Category Archives: Writing Tips

Tech Websites for Your Media Lit Review

NYTimes Bits Blog http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/

NYTimes Tech News http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/‎

Wired http://wired.com/

Slashdot http://slashdot.org/

Simply Statistics http://simplystatistics.org/

Tech Meetups in Maine http://technology.meetup.com/cities/us/me/

EnGadget http://www.engadget.com/

Digg http://digg.com

Mashable http://mashable.com

The Verge http://theverge.com

Ars Tecnnica http://arstechnica.com/

CNet http://www.cnet.com/

ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com/

Readwrite http://readwrite.com/

Digital Trends http://www.digitaltrends.com/

DtPlus http://www.dtplus.in/

Pando Daily http://pando.com/

Hacker News http://hackernews.org/

Machine Happy http://machinehappy.com/

The Next Web http://thenextweb.com/#!snAsG

Tapscape http://www.tapscape.com/

GigaOM http://gigaom.com/

Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/

LifeHacker http://lifehacker.com

 

How to Write Your First Blog Post

Here are some tips for writing your first blog post:

  1. Learn the basics of adding posts here.
  2. Blog posts need titles. The title conveys the core argument or message of the post. Not too long or short; try to save yourself from the use of colons; and, most importantly, don’t just call it Post #1 or First Post.
  3. Tips for writing the content of the post can be found here.
  4. Make sure to categorize your post to fit the right assignment! You can find the categories to the right of the text box (Publish, Format, and then Categories).
  5. Click Publish.

How to Write Posts & Comments

Blog Posts

The aim of the blog posts is to get you to critically think through a series of scaffolded questions that will help you address and analyze the advent of smart urbanism can play a roll in the growth of the city of Portland, Maine. You will be able to draw on classic and cutting-edge readings about cities, namely New York City to give us a focused comparative case, and work on smart cities. In each of the blog posts you will draw upon the readings for the course in order to reflect on a question or series of questions.

Each post is due the night before class so that if a blog post is due on 9/15 on the syllabus, you need to  turn it in by 5 p.m. the previous day, i.e. 9/14. Be sure to include proper citations with footnotes “[1}” at the end of sentences and Chicago citation format below the text. All blog posts must be three to four paragraphs long. Do not use contractions. It is essential that you categorize your post so that Prof. Gieseking can find it for reading/commenting/grading. You can find the proper category (the name of the assignment) under Categories to the right of the editable text box window.

Comments

Once your research group is set, you will comment on all of your working group’s posts in brief replies. The aim of these comments is to carry on the conversation beyond the classroom about your topic, while also allowing you to grow a bigger and stronger knowledge base while working as a team. While you will have individual research interests within your topic–say, public wifi on India Street or a bus times app in the infrastructure group–your arguments will be stronger and more refined for the collective churning over of ideas.

Comments can be as long as you like but need only be 2-3 sentences per comment. There is no requirement to cite the readings in your comments but it is highly encouraged.

If you need help with the technical aspects of posting to the website, see the posts under Tech Tips.