Blogs continued: Sen. Thesis II

Okay, here is the objective of my work:
There is a paradigm shift in media from the traditional journalistic focus to one of self-disclosure.
Questions:
How did it turn this way? Why is this becoming more popular?
Later questions to consider:
Is this a good thing?

Now, here is the interesting part. I have come to the conclusion I can cut a lot of the work I thought I'd have to do out of the picture and focus my thoughts toward only a handful of examples.
Here is what I have chosen to look at:
Trent Lott's comments at Strom Thurman's birthday party.
A comparison of Blogs from both the Democratic and Republican parties which discuss political topics. (Alito, bills, etc.) Thank you, Dr. Martinek for the Gannon and Lewinski ideas. I can compare a few Blogs to the stories written about them.
A few tech Blogs.
A few "personal" Blogs.

Compared to:
Newspaper articles on the same subjects.

(For the young ones, I was told this is part of the review of literature. You also include theories written about the subject in your background literature review... well, the ones you read.)

Now, I will supplement this with:
Interviews of one social and one journalistic Blogger.

Next:
I will analyze the two forms based on what is traditionally considered journalistic style and what is known as self-disclosure. Also, I will allow for some other communication details to be explained. (technical stuff)

Now, I have to define a few things:
Blog, personal Blog, technical Blog, journal, online Blog, traditional journalistic ideal, and self-disclosure.

Oh, and don't forget to fill in people with the history/background:
Robot Wisdom, http://oldweblogscomblog.scripting.com/historyOfWeblogs, etc.

This is good for, you know, letting the audience get a feel of how important the topic really is.

Then, I'll probably have a whole lot of more topics I can bring up for future research. These will be things like Facebook.com, online communities, self-disclosure as a form of journalism.

Now, this isn't the whole thing. I won't give that away, but it's basically something to guide others along. Plus, it's a form of research in itself to keep a Blog to track my progress. However, it doesn't work if nobody doesn't comment. And, it can't just be Thad!

My Senior Thesis... Part I

Alright, so I've been contemplating this for some time now. But, in order to track my progress fully and create a simple way of diving into my topic, I need to post my Blog. I need reactions and thoughts and insights and everything should be in order. Well, supposedly.
Here's the deal. I'm dissecting Blogs as a form of communication study. It's basically a break down of how the Blogger deals with the ability to post semi-anonymous journal entries allowing us to form what is paradoxial to the natural meaning of a "personal diary." In a way, it's an overexposure of self-disclosure.
Now, I'm not going to spoil the whole plot of my thesis, but that's the beginning.
There's a movement within journalism to watch Blogs and discuss their own fair and "unbiased" conglomeration of the world around them. Frankly, it's just an easy way to catch up on the word of the day. I've been watching every subject I can think of from Trent Lott to Canada's government to the Alito hearings to whatever. There's a bunch of garbled junk and there's a lot of clear and precise information. But, it's all within the standard, "It's only a Blog."
Really?
Blogs have created a significant stir in the past. President Bush's campaign managers relied on Grassroots.org and its Blog-like system to connect inner city voters and countryside workers.
Soldiers funerals were publicized only in print without pictures until a Blogger abruptly uploaded some pictures taken from the cargo bay of the landing planes holding the caskets.
It's not a matter of "if" Blogs are significant. It's more like, "why?" Also, what is the draw of the Blog?
Is it not enough that someone can simply post an opinionated statement on the Internet and then follow that up with another and another. But, what keeps the Blog going isn't necessarily the fact the Blog has comments, but others read it and post on their Blogs about the Blog. It's concisely a progressive movement in a lateral and vertical direction-- down the Blog comments page and across the Blog spectrum. Whether it makes any sense or not, there's nothing more interesting than to see this spring forward into the world of "real" media.
Newspapers and television networks generate a wonderment and bewilderment about this phenonenon that's not natural. Yet, it's quite natural to report what's going on. Now everyone wants a Blog, and not just because it's simple to do.
Look at Google for example. Blogger itself is run by Google. And, there's a Blog search engine specifically to sort new Blogs.
RSS feeds allow people to download Blog updates directly to one's own email or computer. An RSS feed is known as a "Really Simple Syndicate." In a way, it's what online newspapers wanted years ago when they first thought of downloading direct copies of the newspaper to a subscriber's printer. Blogs beat the newspapers to it. Mainly because they are free!
And, thanks to the .xml extension and other new advances, we can view our Blogs on cell phones and PDA's. It's just so SIMPLE!
Yet, that's just a preview of the things to come in my research. (This is just the background stuff... a small portion of it and if I don't let it loose, I'm going to go crazy because I don't have one place to put it... except on my Blog.)
Goode Day.