Highlights for Childre... er, CLAMmers

From Morguefile.com

Your colleagues blogs form a network of rich resources to help you as you work toward refining your digital and cultural literacies this term. The links to the right ---> will take you to the blogs of the other members of your community of scholars. Visit them. Check out their posts. Post comments. Ask questions. Share ideas.

Here are a few examples of your classmates work from which you might draw instruction or inspiration:

• Your Colleague Karen (http://cuinbelgium.blogspot.com/http://cuinbelgium.blogspot.com/) has already taken lots of photos, without waiting for specific instructions on "what" to shoot. This will come in handy for her later. So, follow her lead - take lots of digital snaps and lots of b-roll video. You can always get rid of footage you have, but you can't add footage you don't.
• CLAM Alum Keith McGregor remembered to have someone help him shoot, so he could be in some of his pics. (http://abrilliantexpedition.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-of-elderlyand-some.html) I always forget to do that!
• CLAM Alum Zach Cerny took some unusual photos that later added some unique flavor to his projects: http://zachcerny-clamchowder.blogspot.com/2009/07/spring-break-pics.html
• Your Colleague Elizabeth posted a really cool video about the rise of social media at her cleverly named entry, "A Facebook in the Crowd": http://elizabethbarcus.blogspot.com/2011/01/face-book-in-crowd.html
• Your Colleagues Ellen & Robert have good examples of the photo editing exercise in conventional format; Patty & Leigh both have horrendously messy huge photos (OK I exaggerate a bit here, for effect) that illustrate just how many pixels lives are saved by responsible photo editing.
• CLAM Alum Jennifer McAmis used Picasa as a way to keep and organize her pics - and to keep handy for posting and project building: http://jennmcamis-clam.blogspot.com/2010/04/pictures-while-you-wait.html. Others have used similar photo sites like Flickr, etc.

ROFL about my Blog Lingo

What kind of writing is appropriate for blogging? When faced with new and evolving new media practices, it is good to observe convention as a clue to the language of that medium. Every medium has literacy practices that are unique to that medium. For example:

• Delivering a live speech is not the same as writing an essay. (Orality has demands writing knows not of... such as tone, pace, etc.)
• Phone conversations are not text messages. (If you actually SAY "LOL" in a conversation, then there's a problem.) 
• Text messages are not tweets. (A lion's share of business communication is now done via email, and 140 characters is just enough message to guarantee misunderstanding and inefficiency.)
• And blogs are not articles for publication, but neither are they live chats.
• Technorati published a list of the top blogs. A survey of these blogs reveals that the writing is grammatically correct, thoughtful and vigorous. The tone, length and pace may vary from blog to blog, but certain conventions of "good writing" carry across all of these.

Check Out Some Top Blogs

So, what am I saying? Write well. even in your blogs. even in short blogs. Even in blogs where other media predominantly carry your message. Because, come on, you don't ever want someone to say, "I liked your blog, but TMZ and Perez Hilton have much better grammar and writing that you have."

coz, like OMG that would be so lame, IMHO. k?