As you can probably already see from this blog I tend to only blog 2 or 3 times a month. Now this may seem very little but to me it has already been difficult to keep up. Is this simply because I'm a new blogger? I'm not sure. As most other bloggers of this kind will know it is often extremely difficult to find the inspiration to blog in the first place. But once that inspiration has been found and you begin to blog, how much is too much?
I was reading through a blog by Andrew Sullivan and he mentions how at any given week he can have a couple of hundred posts published on his blog. To me this seems excessive but then who am I to try and stiffen anyones inspiration or blogging methods. I would find it hard to find worthwile topics to publish on my blog that not only I found interesting but my readers as well. The last thing I want is to completely bore any readers or potential readers I have out there and have them abandon me entirely. By his own admission he acknowledges that readers would rather a few lines and a weblink than a 9,000 word treatise. So surely blogging a few hundred times in one week is overkill.
Generally blog subscribers have a number of favoured blogs which they might check on a regular basis. Who has the time to check enough to catch that many blogs in a week. At what point, since personal blogs are discursive; self-publishing and often self promoting, does your blog become indulgent and superfluous?
The price of process
4 days ago
7 comments:
Possibly because you're still not quite sure what it's supposed to be about?
My blog? Or my life? :-)
The blog!
Shit, I have no idea where my life is going and I'm at least a couple (!) of years older than you.
Most people start blogs 'cos they have something to say.
You are coming to it from a different point of view. More analytical for your dissertation.
Seriously, just blog your life for a bit. For example, the reunion offered a good example to start examining the 'relationship' we all have. Why has this dig brought so many very different people together?
I'm trying to keep the blog to a particular theme which is my research. (Which is has been helping a lot with!)
I don't want to start confusing the process by turning it into a diary. But saying that there are still a lot of personal issues that come into various topics in here.
This post in particular was just throwing out the question of how much blogging is too much. In my opinion no matter what type of blog you have, a couple of hundred blogs a week is too much. Just wondered what everybody else thought.....
I'd say a couple of hundred blogs a week is extremely high, n verging on obsessive (apologies if I offended anybody!).
The few other blogs i read are mostly personal, friends in other countries etc. Or sometimes pingoo which is just a bunch of ppl postin on things they like or find funny. Not on uni comps tho, it is run by a bunch of guys!
You've picked a really difficult topic, but its interesting :) I agree that keepin this blog on the dissertation is prob. more helpful to you.
Well, yes and no.
In any case I meant blog your archaeological life, sorry for not making that clear.
Wikipedia defines a blog as:
"A blog is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video"
I just don't think that what you have here fulfills that criteria yet.
At that moment it's more like a discussion forum. Which isn't to say that the questions aren't valid or that's it's not a good idea.
I just feel that if you want to get a deeper understanding of something then you have to do it.
How many times is too much? I think an upper limit is dependent on what you have to say. If you are including news feeds then why not hundreds of items a week? It means more search hits.
I'd also turn round the question and ask how much is too little?
If isn't at least once a week I'd have to ask if the blogger really has something to say. Again, the more you blog the more response you'll get.
Don't get me wrong I'm not having a dig (pun!) at all. I just think you'll get more out of it for your dissertation the more you write.
I think it's very difficult to define exactly what a blog is. The definition you give from Wikipedia is just a broad description of one and over the years blogs have developed and grown into many different things. Saying this blog doesn't fulfil the criteria of your definition may be true but that isn't to say 'It's not just a trowel...' can't be a useful and successful blog in its own right.
I agree that maybe on occassion the blog hasn't been used to its full potential and as I wrote before I think this is mainly due to me being a new blogger not that I don't know what to blog about. There are always ideas and topics of interest that pop into my head that I think oh yes I'll blog about that. BUT.... I'm very aware that what I write will be read by people so there's a part of me that puts a guard up. I admire the bloggers who can blog dozens of times a day or week because they must feel so free to do so.
I think that kind of blog confidence only really comes with experience.... or if you're just completely fearless!!
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