Ready for Prime-Time Players: Blogs

Blogs have come a long way.

Reading Technotati's annual report "State of the Blogosphere" got me thinking about the recent history of blogging. The report underscores how much blogging has become an integral part of the internet.

Just a few years ago blogs were starting to get recognition as a new phenomenon in our culture. ("Blogs take on the mainstream" -BCC News, "Blog" named 2004 Merriam-Webster "Word of the Year". Today four of the top ten entertainment websites are blogs (including the top two)!

Blogs have also become a platform for launching personalities and products into the mass media. The blog FiveThirtyEight written by Nate Silver is a good example. Nate is a managing partner at Baseball Prospectus, a baseball statistical analysis firm. Nate invented a system which predicts the performance of Major League Baseball players and teams. (This past season he accurately predicted that the Tampa Bay Rays would follow up their last place 2007 effort with a trip to the playoffs in 2008).

In late October 2007 Nate began to apply his statistical prowess to politics. He began blogging at the liberal mega-blog Daily Kos under the username poblano. In March 2008 Silver launched the blog FiveThirtyEight.com and stepped out from anonymity. In less than a year he has become a well known expert on political polling. This was all made possible via blogging.

In an environment where "content is king" blogs provide a relatively quick and inexpensive way to establish yourself as an expert. Nate is a good example of effective blogging today.

Here is Nate Silver talking about the FiveThirtyEight and the 2008 presidential election on The Colbert Report:

Blogging Assignments

From the class wiki: (link to source)

Blogging Assignments - 12 weeks

 Maintaining Personal Blogs and posting Comments on classmate blogs
 Assignment Summary

Weekly Blog Postings: Each week, students will write one blog post on topics covered in the reading and class. Each post must be at least 500 words and should follow best practice blog post format: Students must write at least 1 comment on team members’ blog posts per week. Both must be posted by Saturday 6pm. 

• Posts: 2 points
• Comments: 1 point (students must write 1 meaningful comment to qualify for this point)

Instructions

Each week, students will write their blog post (or more). The post should engage with the topic of the previous week's class and reading. You can analyze and summarize, challenge a reading/POV or synthesize several of the readings/POV. You should use good, traditional writing style and good blog etiquette. The latter includes:

• writing great headlines with strong keywords
• stating your POV in teh first paragraph
• some cross-linking (don't go too crazy)
• clear references to other's work (with cross links)
• A conclusion OR a questioning challenge for your readers

You will need to write your blog posts by Saturday at 6pm. I will find your blog posts via your RSS feeds. If you choose to write more than one post and want me to focus on evaluating one in particular, just shoot me an email with a link.


Each week, students will post a Comment on at least one other students blog post. This can be the post from the previous week. I strongly encourage you to do more than this but one is all that I will grade on. The comments should feature a POV but need not be more than 100 words or so. Quality over quantity.

You will need to write your Comments by Saturday at 6pm, as well. For now, shoot me an email with a link to your comment. Please put "COMMENT FROM STUDENT: (name)" in the subject line of the email.

Outside Resources

Good Blogging

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/12/30/tens-tips-for-writing-a-blog-post/