To be honest, I am rather sad that this class is coming to an end. I have really enjoyed writing (most) of my blogs, and I feel that I have learned a great deal about my classmates by reading their own posts. The blog atmosphere for me has created a level of intimacy between students and instructor that I have not yet experienced in a writing class thus far. I think that because of the small size of the posts, the writing assignments have been much less stressful and much more enjoyable. Also, the topics of the posts were almost always about things that are important to us as students, or at least topics that have already been brought up in class and have already sparked interest (hopefully).
In class today, the word "exposure" finally caught my attention. I had pretty much dismissed it in our earlier conversations, as I did not considerable it really applicable to me (I don't know why, as it is applicable to everyone really). However, after my stalker incident last week, I did some reevaluating of the word. Thinking about the word "exposure," in regard to the class, I'm not sure whether the "blog" is entirely positive or negative. I love that people can read my work and comment on it, but for some reason, I am a little anxious about plagiarism. I know it sounds stupid, but I am thinking about continuing my blog after this class concludes, and I am unsure what level of security my writing has. I tend to view my pieces of writing as works of art, not because I think my writing is all that amazing, but because I think that writing is a form of art. As a result, the idea of someone copying my art is very unsettling. I don't mean to flatter myself, and I doubt that it would happen, but I suppose it would be possible for someone to read my blog and copy/paste it to be their own. This totally freaks me out, as I am considering writing as a career. Because it is an informal blog, I'm not sure what I could do if that were to happen.
Setting aside my anxiety about the safety of my posts, I think that this blogging style has improved my writing more than traditional writing classes have. I think the the style that blogging invokes is more relevant to the business world that we as soon-to-be graduates will be entering. Though it is true that many students in the class may never post another blog entry again, the topics we have written about are important to us and our culture. It is imperative for us to be able to articulate our ideas and present our opinions in a logical and concise manner, either written or oral. I feel that this class has definitely helped all of us to do just that.
6 comments:
I really liked your closing lines; I think they accurately articulated the fact that regardless of the level of involvement each student had in the class, we all gained something from this course due to its relevance to our lives.
I, too, had considered keeping my blog, but I didn't even think about issues of security. It would be interesting to see if there were plagiarism laws or policies regarding something as seemingly simple and public as a blog.
One way to outthink copying and plagiarism is to simply not spend your time worrying about these matters—make art instead. The history of art, after all, has always involved copying, pastiche, and mimicry. I don't understand why writers seems to both demand artistic recognition and yet want to be exclusive in the sense that copying is not allowed. I tend to see plagiarism as a fascinating (if unrecognized and under-theorized) form of writing—even maybe a form of art. It is, after all, making stuff out of the materials of the world. It may involve more reproduction and dissemination than we are used to granting 'art', but in fact it is still indicative of humans' aesthetic relationship to the world. There is an aesthetics to copying (or we could see it this way if we tried), and I wonder what it would mean to take it seriously? What if you really had people reading and copying your posts, Colleen? Wouldn't that be, in a weird way, a gigantic success for you as a writer? Or what if people were taking your ideas and reworking them, riffing on them, and responding to them by sampling them, rearranging them, or mixing them up artistically? In any of those cases, you will have made it as a 'writer'. Of course I do realize that there are elaborate copyright 'laws' around plagiarism, and that issues of 'ownership' haunt these questions of writing and copying. But in the case of blogs, I would say it is a great opportunity to test some of these things and try to write outside of the normal and traditional constraints. Write without copyright; make art without fear of duplication. If you really believe in your own creative inspiration as an artist, then it should be impossible to take away. Furthermore, if people appear to 'steal' or borrow your words—then why not consider it that you've inspired them? I know this may sound radical, but I really believe that we have to treat this whole issue of plagiarism creatively and imaginatively rather than suspiciously and militantly. These are great issues that you have raised here, and I'm glad you are thinking about keeping your blog!
agree..agree and agree.. I definitely feel the same way about blogging. I mean this is entirely new experience for me since I have never used blog through my entire college life. And it's fun to see other people's post that is casual, but keeping its seriousness when talking about the keyword.
Although I'm not planning to continue the blog, coz i'm not much of a writer, but i seriously looking forward to read your blog in the future.
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