Information reformation: The blog revolution!

Information reformation: The blog revolution!

A product of the web, the blog (short for weblog–a diary or log) began to emerge as a new medium around 1999. Since its conception, it has grown out of online news casting, itself a remediation of cable news networks, and T.V. news networks, and has developed into its own medium–a virtual environment with unlimited potential. New technologies in the communication of information bring about radical change in existing hierarchies of power, and it is never pleasant for those at the top, as the Vatican discovered when Luther got his dander up (Hewitt, H., 2005, p. 63). The unique nature of a blog is the power of its format, the power of its potential, and the power of authorship; which revolutionized media in the digital age, by breaking down the hierarchy of the news media–empowering the individual to make a difference (globally) through one’s own personal expression textually and interactively!
[W]eblogs bring the Web–in theory–a leveler, a democratic medium–to the People (Rodzvilla, J., 2002, p. x–Introduction). The blog reformation has literally leveled the playing field, so to speak, between the news media and its individual audience members for anyone wanting to participate. The nature of the blog structure allows for unique developments in social networking and publishing. These new opportunities have changed our understanding and use of textuallity and our level of interactivity within the news media itself each day.
The blog has very uniquely empowered the individual by changing the ordinary citizen from readers and viewers to writers, editors and publishers. Just as email has made us all writers, weblogs have made all of us publishers (Rodzvilla, J., 2002, p. x–Introduction). No longer does one have to rely on professional journalists to find out what is going on around the world. The two main types of weblogs are structured blogs (usually pertaining to a certain subject or particular viewpoints) or free-style blogs (where one can talk about anything). At any given moment, a person can express their opinion about daily events or interest in various subject matters. There are weblogs for just about everything including: daily news events, food, photos, art, points of view, judgment, religion, socializing and many sites that cater to different professions. Some of the most popular weblogs are about politics or war, called poliblogs or warblogs respectively. Many are free and usually noncommercial. Thus, weblogs can be used as outlets – sources of empowerment where an individual can feel like they are making a difference or just a place where a person can vent one’s frustrations to millions of others who may share similar feelings (where one can gain a greater sense of solidarity). For many people, a weblog is a soapbox from which they can proclaim their views, potentially influencing many more people than they can in their everyday lives. (Rodzvilla, J., 2002, p. x–Introduction). Other ways in which blogs have become uniquely powerful forms of media in their own right, are that they are perfectly suited as natural global agents for social networking.
The powerful nature of weblogs are their virtues or characteristics of form, its potential use and power of the author – you. These are just some of the reasons it is a
unique medium. The virtues of a blog’s form (or intuitive option) are how it allows the user to interact with others on the internet. One can use it for short comments to express opinions about daily events, and naturally for the exchange of ideas, information, photos and art, or by exchanging social narratives, the blog site can be a very powerful or helpful devise for socializing.
A blog’s potential is virtually unlimited. One person can literally affect millions of people form all across the globe by the information one posts on a blog page. Your blog input may influence others and could actually help to change the world. For example one could post a short essay and photos on a popular blog site, expressing how one person or a group of people are making a difference in the world. Or a person can use a blog to shed light on a real-life situation, involving ongoing social struggles, which would presumably never get noticed otherwise.
The virtues or characteristics of the author and that author’s writing style or social message, can also be a powerful way of using a weblog to influence others from all over the world, and all walks of life. The power of the author can also be expressed through one’s own blog. With one’s own weblog, a person can be more than just an author. The creator of the blog is empowered as the editor and publisher of their own global media network. In this respect the capacity of a global blog site, again, is unprecedented – it can’t be matched!
In closing, I reiterate that blogs are not mere remediations of T.V. network news channels, cable news networks, or on-line news casting. Blogs have become new and unique forms of media with unmatched integrity all their own. They are revolutionizing
media in the digital age, and reforming the information age, by redefining society’s understanding of textuallity and interactivity through remediation of each of these older forms of communication media.















Kidd 6

References Page
Hewitt, L., (2005). Blog. Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Rodzvilla, J., (2002). We’ve got blog: How weblogs are changing culture.
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Perseus Publishing