Shackner

"Maybe it's no surprise, given how empowering it can be to have one's own thoughts transported instantly across the globe."
Wow, just the thought of that excites me. Thinking about how something that I say may impact someone in Australia, Israel or Japan. Someone else in the world could grow to respect me due to something I said online. I could say things so profound that I could incite others discussions. The influence that comes from a web log seems to be amazing.

“Most blog entries are routine, such as a list of what not to miss about high school.”
I chose this quote because I think it’s important to realize that there can be good and bad in blogging. Some students use blogging to make a stand or warn fellow classmates with what’s happening in their school. Blogs can also be routine when someone uses one as a way to journal their thoughts or talk about their day.

"Maybe it's no surprise, given how empowering it can be to have one's own thoughts transported instantly across the globe. But once there, they become fodder for anyone who is inclined to turn an author's words against him."

I think it's important for any person, but especially a student who typically has no voice, to realize that their words can make a difference to people in their own country and even around the globe. What they have to say IS important and I think that it is exciting to know that people from every walk of life with access to the internet could read what you wrote. However, people do need to monitor what they write because, like the author said, it can become fodder for any type of attack against the blogger. While one person may feel that a personal attack against a roommate, friend, or coworker is justified by that person's actions, sooner or later, those words will come back to bite them. If they don't, then I think that person is incredibly lucky.

"Soon, the author himself was responding all the way from England, pledging to re-examine an upcoming edition giver her critique."

This information shocked me for different reasons. I was shocked the author responded. I was most shocked that a student's blog could have such a powerful effect that would influence future textbook readers around the globe. I know very little about blogs and honestly didn't think many people read them. I thought bloggers blogged to write, not to be read. This article gave me insight into the world of blogging and changed my previously negative opinion. Before reading the article, I thought blogs were pointless, but now I see how they can be useful and powerful.

"Students find that their musings on topics from Plato to video games have been discovered by a parent back home who typed their name into a search engine such as Google. Or they'll discover their homework was incorporated hundreds of miles away into a stranger's Internet research."
This made me wonder if any of my ideas or thoughts posted online has had an affect on anyone. It never struck me that other people from around the world could find something I wrote, let alone possibly incorporating it into a research paper. What are the chances? I guess blogging and the internet makes the world a smaller place and ideas easier to exchange.

"If they present themselves as intelligent thinking human beings, they will be rewarded. If not, then they won't be." I must be thinking Disney tonight because when I read this, it made me think of Thumper's mother always telling him that if he didn't have anything nice to say, then he shouldn't say anything at all. Then I thought about it again. It's alright to disagree with someone, but you'll sound (and look) like you actually have a brain if you disagree because of a point and not simply want to argue over an instinctual response. If someone has a good grasp of the English language and knows how to use it, then people still may not agree with you, but they might give you points for presenting your side in a respectable manner.

"But every so often, something unexpected happens and a broader discussion ensues." I always wrote journals, it was my own way of getting out everything and I could easily hide them in my room so my parents and older brother couldn't read what I wrote. I started using a blog at the age of 13 on OpenDiary.com, basically this was my way of being the average ranty teenager. When I was about 15 I thought I matured from that stage, so I started using a Xanga. Now I've been using my Seton Hill blog, and have really neglected my Xanga. Anyway - I have experience in this blogging area, and this quote struck me because, YOU CANNOT HIDE YOUR BLOG, you can hide a journal. I can tell you first hand that I have gotten in trouble and just general attention from my blogs, though not always bad...still something to look out for. Broader discussion is the minimal that I think blogs bring along when you really start using them.

“Students find that their musings…have been discovered by a parent back home who typed their name into a search engine…Or they’ll discover their homework was incorporated hundreds of miles away into a stranger’s Internet research.” This quote really shocked me. I never really considered how easily accessible material posted on the internet really is. I find the fact that someone could use something I posted on the Internet in their research to be an amazing concept. But it also throws a cautionary note at me. Because it is so easy to find information on the web, we need to be all the more aware when utilizing information on the Internet. It may seem neat to think that someone else could incorporate my comments in his or her research. However, if I were in their place I would not want to use my comments, since I am no expert. We all need to be really careful about where our sources come from, and not only about what we post ourselves.

Jessica thought that the textbook for her class was biased and that the author "seemes like a bitter man". She didn't just blurt out her thoughts, she blogged them.
These are just her thoughts and freedom of speech is suppose to be allowed. I don't feel that she should have been in any sort of trouble.

"He views his own blogs as a far cry from the all-opinion rants of his freshman year. 'I've learned to do better research, so I don't sound like I'm someone angry at the world.'"
I learned during my first semester how I need to control my opinions and arguments. One of the first assignments I had in my Thinking and Writing class was to write an argumentative paper. Well, I definitely argued my point but it was so strongly one sided that I came off as "someone angry at the world". I've learned since then not only how to better back up my opinions, but how to present them in a way that leaves room for others' opinions and suggestions.
I don't know much about blogs, but I hope they can help me to become a better writer, especially when it comes to writing about my opinions.

