Archive for the 'Politics' Category
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Posted by Bloggeries in Politics
We are taking a look at another political blog, and this one is called Phronesisaical. This blog is about politics, philosophy, international affairs, and fruit. There are two main contributors to this blog, Helmut and Barba de Chiva. Helmut is a Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs and is located out of Washington D.C. Barba de Chiva is an English Professor writing out of Texas. Both of these bloggers offer a unique appeal and excellent writing as can be seen in any of their recent bloggeries: Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov at Columbia; Friday Dinner Party Conversation Stopper; Noncombatant Immunity, Blackwater, and the State Department; $1 Billion vs. $1.2 Trillion; Seas and Genes; Ian Hacking on Creationism; Brazil vs. Germany; La Franqueza; and William Faulkner.
The blog is fairly simple to navigate and offers a clean well-organized design. Bloggeries are left-marginalized and are black text on a light green background and links are highlighted in dark green. In the right navigation system you will find the contributors profile pages, ‘Phronesisaicality’ Menu, Bloggery Menu (perhaps a blog roll?), News and Commentary Menu, Magazines, Philosophy, Ethics, Policy, Policy Information and News, Development and Environment, Photography, Fruit Photography, mp3 Blogs, Miscellaneous, Previous Posts Menu, Archives going back to June 2005 and Blog Widgets. What I don’t see in blog navigation is a categories menu or labels attached to the posts, so I don’t think the blog is organized by category. I think this may help the blog given its healthy nature of topics and issues that it covers.
I will give this blog a 3.4/5. The blog is very well written and is updated almost daily, so it scores well for content and activity. I would suggest working with the length on some of the posts as they are currently very lengthy and can get difficult to read. I would either break these up into more frequent posts or perhaps adding pictures to each post to break up the length a little and make the reading go a little smoother. I also think the current location of the recent posts menu is not doing this menu any service. It is currently located at the very bottom of the right navigation system and would be very difficult to find if you didn’t spend a lot of time with the blog. I also think a deeper connection with the readership could be established if the contributors expanded on the purpose of the blog in the About Pages, or even define the term ‘Phronesisaical’ a little deeper. I don’t see any comments or hit counters, so I am not certain what the readership of the blog is. But I think this blog could reach a larger audience with these simple changes and I wish it the best of luck.
-Chrissie
Posted by Bloggeries in Politics
If you are a follower of American politics, and specifically the Presidential race, you may enjoy the
Chuck Hagel blog. This blog is following the campaign of Chuck Hagel for President in 2008 and is an unofficial blog formerly at the center of a grassroots movement to encourage support for the Hagel Candidacy in 2008. Since the blog has started however, Chuck Hagel has since announced that not only is he not seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate, but he is not intending to run for any office at all in 2008. This is not to say that this blog can not find appeal or an audience, as any facet of any Presidential race official or otherwise still marks a place in American History, so we take a look at this blog that is a follower of the Chuck Hagel career. You can see the most recent in his career in any of the following of the author’s bloggeries:
Hagel not running in 2008, Watch Monday’s Announcement Live, Monday – Hagel to announce Future Plans, and American Public Media: “Drafting a President”.
You will find navigating this blog very easy. Posts in this blog are left marginalized with black text on a beige background with links being highlighted in orange. There is a right navigation system that contains a picture of Chuck, a form if you’d like to join the Hagel Movement, Official Hagel Sites, Hagel Related Pages, Election Resources Menu, Iowa Links, New Hampshire Links, South Carolina Links, Michigan Links, a Blogroll, and a Categories Menu containing a variety of topics such as Education, Energy Policy, Audio, 2006, Environment, Foreign Policy, Fundraising, and so many more. You will also find in this navigation bar a disclaimer stating that this blog is not an official Chuck Hagel website and is an unofficial blog.
I will give this blog a 3 but I think even with the change of recent events this blog could do well if it makes some changes. Activity and appearance seem to be the biggest issues for the blog right now. The blog clearly has a healthy readership with over 40,000 hits on its counter and readers coming in from all over the globe. I think an About Page would give this blog a personal voice as though it is clear this is an unofficial blog, the background of the author may help create a more personal connection between the blogger and the readership. Content scores are good as the content is very readable and user friendly and well written overall. The appearance of the blog is appealing though I would suggest a few more relevant pictures with each post to perhaps add some additional meaning to the history making headlines the author writes about. I think this blog scores well for uniqueness as well given the timely nature of the blog in concert with the Presidential campaign. I also think the blog has a good potential given its readership and healthy comment base and thus would probably benefit from more frequent activity to sustain that readership despite the fact that Chuck Hagel is not running for Presidency. There are many things the blogger could do to follow Chuck Hagel’s current career and still highlight his political life without focusing entirely on the campaign trail. Overall this is a good blog that could do very well if it sustains its readership.
