When the notorious Mr. Cashman first assigned our Journalism class to write student blogs to be posted on The Rebellion website, I was confused by the purpose of the assignment.  I was unsure of the requirements that a blog consists of, and I was unsettled by the fact that it would be immediately published for the public to view and critique.  However, I reluctantly agreed.    

To allay my blogging anxieties, I did some research on the purpose of blogging and what people in our society blog about.  Blogging is a new form of communication, an abbreviation of “web log”, that gives the average person an equal opportunity to voice their opinions and attitudes to the public, which is normally privileged to media personnel only.  Blogging is becoming very popular because it gives everyone a freedom of speech to write about anything they desire: topics can range anywhere from celebrity gossip on “Perezhilton” to “the F word” to politics.

The power of words that one uses has the potential to affect the media.  One can invoke a set of beliefs on the public, specifically in politics.  Since some opinions offer more liberal perspectives, people are likely to be influenced by these comments. 

Although blogging is becoming quite popular, some people remain self counscious and do not like the idea of putting their own thoughts out for the public to scrutinize.  Considering blogging is uncensored, the public cannot be stopped from critiquing or presenting negative feedback to the author.  I hesitated, at first, because I thought that negative criticism would be an invasion or privacy.  However the fact remains, any kind of feedback is good feedback.  The point is that one should be flattered that the public is taking the time to tune into their blog, and evidently show enough compassion to post comments on it.   

The process of creating a blog is simple.  Walpole High School uses the blogging software, Word Press, for The Rebellion website.  This program provides more flexibility and more features to work with.  Blogging entries are displayed in reverse chronological order. Some people update their blogs every day, and some whenever they feel like it.  The expectations of blogging are relatively nonexistant.  

Mostly, I learned that there are no rules and regulations to follow with blogs, and that their sole purpose is to get people to overcome their own private fears and confusions and become more comfortable with this very public form of communication.