Education is all about ability to perceive facts, from reading about it, as against actually watching it to happen. To be a good reader, requires two things. First is the knowledge of the language and second is ability to imagine. Reading and daydreaming goes hand in hand. Reading, like all things, often becomes an obsession, but that is another matter.
Writing is an extension of reading. Writing also involves two things. First command over the language and second is clarity of perception of thought. Writing transforms the abstract thought into tangible words.
Readers and writers exist but cannot be created by training. Their existence can be dormant like a plant without flower. But springs arrive when Reader gets lost in his reading, loosing sense of time and Writer blooms when he is not hesitant to write his thoughts, with same clarity as he/she perceive it.
Unfortunately internet has created a new illusion i.e. Writers without writing skills. They are Recyclists. Copy paste plagiarism has a new extension. Blogging was supposed to be a personal log book but it becomes a scrapbook of other’s articles. I stumble upon numerous blogs which merely recycle content from other sources without adding a single word. But that is not the whole problem. The worst part is the fact that this recycling culture has created an impression that recycling is blogging. That is a dangerous trend. This makes potential writers wary of experimenting or to start at all.
Flower has one destiny: to blossom. Writer exists in writing for the two are the same. One is thought and other is it’s transformed image in writing. Each individual writer has his style of writing which is like a personality. Most of time I have to read judgments of the courts. Very often the authors can be identified by their writings. Some can not be identified at all which also means that their stenographer do most of the writing.
To sum up, every good reader is a potential writer. Every good writing is a product of meditation. BTW here good is used for diligence and being meticulous. It is exciting to see that some teenagers have such a clarity in their thought, as reflected from their blogging. That is a real promise of future of mankind, if this clarity does not get enslaved in patterns of thought and its action.
I hope not.
Sandeep Bhalla's Blog 
You said: “Blogging was supposed to be a personal log book but it becomes a scrapbook of other’s articles.”
I understand your perspective, but blogging has evolved and one writing their own personal opinion, putting thoughts into words, about a said subject is not always necessary for others to benefit. I’ve had a website since 2007 and a blog on WordPress since March of last year. The benefits of having a WordPress blog have far out weighed any benefits from my website. Websites can be expensive and they are generally static. Rarely are they offered for free with the benefits (space and templates, etc) that sites such as WordPress offer. WordPress is user friendly and gives people the opportunity to create themed formats for educational purposes, which is what I’m most interested in. Blogging sites like WordPress also provide community, which I relish.
Many of the postings in my blog (containing opinions of others, research, and studies) initially had a profound effect on my understanding about the environment and its effects on humans. It took me years to gather the data. My goal is not to become a creative writer, but to share leading edge information in hopes that it benefits others. A collection of information helps the reader connect the dots; to see a bigger picture. I know it’s beneficial because of the feedback I get via emails. That’s what matters to me the most, not my writing skills, or lack thereof.
Many people simply don’t have time to do extensive research on a said subject, so sites like WordPress provide people like me, who’ve done the busy work, the opportunity to bring it all together. Some of my posts are in my own words, and some are articles which include the opinions of others, and studies. I may provide an intro on a particular article I post, yet choose to not dilute the information (translating it into my own words), keeping the integrity of the information intact. I always acknowledge the source which in turn helps drive traffic to those sites. It’s a win, win. I tend to practice my ‘creative writing’ in comment sections on other blogs. ;D
US Copyright Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 (Fair Use) states:
“The fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_Code/Title_17/Chapter_1/Section_107
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Perhaps I missed my point again. I am so inadequate in my expression. Actually it had nothing to do with copyright at all. Since you pointed out, it is so apparent that it does have that bearing as well. If you follow a few judgments of courts on the telecast of live sports, you would find that interpretation of fair use is seriously narrower than what appears from statutory definition. If an owner of content specifically directs or specifies terms of fair use, that would prevail upon the popular notion. Quoting an extract my be fair use. but re-blogging with a view to take away the potential reader is a clear violation of DMCA. I am so grateful for your such valuable advise. At first glance re-blogging does not fall in any of these: “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research”. Personal difficulties do not relieve a person from the rigor of law.
