Overview

Blogs are used for many different reasons. The text book points out two ways companies might
use a Blog. Of course, there are unlimited uses for a blog.

One way a company might use a blog is for in-house (Intranet) use. A company owner, manager
or CEO might post daily notices on an Intranet blog for the employees. I have a friend who
works at Chicos clothing store in Charleston, SC. She tells me that all the daily information
concerning stocking, sales, and policy changes comes to her as e-mail or as a blog post on their
Intranet. Since this information is private, costumers and outside Internet users cannot access
this information.

A second way a company might use a blog, and one that most people are familiar with, is to
promote the company. The company, such as Amazon, will post a product, and the consumer
can rate the product within a comment section. This can be valuable information about how
the consumer is enjoying the product or what complaints the consumer might have about the
product.

Of course, blogs are used in the news media. Editorials and objective news articles have found
their way to the blogs. Here the readers can comment on the articles.

Our Blogs

We started using one style of blogging. The Discussion Board acts as an in-house blog. The
Discussion Board can only be accessed by members of this course. However, there is a public
blog located in the main menu section. This Blog (using Blogger.com) will be used by all the
Professional Research and Writing Classes. This is a public blog and public blogs have ethical
considerations.

Ethical Considerations

Writing for the new media brings about all types of ethical considerations.

One consideration is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a punishable offense, subject to heavy fines, court
fees and possible jail time. Because it is so easy to cut and paste from the Internet, writers need
to make sure they document their sources carefully. (Later in this course, we will learn how to
document sources using MLA style.)

A second consideration is the authority of the author on the Web site. You will want to research
the author, what is the authors specialty, where does the author work, or does the author have an
agenda? Sometimes, you will find a blog where the author is considered a Bob in the
Basement. This is an author who is an armchair expert, but who has no credentials. With the
ability to have individual Web sites and blogs, anyone can post anything and claim it is factual.
Therefore, when writing for the new media, such as writing blogs or wikis or even commenting
to another persons blog, authors must make sure the content is credible, not slanderous, and well
researched.

Finally, Blogs can be used to tell a story, to connect communities, and to develop social
networks. These social networks can lead to new friends and business opportunities. When
people say that the world is a small place, the Internet makes the world smaller. I have a friend,
Ron Philbeck, who is a local potter. He has a blog. His followers are all over the world. He had
a unique opportunity to travel to Europe and meet with some of his Blogging friends. They
provided him with a free place to stay and tours of pottery studios.

Facebook is another social networking Web site. The publishing companies check to see how
many followers an author has on Facebook. The more followers, the more marketable that
author might be. I believe we have all heard of the horror stories about people losing their jobs
because of bad decisions to put up party and drinking photos on their Facebook page and make
them public. However, there are better opportunities that can be generated from Facebook than
bad with the right person publicizing themselves professionally. Here is where you can create a
public image that correlates with your professional outlook. Of course a rock and roll star, even
an author, might be able to get away with more fun images than say a bank executive or high
school principle. You are not required to open a Facebook account for this class. You can if
you want to open one.

Grammar Review

Please review and complete the exercises on pages 471 -- 478 pages (Exercises 10, 11, and 12).
Please complete the exercises as directed. I will grade on following directions and accuracy.
Please submit this assignment in the assignment feature below called Grammar Review 4.

Assignments

Read Chapter 18 360 373 (pay attention to the section on blogs).

Respond to my blog and watch the video links. In order to post, you must join my blog as a
follower. Using professional tone and quality writing, please respond to the content. Comment
posts must be 300 words. Unprofessional entries will be deleted by me and you will receive a
0 for this assignment.

The videos I posted on the Blog are about Blogs as a story telling device and the Web as a City.

To create a new post, please click on the Comment button below my post. There may be other
comments already added. I would first develop your comment on Microsoft Word and then
paste it into the comment box.

You will also want to join the Tech 114 Blog. Look down the right hand side of the blog,
below my links, to find the follow icon.
If you set up your own Blog, please share with me. I can collect blog addresses and share them
with class members.