Blogs

Blogs:

1. What is the difference between a blog and a book?
A blog and a book differ in many ways. A book is necessarily shorter. A blog is as long or short as you need it to be. A blog can allow you to skip the stuff you’re not too interested in, while a book does not offer that privilege. Once you close the book’s cover, then that’s it. You’re done reading and too bad if you are missing some information or would like to keep researching. It’s done. Go find another book. Meanwhile, a blog gives you links; it takes you to videos, pictures and other blogs. It may offer many different points of view, and you will never stop learning. You will never stop exploring. It would take a lifetime to finish studying a topic if you’re using blogs. Each blog takes you to another blog, and then another and another. Blogs are an updated version of books.

2. How have blogs changed recently?
Well, first of all, there are more blogs than ever. Every time a new blog is created, existing blogs are updated. New information is available, new points of view are available, and more readers are available, encouraging others to create new blogs and re-starting the cycle and creating a massive endless encyclopedia that is adding new information in every single second. However, some blogs are abandoned as well, and others can exclude the readers unless they are the blogger’s friends. Private conversations can sometimes go on in blogs that were not made with that specific use, and sometimes the blogger and his/ her friends can be talking about a topic that you have no idea about.

3. Why might you read a blog?
Well, Why not? As said in the text, blogs offer more points of view, there are blogs about everything and you can skip the bits of information you don’t want to know about. Blogs are permanently growing and new information is added every few seconds. The existing information is improved every time and…it does not waste as much paper!
Meanwhile, a book can stay lying on a shelf gathering dust after you read it, leaving you curious about the topic since you just didn’t find enough information, and leaving the book and its many pages there, useless.

4. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
Yes, there is reason to doubt the objectivity, but, that is exactly what is fascinating about blogs. You can read from many different points of view and not just from the one of the same, boring author. Anyways, you can always doubt objectivity on everything. People have feelings about stuff, so even if they try to hide those feelings to show “objectivity”, deep down we know they are not objective, so what’s the point in hiding them?

5. Identify three blogs that mention our summer reading.

http://e-cuneiform.blogspot.com/2009/01/canto-21-inferno-dante-alighieri.html

http://williamostrem.net/nl/2009/01/12/dantes-inferno/

http://mosquito-blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/white-phosphorus-in-gaza-dante-inferno.html