what do blogs mean to you

Around the beginning of this academic year, the kcai design department began to institute a mandatory policy of creating class specific web-logs as a tool to keep students up to date with ongoing projects easily. These free yet canned websites, basically serve as virtual bulletin boards for the on campus design community. This was probably a good idea in its initial spirit, because they can help clear up confusion amongst students and allows for a convenient platform to disseminate information. However, this “original spirit” has become so illusive that it does not even exist anymore.

Teachers have begun to mandate more and more activity on every blog from students. This normally wouldn’t seem like a ridiculous requirement even for me, but only if there was a point to this online activity at all. What has happened is that students are for the most part commenting on readings or links which we have already discussed in class. This is the embodiment of useless busy work, which is something that I am not paying a ridiculous amount of money in tuition to participate in.

The other thing which teachers instruct students to do on these blogs is to create “discussion starters.” If you think about this phrase for a solid minute within its context you’ll be lucky if your brain doesn’t explode from the shear absurdity. The idea that real discourse can happen through 12 pt Arial (notice this is not set in Arial) on a blog when people are posting hours apart based on how they’re interpreting an out of context statement that someone else wrote is impossible. If there is something worthy of a discussion starter, then it should be discussed, this means face to face in person, in class or just whenever in the studio. There is no substitute for a real conversation, no matter how saturated this generation gets with myspace I think that even the other students would agree with this statement.

As I said before, I appreciate the service that these blogs can provide, however they have been tainted by how we are forced to use them. More and more I hear students complaining about these bulletin boards and I know for a fact that they posting just to post. There is no thought behind it, no reason, no desire. Posting has become something students do simply to fulfill a grade. My hope is that the entire community can reevaluate what these blogs mean and what is their purpose. If this is supposed to become an archive for future generations of students to view, they will be very disappointed by the monotonous posting which was done out of nothing other than necessity to “Get ‘er done,” as Justin Ruggeri would say.

If you have made it this far, please feel free to respond as much as possible with whatever comments you may have. But of course, since this is only a “discussion starter,” these comments are limited to this online bulletin board only.