-Chrissie
Posted by Bloggeries in Politics
If you are looking for a personal blog that offers a little tongue in cheek on a whole lot of everything, you may find the Pressing the Flesh Blog a breath of fresh air. This blog offers a running commentary on politics, punditry, pop culture, and propaganada – all sprinkled with a touch of Flesh, which apparently, is suitable for pressing. Not sure exactly what this means, but you will find this blog is definitely of the personal variety, with a very rich personal voice. The blogger, or flesh presser, is a 251 ‘year’ old Pisces male working in the theater industry. You can get a flavor of his most recently pressed flesh through the following bloggeries: Wise words from Molly Ivins, A list of movies I’ll be watching for free, Now I’ll NEVER leave my computer, Hillary can’t win, Obama’s response, Heir to the Hair, Are you experienced? PTF Hearts Russ Feingold, Back from my Retreat, and a Christian Embarrassment. If you can not guess yet, the blog is a political blog with a fresh opinion, and offers the definition of “pressing the flesh” as the shaking of hands and mingling with many people, especially when campaigning for political office, a place for progressives, politics, punditry, propaganda, pop culture, and a palace for those with appoint of view. The author offers a place here where even in the most unsatisfactory exchange, something is exchanged. Now do you get it? You really have to see it for yourself to get the full feel.
Navigation on this blog is fairly straightforward though not the easiest on the eyes. BLoggeries are white text on black background which offers a nice backdrop for the many relevant pictures and videos to stand out. Bloggeries are left marginalized with a right navigation system. In the right navigation bar you will find the About page; ads; Recent Posts menu noted as “Previously Pressed”; and assorted menus for fellow bloggers, ‘ptfners’, muckrakers, and etc. You will also find here the archives menu noted as “Remember When”, search menu for the blog, video clips menu, sponsors menu, and amazons ads. Almost every post contains a relevant picture or video that adds spice to the blog as well. I am not seeing any categories menu at this point, which may help organize the blog a little bit more given its eclectic nature.
I am going to offer this a 2.3/5 for now, as the blog is currently losing marks for all criteria. The appearance really needs some work, I would suggest changing the black background. This makes the pictures stand out and almost take over the blog. With the pictures standing out, the ads are screaming as well.For some blogs I have seen this work, but for this particular one I find it very distracting from the actual content of the blog which is very well written. Because the content is well done, I would suggest more frequent posting as to date, the bloggeries are ranging from every few days to a couple of weeks in between. This is an interesting and fun blog and I think the readers AND the author would benefit from seeing the results of more frequent posting. Navigation marks are straightforward but again I would suggest changing the colors just to make the ads blend in more and navigation within the menus a little easier. Otherwise overall I think this could be a very fun and popular blog if the author spent a little more time with it and made some appearance changes.
-Chrissie
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Posted by Bloggeries in Politics
As the United States works its election year fervor, a political blog for the right wings may catch your attention. The blog is called Danger Management and is known as The Conservative Revolution blog. The blog does not take any subtleties on its right winged approach, and it does so very well. Yu can see this through any of its recent bloggeries: Support the Troops, Is This in our Future (More Democrap), Beginning of Ramadan in Gaza Strip, War of Gog and Magog, Russia’s Super Bomb, John Cornyn Condemns MoveOn.org’s Unpatriotic Statements, John Cornyn US Senator From Texas, Hypocrite!!, Caucus of Corruption, and Jim Ogonowski for US Congress 2007 Special Election. The blog though it comes with an obvious angle, also plays a very diplomatic role in approaching what could be considered sensitive subjects. You can see an example of this in the bloggerie “Support the Troops” where the author says “We recognize that the U.S. involvement in Iraq has divided Americans and that our leaders have made mistakes.”
Danger Management has a very simple navigation system. Bloggeries are black text on white background, and the blog is themed patriotically. The header and right sided navigation bar contains titles and headings in red, and the border for the blog is in blue. Bloggeries are thus left marginalized with a right navigation system. In this navigation system you will see archives going back to November 2006, Recent Posts Menu, a menu called “Resistance Links” which is the most extensive menu in the blog and carries almost all the way down the page, many subscription methods, and advertising information. The blog also has a good amount of relevant pictures that add to the appeal of the bloggeries. What I do not see on the blog that would be very helpful in navigation would be a categories or labels menu despite the fact that each post contained a label. I think a menu like this would make the blog a little easier to navigate. I also think that with a blog as politically charged as this one, an About Page would be extremely useful for the readership to identify with the thought processes that are being offered.
Overall I will go with a 3.5/5 for this one. The blog scores well for navigation, appearance, and athe uniqueness of the content. The content also receives good marks as the writing is very well written and easy to follow even if the reader is not politically motivated. The activity is picking up, though it has been considerably sparse at times. The thing that struck me about this blog was that it has an obvious personal voice, but there was a disconnect between that voice and the reader. An About page would really make a difference as I enjoyed reading the style of the writing and the thoughts offered, but found that disconnect to be a little disheartening. There are also currently no places to offer comments on the blog, and I think that would be a benefit in establishing a connection between the author and the reader. With a blog such as this, opinions are bound to be rampant and the author may benefit from seeing how the readers are acknowledging the writing. Overall however, it is a fairly neat and tidy blog that is well written, and if it maintains its current activity level, it should do very well.
-Chrissie
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