Categorical Blog Evaluations = Bloring

While a discussion of academic blogs relates to my venture here more directly, there is nothing wrong with exploring the conventions used within other blog types. So, without further ado:


The Categorized Blogs

Political/News - Scholars and Rogues
Entertainment/Art - Click Opera
Lifestyle - The Sartorialist
Science/Technology - Bad Astronomy

Evaluation
One similarity between all these blogs is the use of dark text over white backdrop. This seems to be ever the more common in sites I visit. Reminiscent of Old Media texts, we are trained to read the dark signifier of meaning over the bright content venue. All but The Sartorialist make use of a header navigation bar, simplifying the meandering through the pages upon pages of original content. On to the specific conventions...

From the top down, S&R shares several traits with Old Media news texts. The writing style is journalistic, sticking to the facts and there is a limited use of images. The writing is informative, well-structured, clearly thought out and direct. There is limited link usage. What separated this blog from common News sources is the inclusion of viral videos, and a strange photography of nature section (see Rust). As a whole, the site is cluttered, with dense margins surrounding a compacted body section. Additionally, advertising, polls and internal linking detract from the content.

Click Opera is on the other end of the spectrum, with a minimalist approach. I found the right margin alignment to be refreshing and drew focus to the content itself. Per the notion of art, the site makes great use of images, even using images in argument (see "the anxious interval" time line). The textual content is far less defined, though, ranging from the personal sentiments to global persuasions. Such is art. So too is the credibility in the eye of the beholder. Who is to say who is an artist or what is art. Arguably, the blog itself is a piece of art, with the wood plank background and unique layout.

As mentioned above, The Sartorialist stands alone as the sole site considered which does not feature dark text of a light background. In fact, the blog has little text at all. It is simply composed of beautifully captured images of fashionably dressed individuals in front of blurry, uncommon, if not exceptional backgrounds. The use of image as argument is as unforgiving as the simple layout. In the highbrow vein of fashion, this blog makes the statements that these people are fashionable simply because they are. There is no description of clothing worn, common to such displays (see GQ slideshows), nor the people featured. All that is mentioned is the location of the shot by city and country. This site is truly bare, yet distinctively unreserved.

Lastly, I encounter Bad Astronomy, which acquires its credbility through operation under the Discover: Science, Technology and The Future banner. This blog is features conventions typical to general blogs. Personal tone, balance of text, image and video and a loose adherence to the suggested subject matter. The layout is not unusual, in that the left-most, largest column makes up the body fo the text with the narrower right column reserved for blog description, book plugging, internal linking and archives. Even though the subject can be dry at times, the cheeky tone keeps posts interesting and light.

A Final Note
I am finding that comments can make or break the success of a blog. So is true of these well read sites. Each contains comments unique to the subject matter. Namely, Click Opera comments contain thoughtful, sarcastic responses which sometimes make use of images as argument (first occurrence noted). S&R comments are few and brief, but often link to additional resources/information. The Sartorialist comment list is composed of frivolous admiration for the outfits, or a presumption about the mood of the model. And Bad Astronomy's comments range from the personal, to the scientific to the utterly unrelated.

What is to be learned from all of this? Essentially, if the tone, text structure and site layout all play into the subject matter, they benefit the desired credibility and worth oft he site. If there is unwarranted clutter or unexplainable stylistic decisions being made, readership may take the penance.