why? how? when?
after having decided to write my thesis on some to-be-defined aspect(s) of the blog phenomenon, i thought it would be a good idea to start my own blog.
a thesis on blogs? why?!
the simple answer is that blogs have captivated my interest. even though i have been very active on the internet for almost as long as i can remember (dating back to the early days of the WWW, thanks to my father), blogs have mostly slipped by me so far; only recently did i realize that some of my daily online literature (slashdot.org, theregister.co.uk, doom9.net, heise.de) would - at least by some people - be regarded as blogs.
motivating me further is the fact that blogs are clearly one of the most hyped-about aspects of our contemporary internet. i thought - and so far still think - that it would be interesting to write about something that is emerging as a key feature of the internet - somehow i prefer this to writing about some historical episode. it fascinates me to not know what will happen to blogs in the long run and how (or even whether) they will influence mainstream journalism and life in general to a stronger degree than they already do today.
only recently have blogs really made their way to germany. the us presidential election was cause for the german tv news show tagesschau to set up a blog on their website which i followed more or less regularly; but after the election, that blog seems to have all but died down - along with my interest in it. the tsunami disaster sparked a few more blogs by news companies etc. in germany.
ok, that's the why. what about the how?
this is proving to be the hard part. that said, i don't think it has much to do with the topic. the problem i face whenever writing a paper - and i know i'm not alone - is: how to start?
i am trying to work around this problem a little by first writing a term paper (comprising a dozen pages or so) on the general topic and then building my thesis on that. the good thing about this method is that i can "test" the topic to see if i'm compatible with it before starting on the real thing - my thesis. and, maybe even more importantly, i only have to start once, since the thesis isn't a real start, but rather a continuation of my term paper.
at least that's what i keep telling myself. but... even this small start is proving to be a little more difficult than i had anticipated - and that's what brings me here. maybe a little "feel" for blogs will help me start the creative writing process. and it can't hurt to put the things in my head into writing in a simple, uncensored way. the hope is that when i look at this in a day or two, ideas will simply pop into my head - i hope...
ok, ok... got the why and the how. where's the when?
the when has always been a bit of a problem for me. or why not call it a challenge instead. i'm quite the procrastinator when it comes to things i am not keen on doing. one solution is to change that; i do try to do all things asap, but it's not easy as everyone will know. the second solution is to enjoy this "job". if i like doing something, i can't stop myself. so this is what i have to do: enjoy the writing and see it as a learning process.
but, being 27 years old, i do have enough experience in life (and know myself well enough) to realize that i am at least partly fooling myself if i think this is going to solve the problem completely. that is why my teacher and i have set a feb. 28 deadline for the "small" paper, the so-called term paper. there is no fixed deadline for the thesis yet; that will come as soon as i finish my term paper and sign up for my thesis. the plan is for me to hand it in sometime during the summer.
enough already!
that's where i stand now. i want to come up with a concrete topic for the term paper by this coming friday; that would give me three weeks to write the paper. i'll keep blogging as i go...
a thesis on blogs? why?!
the simple answer is that blogs have captivated my interest. even though i have been very active on the internet for almost as long as i can remember (dating back to the early days of the WWW, thanks to my father), blogs have mostly slipped by me so far; only recently did i realize that some of my daily online literature (slashdot.org, theregister.co.uk, doom9.net, heise.de) would - at least by some people - be regarded as blogs.
motivating me further is the fact that blogs are clearly one of the most hyped-about aspects of our contemporary internet. i thought - and so far still think - that it would be interesting to write about something that is emerging as a key feature of the internet - somehow i prefer this to writing about some historical episode. it fascinates me to not know what will happen to blogs in the long run and how (or even whether) they will influence mainstream journalism and life in general to a stronger degree than they already do today.
only recently have blogs really made their way to germany. the us presidential election was cause for the german tv news show tagesschau to set up a blog on their website which i followed more or less regularly; but after the election, that blog seems to have all but died down - along with my interest in it. the tsunami disaster sparked a few more blogs by news companies etc. in germany.
ok, that's the why. what about the how?
this is proving to be the hard part. that said, i don't think it has much to do with the topic. the problem i face whenever writing a paper - and i know i'm not alone - is: how to start?
i am trying to work around this problem a little by first writing a term paper (comprising a dozen pages or so) on the general topic and then building my thesis on that. the good thing about this method is that i can "test" the topic to see if i'm compatible with it before starting on the real thing - my thesis. and, maybe even more importantly, i only have to start once, since the thesis isn't a real start, but rather a continuation of my term paper.
at least that's what i keep telling myself. but... even this small start is proving to be a little more difficult than i had anticipated - and that's what brings me here. maybe a little "feel" for blogs will help me start the creative writing process. and it can't hurt to put the things in my head into writing in a simple, uncensored way. the hope is that when i look at this in a day or two, ideas will simply pop into my head - i hope...
ok, ok... got the why and the how. where's the when?
the when has always been a bit of a problem for me. or why not call it a challenge instead. i'm quite the procrastinator when it comes to things i am not keen on doing. one solution is to change that; i do try to do all things asap, but it's not easy as everyone will know. the second solution is to enjoy this "job". if i like doing something, i can't stop myself. so this is what i have to do: enjoy the writing and see it as a learning process.
but, being 27 years old, i do have enough experience in life (and know myself well enough) to realize that i am at least partly fooling myself if i think this is going to solve the problem completely. that is why my teacher and i have set a feb. 28 deadline for the "small" paper, the so-called term paper. there is no fixed deadline for the thesis yet; that will come as soon as i finish my term paper and sign up for my thesis. the plan is for me to hand it in sometime during the summer.
enough already!
that's where i stand now. i want to come up with a concrete topic for the term paper by this coming friday; that would give me three weeks to write the paper. i'll keep blogging as i go...
posted by hfehr at 1:34:00 am
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