Will Richardson (check his book and/or his blog) talks about the progression that bloggers go through from simple to real to complex blogging. What does this mean to you given your own ongoing journey into the blogosphere?

Einstein's journal

I have always kept a journal, and I have a pile of journals that I drag around with me which contain thoughts and feeling from the last 15 years of my life.  I have always used my journals as a form of therapy, and a way to just think out loud without actually having to speak to someone.  If I look back on my journals, I will see times in my life when I was truly dedicated to writing complex thoughts and working through serious life situations.  Other times in my journals are simple documentations of my daily life.  For me, the essence of blogging is a shared journal.  At least from the blogs I have read, it seems to be the primary focus.  The key to a useful journal and blog, is quantity and the ability to connect meaning from the beginning of the blog to the present state.  I feel like a blog documents a journey, and a blog without a purpose is sometimes too confusing to even bother reading.  I enjoy looking to early entries on the blogs I read to see where this blogger came from and what was the reason they started the blog.  The progression from simple to real to complex blog is a matter or the blogger's level of commitment and purpose.  Occasionally I will use the "next blog" tab on Blogspot just to take a look at random blogs in the world.  By just looking at 10-20 random blogs you can start to develop an understanding of what qualifies as a simple or complex blog.  Many bloggers are simply using this tool to document simple observations or thoughts much like a standard diary.  Then there are complex blogs which reveal deeper insights into specific subjects, and seem more like a magazine.  After looking at a few of these blogs, I start to realize that I have been looking at blog like tools for a very long time.  The Opinion section of a newspaper and magazines use the same techniques as blogs.  Blogs now allow more people to make their thoughts available, and just like with newspapers, readers eventually start to follow or read the writers they are most interested in.

With that being said, I have to admit that I have enjoyed working on the blog for this course.  Although it has been a forced assignment, I have found myself frequently thinking about what I will include on my blog while driving or taking a walk.  I get excited when I see that someone in the world has looked at my blog even though I have no idea who it is.  I have also felt like my ability to post on my blog has improved since the beginning.  I have tried to stick to the standards dictated by the course assignment, but I have also attempted to make the blog my own and to use my own voice.  I find that blogs become more meaningful when I can understand the perspective of the blogger.  I think it takes time to become a complex blogger, and I am not sure if I will ever reach that point or whether I want to.  I certainly could not continue to blog if it ever started to feel like a job.  I have to enjoy it in order to do it right.  I absolutely understand the usefulness of a blog much like I have felt the benefit of keeping a journal about my life.  The great quality of a blog is that it is always there.  If I decide I do not have a use for a blog in the next few months, I can know that there will always be the blog for me to come back to if the inspiration returns.