are NOT at this point selecting a blog to follow—so don’t worry if you don’t find anything you are permanently interested in. Your job is to set before the class a couple of blog features you’d like us all to examine. So “I don’t like the topic” is NOT a useful response. “I love or dislike this writer’s style because . . .” IS a useful response. Be sure to include the URL and name of the blogs you’re talking about—because linking is one of the arts of blogging.
If you’re stuck for criteria, you might look at (1) site design and how it makes you feel (relaxed, lost, like reading more/less), (2) tone (snarky, witty, inviting informative), (3) style (clipped, verbose), (4) blog titles (informative, catchy, inviting, abstruse), (5) comments (boring, compelling), (6) post titles, and so forth. Remember, you’re not choosing a blog to follow just yet—you’re just tuning up your critical faculties and inviting classmates to share your vision.
3. Very important: Begin your Reading Journal now. Create a file titled “Jane Doe’s Reading Journal.” Write up this week’s observations about blogs in this file (# 2 above). Then select something from these observations to post on the class blog--concisely and informally. Upload this file via your google account or email it to yourself at your gmail account. Do not post to the class blog everything you have in your journal—be selective.
Assignment to prepare for Face-to-Face Tuesday
Due Tuesday, January 27, at the beginning of class
Overview: Tinker extensively with practice blog; make 2 lists for group work; brainstorm blog topics; begin research journal file.
1. Test available Blogger features on your practice blog.
--Log into your gmail account or go to blogger.com. Remember that if you don’t log in, you may be able to see your blog but you won’t be able to work on it
--Go to the dashboard.
--Click on each menu option and explore as many of the sub-menus options as possible.
Note: You’ll want to do a sample posting and get some comments before you can see results of some of your decisions and to do further experimentation. Use View Blog to see your design changes only.
Examples of activities (by no means a complete list):
a. Layout: page elements, fonts & colors, edit html, templates. Here you might rearrange the elements and gadgets; upload an image; insert a video from youtube; insert an audio file; experiment with different templates and color schemes.
b. Dashboard: Choose New Post to create postings. Do a couple of test posts so that you can work on editing them. Lot out and add comments—as if you were a reader.
c. Posting and Settings: Lots to do here. For now, please issue invitations to be blog authors to each of your group mates and to me. This way you restrict open commenting while allowing a limited number people to help you practice. You should set your blog to “anyone can read” in case you want to share something you have done with class members who are not invited authors.
Note that there are available help sheets, including a step-by-step guide.
2. Come to class with a list of observations about your practice blog explorations. What works? What doesn’t? What’s clear and not clear? This is for group discussion and mutual help.
3. Make an assessment of your own technical abilities and interests to share with your group. What kind of expertise do you have that goes beyond clicking? For example, do you know how to create a video and upload it to youtube? Do you know how to use Picasa? Are you familiar with photo enhancing software? Do you know html? What do you want to learn this semester? This is for group discussion and technical project planning.
4. Create a Word file titled “John Doe’s Research Journal.” Use this space to brainstorm about possible blog topics. Include your ideas about what kinds of research would support your topic. Upload the file to your google account or email it to yourself. Later—not now—you’ll be selecting something from this journal to share with the class and to solicit feedback.
If you have the Huffington Post Guide in hand by now, the following pages are helpful:
pp. 31-36
pp. 84-89.
BLOGS and LISTS OF BLOGS (optional—you can google the kind of blog you are interested in)
http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/02/cx_cv_1002blog.html (Forbes list of best blogs)
http://themomblogs.com/blogs/best.php?cmd=rate (list of best mommy blogs)
http://www.dukecityfix.com/blogroll (list of ABQ blogs)
http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/
http://www.green-trust.org/wordpress/
http://thefrogshop.blogspot.com/