A Tumblr is a easy to update blog, tailor made to act as a scrap book of images, movies, audio and quotes. It plays nice with long-format original text too. I have one (lis470.tumblr.com!) Kate has one! Frank has one (and loves it).
470 students are required to keep their own Tumblr blog (and follow all classmates) as a means to document visual discoveries while doing research, to serve as a repository for reading responses, and a place to hold your thoughts, observations and process about your projects.
Again, all students are required to follow everyone in the class (including me!). It will be our primary way of sharing progress and inspiration!
There are tons of ways to post content to a Tumblr blog, but I presume a lot of our posts will follow a few different "formulas." (But! Don't let this limit you.) Links to examples below:
- Juxtaposition of images to compare and contrast
- Summarization through citation
- Juxtapose cited texts from different sources, then come to a conclusion
Tumblr also has made a handy "bookmarklet," a bookmark that can sit in your bookmarks bar. When you're surfing, if you find a relevant image, just click on the "Share on Tumblr" bookmarklet, select the image you want in the popup and click the Save button. If it's text, just highlight the text you'd like to quote and click the bookmarklet. Easy peasy. You'll be filling up your blogs in no time. Here are some instructions on how to install the bookmarklet.
You can also follow other Tumblr blogs. Here are a few suggestions:
Also check out Tumblr's blog directory for more recommendations.