I will study this issue further.
Coming back to first point, my core issue was ‘mind’. Reading and Writing opens that section of mind which has energy potential to rise beyond two dimensional thinking. Mindless re-blogging does not help in that aspect. I hope I have clarified.
Thank you for your invaluable help. Please keep pointing my errors. All the best.
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Thanks for sharing your thought.
Actually the mute point was making was that by sharing we learn form other’s mistakes so as we do not repeat the same. It also helps knowing that we all face similar problems all the time for life is nothing but a train which runs on pleasures and stops at pains(problems). When you wrote ‘writing for the sake of writing’, I think you meant ‘writing for the need or urge of writing’. I do such mistakes all the time.
BTW I also need to thank you for another reason. Actually your blog had a song of Celine Dion which reminded me to create my last post on music.
Peace.
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Completely agree with you about the use of reblogging. I run across many blogs that are simply a platform to post other people’s creations.
I myself like to blog every day. It is a good routine for me to keep the pace of writing and creating. I run two blogs, both completely different from each other. But I do from time to time repost an article or something else that I have found inspiring or informative for my readers to enjoy. However I try to spend a bit more time on a blog post of my own that relates to that article or photo.
While readership to me is a plus, I find that writing for the sake of writing is my passion. It can’t imagine a world where I couldn’t write, in fact.. I am pretty sure if there was one, I would have to recreate a new world in my words.
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I am so grateful that this period in history is showing a wonderful flowering of creativity in so many fields.
And also, yes, it is a pity that there is so much froth in writing. We can all put pen to paper – so perhaps that is why we all think we can write.
I read somewhere that a writer is someone who agonises more than most people over putting words on paper.
Strangely, your post has made me feel more optimistic. It helps me take a step back and say that perhaps this recycling is the price that has to be paid for easy entry to the world of being published.
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Sorry I missed this comment some how.
I believe the world is same as it always was except for technology. The copies and papers which used to be burned up after death as trash, are now in open during life time.
Creativity yes but writing is more in the realm of expression of thought. I really enjoy the information age. It is such a pleasure to be here in this era. A Writer who gains strenght from agony certainly suffer more but a writer who is able to see his thoughts and transforms it completely, is already beyond agony or pain unless he chooses to suffer. Thanks for giving your time and sharing your thought.
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Though there are many personal blogs that are full of original content the definition of weblog has expanded and continues to expand. The kind of blogs we develop is solely up to us and our imagination. Sadly, many aren’t imaginative. Worse still those who simply post viral videos etc. get rewarded with heavy traffic flow and if they blog is monetized they get income.
It seems that the Tumblr blogging platform is extremely popular and the whole reblogging notion they had going there created so many page views (and an increase in income) they WordPress.com introduced reblogging here too. As reblogs are only excerpts they are not considered to be duplicate content. They are equivalent to quotations these days. Hence even that definition is changing.
I hear your concern and I share it. I too hope that those who are new to blogging learn how to express themselves in written form, in their own unique words, rather than plagiarizing or skirting that issue by reblogging.
In terms of your analogy I hope they are seeds that will be fertilized with care and set buds that burst into beautiful unique flowers.
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Advertising is a big bubble which is waiting to blow over. Thanks for your kind input which lends added weight to my words or may be elevates it to the level of an authority.
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Hmm. “Patterns of thought” are always so tempting This makes me think of an observation by W. H. Auden, “habit of affection freezing our thought in its own inert society.” When we “feel” habitually our thinking tends to flow into patterns. Actually, it doesn’t “flow” but is actually extruded or forced into these patterns.
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Intersting input. I did not know that. First time I read about patterns was in some margin of talks of Gurdjieff. Here is ‘The Mind’ again. Speaking through so many. Our individuality is nothing but a pattern of habits and thought.
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