Review two blogs from this list of the 100 best blogs for economics students. Make sure they are from different categories, and don't repeat one that someone else has already done. Yes I realize that this means you will have to check the previous posts to see which ones have already been reviewed. The sooner you do this one the easier it will be. Reviews need to include:
1) Content
2) Appearance
3) Ease of Navigation
4) Apparent bias
Place your name and class period at the bottom of your entry
50 comments:
Blog: I WILL TEACH YOU TO BE RICH
1) Content: The content of this blog is essentially a guide for people to manage their money sufficiently and how to get more out of one's money. The "psychology of money" is analyzed, along with how to preserve the value of your money through different business tactics.
2) Appearance: The appearance is very sleek and clean to imply the simplicity of "becoming rich". The base colors are green and white, which focuses on non-other than money itself. Also, off to the right side of the home page, it shows that this blog has been accredited by, for example, the NY Times and The Wall Street Journal. This validity gives the blog a trustworthy appearance and gives the reader an automatic sense of reliability.
3) Ease of Navigation: The blog is very easy to navigate because of the tabs at the top of the page, which are very specific. They are not broad in the least bit so the reader does not get confused or lost. This aspect correlates to the color scheme in that it presents simplicity and ease.
4) Apparent Bias: Once you start looking through the blog for what it has to say, you feel a bit taken aback. It starts of its articles with "Your friends are idiots" and makes exaggerated persuasions that will "give you your life back". Also, the main bias is that it presents a fallacy that by reading and following whatever the blog says, you will become rich....which is never guaranteed.
-Sandy Ashkar, period 4, blog review #1
Blog: Block’s Indicator of Sustainable Growth
1) Content: This blog focuses on how the environment influences the economy through topics such as energy efficiency, low carbon economy, and the carbon abatement scheme. It is basically establishing that the greener we are with our environment, the more stimulated the economy is. This is so because each country has a set limit of how much pollution can be produced. The blog also stresses that countries are always open to new money-saving, energy-producing techniques through new technologies.
2) Appearance: The appearance makes me fidgety and neurotic. It is so dark and somber-looking with its dark color scheme and helvetica wanna-be font. The advertisements get annoying as well and take my mind off saving the world economically and environmentally.
3) Ease of Navigation: Not as good as my previous blog review. This blog is hard to navigate because the links are off to the side and the advertisements are the first thing you see at the top. Yeah...I'm not a fan of this blog...
4) Apparent Bias: It has no credibility like the other blog I reviewed. The text is overly long and obnoxiously boring. It seems like the blog is merely stating events and facts...it doesn't really advise you in any way.
-Sandy Ashkar, period 4, blog review #2
Blog: THE BIG D0-OVER
1. Content: The content of this blog is basically its title, trying to fix the economy of the government. They talk about recent speeches and actions taking place in Congress.
2. Appearance: It is a very simple page, nothing fancy. The picture consists of a hammer, which is a symbol for fixing things.
3. Ease of Navigation: The website has all of the blogs categorized such as "Obama Plan" or "Volcker Rule", which is very helpful when looking for a specific topic.
4. Apparent bias: There is some bias but not too much. The author tries to keep it as close to just to both sides. At times, the author just hates a side, but he has a good reason to.
BLOG: Economy Becoming More Vulnerable to Hurricanes
1)Content: This blog is a straight forward answer to how the economy suffers due to escalating hurricane damage. A Yale economics professor talks about his study on the directly proportional effect of high intensity hurricanes on economic losses.
2)Appearance: In unison with every other Wall Street Journal articles and readings, this blog has the typical enlarged blue color fonts for titles and tabs, and normal black color fonts for text. No particular background. Off to the side are pictures of various authors, and additional latest economic news.
3)Ease of Navigation: As easy as it could get. Reiterating something said by earlier blogs- the tabs at the top and the enlarged titles are genuinely helpful.
4)Apparent Bias: This blog does not have any bias info, at least according to me. The author writes about and cites the professor's work, which is very informative and includes facts and figures.
Sherin Sunny, Period 7
Blog: Planet Money
1. Content: This blog discusses the economy of countries all around the world and what they are doing to boost their economies. It specifically mentions Bank of America and their success, but also points out the 1% annual growth rate for the United States economy.
2. Appearance: This blog is very plain in the sense that the only colors that appear are white and black. The background is white, while the text is black. However, there are multiple pictures that go along with the stories being reported on. This helps aid the reader in seeing what the section of the blog focuses on.
3. Ease of Navigation: This blog is fairly easy to navigate through, however, the length of the blog gets a bit obnoxious. If the blog were grouped by URL on a sidebar it would be much easier to grasp all the information.
