Blogging experience

I have never blogged until this course. I thought about blogs as a diary that you write and share with people on the internet. However, after I participated blogging during this course, I realised that blog is a very controlled environment. People choose to write about what they want people to know about them. Therefore blogging is not as personal as sharing your diary with other people. Adrian Miles suggests that we should think about blogs as documentaries. I think he is right. Blogs are like documentaries that reflect the outside world. For example, this FTVMS 203 blog has allowed me to see how people in my own age are engaged with technology. It has opened my eyes. This blog is like a documentary that shows how young people are living the digital age.

Miles also suggests that blog has an unmediated quality. I partly agree with him on this. Blog gives ordinary people the opportunity to share their lives with others. However, this unmediated quality is not always so pure. It is a controlled environment. People naturally choose materials that they want to publish on their blogs. The unmediated quality of blogs is also challenged by people’s high expectation of authenticity. People have the freedom to choose how they want to presented in blogs. Therefore, although blog reflects the outside world, it doesn’t necessarily represent the reality.

The FTVMS 203 blog is not a personal blog. Its authenticity is not challenged because everybody is sharing ideas about techno-culture rather than their personal lives. I have learnt so much about techno-culture and new media from blogging. It has made me want to continue blogging and maybe start one of my own. I think it is a great idea that we are learning about technologies by using technology.