Expression Evolution

               Expression through writing has always been growing and changing.  At first it was a slower growth, but it has evolved so much since the ink pen and the type writer.  We now have computers to type on and we have articles to read at our fingertips.  Since the internet has been invented, there has been a boom of information that’s now available to us in record speed.  There are no more library hunts to find information for research papers—it’s all online!  Newspapers used to be a huge place to turn to for information on what cars are on sale and what jobs are available.  It even had opinion and advice columns for those that were interested.   The newspaper is still around but there are so many other places to look for that kind of information.  Blogs have made a huge impression on our generation.  There are so many different types of blogs that you can choose from.  Blogs range for craft ideas to social media blogs.  Blogs are defined as a webpage that is frequently updated with posts appearing by newest post to the oldest according to “The Blogging Genre: Identity, Anonymity, and Consistency—Why We Blog.”  Some people compare blogs to journaling which can hold some truth.  A lot of people chose to put their journaling ideas into blogs and then give the option to the readers to post replies and comments on the entry.  This encourages interaction between the writer and readers. 

                Before blogging and even the internet were around, literature and books would hold a certain genre for what they were classified as.  They were categorized into different types such as romance, comedy, science fiction, horror, etc.  These are very simple classifications.  Each one is defined very differently than the other.  But since our writing during this new generation has grown and become more complex, the genres seem to be harder to determine.  So what exactly is the genre of a blog?  “Thoughts on Genre: Blogs and Genre” was arguing that blogs have their own genres within themselves.  The genres range from litblogs, political, techblogs, personal media blogs, etc.  This is interesting because it seems that so many people are trying to classify blogs into one big genre, but it turns out that sometimes there aren’t any similarities between two blogs except for that they are both considered blogs!  Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are all blogs for social media purposes which would be each blogs’ genre. 

Considering that there are genres within genres, blogs must be defined as a whole that links all blogs together.  In the article “An Attempt to Define Blogging as a Genre” the two main characteristics of a blog are links to articles or other blogs you are writing about and the comments the readers are contributing.  Blogging is never ending and it is meant for more of a social outlet than anything else.  Blogging is informal and personal.  These qualities have a positive reaction for the understanding of blogs.  Since blogs generally are accepting of responses and feedback, the writer and often times the readers begin to understand the topic better by rethinking the writing and offering counter ideas in the forum.  Blogs sometimes can seem like an open debate on the web.  Blogs attract followers and bring a personal connection between you and your readers which can also help you determine what information your readers want to be reading about and what issues matter to them.  Finally, with the writing and rereading and adding on to the original blog topic with other links and ideas, the writer tends to show reflection of the writing.  In general, all blogs hold these distinguishing factors which help to define the genre of a blog.  All blogs are about being open and ongoing.  They aren’t about the final product—blogs are about the development it takes to morph and idea into something larger.  Bloggers rely on comments and reflection from their readers to evolve their ideas.

                There are an overwhelming amount of art and music blogs that have surfaced.  To the naked eye it would seem that blogs are only around as an outlet for fun and entertainment.  However, there are quite a few scholarly blogs out there.  For students that are researching for papers and dissertations, they will turn to scholar blogs instead of entertainment and opinion blogs.  This is where the genre of an individual blog helps you figure out exactly where you need to look depending on what information you are seeking.  The genre of a scholar blogs holds more reliability for the information.  For example if I’m going to research about what is going on in real estate for the day, I would turn to The Wall Street Journal blog or The New York Times blog before looking for opinion blogs on the topic.