4. Apparent Bias: This blog is mainly facts. There is a massive amount of beneficial information throughout the blog. It touches on many different economies all over the world, however, when the United States is being discussed, as well as Obama, the author briefly takes a side.
Blog: Environmental Economics
1. Content: The content of this blog is mainly about the current hurricane, Irene. It discusses how many jobs Irene will create and how much damage it caused. On this blog, the question of who should pay hurricane costs.
2. Appearance: This blog is very appealing. It contains many pictures of landmarks that pertain to the topics being discussed. It is also sectioned off, and titled, in a way that makes it look interesting.
3. Ease of Navigation: This blog is very easy to navigate. Although the length is a bit much, it is worth it because the pictures are what extend the page. The sources used in each entry also make it very easy to use the information provided.
4. Apparent Bias: This writer is biased when he talks about the costs of the hurricane and who should pay them, as well as the outcome of Irene and the jobs it will create, but the bias is not something that interferes with the information.
Lauren Swindell, Period 4
Blog: Banks Borrowed $1.2 Trillion From The Fed During The Financial Crisis
1)Content: As suggested by the title, the content of this blog informs the public on government's donation of 1.2 trillion dollars to the banks to resurrect them from the Financial Crisis of 2008. The amounts loaned to some banks inside and outside America were also mentioned.
2)Appearance: No color, plain background. No pictures, basically a simple and short reading. Off to the side are ads, featured stories, and list of blog contributors' name and position held.
3)Ease of Navigation: Surfing through the blog was quicker and easier due to outstanding tabs and titles.
4)Apparent Bias: No significant bias. The blog was very short. Not a great load of info. There are facts.
Sherin Sunny, Period 7
Blog: White House This Week to Provide Unemployment Forecast
1)Content: The content of this blog is about the unemployment rate of 9.3% and how it will go down soon. President Obama is making a new plan to grow jobs.
2)Appearance: The background of the blog does isn't very appealing, but the text starts of in a way that captures every readers' attention.
3)Ease of Navigation: It was generally very easy to navigate around. Especially, the tabs take you right to the page and the matter is stated right on spot.
4)Apparent Bias: The author stays right on the matter. The text is short and simple and not unbearably long and boring.
Shebin Sunny, Period 7
Blog: Obama's New Economic Adviser: Alan Krueger
1)Content: The content of this blog is primarily about how Alan Krueger, an economist is being nominated by President Obama to be in the Council of Economic Advisers. It also addresses Alan Krueger's bio and how he is going to be the voice in the government to bring down unemployment.
2)Appearance: The blog is set up in a way where it is very comfortable to read. Unlike, the previous blog this one does look appealing.
3)Ease of Navigation: This blog was very easy to navigate around. The tabs and large fonts in the simple background keenly stand out.
4)Apparent Bias: A significant bias is the blog's over interpretation of Alan Krueger's skills. I guess we can only judge him after he has produced some results. Also, the blog does not state what tactics he is going to use to decrease unemployment.
Shebin Sunny, period 7th
Blog: Citizens Economists
1)Content: The Content of this blog is essentially a way to view economic events that have happened in certain months and how they have changed.
2)Appearance: The appearance is very plain, their are however different tabs to view each post to go further in depth of the month you want to look at.
3)Ease of Navigation: The blog is very easy to navigate through. It also gives different blogs so you can go further in depth in another subject of economics.
4)Apparent Bias: There really is not an apparent bias it just stats facts in the different Economic Events during different months.
Blog: The Big Picture
1)Content: The content of this Blog is to show the Big picture of certain topics in economics. For example, one topic talks about the S&P 500 being cheap.
2)Appearance: This blog's appearance to is plain with the newest blog posted right above the other. Kind of like a current event type deal.
3)Ease of Navigation: The blog is easy to surf through an choose a topic that catches your attention.
4)Apparent Bias: The blog about S&P 500 just gives a perspective of maybe the expectations might be overestimated for the S&P 500.
Chad Taylor Period 7
Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal
1. Content: The content of this blog is written by Paul Krugman. He simply discusses his liberal views in economics and politics.
2. Appearance: The blog is very simplistic and straight forward. The way it is organized makes it easy to understand the comments as people post them. Also it gives background information on the author on the front page which shows you can trust what he is saying.
3. Ease of Navigation: Although this blog is within The New York Times there is a tab clearly on the home page that says opinion; if you click on it, it directs you to the blog.
4. Apparent Bias: It clearly states at the top of the blog it is opinion based and written from a liberals point of view. Therefore conservatives would probably be turned off my this blog.
Blog: The Everyday Economist
1. Content: The content is from Josh Hendrickson, a professor of economics, who typically discusses topics that bring up debates in the economic world.
