chrissie

If you are up for a little intellectual reading, you may want to check out a personal / spiritual blog called Punctum Saliens. The owner of the blog is a computer programmer, though you would never guess after spending some time in the blog content. He urges you to ‘take a flying leap and see where you land’. The blogger writes from the philosophy of ‘If you’re gonna do that, you gotta…..’ which means his blog is focused on inconsistencies in the world in the way people think. He tries to point out where we make arbitrary lapses in logic, where one way of thinking or one rule implies another, but we don’t go that far. Being brought up in a fundamentalist Christian home, he notes this may affect his writing as he admits he has some observations on that as well. Largely however, he is trying to do something artistic and far reaching with his blog, and hopes his readers constructively comment on his thought processes as he does not believe he will learn very much from his own writing and wishes to see alternatives. Confused yet? Good! Because it is the blog content that really speaks to the nature of the writer and to understand this, you need to check out his recent bloggeries: Man’s task is….;Ah, to be a pre-tribulationalist/pre-millenialist; Anais Nin and Carl Jung; Syndrome….causes [some[to….[see] the Messiah; The Psychic Mediator; Seeing God through Polarized Sunglasses; Jesus is back, and this time he’s funny; and The Creation of Consciousness.

The blogger is clearly dedicated to the writing portion of the blog and thus there is little blog meat to distract the reader. This makes the blog very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are left marginalized with standard black text on white background and there is both a top and a right navigation bar. In the top navigation bar you will find links to Blog (ie. Home), About, Quotes, Creed, Books, Archives, and subscription links. In the right navigation bar you will find a Latest Posts Menu and a Blogs I Visit menu. The only navigational aspect I found difficult was that the Categories Menu was listed on the Archives page. I would recommend moving that to the home page, as the categories menu is extensive and if someone wanted to read on a specific topic, say, C.G. Jung, the blog would be much more easy to navigate. Currently there are no pictures with any of the bloggeries, though if you find yourself immersed in the blog, you will find yourself immersed in the blog. Truly the content is king with this blog and the read is a very intellectually stimulating one. There is no need for pictures with these bloggeries as in fact, they would more than likely distract from the content that is so rich.

I am going with a 4.5 for this blog, it did well on all accounts for scoring criteria. The first suggestion I have for this blogger is to move the Categories menu to the main page as not many readers will check out the Archives section. A few points were lost for activity as well as bloggeries are coming in not on a steady basis, and activity ranges from every few days to a week or more in between bloggeries. Content however is outstanding, and this blogger’s graduate level work is definitely noticeable. The blogger states in his about page that if eloquence is something one is born with, he has some worries as he hopes that it is more a talent he hopes to nurture. Clearly this is not something the blogger needs to worry about as his eloquence is the most noticeable thing about the blog. Appearance and uniqueness scores are excellent as well. The blog is both aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. Couple those with the excellent content, and it does very well for review.

-Chrissie

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If you are a parent then this next blog Bloggeries is looking at will make you want to stop for a quick read. The blog is called Watchful Eye Foundation. The blog is about ways that parents can keep more watchful eyes on their children. The header for example asks ‘Is it obvious my son or daughter is in a gang?’ and appeals to parents that the children of today are the future of tomorrow. This header speaks to the nature of the blog as a resource for helping children from the harms in today’s world and society. The Watchful Eye Foundation itself began due to the need to inform and educate the public in regards to sex offenders, gangs, and the harmful effects that these tough to talk about issues have on children. In essence, the Watchful Eye Foundation teaches children and their parents how to stay safe. Take a look at exactly how they are doing this through any of their most recent bloggeries: Is my Son or Daughter in a Gang??, Petition for the Hershey Company, Boycott continues against Hershey Company, and Boycott Hershey This Christmas.

