Social and cultural awareness is important so that you
understand society that you are talking about and presenting your blog towards,
this is so that people can understand where you are coming from and the reader
and audience can relate to each other. Understanding today’s society will
prevent a feeling arrogance from the writer as he/she cannot sympathize from
another’s perspective in an event such as criminal action. For example, the
riots in London, Manchester and across Britain in August, someone who does not
know enough about today’s society could say something like, “lock them up and
throw away the key”. The writer does not have sympathy for the situations of
working class people today who have to deal with the current economic meltdown,
this is proved with the word ‘them’, which suggests a ‘then versus us’
situation, and the only solution is to throw them out of this society
altogether instead of dealing with the problem. However, a writer who did
realize current social problems would probably say “I think people should be
punished for this, but remember the route of the problem stems from the values
and lifestyle which is taught by their parents, but this obviously hasn’t
worked. This means they should be taught in school, it’s all about education”.
This writer has shown that he know about today’s society because of his depth
of understanding and offer a long term solution. This is what I will have to
incorporate into my blog if I want people to value my opinions highly and take
my blogs seriously. Anyone can have an opinion, so I need to show why mine is
different and worthy of a quick read. Understanding society is not just a
responsibility, it is a priority for a successful blog. Representing a particular
demographic is important bearing in mind people within the age, race, sexuality
etc may be reading. These people may be offended by the posts so it is the
writer’s responsibility to make sure that anything that may seem offensive
towards anyone that is part of a minority group or anything that is offensive
in general. This includes opinions or words with bad connotations. The writer
must also be aware that the blog will be a reflection of his/her personality
and must be careful that the posts are honest and well thought out. If people
think that this is not the case, then they will automatically assume that the
writer does not know what he/she is talking about and will not value the
writer’s opinion which is the whole purpose of the blog. If the blog is
supposed to be suitable for children then it is vital to use any bad language
or things suitable for people of that age including text, images or videos. It
is important to get your target audiences right.
Readability
Readability is the style in which
the content is presented towards the audience. Examples of these would be the
length of sentences, this is because to be able to form a detailed and
respected perspective of something, it is important to go into depth and
explain your point. If not, then the view is not taken as a serious one because
your point may come across to the reader, but not the reasons behind it. Long
sentences show that you have a lot to say on the matter and thought about it.
Paragraphing is important because it gives structure to the blog, shows that
you understand how to set out writing in big chunks, and also makes it formal.
Paragraphing is something that literally anyone should know and failure to do
so shows that despite them may not even reading the posts, may already have
decided not to read it. Paragraphs indicate that there is a change of topic and
breaks up what would be one large chunk and prevents it looking ‘long and
boring’. Another thing that helps the audience read the blog more freely is
clarity. Clarity is how clear something is by the depth and the detail. This is
important because an opinion has no value what so ever if the reader does not
understand what is being said because the content is vague. It is important to
think about the choice of vocabulary when writing so that the reader is not
misled and to go into detail. Eliminate all possible variables that will mean
that the content is unclear and read through it again, these are all techniques
that I will use whilst writing my blog. Another way is to give an example of
what you are explaining so the reader can convert this to other examples,
proving the point. It is also important that vocabulary is spread instead of
using the same words, change them but so that it still means the same. A change
in vocabulary can also make it sound more interesting and give a better
description with the use of powerful adjectives to get the point across more
dramatically. This also shows that you are educated; sometimes the source is
more important than the content. If the reader thinks that you are intelligent
then he will value your opinion higher. Spelling is also something that shows
that you are intelligent and take pride and care in your work and that you want
it to look presentable and formal instead of ‘text speak’ where everything is shortened.