2. Appearance: The blog is much like the one above, very simple and easy to read. The colors are not overwhelming and the layout of the blog directs your attention from the first time you open it to the text.
3. Ease of Navigation: The blog is easy to navigate because Hendrickson only put four tabs on there. He also provides his information, therefore if you had a question concerning how to work his blog you could simply email him.
4. Apparent Bias: Handrickson seems to look at both arguments in a debate and discusses both aspects. Rarely did I see that he states his own personal opinion, unlike the one above.
Madelyn Hogue, 4th period
Blog: ECONOMIX
1) CONTENT: The objective of this blog is to explain the science of every day life and relate economics to the common person. It attempts to elucidate, in ordinary jargon, how and why issues such as unemployment, tax cuts, and the future of the work force affect and concern one in daily life.
2) APPEARANCE: When glancing at the blog, one is immediately able to perceive its accountability, for it is run by The New York Times, whose stamp is visible in the upper left-hand corner. There are various tabs that run across the top of the page with bold lettering clearly outlining the separate sections of our lives (i.e. Science, Travel, U.S., World, Real Estate). Its color scheme is simple: white, black, and varying shades of blue, which make for a sophisticated, businesslike, straightforward presentation of economic information.
3) EASE OF NAVIGATION: The blog is exceptionally user-friendly. As previously mentioned, fifteen tabs run across the top of the page for organized categorization in addition to a search bar that easily helps one locate specific information. Each blog entry is clearly dated, labeled, and separated. On the right-hand side is an organized collection of contributors, graphs, featured contributors, ads, daily economists, general information regarding the blog, and other related blogs.
4) APPARENT BIAS: The most apparent characteristic of this blog is its ability to pinpoint the most relatable and recent topics such as the future of unemployment or Steve Job’s resignation. The blog takes a wide scope of topics (yet ones that always relate to economics) and is able to break them down and recount them to the general crowd.
KIRSTEN CALEON, 4TH PERIOD, BLOG ENTRY #1
Blog: MARGINAL REVOLUTION
1) CONTENT: The purpose of this blog is to inform the public on ways in which to improve the world economically through small acts, decisions, and way of thinking.
2) APPEARANCE: At first glance the blog does not actually look extremely promising. Its format looks slightly amateur and rather unsophisticated. It uses the colors of teal, black, white, and blue. It is, however, well-organized, as each entry is clearly separated, titled, and dated. It also does a fine job of showcasing its central motive, which is “small steps toward a much better world.”
3) EASE OF NAVIGATION: This blog is user-friendly. As previously stated entries are clearly recognizable. On the right-hand side is a search box, a category drop down box, and a archive drop down box optional by month. The blog also makes it easy to tweet an entry or share it on other social networking sites such as Facebook.
4) APPARENT BIAS: Initially, this blog comes off as very beneficial to the economic world as it gives the impression of largely improving it through small ways. However, once one actually becomes familiar with the entries it is difficult to understand their information if one is of common background who knows little about economics and its sometimes complex terms.
KIRSTEN CALEON, 4TH PERIOD, BLOG ENTRY #2
Blog: Real Time Economics
1. Content: This blog gives insight on the latest news of the Economy from the Wall Street Journal. It contains information such as "Unemployment Forecast" to notify people the rates of unemployment.
2. Appearance: The appearance of the site reminds me of a newspaper websites, like the Houston Chronicle site. It has nice widgets such as forecast for New York, and on the side it shows the progress of the stock market that people can easily see without scrolling through anywhere.
3. Ease of Navigation: This blog is easy to scroll through. At the very top they have tabs to keep people updated on the market and give people access to follow them on twitter so they can stay updated through their mobile phone or computer.
4. Apparent Bias: This blog is all about facts. It just keeps people up to date of what is going on the economy using graphs, surveys, and percentages.
Blog: Angry Bear
1. Content: This blog contains the commentary of people complaining about politics, the economy, the government and much other things.
2. Appearance: The blog does not look too appealing. The green striped background looks descent but overall the site looks pretty plain, and a bit unorganized.
3. Ease of Navigation: There isn't really much to navigate through. It looks like everyone just posts everyone in one area. The best way to find someone's economic commentary is if they leave tags with it.
4. Apparent Bias: This blog is pretty bias since it is pretty much disagreeing with a lot of economic activity that goes around in the world.
Blog: We Are In A Dangerous New Phase
1) Content: This blogs content is fundamentally about the U.S lending "hundreds of billions of dollars" to Europe and the new head of IMF not liking it. She wants Europe to get on their feet so that when the U.S economy plummets, the U.S can lean on them.
2)Appearance: The appearance has a newspaper feel, having the plain white background and black writing and random adds about things.
