critique

The blog that i've chosen is a technology blog which is simply titled 'Technology.' It's located at http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/. The blog is owned by New Scientist. There is also a link on the right hand side of the blog that says 'submit a story to techblog@newscientist.com .' On posts, names of the various authors are included, such as Barry Fox, who is a contributor to New Scientist magazine. This indicates some of the blog content are user-generated. This is interesting as it makes the blog even more interactive, instead of just the possibility of posting comments. I'd say that this method is highly useful and effective for the blog as there would be a greater range of stories, especially from the tech-savvy community.

This is especially so since the blog is about innovations in technology. In the blog, posts include very interesting stories like this: 'Do you ever get bored of looking at the same old keyboard? Fortunately two researchers at the Language Technologies Institute of Carnegie Mellon University have a new idea - making them invisible.' I like the blog because the stories and language used is very friendly to people who are not very tech-savvy, including me. It's so refreshing to read a technology blog without closing the window after thirty seconds because the computer language used is simply incomprehensible.

The design and layout is also very easy on the eyes. Basically, the text column is in the middle and the column is white in colour while the text is black in colour. The sides of the column are filled with black or grey colour. Using such simple yet futuristic colours enhances its whole 'technology' theme and it also beats squinting through posts in crazy colours like yellow and bright pink.

There are no information provided as to how long the blog has been operating but the earliest posts date back to September 2006. There are also no indicators as to how many viewers the blog has. It should however, be taken into consideration that since it is an online blog that is owned by the well-established magazine 'New Scientist', it should boast quite a large number of viewers as compared to personal blogs. In the FAQ section, it also says that users who are interested in complete access to all posts must subscribe. This shows that the blog itself has grown into an online enterprise.

I feel that this blog is not only important, but it's also interesting without being too 'technology genius' in its posts. This allows it to reach out to the wider audience, such as me (not a technology person, trust me). What enabled this was its interesting content and easy language. I find the posts highly interesting as they are kept short and sweet. Other interesting posts include post on the phenomenal computer game Second Life, GPS Dog Detector, any many other fancy gadgets that I've never heard of before till i visited the blog. I also have trust in the blog because it's not like a commercial blog whose posts mainly persuade the new gadgets, but the tone of the posts are kept neutral. I believe in its objectivity and also believe that the blog has acquired a new rave review.