Blogging about blogs!

My goodness, how did it get to be a week before graduation? I vaguely remember this buzz in my ear saying that Spring Break was almost over, and now here we are with two days of finals left. How did that happen?!?

So with the end of 396 this spring, I've completed a year-long experiment in requiring blogs from students. Feedback has been mixed to mostly positive--and I figure even for folks who aren't at all into it, they're able to speak from experience now. It's been a worthy experiment, tied to Henry Jenkins' book Convergence Culture, which talks about convergence as something that's happening in audiences as much or more than in hardware (hence his term "black box fallacy" to describe the PS3, the iPhone, or what have you).

I'd be curious to hear from 396ers on this--what's your take on this blogging thing? Was it valuable to have an alternative venue for working through your thoughts and ideas regarding media studies? Did it give you any added sense of "community" in 396 or beyond? And hey: anyone continuing after the course? (Let me know, and I'll link you as an alum on my site--feel free to do the same!)

With finals winding down (yeah right, 25 research papers are due in 42 hrs 28 min) I'm hoping to get back on the blogging wagon. In the meantime, here's what NOT to do for your video blog:

Sox, McMillan, and blogging about blogs

Another 6 a.m. start for the Red Sox, allowing my to serenade my wife with the "1-800-54-GIANT" jingle while she showered this morning (complete with my Supremes-wannabe shimmy...don't ask). Things were pretty much sealed with a 3-run homer by Emil Brown (still available on the waiver wire, fantasy players!), so the collection of folks getting their cars serviced at the local Toyota dealership glumly watched the 9th on the beautiful wall-mounted flat-screen that we were all helping to pay for (several times over, I'm sure)....

I regret not pushing the Terry McMillan talk, which took place last night @ BSC, harder than I did for my students (a la Spike Lee). I myself hadn't read anything by her before she was announced as this semester's "Presidential Speaker," and even now I'm only 2/3rds of the way through her second novel, Disappearing Acts (1989). McMillan was not only engaging, she was riveting. She read from a work in progress (which she promises will be unrecognizable when it finally is published) that is a sequel to her best-seller Waiting to Exhale (1992). It definitely pushed me to read that next, and look for the follow-up when it arrives (in 2009?).....



Finally, I've set up a new list on the sidebar to go along with what I'm currently watching, listening to, and reading. I'm offering up links to several other blogs--both academics working in media studies, and former students of mine that have continued their blog writing. So far I only have two up: Bob Rehak is an old classmate who now teaches outside of Philadelphia, and Tim Haber is a 396 alum doing a semester abroad in New Zealand. Check them out!