Today (Thursday, January 4th, 2010), our class had a visit from Hannah, the senior who recorded the "Valpo Vido" blog while in Chile.  We began by discussing the "subjective" verses the "actual," but quickly moved on to asking Hannah questions.  She described her blog  as a letter to her family and friends---more specifically,  a postcard, which I thought was an excellent description.  She generally viewed blogging as a positive thing, saying that she liked going back and reading her entries because she was sometimes surprised she even wrote them, so blogging was a good way to remember events.  Also, she was actually able to include a link to her blog in a cover letter for a job.

"Valpo Vida" was a blog that really captured my interest.  The use of images was done very well--there were just enough to give the reader a better sense of what they were reading about without it becoming a tumblr-style blog that consists only of photos.  Also, I thought the style of writing was great.  Each entry was a great summary of obviously extensive activities.

Reading Hannah's blog, I was most struck by the contrast between nature and technology.  She was exploring many exotic places and doing lots of interesting outdoors activities, like climbing sand dunes and volcanoes.  In general, she was very actively involved with the world around her.  However, she was sharing her experiences online.  I think this blog exemplifies anything that is good about the internet, and that it does not have to isolate you from interacting with the outside world and the people in it.  Also, the use of pictures was excellent.

Reading the personal blogs of Anne and Hannah, I was struck by how my experience as a reader differed greatly between the two (though both were, purportedly, of the same genre). Both were identifiable to me as blogs by the simple formal aspects that they contained entries in reverse chronological order, incorporated photos and links, and allowed for the possibility of interaction with the readers. However, the style, content, and tone of the two blogs evoked vastly different reactions and thoughts for me.

Class began with a question brought up by aybala50 about whether or not a blog can be classified. Are there any guidelines or categories that could help us determine a sorting system? Is a blog more of a community of people working together, like how our class functions, or is it more of a tool for the individual? This led to the discussion of last week's readings, and how Jo(e) poses a similar question; Is a blog a free exchange of ideas?

    I did not think I would like reading either of these blogs, to be honest, because in my mind they represented exactly what a blog shouldn't be: a mundane account of someone's day, boring after boring detail (do I really care what they ate for dinner or how far they drove outside of town?). But these blogs were different because they brought me, the reader, to another world.

When I first considered the idea of creating a anthology of blogs I have to admit I completely agreed with the Boxer that the idea was dreadful. In fact, I did not even think it was possible. Blogs have their own unique style which differs greatly from that of a book and trying to coerce the two concepts together would not result smoothly. After reading “Valpo Vida” my opinion did not change. In Hannah's blogs there were so many different elements that came together to form a cohesive and enjoyable experience for the reader following the blog. Her blog contained humor, cultural history, art, personal anecdotes and much more in a way that although it was not formally organized, it still flowed and made sense.