Some of the respondents asked whether I planned to share others' feedback with folks, so I thought I would, with my comments in response. I hope I don't offend anyone by "outing" them. If you emailed me and I also emailed you solely personally, I didn't include you in this roundup. That means one person. Otherwise, this is the lot. *** LIST MEMBER Patricia Lange INPUT There's a reading by Bonnie Nardi called "Why we Blog" which I don't have the citation for to hand but you should find rather easily. [The link in question is http://www.darrouzet-nardi.net/bonnie/pdf/Nardi_why_we_blog.pdf . I also considered http://www.darrouzet-nardi.net/bonnie/pdf/Nardi_blog_social_activity.pdf ] For social action there is a recent special issue of Scholar & Feminist Online which you might be interested in: http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/blogs/index.htm Also, I didn't see citations for video blogging. I am studying the vlogosphere as part of an anthropology project. I have an article on social aspects of video blogging in the special issue called "The Vulnerable Video Blogger: Promoting Social Change Through Intimacy" http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/blogs/lange_01.htm And finally, if your course is orientated toward teaching people how to blog, there is a hand book called Secrets of Videoblogging by Michael Verdi and Ryanne Hodson that may be of interest. MY RESPONSE Pat's feedback was among the most useful because it identified a perceived gap or lack and offered readings and resources that could meet that need. I actually include a day on multimedia usage in blogs, defining that as audio, photography, and video. Pat's resources add valuable readings to the syllabus. That day, I plan to have, in addition to my lecture, a panel discussion featuring area podcasters, photobloggers, and videobloggers, so the input is especially welcome. *** LIST MEMBER Erika Pearson INPUT I am a little vague though on how you will be incorporating the blogs into class - both in terms of linking them to course aims and objectives, and how the student blogs fit into the assessment schedule. I am currently playing with different uses of blogs as part of the assessable work for my course, so I'd love to hear a bit more detail on your approach. MY RESPONSE I emailed Erika indicating that the class will largely be run using a blog, http://blogospherism.blogspot.com, and that it will share commentary, exercises, and other items. In between sessions, the class will be the blog -- and student blogs. In addition, the students will be assessed in part based on a blog they launch and run during the class, on a topic of their choosing. This is the first time I've used this method, and if welcome, I'll share feedback after the fact. *** LIST MEMBER Eric Goldman INPUT There are a number of legal aspects to blogging, including the problems with group blogs. See http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=898048 MY RESPONSE I will consider this resource and include it if appropriate. That session is relatively late in the course, so I haven't spent a lot of time on the link. That doesn't mean it's not useful. *** LIST MEMBER Peter Timusk INPUT Sorry if this seems anti American but you don't seem to have much international content this after all the Internet for instance I am in Canada and can suggest studies done by my employer statistics Canada for internet studies. I don't think they have blogs studied yet though yet. visit www.statcan.ca there are many other country blogs with native language and English. MY RESPONSE My bias toward the Web and blogging is that it's international in scope, so I tend to lean toward the implicit vs. explicit. That said, it's a valid point that my approach might not be _explicit enough_. Rest assured that the class will not focus solely on the American experience. Instead, international examples and issues will be woven throughout -- just like in the Web. My personal response to Peter might not have communicated this, because I was seeking concrete gaps in terms of topics and resources. Barring additional suggestions, I'm left to my own devices. *** Class starts Wednesday. I'm jazzed. Will let people know how it goes! Heath -- Heath Row | mediadiet.net | advercise.blogspot.com this email is: [ ] bloggable [ x ] ask first [ ] private listen to this: http://tinyurl.com/3bemo2