Gabby's Thoughts

A safe space

BLOGS

VLOGS

  • Hello! Welcome to Gabby’s Thoughts; where I, Gabby, share my thoughts about various topics pertaining to Digital Media Literacy.

    Thoughts on Marks Briggs Chapter (post 1)

    For my first blog, I find it almost poetic to write about how to make a blog and what this will look like. So, this week we’re talking about Chapter 5 in Marks Briggs’ book, Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive, which is an intro to blogging. 

    But before I forget my manners, let me introduce myself. My name is Gabby Ervin and I am a junior honors public relations major, sociology minor, from Columbus, Ohio. I love steak and french fries, my favorite color is purple and one day I hope to work in crisis management communications. 

    Now that we’ve got the formalities out of the way; I would like to reflect on this reading. 

    Briggs offers a lot of key insights into having a blog. 

    1. Study others blogs
    2. Have a comment section
    3. Use visuals
    4. Write well

    However, what I found most impactful was his point that having a blog is a useful tool in journalism. Having taken one journalism class over the course of four semesters in college, I can say that journalistic style writing is not similar to blogalistic (I am aware that is not a word) style writing–or maybe it is and in a couple weeks I will think differently. However, for now, writing for a newspaper follows a structure:

    1. Lead
    2. Summary
    3. Quote
    4. Summary
    5. Quote
    6. Conclusion 

    And writing for a blog follows no structure. 

    1. Whatever I want
    2. Whatever I want
    3. Whatever I want

    What I do agree with, though, is Briggs’ point that blogging can make you into a better writer. Having a personal blog inspires the blogger to write in their own voice. Instead of following a structure it can be whatever the blogger wants. I am personally looking forward to having this blog because, as a public relations major, a lot of the writing I do is structured. And due to having to make this blog interactive and interesting, being able to write unstructured will help develop not only my creative writing skills but also my creative thinking skills. 

    So, if I have one goal for this blog, it is to find my voice as a writer while also keeping things light, fun and free. I look forward to speaking to you again next week but until then….that’s all.

    Gabby

    Vlog 1