Reflecting on the past.

Looking back over the past few months, reflecting on events, moments leading up to those events and finally the outcome to those events, I have come to realise how extremely productive and interesting life this term at Rhodes has been. From the many different people I have met to the gruelling assignments, all of which have played their part in moulding me into the all newly ‘improved’ person that I have become.

Planning was the key ingredient to being productive. While most 1st years were planning how to fit in an assignment and study time in-between party nights, I was juggling quality time between my wife, two boys and the dreaded DEADLINES. On a number of occasions I was met with encouragement by newly made acquaintances, but mainly by Jenni, my wife. She would often have to hand me her pair of binoculars so I could see what I stood to gain at the end of what sometimes seemed to be an endlessly long, dark and dungy tunnel.

Story ideas are not easy to fabricate. What made it even more difficult was the fact that five very different people were asked to blog on one sight, 5 In Blindsight. This is exactly what it was, blind-sight. Expected to come up with story ideas of similar genre is no easy task. One may as well be blindfolded, asked to cross a busy highway and expected to emerge on the other side with your head still attached to your shoulders.

My next reflexive thought, performance at formative meetings. What a disaster. I don’t remember us ever being able to successfully meet up with every member of the group at any given time. Not even the lure of pizza and beer, unbelievable for students I know, could get us together as a group. The only successful meetings were the compulsory ones on a Tuesday afternoon with Lindsey, our tutor.

I am not one to complain and hate the sound of my last two paragraphs. Life without challenges leads to life without growth. My personal growth in this last term is showing, if not to others, most definitely to myself. On a scale of one to ten, I give myself a nine. Being introduced to blogging has placed long term goals I have set for myself higher up the ladder. Grahamstown is going to be my home for a very long time. Blogging is a great way to be in touch with the rest of the world.

This brings me to the question of whether blogging is journalism or not. It all depends on one’s journalistic mission. For me, journalism is about having the power to make a difference. The web is growing in numbers on a daily bases. The more readers one has the bigger the difference made at the end of the day. As I have learnt the last week or so, there are many different methods one can use to have your ‘posts’ read, I just had to remember to ‘keep it real’.

Research was the key element to ‘keeping it real’. By searching the web for current affairs, topics that are more recently open for discussion, made blogging that much more meaningful. Everyday life at Rhodes aided with our blog genre. The topic “Surviving First Year” allowed for a broad and open discussion of the pros and cons of life as a 1st year. The only hitch was finding the time to ‘post’.

When ‘posting’ on a specific topic, sources become extremely valuable. By creating hyperlinks I was able to give the reader of my ‘post’ additional sources where more information could be obtained relating to the topic of discussion. The web is by far the easiest access to additional sources. A little hair-raising at times was when I had to personally interview a source. Thoughts of misquoting ran through my head. Then the question of whether or not the source would have allowed photos to be taken and even when photos were allowed, the question of which photos would have been allowed to be displayed on the blog site which potentially would be viewed by millions of people had to be answered.

Finally, it all boils down to the writing. Ethics played a major part here. I believe I was able to express myself a little easier when I was asked to comment on other blog ‘posts’. The reason for this is I sometimes felt that certain ethics of fellow bloggers were non-existent. Blogging comes with great responsibility. What was ‘posted’ became accessible to millions of people worldwide. Even if other fellow bloggers don’t care, I most certainly did and I still most certainly do.