Unit 3 Blog Response

Floating Out On The Wibbly-Wobbly Blog-o-sphere:

What does it mean to be a part of a wider, online, virtual community?. Based upon my personal experiences, the one descriptive that I would say embodies that, is "All of the 'usual' rules need not apply!." By 'usual' I am thinking of all of the regular societal norms, values and communication cues that we are accustomed to encountering as a part of our In Real Life (IRL) everyday lives. Community, in broader terms means a sense of collective effort, and common or shared goals and experiences. Conversely, I regard being part of a blog-o-sphere as being a lot more fluid and free. Yet, in different sorts of ways. For example, I can use my blog dashboard to control my privacy, and interaction with others, which is something which is not always possible during the course of our offline lives. While in other ways, posting in our blogs as individuals simply puts us out there amongst all of the other blog 'soup'. Therefore, differentiating ourselves and our writing, and by extension, our personal identities and personalities, from those millions of others, may prove to be much more difficult. Starting a blog and writing in it, is reasonably straightforward, given the scale of modern technology and the versatility of computer browsers.

However, creating a visible community prescence, takes time, patience and developing your own visibility. Also, our readability. This, as I've discovered through a lot of trial and error, is more than about coming up with something interesting and entertaining to write about on a regular basis. Being part of a blog-o-sphere is about establishing and maintaining communication and meaningful connections with fellow bloggers and our reading audience. It's about reading, commenting and offering feedback to others. Or, as some sociologists and cultural studies theorists may say, "weaving your own web of social and culktural significance". In its own, unique way, my blog is a wider expression and extension of myself. Directed towards a much more varied and vibrant collective of people. Traditional boundaries (cultural and social) are stretched or dissolved, altogether, and this form of communication can invitie new realms of possibilities, discussions, debates and conversations.

Belonging to this wider, blogging community is also about me having an open forum where I can be continually strengthening and stretching my online writing style. In essence, I get in return what I choose to put in to put in to this writing endeavor and the expectations and intentions that go with this.

Some people are too shy, reticent or uncertain of themselves to comment in others blogs. They need not be, in my opinion. That said, I'm pretty comfortable with online communication, but that comfort zone and sitautional awareness are qualities that I've worked on, over a number of years, already. To me, commenting is one of the main ways that I can share and develop a relationship with a fellow blogger. From past experience, this has sometimes been with people whom I would not ordinarily have had the chance to meet, under usual social circumstances. Yet, through my previous blogs, I have also managed to establish some long-standing friendships and connections. So, I am really looking forward to extending my tiny footprints a little further out into the largely unquantifiable blog-o-sphere. Will you join me?.