Thursday, February 12, 2009

Blogging with authority - linking matters.

Blogging on steroids - You Twit! Join me twitter.com/viewmagazine

Funny how something rather innocuous is a fav put down here.

Phd week next week and I'm knackered. That's when 40 plus cohorts and the supervisory team meet on campus at the University of East London to peer review, learn new theories of knowledge, and rebuild contacts and confidence.

That we all have different disciplines, from Dance, Virtual Worlds, to Art makes it extremely interesting. For often it's outside our own contained worlds that we pick on new ideas that influence our own.

One thing that has struck me regarding Phd submissions is the world of difference that exist between writing academically and journalistically. Though each requires attribution, in academia, rules such as Harvard's citation reference is a prerequisite.

In the blog world standards can be more loose, to the point that by dint of what we often say, every one's an expert.

We gesticulate, offer opinions to defend, as well punt our positions. I do it regularly. It is the commentators' prime armchair position, where one often feels emboldened by one's own knowledge.

Knol, google's equivalent of the blog, Wiki of course too, challenge those lofty spots we take. If it's not backed by a credible source forget it.

The most difficult aspect of writing for a journal if you ask media grad students is "attribution".

And while there's nothing wrong with commentatory, its credibility often comes with either years of experience from the writer or being privy to a unique birds eye view/ position of events.

Self authorship, the latter has become the web's standard, but if you are considering journalism as a career, you might want to consider honing reports about what others say.

If you're at wemedia in a fortnight, see you there. The line up is looking sick! as in really good!

No comments: