Pitstop: Let's Stop the Car And Talk About Academic Blogs

This is an academic blog, no way around it. It is a semester-long project for JOUR289I (Information 3.0), its purpose being to teach students how to maintain and coordinate a blog, learn about a specific field of study and its relation to technology, and inform the public about your own unique opinion on this field. As you know, my field is the automobile industry. This week, one of my posts must address how my field effects education. I have scoured my mind to try and figure out how automobiles effect education; honestly, I can't get anything beyond a car or bus is often used by students and faculty to get to class. So, the other option for this blog is to address whether an academic blog is a useful education tool or a waste of time. In my opinion, this blog project is one of the most useful and efficient academic assignments given to students.

In the given article , Sarah Lohnes clarifies that the academic blog must not be characterized in the context of an everyday "authentic" blog, but should be accepted as its own hybrid nature- a blog covering the rift between life in school and life out of school. This hybrid nature lays the foundation for what this academic blog should be- despite having no school for over a week, I find myself constantly planning when to write a new post and not just because I have its an assignment. I honestly love having a blog, even if it has to be educational. This blog requires me to learn more about my topic, analyze it, and write my opinion on it, all while keeping my absolute interest.

A traditional blog has a purpose, an inspiration, and an opinion. This academic blog has all those things, but with a direction- always bring the post's subtopics back to technology. Sometimes that requirement is challenging; sometimes I just want to write about my feelings towards cars and the auto industry. But, by forcing me to study up on my topic, I become very knowledgeable on the subject at hand- with this knowledge, I can not only provide an opinion, but I can back it up with data and research. Some "authentic" bloggers may disagree with the practice of "inauthentic" academic blogging, but, to be quite honest, it doesn't matter what others think. The only thing I should be concerned with is my opinion and the audience, which, surprisingly, is what "authentic" bloggers care about as well.