David Warlick’s blog at first was not for me. It took me a little while to really appreciate it for what it was. Unfortunately I was looking at it from the point of view Will Richardson gave in his book Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts: and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms maybe a little too much. Richardson describes true blogging as an author writing about a topic using information found from various internet sources and leaving links to these sources. I surfed around several of his posts, and did not find any examples of this. Instead I found posts on his thoughts in regards to how technology is changing our lives, and its impact on education. However while it may not often link (or at all from what I looked around) to sources, he did at least think deeper then events of the day. His topics focused mostly on education and technology, his most recent blogs for example were about America’s confidence in the education system and how the children today are involved in video games with constantly changing rules. I enjoyed these topics as they were written well and seemed to be more thought provoking for the reader, then just a soapbox for the author.
The other interesting thing about blogs is what a person can tell about the author by visiting the site. First is the obvious, which is what topics does the author usually bring up. But then there are the added things that Warlick has on his site, such as his “blog roll”, the part of his site that links to other blogs that he recommends. Each of these blogs all revolve around the same topic he writes about, how technology can (or I argue should) affect education. This shows that this is not just some minor interest of Warlick, but instead a major passion of his. It also gives him more credibility on the subject in my opinion, because while he may not site often in his posts to other authors, it shows that he has researched and read up on the topic. By following these other blogs, he is continually updating himself, and if he’s like me reading posts and giving serious thoughts to what other authors have to say. These other authors in turn may have an influence on his writing.
Another source of information on Warlick’s interests is his “Posterous Feed”, which has links to various articles on the internet, not blogs. These articles mostly center around science based topics, such as astronomy to once again education. Like I mentioned before when it came to Warlick having other blogs promoted on his site, these links reinforce not only his passions, but give you the impression that he is reading them as well, showing how well versed he is on these topics.
Warlick’s site is a great example of how connected information can become thanks to the internet. I can start out reading up on Warlick’s opinions on education, then easily link hop to learn about how scientists have found a planet they describe as being composed of diamond. I found that article as interesting, as it was random for his site. This interconnection of course continued because not only have I supplied a link to the article above, but when I first read about the expensive planet I was on AoL instant messenger. The first thing I actually did do was send the article to friends of mine who I knew would enjoy the article as well. I wasn’t even thinking about how Richardson spoke about how true blogging creates a network of information. I read the article and just knew my friends would love it and had to share it. In this case I feel that Warlick’s site is a successful example of a blog.
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