"Maybe it's no surprise, given how empowering it can be to have one's own thoughts transported instantly across the globe."

I saw this quote and thought wow I guess it is true blogs do go across the world. It not something that anyone really thinks about much any more. Usually a person writes a blog and posts it with no worries as to who will see it or read it, and when you actually think about it, it is amazing how something can travel so fast to so many places all by the push of a few keys. I just really liked this quote because it made me think how amazing the internet and blogging is and has become.

"He views his own blogs as a far cry from the all-opinion rants of his freshman year. I've learned to do better research, so I dont sound like I'm someone angry at the world."

I liked this quote because of its realism. It shows the difference because an opinion, and an informed opinion. Anyone can say that they hate or love something, but if they can support it with facts, quotations, etc., then it makes their opinion that much more reputable and validated if found by family, friends,faculty, or employers.

"But once [ the thoughts are] there, they become fodder for anyone who is inclined to turn an author's words against him." Before I read this article, I did not know that some people took blogs so seriously. Surely, the person is allowed to disagree with the person who writes the blog, but he or she shouldn't preceed to verbally tear that writer apart.

"'There's a difference between just saying 'You're wrong,' and saying, 'I disagree because of point one and point two,'he said. He views his own blogs as a far cry from the all-opinion rants of his freshman year. 'I've learned to do better research, so I don't sound like I'm someone angry at the world.'" I liked this quote because it still offers that hope and reassurance of speaking freely in blogs, but maintaining a sense of structure and making it clear that you know what you are saying, that it is true and you have the evidence to prove it. If one maintains a level of respect and professionalism in blogs, it won't come back to haunt you. Saying something just out of anger or emotion towards something or someone else is fine, but make sure it is true. You don't want to come off as some crazy person who doesn't really know what they're talking about.

"Soon, the author himself was responding all the way from England, pledging to re-examine an upcoming edition given her critique." Wow. That is truly amazing that the author contacted her. Blogs really seem to be the door to global communication. The only experience I had that was slightly similar to that was after I posted my musical reccommendations for those who were trying to learn Spanish on the Spanish Club blog, someone commented on it, thanking me for my advice because she was moving somewhere where they spoke mostly Spanish and was trying to improve her ability to speak the language. I was so excited to see that my blog affected somebody that I did not even know. I also received a comment asking me for advice on how to start a Spanish Club. It truly is a wonder to see how a single blog can reach out to so many people.
Hmm. Maybe I should write a critique of a Stephen King novel on my blog, and then he'll dedicate his next book to me. :) Just an idea.

"...students were more likely to discover boundaries themselves, sometimes by a rough experience. That happened at the University of South Carolina when student bloggers who linked themselves to an off-campus political site had their writing mercilessly picked apart, each grammatical error held up for ridicule on the Web."
At first I was scared by this concept. I knew that people outside of this school may come into contact with my blogs, but I never imagined that someone would be interested or threatened enough to negatively criticize my writing. I expected disagreement from peers, but never such harsh criticism. This puts into perspective the power and influence our writing gives us. If published authors and political figures care enough about our blogs to comment on them, then we know our writing counts in the world beyond Seton Hill.

"All they have to do is print it out and they have proof." Unfortunately, this is the scary truth. When you post something on the Internet it falls into the hands of all the people on a computer. When you think about how technology based our society has become, that's a lot of people. I believe the internet and blogs to be a dangerous place to put out any opinions or information about ones self. When students at the age of sixteen, seventeen post a blog they are not thinking of who might see this years from now but instead they just want their voice to be heard. Once you post anything on the internet it is there FOREVER! Future employees, friends, co-workers, and many other people can take something you posted years ago and use the content of that text against you. That is why I believe it is very important to understand what you are putting out there and take responsibility for your work.

Sooo don't call me a suck up or anything but, I chose a particular quote from Dr. Jerz in this article on the importance of filtering your thoughts.
"I remind students that their blogs are public," he said. "Someday, they'll be in a job applicant pool, and a potential employer will run their name through Google, and the angry ranting Web log they wrote at age 17 will turn up."

I know that anger and negative comments spread by word of mouth which is bad and they're even worse when they are documented on a blog for the entire world wide web to see. A blog can be your own personal rant page but there are consequences. Even if you're ranting about a computer-illiterate student or professor, these guys may have friends who aren't. It only takes a click of a button to ruin a reputation nowadays.

So maybe you don't get caught posting rumors and negative opinions about that person.....YET.

At least 4 years down the road, a curious employer may google your name looking for a reason NOT to hire you. He or she finds some disturbing, yet long-forgotten blog entries from the college years. Aren't you learning to be professional in college? Clearly it hasn't worked and there goes your 6 salary career out the window all because you couldn't keep your ill-mannered thoughts to yourself.

