Questions for blog speakers

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Questions from the blog class for Dr. Kurt Hochenauer of UCO English department, and Dave Rhea, managing editor of The Journal Record.

·      What are your favorite blogs to subscribe to and why?
What/who inspired you to do what you do today?

·      What have you hoped to accomplish through blogging, and how have you fared?

·      What are some of the challenges you've had in blogging?

·      What have been some of the breakthrough moments you've experienced during your time as a blogger?

·      Although content is the most important part of a blog, good content doesn't always translate into a growth in audience.  What advice do you have for growing an audience?

Dr. Hochenauer,

·      How important is it to format and design your blog based on your knowledge of what the viewer will like?

·      Is it important to be an individual and post material you like or should I find material my viewers will like?

Mr. Rhea,

·      How important is spelling and grammar in regards to the legitimacy of your blog?

·      Do you think it will affect your viewership if slang and improper sentence structure is used?

·      How's your life has changed since you started blogging?

Dr. Kurt Hochenauer,

·      Where do your credentials come from, why are you qualified to blog about politics?

·      What are you trying to teach people with your blog? Are you trying to inform or simply bash people?

Mr. Dave Rhea,

·      Do you see any similarities in your music and your blogging style?

·      What is the most important thing when setting up a blog? 

Questions for Dr.  Hochenauer:

·       With the blog market saturated with entertainment-based sites,
what, in your opinion, can be done to stand out?

·      What do you see as the next evolution of citizen journalism after blogs?

Questions for Dave Rhea:

·      Were you able to balance your love of music and writing simultaneously?

·      With so many social media sites joining the fracas, how many
"links, likes and follows" is too much for a blogger/journalist any
more?

·      In your own words, what is a "positive digital identity"

·      How would you describe your own personal identity.

Dave,

·      what prompted this post about hate as an emotion?

·      How do you deal with the conflicting physiological feelings, emotions, etc... (do you read or count your breaths- pray?

Dr. Kurt Hochenauer

·      Since Oklahoma is a mostly conservative state, did you receive and criticism once your blog became popular? or even before it became popular?

·      Before becoming a professor at the University what did you do?

Dave Rhea

·      Do you alone do all of the layout and design for your blog?

·      Other than being asked to be a media advisor for the Mass Communication, have you been been a media advisor for any other organizations ?

Dr. Kurt Hochenauer,

·      Do you take a great deal of criticism due to your blog being liberal in Oklahoma's conservative political landscape?

·      What are your thoughts on the New Media movement out of Tulsa (This Land Press, etc.)?

Dave Rhea:

·      Do you feel any stress concerning audience reception when writing hot topic blogs?

·      Do you prefer writing opinion or news?
How successful was your band at its prime?  Did you play with anyone famous?

·      How did you get into media and blogging from being in a band?

Kurt Hochenauer –

·      How long have you been blogging and what are the positive effects from your blog?

·      What provoked your interest in blogging?

·      With the blogging experience that you have as well as teaching a class on blogging what is the most important recommendation you can give to first time bloggers?

·       How big of an impact, if any, does social media have on blogging? 

·      How do you keep your subscribers interested in your longer and more specific posts?

David Rhea

·      How many people helped create this blog with you?

·      How do you advertise your blog?

·      Give us a quick overview of your career in the music business. How did your time there influence your writing career?

·      What are your top three tips for novice bloggers?

Dr. Kurt Hochenauer:

·      Do you find it hard to stay objective in your political writing, especially with the upcoming election?

·      What/who influenced you the most to start/maintain your writing career?
Both:
What do you see as the future of blogs? Why do you think blogs are so effective? How have blogs changed the future of journalism

Class blogging speakers

In the next few weeks we are going to have two guest speakers:
Dr. Kurt Hochenauer and Dave Rhea.
Dr. Hochenauer is a long-time political blogger and a professor in English who also teaches a class on blogging.
Mr. Rhea is managing  edito, online products r and multi-media guru at The Journal Record.

Assignment:

1. Look them both up online today , and facebook. See their blogs.
2. By Thursday, send me two quesitons you wish to ask both of them,
tmclark44@gmail.com. I will forward these questions to them.

Deadline assignment

Find something in today's New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/pages/todayspaper/index.html that is of interest to you, preferably on a subject related to your blog, and post a 150-word comment about it, including the link to the article, and a related image, if you can find it.
Like this:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/seeking-an-artists-touch-for-the-new-tappan-zee-bridge/?ref=todayspaper

Due by 10:45 today.

Online journalism, a future?

Read this article in the New York Times, and comment below, by 9/17.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/business/media/homicide-watch-web-site-venture-struggles-to-survive.html?emc=eta1

Tying up loose ends

By the end of Thursday class,

1. Follow each class member's blog
2. Based on today's discussions of your colleague's blogs, what did you gain that may be of benefit to your blog? Post as comment below.
3. Go to this link of the Journal Record. Find one blog, and evaluate it  in terms of what you can use to improve your blog. Post on your blog. http://journalrecord.com/blog-hub/
4. Assignment posts--they are part of your grade and due when assigned. Late posts do not count.

Blog evaluation notes--how does yours measure up?

1. Regular content posts

2. Readability of typography

3. Layout friendly (Not cluttered) (What is cluttered?)

4. Wow factor?

Musts:

1. Does your blog have a follow this blog gadget. Get one by Thursday
2. Do you have a profile and photo? Get it done.
3. Add labels to your posts.
4. What is the purpose, direction of your blog. Add it somewhere 
5. Remember, your posts are part of your grade--two posts a week, on time

Follow that blog

Go to the list of followers on the sidebar of this blog. click on each follower, and followeach blog you're not already following.

Evaluation Assignments

Today, post on your blog, and below, up to five sentences about what you learned from "State of the Blogosphere" on Technorati that affects your blogging?
 For Tuesday, (To be posted on your blog, and as comments at the end of this posti) by noon, Monday)
1. What area of your blog do you need to work on to improve?
2. What would make your blog more interesting?
3. Be prepared to have your blog projected and discussed
4. Be prepared to show the blog you're following, and list one strength and one place it could be improved, with a one-sentence explanation.

Typography assignment

For Thursday,

Following our discussion last week, and the guidelines on typography already posted,

Post three sentences each on the strengths of your blog's typography, and three on what you think needs improvement. Explaining why.

Blog assignments

1. Follow that blog
2. Follow all blogs
3. Complete profile
4. By Thursday--add photo
5. Typography discussion
6. Work on gadgets for facebook, twitter links
7. Explore gadgets