Luedtke

Blog Portfolio
250 points or 25% According to Wikipedia, Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. In addition to these multimedia and interactive components, it is important--as the resources below point out--that your blogs meet some need in your audience. That need might be as simple as a good laugh, providing a moment of escape, or showing your audience the industry or a particular show in a new way. For the purposes of this class, youll be entering the TV blogging communitya thriving and prolific place. The content of your blogs is up to you and, by looking at other blogs, youll discover that the possibilities are endless. WHAT DO BLOGS DO? WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE?: Despite their variety, blogs do have some things in common. Blogs should be kairotic. Bloggers focus on timely issues and engage in current conversations. Blogs should be invitingto blog is to become part of a community (our blog will be public so keep that in mind as you choose a screen name and edit your blogs). Blogs are audience aware. The audience for our blogs could be this class or it could be any number of TV watchers. Evaluate what your audience knows and show that awareness. Blogs are subjective. There is no right and wrong, but you still need to support your claims with evidence. Blogs are personal. Every blog has its own sense of style. Develop a voice. Blogs are analytical. Good blogs dont simply provide a summary; instead, they give opinions and analyze issues. Look at the examples listed on the list of links on our class blog. Many of these examples are professional, written by TV critics, but many others are written by fans who feel motivated to spend their time writing about shows that inspire them. However, each blog review shows and offers insight into different aspects of TV. For a particularly good personal blog, check out Cultural Learnings. He has a clear perspective, critical insights, and obvious investment in each of the shows he covers. Also, Alan Sepinwall of Whats Alan Watching? was a TV critic with a personal blog who is now blogging for Hitfix. His viewpoint is critical, in-depth, and entertaining. I highly suggest you check him out for guidance with your own writing. I point out Alan, in particular, because you should keep your role as the critic in mind as you write: As a critic, you will engage with the essential organization of television programs, context, time-space manipulation, the use of images and language, conventions and variations of genre, narrative patterns, character development, and the episodic nature of television. You will also examine social and cultural values, ideology, possible meanings, codes, and the representation of gender, race, sexuality, age, ethnicity, employment and nationality. As a critic, you must also understand the nature of the business of TV and the viewing audience, its expectations, desires, participation, and satisfaction. Criticism also goes well beyond understanding of the program itself and asks what conceptual or theoretical implications have resulted (ODonnell 4). Piece of cake. BLOF REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS CLASS: Our blog is hosted by Wordpress: tvwritings12.wordpress.com You will be expected to write one blog of at least 300 words per week that engages with some aspect of the television industry. It can be a weekly program review, thoughts on the

Luedtke

summer programming schedule, or a reflection on industry happenings. However, I do expect your blog to be critical, thoughtful, and reflect you as a writer. You will write 12 blogs total (though you are certainly welcome to do more). You may write your blog in Word first, then cut and paste it into the blog. This will avoid any potential computer problems, allow you to spell-check, and make revision easier. However, you will have to adjust the formatting after you paste it using the .html editor. Remember blogs are a visual medium, so I expect you to pay attention to the design and formatting of your blog as well as the content. When composing your blogs, please use titles that accurately reflect the content of the blog. The fact is that there are 60 people on this blog. I dont expect you to read everyones blog every week. Accurate titles and appropriate tags will help each of us sift through blogs more efficiently. Also, Id like you to use the read more function at the end of the first paragraph of each blog post. It will make skimming the main page considerably easier. In addition, I expect you to respond to your classmates blogs at least twice a week. Your comments should be substantive. In other words, I expect you to respond in a thoughtful and critical way to some of your classmates blogs and/or comments. The goal is to engage in dialogue. Any comments that attempt to start a conversation or continue one is acceptable--even if you are responding to a comment left on one of your own posts. Blog posts will be due Tuesday by midnight; comments will be due Thursday by midnight. Please respect your classmates and other bloggers. The internet is a community. This class is a community. Because blogs are highly subjective, we are likely to disagree. Often. Keep your analysis and criticism firmly focused on the subject at handnot on the character of the blogger. THE BLOG PORTFOLIO: At the end of the session, you will turn in a blog portfolio, which should be comprised of your five strongest blogs. I strongly suggest that you revise each of the blogs before you submit themespecially the early blogs. Generally, because blogs are so topical and timely, revision doesnt occur after they are posted. BUT, this is a writing class and you will become a better blogger throughout the semester; use that knowledge to submit the best blogs possible in the portfolio. Id also like to see some variety in your blog posts in terms of approach, tone, form, and so forth. This is your chance to experiment, become a better writer, and expand your notion of composition. Instead of printing out the blog posts and turning them in, you will write and post a reflection (your 13th blog post) where you will link to each of the five blogs you want me to grade as you discuss them. Id like you to reflect on your own growth as a blogger. What was difficult for you? What did you enjoy? What kind of revisions did you make? How is blogging different than the type of writing you usually do? How has it affected your engagement with television? How has your thinking about TV changed throughout the course of the semester? Take your time and reflect thoughtfully on your progress as a writer, thinker, and blogger, using specific examples from each of your blogs. The reflection should be engaging and detailedand about 750-1000 words. All FIVE blogs will constitute 15% of your grade. I will also go through and check to make sure that you have been leaving comments. The successful posting of all 12 blogs in a timely manner and consistent, substantial commenting represents another 5% of your

Luedtke grade. The final 5% will be based on your reflection.

Grading will be based on the criteria I listed above. Blogs should be timely, audience aware, critical, analytical, personal, and, above all, well-written. Blogs are not IMs or texts. You want people to seriously consider your opinion and they will not do so if you do not write it in a way that demands them to--nor will I. Happy Blogging!!!