Vote for us, or forever regret it

The history, analysis, theory and practice of blogging: The University of Maryland's ENGL488B

Our rationale behind this title was pretty straightforward - we're describing the class and the blog. We still have the class call number and reppin' Maryland, but at the same time, we're trying to encapsulate the class in one quick-hitter description.

Could we have gone longer and more descriptive? Sure. But no one would read that garbage. As it is, we discussed, no one really reads taglines anyway unless they're assigned something for a blogging class having to do with taglines (...ahem). Of the dozens of blogs I read, I don't think I could tell you one of their taglines. It's a non-vital part of a blog, and the longer it is, the more forgettable. So vote for ours, or suffer a longer, more boring tagline forever (or at least the next few months).

-Ethan and Amina

Unstoppable Blogs Here

Seriously guys, this tag line is hot sh*t.

Sure, the University spent $700 million to come up with a sub-par slogan, but that doesn't mean we should abandon all support! By attending this school, we pledge allegiance to the all mighty Terrapin. Even if we waste valuable funding on some hipster marketing firm.

When you look at the cost associated with the slogan, "Unstoppable Blogs Here" is by far the most expensive tag line any of us could come up with. It would be a shame if we didn't honor our lost dollars.

Vote!

FEAR THE BLOGGER!

The University of Maryland's class dedicated to analyzing, participating and immersing in the world of blogging and studying blog culture.English 488B will offer students a chance to break away from the traditional forms of writing. You will begin your own blog, engage in blog theorization, tracking and history in a structured open environment. Professor Lindemann anticipates class & web participation as we examine and establish blogs.

Lia Azucena and Tiava Morris

Vote For This One

Enter the world of blogging and join us as Prof. Marilee Lindemann leads the students of English 488B at the University of Maryland through an introduction to blogging and the impact of blogs in today's digital society.

Why should you vote for our tagline? Well for one, if you vote for our tagline, we won't have to read through the other posts and can spend more time learning in class. Another good reason? This tagline sums up everything from our current tagline but does it in an easier to read format and includes more information about the class. It's also a lot more welcoming because it invites the reader to participate by joining us and entering our world. Finally, I'd really like it if you voted for our tagline. That'd be pretty cool if we won.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." (Maria Robinson) Blogosphere and Prof. Lindemann will teach the craft and history of the ever evolving, never ending blog - writing that constantly adapts and changes, allowing a whole new world of writing to be explored, a class that will never truly have an ending.

I really thought it was cool when we discussed the fact that blogs really never end, there is always an opportunity for a new post that can change plenty of ideas. Even so we can never go back and change our first posts, they have already inspired, angered, etc. the readers and we can't "start a new beginning." I thought this was a cool quote that really shows the true strength of the "new age" of blog writing. Of course we must also give Prof. Lindemann credit for helping us learn how to blog and to learn the history behind these powerful tools. I also think it is really awesome that even when class ends, our blogs will all still exist (at least for the most part) and then it is truly possible to say that we will all really take something from this class and keep it with us (as cliche as that sounds).

John Proctor

Vote. Or at least consider it.

20 Students. 21 Blogs. Watch the University of Maryland's best and brightest embark on a journey through the world of blogging. 

Let's be honest, we could write almost anything and make it more exciting than the first description. This proposal aims at catching the eye and peaking an interest of someone stumbling across our class blog. Despite a little exaggeration in complimenting ourselves, this tagline establishes an identity.We're approaching this journey as a class, bouncing ideas off of each other and becoming better bloggers in a public forum. This class offers a unique opportunity to combine our individual efforts and abilities in writing our own blogs with the benefits of maintaining this single blog as a class. All of the taglines submitted are really good so far, and we're looking forward to reading the rest. 

Let us know what you think. 

Max Tartar

Terp Bloggers!

This is Terp blogging at its best. Follow University of Maryland students as they explore the evolving world of the blogosphere – in its roots, practice, and future – with Professor Marilee Lindemann at the helm.

