Student blogs featuring both students' academic and leisure interests, have taken campus Web browsers by storm. Many visual arts professors now ask their students to create blogs to showcase class assignments. There are also those who are delving into the blog world by choice to introduce others to what they are passionate about—everything from music to fashion to photography.
The Animal Show, a music blog founded by Edward Gottfried '11, has gained a wide following not only among Bowdoin students, but also among music lovers across the country. Gottfried began the blog in December 2008, but stopped posting after three months. However, he revived the blog when others from his high school and Bowdoin expressed interest in contributing.
"I read a lot of music blogs, and I didn't really like any of them," Gottfried said, explaining the inspiration for his blog. "I mean, I got a lot of good music out of them, but they are kind of offensively illiterate—which is not to say my blog is particularly literate. I decided that instead of complaining about it, I should actually do something about it."
Gottfried and the other contributors find the music they write about through other blogs and e-mail recommendations. The chosen music ranges from independent to hip-hop to the popular mashup variety.
The blog, said Gottfried, receives a couple thousand views per day and is updated about three times per week.
The name of the blog comes from a Bowdoin Cable Network show created by Gottfried and Louis Weeks '11 that never got off the ground.
"It's a joke about things that never actually happen," said Gottfried.
In the end, however, Gottfried was able to make the blog a reality.
Just this week, a new fashion blog specifically devoted to Bowdoin fashion hit the Web. The brainchild of George Aumoithe '11, Bowdoin Style features photos of fashionable Bowdoin students, often followed by text describing the chosen outfit and why it's a success. It is modeled after the popular fashion blog, The Sartorialist.
"I feel like there are two types of Bowdoin students," said Aumoithe. "There are the ones who sort of dress up, not necessarily in expensive clothes, but actually think about what they are wearing. Then there are those who just wear sweatpants. I call it sweatpants culture...I wanted to do the blog to encourage people at least once a week to dress up and have fun with it."
Aumoithe makes sure he always has a camera on him as he walks around campus. If he comes across someone with an interesting outfit, he asks to take their photo. He wants the encounters to be random so that each outfit is an honest representation of the person's style.
"I want it to be all sorts of Bowdoin students, all sorts of styles. I try to keep an open mind because what I like might not be what others like, so I try to think outside of the box and try to look at quirky manifestations of other people's styles so it's not a cookie-cutter look," said Aumoithe.
Aumoithe plans to update the blog every day and hopes to gain a large following inside and outside of Bowdoin.
Senior Margot Miller began her photo blog during her sophomore year as a requirement for a digital photography class, but got hooked and chose to continue her posts long after the class had ended.
"It was good practice for me with digital photo because I had only done black and white up until that point, and I had become hooked on digital photography," she said.
Each new post features a collection of photos of whatever catches Miller's eye.
"As far as trends in the posts, its really about patterns that I see in images that I've collected," she said. "Recently I've been photographing interior spaces a lot, and I find that in the spaces I'm familiar with—like my home or family member's homes—it allows me to look at those places with a different eye, almost as if it were a documentary."
Miller added that although the blog is no longer graded, her audience keeps her on her toes.
"I have friends and family members who follow my blog, and its nice to have a consistent audience that expects some sort of update from me," said Miller. "Even when I get caught up in the academic work of Bowdoin and extracurricular commitments, I still have people who expect blog updates, which reminds me to keep a camera with me and keep an open eye."
Miller's photography blog can be found at www.margotdmiller.blogspot.com. Aumoithe's fashion blog can be found at www.bowdoinstyle.blogspot.com. Gottfried's music blog can be found at www.theanimalshow.org.