Community is easily created through social networking now-a-days. One blogger can link to other blogs through hyperlinks inside of posts or by displaying lists of fellow bloggers on their own site's toolbar. Proper linking of blogs should be done because the poster thinks the content is legitimately of interest to readers and not simply to boost readership for a friend or colleague. I can attest to the fact that searching for blogs via google or other search engine is not as simple as one might expect.
There is something refreshing about people visiting others on their own turf. For example, it would be perfectly normal for my LIBR 246 classmates and me to post and respond to posts via Angel as is the way of SLIS, but instead, we have each created our own territory in which we naviagate to each other's blog to read and comment on posts. Each page has been created and designed by that student, and in the process, we each have the opportunity to peer into the lives of our classmates and connect in a different forum than Angel which in turn creates a different kind of community outside of class.
I like the community it creates. It feels a little more authentic - like we are connecting with our classmates as real people. It's a bit less formal so you get to see a bit more of people's real personality as reflected by their writing style and site design.
ReplyDelete