Reflections

Yeah, the video is more than a little corny to start a blog post with, but I haven't exactly made this blog into your standard everyday collection of words.

Blogging as a tool is used two dimensionally when it so clearly has many layers beyond that. The words are usually the most important part, but form and format are essential as well. A blog without the occasional picture or video or hyperlink is nothing more than an online diary.

It frustrates me because it's not visually stimulating, which means people won't find it interesting, which means people are even less likely to read it than they already are. Maybe it would help if I explain that I come from a background in newspaper layout design, so readability is highly important to me unless you are purposefully trying to manipulate your reader's perceptions.

Despite having particular blogs in mind as I write this, I don't mean to sound disparaging or arrogant, I want reading your blog to be an enjoyable experience not just for me, but for all your potential readers.

A couple days after my book group created our Queen City Jazz Cut-up blog, I went back and found a giant mass of text with one picture at the top. It was literally at least a couple thousand words in a single block of text. So I went through with creative intent and separated it into manageable sized chunks so I wouldn't feel overwhelmed trying to read it.

But right, I started this trying to reflect on my blogging experience of the last few months. It's been an exploration of both form and function, guided loosely by the readings but mostly as an exploration of what I can do with the medium. I've enjoyed it as an opportunity to look at the creative aspects of blogging.

I like writing and having interesting things to say, but I feel like finding information to go along with that writing is just as important, just like Plurk wouldn't be the same if you couldn't include YouTube videos and pictures. Since this is my personal blog appropriated for use in Nanotexts, I think this will be the last post to feature the Nanotexts tag, but I will definitely keep writing.