The blog is found on blogspot, so this offers some already built in blog features which make the blog fairly simple to navigate. Bloggeries are white text on dark green background with a lighter green bordering around it. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right sided navigation bar. In the navigation bar you will find a Menu for list of Hershey products to boycott, Poll on Hershey’s latest PAC candy, About Page, Live Traffic Feed, Blog widgets and advertising, Watchful Eye Foundation in the News Menu, Archive Menu, and link list. There currently is no set Categories Menu though I do see labels on some posts. Labels for this blog include categories such as police, polls, sex offenders, sexual abuse, and watchful eye. Most bloggeries are accompanied by relevant pictures which makes the blog a little easier and more efficient to read.

I am going with a 2.8/5 for this blog as it just needs a little tweaking to give it a more professional and credible appeal. Right now the blog will need more activity and content if it wants to see a larger readership. Currently there are only four posts in December and more content is needed to see growth on this blog. Navigation is fairly simple on this blog, but I would change the Hershey boycott menu around with the About Page so that the About the Watchful Eye Foundation is the first thing in the menu that readers have access to. This will give the blog some credibility and link the personal voice with the message for the readership. I also think adding a Categories Menu to the navigation system will make the blog a little easier to work with. The blog definitely has a unique concept and its topics and writing certainly earn it points there. Overall this is a good blog with an excellent concept that has the potential to reach a large audience. With more frequent content and more navigation features, both this blog and its message could be a tremendous success. I did just notice when I visited the blog seems to be converted to MySpace and Your Child. Not sure what is going on. 🙂

-Chrissie

Bloggeries is looking at another personal blog today, and this one is a little bit of everything in a world that is ‘Delightfully Deranged’. The owner of this blog is Kathleen who is self-descrbed as ‘rather insane’. She views the world differently and has some rather strange experiences. Her blog is a medium to talk about these experiences and ramble on about nothingness. Get a feel for all that is delightfully deranged in Kathleen’s world by checking out some of her most recent bloggeries: There is Nothing Wrong with Windows Vista; Tundra Gear: Hats Brought to You by the Winner of Survivor Exile Island!; Do the Batty-Bat with Your Friend, The Count!; Men and Cars: Why do They Love Them?; Race a Psycho Chick and WIN!; Have a Good Night with $44 and a White Flag; Down with the Democrats – Why No colbert?!, and Reality T.V. Shows: Retreating From Oblivion, or Deranging our Society.

The blog is only a few months old and thus with little content it makes it very easy to navigate at this point. Bloggeries are in dark green text on a beige background and the blog is bordered in a forest green “Delightfully Deranged” motif. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right-sided navigation bar. In the navigation bar you will find a Featured Presentation that is a cute little widget containing the blog’s goals and objectives, such as to reach 3000 hits and to increase in traffic by 20%. The navigation bar also contains a Recent Posts Menu titled “Yada Yada Yada” and a bit of advertising. Most bloggeries are accompanied by relevant pictures which makes the blog easier and more interesting to read. I currently do not see a Categories Menu or even labels or tags on the posts and I would strongly recommend the blogger begin doing this as this will definitely help to bring in some search engine traffic if effective keywords are used for labeling.

Overall I am giving this blog a 3.0 and this is largely due to the youth of the blog. With such a young blog some essential blog meat is missing, and with time and growth the blog would probably see a better mark. Navigation scores are fine and that is due to the bare bones nature of the blog. To enhance navigation as the blog grows, I suggest adding categories and labels to the blog. I would also suggest moving the About Page from the footer of the blog to a top position in the right navigation bar. This will give the blog some credibility to the readers, and new readers will be able to attach meaning to the personal voice of the blog. Content is well written and in an effective personal voice, but the activity is lacking. Currently there are no bloggeries for December, and November only saw about 13 posts. If the blogger wishes to reach her goals in the featured presentation, she will definitely have to maintain the blog content on a more regular basis. The blog itself however is unique enough to sustain a readership if the content becomes more regular. As a new blog it looks like an interesting read and could do very well with just a few minor changes and regular addition to content.

-Chrissie