Writing on paper and blogging are very different because you have a different atmosphere and the things you tend to write about are different.  Online you want to write about what is going and the most recent issues but on paper we tend to write about the same topics that have been going on for a long time. Online writing tends to be more informative while on paper writing is more analytical.

    Myspace and youth voices are different as well because myspace isn't for school so you can write more about your personal life and youth voices is read by more than just your friends so you might tend to stick to the topics and not add personal information.

    Next week on my blog I hope to add different feeds to my reader so I can stop writing about just the news or sports.  Recently those were the only topics I was interesting but the news is so depressing and volleyball is over so there are no good sports to write about.  I'm learning that there are more interesting news stories I could have written about or just other things I'm interested in such as music or movies. I would like to keep the random and funny news articles every now and then because they tend to be quite intriguing as well.

When I sit at my computer, preparing myself to write virtually anything, I instantly feel as though it's easier to write. Like my creative juices are flowing more. When I sit in a class room full of other students, on the other hand, I feel different. Possibly because in class we are told what to write about, as where when you write for recreation the possibilities are endless.

Being part of the "myspace generation" has its ups and downs. Myspace is a great way to stay in touch with people, but the popularity aspect of it drives me crazy. There is a big difference to me between blogging and talking with people on myspace. Myspace has more of a social feel (Although I have posted the occassional blog on there too.); you can say whatever you want to any one of your friends, they reply, and a conversation begins. When blogging, however, it's more of a one sided thing. You can say whatever you wish, but it isn't necessarily in a conversational manner.

    The topics I blog about are important- at least to me.  A good portion of the stories we blog about are relavent, if not important, whether it be saving oceanic coral reefs or  the national debt. It is important to be concise and get your point across, in case you have noticed; thats what this blog provides, a platform to improve your writting, connect with others and express yourself. I think snippets are a very good thing to put in your posts, though not critical. For me the snippet anchors my posts, it drives home the main point of the article, or in some cases injects that little bit of intrests or shock value needed.

    I have been posting about issues that catch my attention, like the national debt, what is news worthy and scientific research. Next week I hope I can find another interesting article to blog about. I don't know if I would classify my posts as 'really good' but then again I never really classify any of my writing as 'really good'. However, one of my goals this year is to get to the point where I consider all of my writing 'really good'

4)  When I was first told to start blogging for school, I wasn't a big fan of it.  I thought it would be the exact same as writing on paper, therefore, a waste of time. However, the more I do it, the easier it is to see some major differences.  On blogs, I often think differently, analyzing my thoughts in a completely different way.  When we write in journals, I write more for myself, just to get my thoughts down. I may write about something I read in a book or what a certain book made me feel. But, when I write on paper my thoughts aren't usually as complete, because they are just for me to read. However, on blogs I have the chance to research many different topics, whatever strikes my fancy that day.  It seems more like it's writing to form an opinion, rather than just writing for yourself.  I am able to express my opinion on many different matters and allow other people to read them.

3)  Next week on my blog, I am most likely going to look up some more informatoin on National Geographic. It has a lot of interesting articles about almost everything. Rather than writing about the same topic everyday, I am able to write about a little bit of everything and learn about almost every subject. It is quite interesting.

 

    This whole experience has been something new before because it made me actually go out and read what is going on in the world around me, stuff that I wouldn't have know about if I wasn't blogging in this network. This is a totally new experience, because I have never blogged on a network like this before, let alone blogged on anything else. It always seems to be a lot easier for me blog than to write something on a sheet of paper or word. I only kind of understand why that is either, which, I think, is because when I blog, it feels more like I am showing more of what I am interested in and I am not given anything specific to write about, which makes my life about a hundred times easier. Also it seems like you get more of the voice of the person rather than them trying to make an essay sound all professional and diplomatic. I write how I actually talk on here so makes my life easier because I don't sit here and spend more of my time trying to think up how to make my writing sound "smart."