Personally, I'm not a negative person, however when I have my days, I certainly am not going to post something on my blog that I wouldn't want the world to see. Plus my mommy raised me right, If I don't have anything nice to say, I don't say it at all.

I bet we had to read this because you were featured in it, eh Dr. Jerz? Hah, I kid. Anyways, one quote in particular interested me:

"His client, a Marquette University dental student, recently was suspended for the balance of the school year and told he must retake the fall semester for posting criticisms about classmates and professors on a private site."

This, along with several other instances mentioned in this article, made me realize even more that you have to be careful of what you post on the internet. Freedom of speech on the internet is not always a good idea, since something you say may come back to haunt you.

I confess, Jessie, I do feel that the reporter's validation of the points I wanted to make really does help me to make the point I want to make in this class. When you write for your blog, you're writing for a real audience, not just me, and that means you really need to think about what you are writing, instead of just treating it like busywork. But I don't think I'd have assigned the article if it were just me in the story -- the fact that several SHU students were featured, and that if you wish you can look up their blogs right now, helps me make the point that you, too, can have an impact via what you put on your blog. (Lauren's example is a good one.)

"I remind students that their blogs are public," he said. "Someday, they'll be in a job applicant pool, and a potential employer will run their name through Google, and the angry ranting Web log they wrote at age 17 will turn up."

In the past few years I have been following stories in which employers either fired employees or refuse to hire people based on Google searchers and web blogs. Personally, I do not think that it is the employers business to be snooping into a person’s personal life. Web logs are just an electronic version of a diary that people post so their friends can read and share in their experience. Sometimes people need to vent, and they use their blogs instead of actual people to do such.

Maybe it's no surprise, given how empowering it can be to have one's own thoughts transported instantly across the globe. But once there, they become fodder for anyone who is inclined to turn an author's words against him. i feel that this holds every true within writing. a person could write something down that they feel is harmless and that will not hurt anyone, but the minute that the wrong person reads it and starts to think more into it, it only can become a problem. there are different ways to interpret things that are written and many people will read one way and take personal offence to something that has no direct corelation to them or their lives. its all a matter of the reader and how they read what is written in plain black and white in front of them.

Jeanine, I'm glad we live in a society where people have the right to vent if they want to, but if they choose to vent publicly, then employers also have the right to use whatever criteria they want if they need to choose among several different qualified applicants.

Vent if you must, but don't use the real names of people you want to attack. (Your close circle of friends will know who you're talking about anyway, right?)

I'm very conscious that if I have a bad day at work, and I rant about it on my blog, that might make students wonder whether something they did made me mad, and that will affect our professional relationship. I don't actually have an anonymous blog, but when I brought up the idea at a conference, plenty of other blogging academics started looking up at the ceiling and humming. So it's possible to fulfill one's need to vent without damaging a personal relationship. I think if an employer saw that you do get mad sometimes, but that you have constructive ways of dealing with that anger through a weblog that lets you work out your frustration but without exposing another human being to an attack, that would be a point in your favor.

Whether employers *should* toss a resume in the trash can because of what they find online is one issue. The fact that employers can and do make hiring decisions this way is something that I think young people should really know.

You might not want to work for someone who would fire you for letting your emotions show online, and you might never be happy if you have to worry about controlling yourself all the time. So I'm not trying to change anyone's behavior, just making sure that whatever you do online, you do with the understanding that even if you set your profile to private, all it takes is a nasty break-up for someone on your friend list to copy all your secrets and post them in a place that's more public than you expected. Or maybe Facebook or MySpace will change their terms of service on you and suddenly you'll have to pay money in order to keep some details private. It's really sobering when you realize just how much information social networking sites get from you, and how much money they make by selling that information to advertisers who want to get money out of you any way they can.

"In another generation, these students would have simply been users of a computer," Dr. Jerz said. "Now, they are co-creators of the Internet."
Older generations found more aggressive ways to make society a where of their objections and opinions. The student body of today’s community really speaks out to the world. We are all involved with the Internet connecting to everywhere much faster than even Television can transport a message. Our ability to utilize the Internet is equivalent to the power of voting. Then difference is that on the Internet your age doesn’t matter as long as you can be convincing.
"All they have to do is print it out and they have proof," Milwaukee lawyer Scott Taylor, said.
As far as this lawyer, I disagree. I wouldn’t want him to defend me in a case using Internet if he is just going to give up as soon as they have printed out something that I supposedly did. I think this issue needs to be reviewed better. As easy as it is to prove it’s really it is just as easy to fake an Internet document.

"She said students were more likely to discover boundaries about themselves, sometimes by a rough experience." I agree that sometimes it takes a serious mistake to wake and realize that everything you put on the web can be accessed by anyone.