Let me start by stating that I am not writing in my native language. I am writing in my first language, though. I am Deaf. I should be signing to you rather than writing to you. I could be vlogging this, but I plan to introduce multiple avenues of exploration for you, and hyperlinking a vlog would be difficult (but not impossible). Another consideration is that I’m writing to someone from the majority language culture with little knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL, not to be confused with Age Sex Location as it’s popularly known within the context of internet communication). Also, my parenthetical habits would be too annoying in an oral context plus I’d like to allow you to have some time to peruse and ponder my information and ideas.
BLOGGING
So. I want to talk about blogging. It’s new. Well, it’s not new—it’s been around since the mid-90s. We’ve Got Blog: How Weblogs are Changing our Culture (2002) and Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg cover the history of blogging well. It first emerged as a means of sharing information, usually links of interest to friends and other followers of a particular webpage that a user maintained a link list. Blog–>web log (as log of links visited/for you to visit). Some of the early webloggers such as Dave Winer and Jorn Barger focused on link lists, accompanied by annotations and commentary. Early blogs were handcoded but with the advent of easier applications such as Blogger, evolution occurred. Really, the technology didn’t evolve so much as the *behavior* evolved. Blogs allowed for diverse avenues of personal expression, whether it is an introspective personal journal or a site devoted to covering a particular interest, “blurring the lines between weblogs and online diaries, a line that had never been visible to anyone except the most hardcore webloggers” (Rosenberg 115). (more…)
We’ve Got Blog: How Weblogs are Changing Our Culture (2002) is an anthology, selected by the editors of Perseus Publishing, of various posts gleaned from the web on the then-burgeoning culture of blogs. Most of the essays are from 1999-2001; several authors, including Rebecca Blood, point to 1999 as being the widespread start of blogging. Some of the contributors are from the same pool of pioneering bloggers, the so-called “A-list” bloggers, such as Cameron Barrett, Derek M. Powazek, Rebecca Mead and others. I’m not gonna bother linking to their blogs, you can Google ‘em yourself. Most of the bloggers talked about are more of the A-listers as well, along with other notable bloggers such as journalist/blogger Dan Gillmor. At this time, the book reads more like a history book than a picture of current trends.
Here we go. This is my first post. This is the first time I’ve used WordPress, although I have used LiveJournal as a blog host for several years. Now I’m sharing space on my friend’s blog server, lpoweronl, so thanks to him for that.
So why am I doing this? Well, I’m working on my Master’s degree in English at the University of Texas. An old writer’s adage is to “write what you know.” I know life as a Deaf person, and I know the Internet has been an incredible accessibility tool for me as a Deaf person. For other Deaf people too as well. The Internet also has changed life for Hearing people as well. Blogging and wikis and other forms of collaborative information presentation have changed the way academics look at the way the English language is being used. Of course, other languages are being used too–not just English. The Internet isn’t limited to North America. People are able to express themselves in their native languages all over the web. And now the World Wide Web has evolved to include other ways of expressing language rather than text lining the monitor.
People are able to create audio podcasts to present their thoughts or even artwork (in terms of music and poetry). And technology and bandwidth improved, leading people to videocasts, small video presentations broadcast on the internet. The limits were stretched further now that news and performances and other material are now posted for all to view on the web. Let’s not forget language, as I mentioned just a bit ago.