In thinking about which of the readings I was perplexed by would have been the reading of Visual Blogs by Meredith Badger. I wasn't as much confused as I was interested and surprised by what she spoke about. Prior to creating my own blog and reading any of the articles/readings I was sure that a weblog/blog were a area of space where someone could talk about anything they wanted to. I thought that mostly these blogs were comprised of writings or snips of writings produced by the author of the blog and told the reader something regarding the topic of the blog. Never had I imagined or even thought that a blog has any type of visual imagery. Meredith Badger opened up my mind to this idea and really taught me the significance of pictures and imagery in a blog.
According to Badger, "It is often images that present the most immediately obvious point of difference between one blog and the next" (Badger 1). I never really understood this concept until now and being introduced and now accustomed to the blogging world I really do see the difference a visual image can make. Even when the community blog for our public writing class started mostly everyone posted a picture or visual image of some sort along with their blog and just seeing some of the images I knew exactly what some people where going to talk about. What I also came to understand from this reading is the relationship between visual imagery and blogs. What I learned is that it is actually a dual relationship and a blog can benefit from visual images and visual images can benefit from a blog. Often the text supports the visual images but even so the visual images can support the writing as well. There was also another interesting aspect that dealt with pictures of bloggers themselves so that their readers and audience can get a better understanding of who they are. Visual images in this case can really help but not only that but one who doesn't post a picture of themselves but pictures throughout their blog, help their audience form a visual image and better understanding of the type of person the blogger truly is. What I also learned and was a bit confused with was whether Badger was stating that it is ok to use pictures and visuals alone to comprise a blog. She did use Kate Bingaman as an example and I felt that this blog really did work. The photos and visual images described her blog without any writing. In any case, I don't feel that every blog can succeed this way. I believe that when it comes down to political and more serious issues visuals and pictures just aren't going to cut it. In these situations text is necessary in order to effectively communicate to an audience about what the issue or political message may be and why it is that you are blogging about it. Badger offered great information and made me want to apply more visuals to my blog!
Photos, Visuals, Pictures...WHY WHY WHY. This piece of writing that I choose to offer to my fellow peers was a great resource and help for me which is why i choose to share it. After reading Meredith Badger's article this reading actually gave some great tips, advice and reasoning behind using visuals as well. It is difficult choosing the right visual imagery for a blog and it is always important to be ethical. This may be hard for some people and this site offers great advice as to how to do that. What is also great about this reading is that it gives a simplified version of why and how visuals enhance a person's blog. It also details the significance of why it is important to try and include visuals in your blog. I hope this offers some help and guidance for some of you!!
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