The blogosphere has ballooned quite a bit during the last month, thanks to the launch of more than 200 sites launched by students in a new first year subject at La Trobe University called The Emerging Journalist, which I happen to be coordinating.
For one of their assignments, everyone is required set up a blog on a subject that they feel passionate about, and to curate a Twitter list that will function as a news feed for the blog.
The rationale behind this is pretty straightforward. Nobody hires a journalist without a publishing track record and social media skills, and there’s no doubt that students who embrace this in their first semester at university are going to be better placed to develop a portfolio that will attract prospective employers.
Blogging is a great way to start, as well as providing a way build a personal brand. As the University of British Columbia’s Alfred Hermida puts in an article entitled “Budding journalists use Twitter, blogs to open doors” : “Not only does writing on a regular schedule make you smarter, it also shows spirit and attitude and a thirst for learning and sharing. Just about every news editor I talked to now expects a journalism student to have blogged.”
The list below (which I’ll keep updating as new blogs are posted) traverses a huge range of topics on everything from folk music, to media, politics, sport, food, life at university, videogames, the financial crisis in Cyprus. And there’s an infographics and stats site, a screen shot of which you can see just above.
If you’re new to blogging yourself, check these out, follow the ones that you like by signing up for email updates, and join the conversation about them on Twitter by using the #TEJ2013 hashtag.
The List So Far
Cobba’s Infographics and Stats – by Jake “Cobba” Stevens
The Freak Kingdom – Kimberley Thomson
Print’s Not Dead – Kelly Greenhalgh
Competitor Number One – Rikki-Lee Burley
Political Delirium – Maggie Triantafillou
Info-DJ – Jodie Symonds
One Fair City – Erin Leeder
Ethan’s Wonderblog – Ethan Miller
Aussie Cheer – Tegan Azar
Not So Trendy Teen Trends – Liam Hooper
Little Lunch – Michelle Brown
Soundly Alternative – Joel Hargreaves
The Young Roos – Ahmed Yussuf
Football Victoria’s Ethnic Contingent – Vito Dorio
Media Queens – Joely Mitchell
Behind the Glory – Ben Cuzzupe
Une Belle Reve – Cecilia Distefano
The Band Enthusiast – Nisa Ates
No Permanent Address – Janine Buenconsejo
White Line Fever – Johaan Forbes-Anthony
Fitzroy Folk – Katherine Arditto
The Artist Orchid – Cate Snedden
Pre-game Introductions – Adrian Gonnella
Bethany J Mac: Women&Music – Bethany McAuliffe
Confessions of a Movie Addict – Raquel Gubroail
Why Zelda is Awesome – Nicola Guarro
The youth-challenged – Matt Goss
Best Served With Milk – Ronny Zeng
LTU Journalism for Beginners – Rebecca Tedesco
Gear up. Game on! – Mohammad Safar
Allow me to remind you … -– Jordan Vu-Abouzeid
The Forward Press – Michael Itsou
Eating Out of Garbage Bins – Nat Kessel
Creating, Playing and Living the Music – Alee Goodrich
Soundtrack Of My Generation – Ash La Rocca
Gym Rat Culture – Omar Aldabel
Young Guns of Aussie Men’s Tennis – Gayanthi Goonewardane
Miley Cyprus – Erin Cook
Nineteen Treasures – Johanna Brasier
melbournerescue – Darcy Gilligan
The True AFL Ladder – Josh Barnes
NBC – Ashley Apap
Beside the Point – Chris Hearn
A Tactical Insight – Sam Quinn
Inspirational Community – Aseel Sammak
The Band Enthusiast – Nisa Ates
Insane in the Complain – Sasha Dougherty
The Things I Wish I Knew – Ashlee Schultz
F1 – The Other Guys – Josh Kruse
High School to Pro – Damian Hilton
Masterdating – Ewa Staszewska
The Territory Issue – Liam Brockett
Multis, Multis, Multis! – Stefan Petrovic
Life through a Sporting Lens – Daniel Bramley
Festival Heads – Emma Thompson
Kiandral’s Blog – Kiandra Lane
Keeping it Wheel – Evan Rowe
Defending Success – Aaron Theckston
Behind the Counter – Caitlin McArthur
Raw Blend – Maddison Stafford
Obsession of 90s entertainment – Rebecca Zakkour
A Blog about Nothing – David Tracey
Journalisticality – Joseph Tatra
Down for the Count – Adam Hill
The Happy Diaries – Lauren Joy
At Lacrosse Roads – Lachlan Williams
The Norwegian Perspective – Susanne Osthus
Behind the Tennis – Melissa Thompson
Off the Rails – everything horse racing – Tom Gilmour
Support for Sport – Daniel Shandler
Vlogspose – Taylah Burrows
Skeptical Gamer – Michael Martino
NBA’s Up and Coming Teams and Talent – Nathan Weatherhead
Being a Black Muslim Teenaged Girl – Ayan Moussa
Emerging Athletes, Emerging Fans – Alyssia Varricchio
The Musical Underdog – Phoebe Robertson
AFL Off the Field – Nadine Rabah
Red Zone NFL – Eliot Bingham
Under-Radared – Matthew Santini
Centre Half Back – Lauren Bordin
Sucky of Starry Sequels – Indiana Muir
Australia’s Game – Mustapha Taha
Melbourne Minds – Eden Farrugia
Down and Out of Tofu – Dhruva Horsfall
Welcome to the League of Slugmeister – Sam Hughes
Fitzroy Football Club – Mike Lee
Take Five – Meghan Weiley
Buoyant Youth – Chantelle Boucher
Luxe for Less – Michaela Prendergast
Life of an Aussie WWE Nerd – Kristina Egger
The Other Side – Stephanie Atkins
Graffiti Sam – Samantha Young
LukeZammit94 – Luke Zammit
More to come …
