Two way communication -- blog comments

This assignment will expose you to blog comments and participation in an online community. More important, it will give you practice in the sort of careful, concise writing that Jason Freid of 37Signals spoke of when discussing hiring criteria.

A blog is primarily used for broadcast communication -- one or a small group of authors posts things and a wider audience reads what is posted. Still, comments provide a means for feedback.

You are to work in teams of two on this assignment. You are to add a meaningful, well written comment to a post on our class blog or our IT literacy blog.

For example, the IT literacy blog has a post on the use of PowerPoint presentations in class. You might describe your personal experience as a student in classes where the instructor uses PowerPoint, make a suggestion for improvement, provide a link to a related document or blog, stating why it is of interest, criticize the post, etc.

To get credit for this assignment, your comment must be substantive, relevant to the post you are commenting on and well written. I suggest that both partners select a post and draft a comment independently. You should then read and criticize each other's work -- be sure to read it out loud as well as silently. Pick the best comment, revise it, and add it to the blog.

Be sure you sign your comments. Doing so will lead you to be thoughtful, careful and concise. There is a saying "you own your own words," which was the motto of an early online community, The Well. I will not accept anonymous comments for this assignment.

Only post it when it is well written and accurate. It goes without saying that you should also check for spelling and grammar errors.

Print a copy of your comment to turn in. Turn in only one copy with the names of both team members on it.


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