Part 2: Communication & Connection

The social networking technology of blogs, provide an exciting opportunity to keep in contact with friends, family or teachers, and make connections with people you don’t know. Blogs provide an opportunity to “shake hands digitally”[1] with people anywhere in the world, and at any time, not just in our immediate environment. It helps to reduce the distance between people physically, and create connections that were previously very difficult or impossible to achieve.[2] Blogs also have particular appeal for students and teaches as they enable them to create personal and community connections through forums like those that have been developed at the University of Leeds Elgg[3]

The nature of blogs facilitates this social interactivity and sharing. Whether it is through entering into conversations about what is written, viewing what has been posted through video photos and audio or linking to webpages or useful resources, connections are enhanced between blog users. However ‘if the words are dull, nobody will read them, and nobody will come back . If the words are wrong, people will be misled, disappointed and infuriated,. If the words aren’t there, people will shake their heads and lament your untimely demise’. [4] Thus to make connection you need to have something of interest for others to read. Walker suggests that by having an awareness that others may be reading what she had written she ‘took far greater care in my writing than I did whern scribbling notes in a notebook for my eyes only’.[5]
The standard of written communication therefore increases.

The appeal of Blogs as an asynchronous communication tool enables the user to respond any time day or night, and take as much time as needed to think and respond. They provide access to experts and other professionals beyound the boundaries of the home or classroom.

Blogs enable a user to identify that others are visiting your webpage which offers validation that people are interested in what they have to say, and increases their connection to others even if through cyberspace.

As more and more teachers begin to see the value of blogs, the e-networks will be enhanced, and resources for teachers, students and the community will expand. Blogs will provide the means to discover, extend, manage and enable communication and reach new social networks that would otherwise not be possible. Whether it is through sharing photos, comments or RSS feeds, blogs encourage a culture of sharing and connecting with each other which is most likely to increase as we become more net savey.