If a word is spelt wrong then the meaning of the word will be changed as will
the point. This will also be the same
for grammar; this is the way in which the words are put together to make a
sentence make sense. Sometimes these are easy mistakes and so work must be
checked to make sure that there are no mistakes. Readers will again doubt your
intelligence if you fail to used decent grammar and will effect audience
perception of you. Syntax is the formation in which the words are in a sentence
similar to grammar which is something that I am going to have to acknowledge so
that no mistakes are made. Moreover, punctuation, like paragraphs, provides a
structure towards a text. But
punctuation is the structure within the actual paragraph. This shows that the
text is formal and can be easily read, intelligence is shown if more complex
forms of punctuations are given and shows that the writer takes care of what he
has written as if to say to the reader that you are desperate to get the
message across in the most clear and intelligent way possible. In conclusion,
readability is vital to get across your message in the most simplistic but
intelligent way possible. It is significant that the writing makes sense, the
writer may have a great point, but if the reader does not know what you mean
then it is useless. Readability also gives an impression to the audience, the
writer must remember that the blog is on show to the rest of the world and so
must make it look presentable to the public. The reader will suggest that the
blog will correlate, in terms of content and style; towards the writer meaning
his/her personality is on show to everybody. To avoid obvious mistakes in terms
of grammar, spelling etc, I will check and double check my work meaning it is
perfect and presentable.
Credibility
Another thing that is vital for
making a blog is credibility. This is the objectivity, accuracy, truth,
fairness and balance. It is the information that is presented in order to form
an opinion and the quality of the information. Objectivity is the quality of
the information; this can mean the amount of information that has been gathered
or how in depth it is. It is better to have less reliable information than a
lot of less reliable because the latter may mean that an opinion can be mislead
or people can be mislead by potentially wrong information. If the information
is into depth and precise this has more chance of being correct and people can
make a much better idea of something because of it. The information given must
also be accurate otherwise this can lead to people being disillusioned by
something. This information could also mean that particular demographics being
scrutinizes by this wrong information. You should not talk about something
unless you know the full facts. Anything that is posted should be the truth,
the spread of false information will mean that people reading will believe the
blog to be the truth and will form their own opinion from that. Posts could
even be about particular people who are false creating fake accusations and
maybe even rumors. People could also instantly believe something to be untrue
and will deem the blog as false and assume that the rest of the blog is the
same. It is important to be fair and not form an opinion with no or little
knowledge about something; it would not be fair to priorities a motive over
reasoning. Another way of being unfair
would be to over exaggerate situations in order satisfy your view, it is better
to be honest instead of stretching the truth. Statistics can also be misleading
as well. For example, “200 people were arrested in a riot”. It’s all about what
the statistic doesn’t say, we don’t know how many people were actually in the
riot, we have no time period to base this on meaning this example is actually
very vague. Those methods can be used to change or reinforce the opinion of the
readers in order to make the writer think what he likes which is wrong. The
blog should be truthful and balanced. If the blog is balanced then it is a more
reliable view, readers would know that there is no motive and therefore no
reason to lie about anything. Giving both sides to the story is fair and also giving
a more interesting read as it would give a different perspective e.g. Robbery
were a writer would look at the perspective of the victim and the robber
meaning this is balanced. Good quality information, a balance and fair view all
contribute to the blog’s credibility.
Law and Ethics
There are certain laws that are in
place that a writer should be aware of. The law of copyright is one of them;
this is for the use of images, music and videos mainly. Copyright is the use of
media that is not your own but you are using it without owning rights to it
which is illegal. This is illegal because for example, TV companies would pay a
lot of money to buy rights to film a football match, when people can just put
them online for free which isn’t fair. Moreover, taking pictures of people in
public is unacceptable without permission. People may not want to be shown on
your blog; this means that if you want to take pictures in public then you try
not to show people’s faces clearly. It is also wrong to intrude and harass
people through blogs; this is because people deserve an element of privacy.
Defamation means that a claim is made which may give a person, nation, group,
minority etc a negative image, such claims are false and can affect people’s
lives. Confidentiality is when something is kept a secret by a company or
government for a particular purpose. This can be related to law cases or could be
medical. Moreover, super injunctions mean that it is against the law to reveal
information that has been agreed by a person or company and the courts, to the
public. All this will be taken into consideration when doing my blog.
In conclusion, to make sure that
my blog is successful I will be aware of social and cultural factors so that
the audience and be has a mutual understanding about situations. My blog will
be readable so that it is properly set out, formal and professional. My blog
will also be Credible with reliable information and a balance view from a
neutral perspective so that my opinion can be valued. Finally, I will make sure
that no laws are broken and it is morally correct.
