HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — I received an e-mail today in my University of Michigan-Flint account — so you probably did, too — from Marcos Baston, a student blogger for UM-Flint. He's trying to generate some buzz and comments for his blog through his e-mail. Sounds like a good idea to me.
As journalism students, what do you think of the university having a student blogger? Does this compete with or augment other student media, such as The Michigan Times? As a university blogger, I wonder how much freedom to express himself that he has. What do you think of his blog?
Remember, if you comment, you can pick up some EC points. If not, this might be a good enough of a subject for me to post our “Discussion Board.”
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I have not had a chance to check out this blog written by UM-Flint student, Marcos Baston, however, the students blog is different compared to something such as 'The Michigan Times.' Most of the time, when students blog, they are voicing their opinion, where as, The Michigan Times voices opinions of both sides.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to how much Baston is allowed to voice about the university in his blog, it all depends on the law regarding libel and slander. Libel is written (or printed words; pictures) defamation against a person, place, etc. If Baston were to voice an opinion about something that has happened at the university, I am not sure if this would be libel. However, if Baston were to voice an opinion about a certain person (naming them specifically) and says something within his blog said to be untrue, Baston could be sued. Therefore, this is something that Baston would have to worry about it.
Baston posts weekly, sometimes even daily, which allows readers to visit the blog at least once a week. I, personally, have not received an email from Baston about visiting his blog, but now that I know about it, I may begin visiting his site a little more often. The pictures that he posts within his blog, are good visuals. However, I believe they have a tendency to be a little blurry (out of focus) and some are a lot smaller than others, making it hard to view the entire picture as a whole.
All-in-all, I applaud Baston for starting a blog pertaining to his school and encourage him to continue doing what he enjoys.
I never received an e-mail from this student, or don't think I did. If I did, I may have assumed it was junk mail and deleted it before taking the time to read it.
ReplyDeleteI did check out his blog, and while I always think there is room for improvement, I think his blog is off to a good start. He updates somewhat regularly, and as stated by Jessica, he makes sure to add visual aids. But, I did notice that these photos can be difficult to see, which makes the overall effect of his blog more chaotic, in my opinion.
Because his blog is more of an opinion he has about the school, flint, and various other items, I don't believe it competes at all with The Michigan Times.
Because he is a university blogger, I think he has to be careful what he talks about. He might have a set of rules he has to abide by, and if so this is a very limited blog.
Overall, as stated previously, I think he's doing a great job and I think he should keep up the good work. It's refreshing to see a fellow student taking a similar leap as myself and starting a blog from scratch.
I never even knew that UM-Flint had a blogger and I didn't receive the all student email either, so when I saw this post I felt a little out of the loop.
ReplyDeleteI followed the link to the blog and really actually liked it. I think it was well written and actually really informative. I don't know why I thought it would be less than that, but I did.
I was pleasantly surprised. The posts are long, but I don't find them boring, Baston did a great job keeping my attention, and sometimes with reading that is hard to do.