COMM140: Greg, Sasha and Caitlyn's Blog

 Reflection on the process of blogging

Today, there are more than 600 million blogs on the web (Skrba,2019). Being able to experience my own blogging journey has enabled me to try something new that I would have never done on my own. One thing that stood out to me about blogging was that blogging can be presented in many different forms. Taking our blog for example, in addition to writing textual blogs we were also able to create a podcast type blog to explore topics. 

 According to Gary Dekmezian (2015), there are many beneficial reasons as to why blogging should be something everyone should at-least try including: sharing knowledge, building a professional network, expressing personal opinions and sharing passions and connecting with others. This blogging experience has enabled me to not only explore the world of blogging but like Dekmezian stated, it has also enabled me to express personal opinions. There aren’t really any barriers in the world of blogging which I really like in terms of being able to be creative in any way you want. If I were to continue blogging, I would definitely try to blog in ways that I haven’t before like vlogging.

 In my future profession as a teacher, I will definitely be encouraging my students to write their pieces of work in creative ways via blogging through a range of different ways in which blogs can be brought forward in order to try and make the classroom a fun learning environment for my students. Teaching them about blogging as I myself have learnt in this unit will enhance their knowledge of the wide world web as we know it and challenge the ability of students to try something new.

 References;

Gary Dekmezian (2015). Why Do People Blog? The Benefits of Blogging.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-do-people-blog-the-be_b_8178624

 Anya Skrba (2019). What is a Blog?- The definition of Blog, Blogging, and Blogger.

Reflection on the process of blogging

The simple definition of blogging is ‘the activity of writing a blog’ (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, 2020), blogs can range from a number of different topics. The idea of blogging is to share one’s point of view, thoughts and ideas to readers. Personally, throughout these four weeks of blogging, I found it interesting how you can express your ideas in a less formal way, for example you aren’t having to stand up in front of a large amount of people, you are simply typing your ideas and then clicking the post button. Blogging can also be a good source of stress or pressure release as you can be as creative as you want with blogs, and you can allow your creative mind to wonder. 

I believe that blogging is something that you work towards and build adequate skills to develop a well though out, well-structured and researched blog. The process of blogging includes a number of different steps, according to Will Blunt (2015), these steps include:

Find an idea and nail your headline 

Research your idea 

Create a structure and fill it up with content 

Write without distraction 

Iron out the kinks and make it visual 

Hit publish 

Following a sequence of steps like these can help you have a better planned out blog that will appeal to readers. 

The skills that I have gained throughout the process of blogging, will be useful personally, as I have adapted a new style of writing that can come as a stress reliever or simply to get my point across. In regard to my future profession, being able to understand the process of blogging and how it works, blogging could be used in classrooms by myself and students. It can be a different way of learning that students will look forward to as it involves students in the technological world that we live in today. 

References

Blunt, W. (2015) A 6-step Writing Process to Blog More and Stress Less. https://www.jeffbullas.com/6-step-writing-process-blog-stress-less/ 

Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. (2020) Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/blogging

Reflection on the process of developing a blog 

Blogging is interesting because you can lose yourself in your writing. All you need is a thought or question you want to answer, and you find yourself just typing without even focusing on it. Without having to talk to anyone, you can relieve yourself from stresses and anxiety. You can put all your thought and worries on an electronic piece of paper. Research has been done to find out what the benefits of blogging are, and they have found that it has increased self-esteem, anxiety levels have dropped and has even helped people get out of depression. For more information please follow the link provided:

Babb, R., (2020) The Benefits and Considerations of Mental Health Blogging, Psychreg, (24/09/2020), https://www.psychreg.org/benefits-mental-health-blogging/

When blogging started out, you could only write lines of content. Now you can post pictures, videos, gifs, add emojis and much more. People are able to express themselves in new ways and give more in site to who they are as a person. If I were to start another blog, I would look into the other blogging websites more in depth and see how their applications work. In the research I have done, I have seen many designs and ideas that have given me inspiration for the future. The blog my team and I produce used vlogging and written blogging to express our views on the topics we have discussed. Next time I would plan to use more visuals such as picture and gifs to get my point across.

In a professional capacity as a future teacher, I see blogging being a really useful tool for teaching the younger generation about social media; and making it a fun way to teach writing. I’ll be able to just set simple writing tasks for them and over time I hope they will find enjoyment in writing and want learn more and improve their skills. I see blogging being important for the future both for communication and for myself in teaching the next generation.

Reference:

-        Babb, R., (2020) The Benefits and Considerations of Mental Health Blogging, Psychreg, (24/09/2020), https://www.psychreg.org/benefits-mental-health-blogging/

 ‘An understanding of how changes in technology impact on the way humans communicate, and the ethical issue’s’.

