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January 25, 2005
Dear Diary...
Interesting article by Van Dijck. I like his histories and comparisons about and between diaries and blogs. I haven't thought of diaries in a long time. The last time i journaled steadily was when my life was a mess and my therapist insisted that I write to collect my thoughts and record my healing process (so I could see life improvments and be encouraged, I might add.) Because I have been introduced to blogs by academic peers and professors, it really hadn't occurred to me to think of blogs as digital replacements for those treasured hand-written volumes I keep in a box in the closet.
I understand, intellectually, the draw to blogs for personal journaling, but I am much more interested, and see much more potential for them than that. I think the list of uses in "Blogging as Breathing" is compelling, especially her suggestion for knowledge parsing and organization. The blog-as-tool seems to me to hold tremendous potential for knowledge making through writing--something compositionist firmly believe in.
Anyway, back to this article...I'm wondering if I understand what Dijck means by mediated communication. He seems to imply communication that technology has materially altered--like with telephone lines, typwriters, e-mail, and now blogs....but it seems to me that language has always been mediated--by cultural norms and rules, priveleged discourses, etc. So do digital scholars use mediation to specifically refer to advances in communications technology? Just curious and trying to get the lingo on board.
Posted by dwinslow at January 25, 2005 06:13 PM
Comments
You too, huh? My journals... I keep them in a locked truck with a box of really bad poetry and lame song lyrics. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I actually threw a few old journals out some years ago because they were so painful to read. Somehow, I don't know if I can bring myself to get personal with my blog. Madeline is circling around that in some of her posts too.
Posted by: mike at January 26, 2005 09:56 PM
I have a box in the closet too! On the box in big, black marker, I've written, "Destroy in the Case of Emergency Without Opening." A friend has been entrusted to take the box to the trash in case something ever happened to me. I've actually thought of burning them one new year's eve in a sort of burning bowl service.
I may get more comfortable with revealing more personal information as time goes on. Yet in the back of my head I think, my future students might read what I write, or my grandmother, or my mother, or my colleagues. Would I be comfortable with them knowing x, y, or z? Right now, it's not likely.
I think of blogs as creative nonfiction. There are some secrets we keep.
Posted by: Marcia at January 28, 2005 04:22 AM