Rettburg

In last week's reading Rettberg mentioned the shift that occurred when society was able to individually read texts. "With silent reading, reading changed from a communal to a personal act, and it has been argued that this new solitary relationship between an individual and a text was a significant reason for the development of the notion of a separation between private and public (Chartier)" (40). It seems as though blogging is another shift from public to private. Individuals no longer have to rely on the media to receive the news. Readers can go to various blogs to obtain information. Another facet of this shift is the authoring of information. Rettberg states, "Bloggers have seen themselves as an alternative to mainstream media, as a force that can reform and change the ways we conceive of media: today, anybody can own a press. Anybody can be the media" (108). The idea that anyone can contribute information is a driving force for not only blogs but also Twitter. An average person now feels comfortable and almost driven to let the world know they are taking their dog for a walk or any other mundane piece of information. I find it interesting to see how companies integrate this media into its daily communication. This incredibly individual media in a large company compromises the individual nature of the media.

As part of the shift from public to private there is an emphasis on trust and authenticity in blogging. Rettburg provided multiple examples of blogs that gave off the appearance of an individual's personal thoughts and composition, but the individual was either a fake person or a person paid by a company. "When Kaycee and lonelygirl15 were revealed to be hoaxes, readers and viewers were furious" (125). Because of the perceived personal component to blogging, society expects the same level of integrity from those who blog as those they interact with face-to-face.