Let the Magic Begin - original oil on linen painting c Robert F. McInnis " Visma's Green High Heel's" http://www.rfmmcinnis.ca
Dear Readers
Thank you so much for all of you who have made such encouraging comments on my blog over the past few months.
My intentions were to share with you my readings and photos of my life as it has been happening in the moment and this blogging process has been a real pleasure. Below is an article written that portrays what I could not have written and expressed better myself.
Thank you.
With loving kindness and gratitude
Love Visma
June 6, 2011
Main Blog Post – Week 7: Blog as Self Management Tool
B) Lovink (Reader, page 222) also argues that: “No matter how much talk there is of community and mobs, the fact remains that blogs are primarily used as a tool to manage the self”. Discuss the argument by giving an example of a blog. Specify chosen argument in your answer.
We are what we imagine. Our very existence consists in our imagination of ourselves. -N. Scott Momaday
While it is more concerned for its relation with the news industry, the act of blogging was first seen as a way of diary keeping and discussed on its close features to diary on various aspects. According to Lovink (2007:6), the idea of “blogging as a ‘technology of the self’ was first developed by Foucault. Blogs, in this sense, are more of a tool for private conversations like the records of therapist’s rather than a public forum open for discussion to the online community. More specifically, Lovink (2007:28) argued that ‘Blogs are used for the need to structure one’s life, to clear up the mess, to master the immerse flows of information, as to PR and promotion.’ A blog call ‘vital self management’ created by Visma Mesley makes a typical example for the use of blogs as keeping track of life experiences, perfect management of self-image, self-expression, and self-promotion. (http://vitalself-management.com/blog/)
Solove (2007:24) pointed out that ‘many blogs are more akin to diaries than news articles, op-ed columns, or scholarship’. Statistic showed that bloggers most commonly write about their personal experience, while only 11% blogs are about politics. Visma Mesley’s blog is kept in daily basis; her blog gives a clear view of her life, and her personal experiences and activities.It is as Medosch (2008) suggested, Mesley’s blog is simply a place where people can mix personal thoughts of what is happening in his life, reports, and comments on what is going on in the Web and the World that he lives in.
Blogs offer a way for one-to-many conversations. ‘Whatever the type, purpose, or content of a blog, it remains a virtual environment controlled by the author, where, unlike face-to-face communication, a person is only what is expressed in manifest content. (Tramell, 2004:3) Thus, Blogs offer its user better or even full control of self-expression and better management of self-image. Blogs, like other social networks, fulfils the need of self-promotion. The choice of theme, the colours in the space, the content we create all conveys a sense of the self. As Mesley blogs about her fear, and writes therapy-like posts such as ‘open your heart’, ‘let the past slip away’ and ‘stop punishing myself for fear’, she is providing not only the readers, but also herself the solutions to cope with negative emotions and to cope with the ups and downs in her life.
Furthermore, Looking throughout Mesley’s entire website, her blog keeps tracks of her life journey of all challenges and triumphs. By commenting her own life experiences in the blog, she was subjectively promoting her own idea of ‘vital self-management’, which is created by her own belief system and her personal sense of the concept.
Reference
Lovink, G. (2007) ‘Blogging, The Nihilist Impulse’, Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture, London: Routledge, pp. 1-38
Solove, D.J. (2007) ‘How the Free Flow of Information Liberates ad Constrains Us’, The Future of Reputation: Gossip Rumour and Privacy on the Internet, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 17-49
Medosch, A. (2008) ‘Paid in Full: Copyright, Piracy and the Real Currency of Cultural Production’, Deptforth. TV Diaries II: Pirate Strategies,London: Deptforth TV. pp. 98-100
Tramell, K. (2004) ‘Examining the New Influencers: A Self-Presentation Study of A-List Blogs’ <http://www.kayesweetser.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/trammell-keshelashvili-2006-self-presentation-on-blogs.pdf> Last accessed: 04/06/2011
Mesley,V. ‘Vital Self Management’ < http://vitalself-management.com/blog/> Last accessed: 04/06/2011
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