Technology is currently advancing and is going to continue to have advancements in the coming years and future. Before there were phones to call people at the touch of a button or laptops to send messages via email, people were communicating with each other by sending letters and having face to face conversations. There have been many changes to technology and how we as humans communicate.

 Nowadays, we have so many platforms in which we are able to communicate with people. There are apps such as messenger, Instagram, skype and zoom which enable us to message and video call those we want.  Whilst the changes in technology are beneficial to society today, making communication easier and more efficient there are some downsides to how this has impacted society. One being the ability for people to interact with each other face to face. These days people are used to being able to hide behind a screen and not have to have physical interactions with people that they may lack social skills in real life. Online, you’re able to control what people see and know about you and you’re able to build a whole different persona from who you may be in real life. From experience, there have been numerous occasions where I’ve talked to someone online and they’re very bubbly, outgoing, confident however they’re the complete opposite when I meet them.

 In addition to how the change of technology can impact humans by having a lack of real-life social skills, the internet can also be a place where communication can be associated with negative online behaviours. A lot of young kids are currently using different apps to communicate with each other and sometimes this can lead to bullying. This can happen in forms of derogatory terms being used against someone, people deciding to screenshot and share around something someone posted etc.

An understanding of how changes in technology impact on the way humans communicate, and the ethical issues that surround these changes 

Technological advancements have impacted the way that people communicate, it also has affected the way that people act in social scenarios. People are no longer dependent on competent communicative skills to speak to others and get their point across, many people rely on their computers to communicate with others. However, technological advancements can serve great advantages in today’s world, for example we are able to communicate with the world through our phones. We are also able to inform ourselves about world problems as well as having access to entertainment through games and social media. Technology is a great thing that we are privileged to have the opportunity to have and to use, but it is only a good thing if we use it correctly. 

The misuse of communicational technologies is becoming more and more common into today’s world. Some people choose to be rude and nasty to others, for example leaving hate comments on people’s posts, for no reason. Cyber bullying is also an issue that has come to light in recent years, particularly amongst young people. These individuals that aim to intimidate and bully others through their technological devices are commonly completely different in their real lives and portray a false persona online. In addition, particularly young children who are growing up with computers at their fingertips, may struggle with face to face communication. This is because they are use to and reliant on technology to speak to their friends and share their ideas. This can be detrimental to a young child’s communication skills as when they are faced with the real world, they may not have the ability to cooperate with others and integrate themselves into discussions.

Ethical issues include honesty, integrity, respect, diversity etc. These can be impacted positively or negatively in technology use. For example, if you are using your technology to communicate with your friends and share things in common then your are ethically using it well, however, if you choose to use your technology in a disrespectful way then that is not ethically using communicative technology. 

An understanding of how changes in technology impact on the way humans communicate, and the ethical issues that surround these changes!

Communication technology has changed drastically over the last 30 years. In the early 1990s, the internet was invented which then brought about instantaneous communication. People could now send emails and other documents in a matter of minutes. This is where it all started but it’s not where everything went crazy. 

In the early 2000s the modern mobile phone was introduced which now meant you could call, text and if you were lucky enough, could access the internet on the go. When this form of communication began it was simple and harmless, but it didn’t take long for scams to start happening around the world. This unethical behaviour has only continued in the modern age. It’s also one hundred times more common. In this day and age of Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter etc. people are continuously harassed and treated unethically.

This sort of behaviour comes in many different forms but the most common as money related scams, stealing intellectual property, stealing private documentation and the worst is cyberbullying. Most scams involve stealing something of importance to the person on the other end, which is terrible but these days that’s not even the worst. People on a daily basis are cyberbullied which is as unethical as you can imagine. Cyberbullying includes using computers, mobile devices and any sort of social communication to make someone or persons feel hurt. This is just not okay in any way.

In saying this, not everyone uses communication technology in a bad way. Some just want to talk to there friends and keep updated on the newest trends happening on social media. My mum mostly uses to look at cute things on Pinterest and see what her kids are up too. There are some people like my mum who without knowing it are the true definitions of ethical behaviour on communication technology. 

People need to start looking and thinking how they should use social media for the good. When you make a profile, it’s your profile; but it doesn’t just affect you. Billions of people have access to that content, so in simple words; think before you speck. For more relevance to the subject, think before you post. Being ethical is not hard and we are all fully capable of being it.

We all need to find that balance and we all just need to get along. No matter the community we are a part of. 

Reference:

Blog 2 = Part 2

The Driving Question this week is:

Blog 2 = Part 1

This is again a 2 Part Blog Post. 

The Driving Question this week is:

Blog 1 = Part 2

Blog 1 = Part 1

This is a 2 Part Blog post, we hope you enjoy it all!

Part 1 of our first Blog post. this topic is on the Driving Question: