B-L-O-G, blog. TSIS 88-97

Gimme a “B,” “B!” Gimme a “L,” “L!” Gimme an “O,” “O!” Gimme a “G,” “G!” What’s that spell?! “BLOG!” In They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, authors Graff and Birkenstein insist, “When you are careful to explain who cares and why, it’s a little like bringing a cheerleading squad into your text […] urging your audience to keep reading, pay attention, and care” (96). They maintain that any text, in any circumstance, holds a greater interest and relevance to whoever is reading when it is clear about the “so what?” and “who cares?” questions. Readers want to know who out there besides the writer really cares about what is being said. And further, they want to know what a writer is saying has anything to do with anything that really matters.

With these questions in mind let’s apply them to the reasons why we B-L-O-G, blog. A few years ago as a returning undergraduate student I used to think the essence of writing and studying was discovered at the touch of a pen to (actual) paper. But recently, the facets of graduate studies—discussion boards in cyberspace, extensive online research, and the blogging I’m currently doing on my laptop—suggest that education (at all levels) has taken a turn into the infinite and exponentially-growing realm of technology. This is how “school” is done now-a-days. Those of us still holding on to how things used to be are way beyond the feeling of needing to make the plunge and cross over—buying a laptop, joining a social network, and finally learning how to use email. With this, blogging matters because it’s become a part of being a student whether we were aware of it or not. The moment we accepted the syllabus that included weekly blogs as course requirement gave it a whole new meaning. What began as something for a grade is quickly evolving into a way we communicate with others and broaden our horizons as writers and students. Blogging has become a staple in a large part of society, finding a niche in various disciplines of academics, political scenes, and even sports writing. Blogging has come to represent the voice of the individual and collectively the voice of larger groups the individual may be associated with. Ultimately, some of us blog because we have to and a good number of us blog because we want to, because we can. In the scope of an ever-evolving society we turn to advances in technology to take us to new and uncharted territories of experience and learning. By these means, blogging has found its way into our workplaces, homes, and even our classrooms.