Introduction

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction to blogging

Since my introduction to blogging a year ago, it has swiftly become one of my favourite means of communication. I began my first blog Oh Dear, Megan (www.ohdearmegan.blogspot.com) in January 2010 to aid me with my thesis and have discovered the addiction that many a blogger before me has fallen victim to. Keeping my own blog has allowed me to follow and keep up to date on the work of designers, artists, jewellers, writers, photographers and other creative people. It has proved to be a fantastic networking tool that I have found extremely useful in exploring and understanding the jewellery and design industry.

A blog is a very user friendly tool and allows one to browse effortlessly through archives of images and information. Each blog is completely individual and there are endless ways of using a blog. Most blogging programs allow one to choose everything from the background colour or image to the text size, type and colour. Through the use of these options a blog becomes a unique extension of oneself, or of an organisation or company. There are no limits to, or specifications of the content of a blog - it is completely up to the blogger.

“A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list.” -Tom Foremksi

One of my favourite things about blogging is being able to view artists’ progress and work as soon as they post articles on their respective blogs. The opportunity to view their blogging history has allowed me to better understand their thoughts and design process, an important feature which is often overlooked in the design world. In that sense a blog is similar to a mood board, which is acknowledged as a useful tool in design.

“I think it is equally tiresome and useless to argue about whether blogs are journalism, for journalism is not limited by the tool or medium or person used in the act” -Unknown

Through the classes I gave to the first year Jewellery Design and Manufacture students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, I have learnt that blogging has been greatly underestimated in both the corporate and design world. A blog can be used for business advice or as a means of keeping the public and even possible investors aware of the development in a company, no matter how small. In the design world a blog can be used as a way of showcasing work in progress, allowing people who view the blog to feel some involvement in the process, as an exhibition of achievement and completed work, or simply to communicate with others with similar interests or in the same field.

Blogs are a fantastic and cost-effective advertising tool – usually a free forum for the blogger. If a frequently read blog mentions or adds a link to another blog; with a simple click, the reader will be transported to that blog. Many design blogs feature other bloggers on their pages, building a blogging community. Through the links on a blog, traffic can be transferred to any site on the World Wide Web.

Revenue from adverts placed on a blog can even provide an income for the blogger. The value of a blog to support, assist and inspire the artist or designer should not be overlooked.