ENG251culture

due: Thursday, Feb. 1st (by the time class begins)

Find a blog entry that engages you, says something that you want to answer back to, respond to, and dis/agree with. Or you can choose a blog entry that says something of interest to you that you want to share with your readers. Or, if you find more than one entry on the same topic, you can provide a summary of what other bloggers have to say on a particular subject.

In whatever manner you decide to respond, you must either trackback or pingback the entry or entries to which you refer. (Again, remember that a specific entry is different than the weblog as a whole).

Trackbacks

Trackbacks allow you to link to another blog while also notifying the author of the fact that you’ve referenced her/him in your own writing.

In order to trackback the entry you are referencing must find the entry’s trackback link:

Most trackback links appear just after the blog post content and before the comments.

Sometimes the link will appear as a plain text link:

Other times it will be a hyperlink:

If the trackback URL is hyperlinked, you’ll need to right click on it and select “Copy link location…” (or your browser’s equivalent), otherwise, you can highlight and copy the link.

Once you’ve found and copied the proper URL, you’ll need to paste it into the trackbacks box found below your text box, following “Send trackbacks to:”.

Pingback

Pingbacks notify a blog(ger) that you’ve referenced them/him/her when you simply post the permalink to a specific entry.

For more information go here or here.

For an interesting perspective on trackbacks and the difficulties involved in creating and maintaining an online conversation go here.

**Be sure that your responses/posts are thoughtful and careful. Even when disagreeing with another blogger, don’t seek to offend. Offer more than simple opinion; be sure to support your views with evidence.**