My Take on Blogging

When thinking about a definition for blogging, the first thought that comes to mind is a safe place on the internet to share information of all kinds with anyone who wants to look. The information can be useful or not because it belongs to an individual. Depending on the purpose, blogging can be very beneficial, or it can contain information that is useful only to the blogger. Anyone can blog regardless of age, gender, or race as long as they can use a computer.
Because blogging is so broad range, it has useful benefits for any technology user. A novice technology user can blog simply for the enjoyment of having a place where thoughts can be written down or the user can find a blog on almost any subject to attain or share information. For people who love to spend time on the computer, blogging is another avenue to use their time on the computer. Blogging can also be a channel to famous people that otherwise would be unaccessible to the average person. Blogging sights have become so popular and so broad ranged that a blog sight can be found on almost any subject and in almost any field of work.
My major is physical therapy. I can see many uses for blogging information in my field. Because physical therapy is a related medical field, information and techniques are constantly changing. Through blogging, information can be shared much more quickly. If I were working on a particular case and wasn't haven't any success, blogging could put me in contact with other physical therapists for help. As a new physical therapist, information could be obtained from many sources quickly. Just being able to get on blog sights related to my work field would provide a wealth of information. On the other side, if I came across a time saving technique or new way of doing something, I could also share information. Physical therapy is a demanding occupation and requires contant learning. If for no other reason, a blog sight could be useful just for venting.
A good blog sight must be useful for the person using it. Depending on the reason for using the sight, it needs to be updated on a regular basis. When looking at blog sights, some hadn't been updated in a year. A good blog sight needs to look appealing to the person using the sight. The font needs to be easy to read and it needs to be spaced so it's not overwhelming. In order to have any credibility at all, the information needs to be grammatically correct. When blogging for some information, the author's name can give credibility to the sight. A good blog sight often lists sources and related articles. A bad blog sight is one that is hard to read for whatever reason and doesn't give enough information for what a person needs. When looking for information through a blog sight, just listing a first name isn't enough. I was told once that one man's trash is another man's treasure. I guess this could be said for blog sights too.
The "good" or "bad" is in the eye of the beholder. What one person might consider a bad blog, another might find it useful.
I looked at three blogs relating to physical therapy. The first blog, http://mfschwall.blogspot.com, was titled "The Physical Therapy Etcetera Blog". It said it was covering varied aspects of physical therapy, health policy, science, politics and any other topic of interest. The blog was written using correct grammar and spelling, but the content was so broad it was hard to follow and you had to scroll through a lot of information. It was much more than just physical therapy. This blog had moved to a different blog, so everything posted was more than a year old. You even had to read through some information to find out that it had moved. I really found no information that the creator was treated as an expert. It seemed more of a blog to just talk. The second blog ,http://physical therapy blog.wordpress.com, was titled "Alison's Physical Therapy Blog". The blog gave information on back pain from a physical therapist. It was easy to read and written using correct grammar and spelling. The blog hadn't been updated in several months. The comments suggest the the author is treated as an expert and suggest the blog is a very good one. The third blog, http://physical therapy. about.com/b/, was very good. The title "Quick Tips to Help You" gave tips on all kinds of things dealing with physical therapy. It was very easy to read and the spacing was very appealing. One thing that made the blog seem so professional is that it asked each reader to take a poll and it also gave related articles and sponsor links.
Based on what I've seen, I think blogging will be around for awhile.