     What makes a good blog depends on the reader.  No blog will ever appeal to everyone.   Personally, a good blog will have a casual tone.  Nothing too verbose and formal, but also not too loose and indecent . It will feel like someone is talking to you in a good conversation (you reply with a comment). The blog should give a complete story, without excessive details. Short and direct.  Images and snippets are always welcome, especially if the blog is lengthy.  Pod-casts are a little annoying to me, so no need for pod-casts.

    I am not totally up to speed with blogging.  It still feels pretty new even though my class has done so much of it first quarter. The hardest part of blogging on youth voices is finding what to blog about. When given 15 minutes to post a blog, at least 12 minutes go toward exploring Google reader for a decent topic to write about in 3 minutes.  Consequently, my posts are no where near what I have defined as a "really good" blog.  They are indeed short, but don'tdevelop as much as I'd like. On a different note, I have added three friends who in return added me.  I haven't managed to go around to comment their blogs, but will eventually. Besides, no one has commented mine.  

     In the future, I hope to find a topic that will move me to type a more than decent blog.  I have to say that this reflective blog is pretty interesting, and would like to do it again at the end of second quarter.  Hopefully I will be reflecting on my excellent blogging skills that I will develop throughout this quarter.  

     

     

I think that the main difference between the writing we are doing on youth voices and the writing we do in other areas is how interesting it is to the writer. Blogs are often a personal subject that reflect the interests of the person who is writing the blog. Because of this, I think that the best blogs are about a subject that the author is very passionate about. I think that if the person can make the blog interesting to themselves there will invariably be other people who find it fascinating as well, regardless of issues such as length or images.

    In contrast the writing we do in the journal or for essays is a bit more formal and on a topic that might not be as interesting. I think this provides both positive and negative effects. Because the writing is more formal effort will probably be put into making sure everything is grammatically correct and the style of writing will be less stream of conciousness. On the other hand, the writing will be about a subject that the author is less interested in, and he or she will most likely have less interesting things to say about the subject matter. I  belive that the differences between the two forms of writing make both worthwhile for completely different reasons.

    This year I have started to do some blogging in school.  This is a new experience and different from just writin on paper.  In a way I have enjoyed blogging more that writing.  I think that this is partially because of some of the tools that are available to you.  I enjoy having the internet at your disposal to lookup words you don't know, find interesting information, and many other tools.  When you are blogging I feel that you have a little more freedom than you do writing.  When you are writing you have to focus on writing and you can't really talk with friends.  If you are a good typer, you can talk with your friends more because your fingers automatically hit the keys you need.  When you are writing on paper, if you make a mistake, you might have to erase a lot and then make it so you can fit in the extra words.  If you are typing, you can just type in the new information and the computer will automatically make the words fit.

    On Youth Voices, I wish I knew how to find people I know and then add them to my friends list.  If I could do that, there would be chance that we could just talk to each other via Youth Voices.  That would be nice to do because then we could talk about stuff when we're at home.

    So far I have thought that Youth Voices hasbeen really cool.  To me this is a kind of way for you to talk to kids your age and to show people your writing.  This could allow people to find new friends and create a network of pen pals.

    In your blogs I think that you need to keep them interesting.  If you don't, people might find them boring and just stop reading it.  I think that people might also keep reading something if it is a little bigger but not if it is extremely long.  This is because people nowadays have a really short attention span and would rather find something that they enjoy.

Writing vs. Blogging

      When I think about writing I kind of actually dread it. I prefer blogging to writing because it just seems a lot easier and even, in a weird way, a lot more fun. I never grew up with a computer or the internet so when I discover new things online I enjoy them and am curios about them. On the other hand I have been writing my entire life and I know pretty much what the lowdown with it is. I also feel that you can express yourself a lot easier with a great deal more privacy and secrecy. It is very hard to get published as a author of books but pretty much every blog post is a published writing piece because almost the entire world can read it with ease.

 

MySpace vs. Youthvoices.net

    Personally, I see Myspace as a highly socail site. I do not picyure it as a place where you would talk or write about things like the news or something of importance to others and not just yourself. Youthvoices .net is a lot etter because it's still a social site but you can express feelings about worldly issues without critizism.