I must confess I have been reluctant to participate in Web 2.0. In the past, I have made attempts to follow blogs, but I simply could not keep up with the information deluge.
After our first DITA briefing, I realized I have been participating in Web 2.0 for at least four years - since a group of my friends created a LiveJournal account to keep in touch. This tool provides a centralized forum to facilitate communication and minimizes the effects of the physical distance between us.
After listening to Andy's lecture, I realized that our LiveJournal is an interactive blog. Previously, I thought that blogs were subject-specific and authored by an expert. While these criteria may hold true in some cases, the nature of blogs is much more diverse. As Andy pointed out, blogs, like the one my friends created, can serve to build and maintain social networks. Blogs are a vehicle for the dissemination of information; the form they take is molded by the goals and creativity of bloggers. Consequently, a reader must be aware of the need to scrutinize the quality and relevance of a blog's content.
I have opted to use Blogger.com to create my blog. I wanted to start from scratch to learn the ins and outs of blogging infrastructure. Blogger.com is a user-friendly site that provides a variety of templates to choose from and facilitates the process of posting entries. When I login, I arrive at my "Dashboard." From here, I can manage my blog: create or edit a post, adjust the settings and layout, create a profile, and monitor my "Reading List." For ease of reference, I have decided to label all my coursework-related posts "DITA," and title them according to the titles given to each task in the coursework specifications.
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