I wanted to make my subheader concise and engaging. What are we: a terp class blog! It encompasses our identity as a class as well as gives information about the course without overwhelming the reader. Once they scroll down the sidebar or see our postings they’ll get a more in depth understanding of what we’re doing, but a tagline needs to be short. In fact, I’d almost like it to be shorter. I like the word “follow” – it’s blog lingo that other bloggers will recognize. I chose not to include the course name because it is only inclusive to UMD students. Those outside the Maryland community will have no idea what ENGL488B stands for. This tagline includes the core workings of this blog.

If you don’t vote for this tag, you’re saying you love Duke.

Submitted by Alison Northridge

Down with the Old Description!!

"Let University of Maryland's ENGL488B students take you through a semester’s journey as we closely examining the art and fun world of blogging!"

Megan and I decided to incorporate some more excitement into our proposed description/tagline since the old description was pretty b o r i n g. It mentions that it is a class, but it does not explain to viewers why this should interest them specifically in any way. Not only are we exploring the world of blogging, but we're exploring it as an art. It's very important to note that we are the first class (ENGL488B) at the University of Maryland studying this class, so it's a cool thing for us to blog about blogging and invite our audience to share this experience and all that we have learned throughout the semester. Who knows? Maybe they can learn something too!

Do you think our tagline has potential to be the best tagline? Comment and let us know what would make ours worthy of being the OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION of Writing for the Blogosphere :)

Revising in Public

Our proposal: "Blog the Turtle: A group at THE University of Maryland presents its ongoing endeavor to explore and assimilate into the universe of links and musings known as the blogosphere."

The original subheading for our class blog, "This is the class blog for English 488B, Writing for the Blogosphere, at the University of Maryland. The class is being taught by Prof. Marilee Lindemann in the Fall 2010 semester," is not appropriate. A subheading should be something that excites the readers and draws them in, making them excited about reading the blog. This current subheading couldn't be more boring. Not only does it not get students in the class excited about writing for the blog, it does not encourage outsiders to see what we are doing. We believe our new proposal is more engaging because the voice draws people in and is not stuffy. What will you get if you vote for this? It's a surprise.

Himmer Explores the Weblog as Literary Form - Brittany & Ellen

In Himmer’s article, he discusses the literary weblog and what exactly makes a weblog literary. He does not focus so much on the actual content of weblogs since they all vary (but are all guided by one person, their author), as seen through his various given examples in his intro. However, Himmer makes note of the technical delivery of the content. He answers the questions: “What do weblogs do? How do they do it for writers and readers?”

Himmer outlines the delivery of content through novels and newspapers, two literary devices that have been around long before blogging:

Novels:

• Fiction or Science Fiction: Whichever genre, it is generally defined and known by audience
• Reader identifies the narrator, the presence of the narrator, and the other characters
• Published and completed
• No direct, open, or continuous communication with audience
• Audience engagement and feedback at most includes reviews, book signings, etc.
• Edited by others (editor, publisher)

Newspapers:

• Factual
• Overall voice is ignored in favor of the facts and opinions that must be processed as information intended to give.
• Also edited by others (copy editors)

What about a Weblog?

• Content
• Personal
• Controversial
• Informal, Conversational in Tone
• Brief
• Requires the reader to both process information and interpret whether fact or fiction
• “Identify/discover” the author
• Example: Tim O’Brien, The Things We Carried
• “Makes the stomach believe”
• Reader participation and conversation
• Cybertext – feedback loop
• Entrance points not decided by the author
• Way for reader to influence/orchestrate production through process of reading
• Easily accessible
• TIME: No time constraint
• Always in a process; never completed
• Arguments and pieces can be gradual built
• Potentiality
• Infinite number of texts, “creations that create”
• Ergodic work – offers multiple paths of traversing text
• Guided by individual intentions
• Not edited, sole editor is the author

The Best Tagline

Welcome to the blog of the Univ. of Maryland's ENGL488B, captained by our fearless leader, Prof. Marilee Lindemann. Here we will break away from our lit essays and venture into the world of blogging.

This new tagline, created by Ellen and Lisa, would be an excellent choice for our blog. Not only do we give readers essential information (our class name, our school, and our professor), but we also include the informal style of writing found on many blogs. This is an important contrast from the original tagline. In addition, the two sentences above encompass our past (literature essays in our previous English classes), our present (the class that we joined), and our future (our "venture into the world of blogging"). Vote for this tagline for our class blog!