3)Ease of Navigation: The site is 'never done this before' friendly. It was easy to find what was needed. It came with recommended features that were helpful.
4)Apparent Bias: The blog was biased for the very fact that there was this glaring purple add for "Ally" bank which, i'm assuming is where the person who wrote this blogs money is.
Blog: Like Your Health Insurance? Maybe You Shouldn't.
1) Content: This blog is basically about never knowing if you have good insurance until its time to use it. The fancy talk about coverage and no liablilty is bullarky.
2) Appearance: The appearance is a typical online newspaper. the story stands out but is slightly overshadowed by the overwhelming amount of adds.
3) Ease of Navigation: Navigating around this site was the same as the previous blog, but i found i preferred the latter navigation better.
4) Apparent Bias: Once again the adds were the apparent bias. Though not as flashy as the previous blog, the vast amount was enough to make me wonder just WHY there were so many of them. The blog speaks of not trusting your Insurance, yet there was a big "CINGA" add, that just so happens to be about life Insurance and sponsored buy them.
Blog: Dollars & Sense
1) Content: This blog is created to inform readers with daily news about different aspects of the economy within the U.S. and other countries, while giving opinions on each topic. The different stories this blog discusses go from the stock market, to government activities, and even statistical surveys. Most of the blogs are posted by Chris Sturr.
2) Appearance: Each blog has several different stories for that particular day, but through the title and use of bullets(with numbers),they help readers understand what each blog will discuss about. The background is of a faded-dark green color.
3) Ease of Navigation: Every blog is separated by the month they were posted and by date. As mentioned earlier, the bullet format helps readers differentiate on what subject the blogger is telling in each blog. Also, each blogs are tagged with keywords that relate to the blog.
4) Apparent bias: Already mentioned within the blog, Dollars and Sense "explains the U.S. and global economies from a left perspective", meaning there is a liberal opinion on most of their blogs
Blog : The Baseline Scenario
1) Content: This blog mainly depicts the many negative aspects and questions that the global economy faces,while giving their opinions for each situation and their solutions. These blogs are written mostly by James Kwak and Simon Johnson.
2) Appearance: The appearance of the blog is plain and simple; It consists of a white background and a large, bold title for each post, who was the author of the post,and the date in which it was posted.
3) Ease of Navigation: Since each new post can be recognized by its bold title, readers are able to see which post is which. Also, on the right side of the blog, there are links to other websites,recent posts, and navigation around the blog.
4) Apparent bias: The authors show opinionated solutions, one of them being an economist, within their blogs for each economic problem they discuss, and as well show for left and right wings.
Christian Siangco Period 7
Blog 1: "The Story of Stuff"
Content:The content of this blog is quite shocking to anyone and everyone, especially the average American. The Supreme Court has gone overboard with the issue of copyright and what is charged with copyright infringement.For example, simply forwarding an email that you found interesting is against the copyright rules and you can end up with a $4.5 billion potential liability.
Appearance: The appearance is quite plain. The background is white. Off to the side it has ads of the partners of this blog. Also there an ad about the CoAmerican bank. The blog separates each scenario that explains the issues into bullet form.
Ease of Navigation: This blog was fairly easy to navigate. It was organized and easy to find.
Apparent Bias: A certain amount
of bias is present in this blog. The author clearly does not support a decision that mightr make "every American a lawbreaker".
Blog 2:The Housing Market Has Stopped Getting Worse. For Now.
Content: According to the blog home prices have been stabilizing. The prices are not quite onto the positive side yet. Although the economists predict that there would be another dip, apparantly the mortage rates are falling and the labor market is doing better that the year before.
Appearance: This page was quite catchy to me because the articles were organized under tabs. Also, it had linkls to the other article onto the side. It had pictures!(I love pictures). It also had a list of the contributers of this blog.
Ease of Navigation: Like the other blog, this one was easy too. All the articles were listed along with short summaries.
Apparent Bias: The bias is crystal clear when the words "but still" come into play. The author is optimistic and contented that the prices of homes have improved.
Blog from Cafe Hayek: Microeconomics of the Broken Window Fallacy.
Content: The main content of the article is that destruction through natural or unnatural forces doesn't lead to prosperity because we would be rebuilding something to go back to square one. Thus, there will be still more workers than work to be done.
Appearance: It has a very simple plain appearance with a cartoon in one corner. There are also comments towards the bottom of the passage.
Ease of Navigation: It is very easy to reach the article because there are no other articles or blogs we have to choose.
Apparent Bias: The writer stated his opinion in a matter of fact form that was easy to understand. His opinion was that prosperity doesn't come through destroying and rebuilding structures or products because there is no new work created for the unemployed.
Blog from Curious Cat blogs: Are stocks cheap yet? Not if the economy is slowing these numbers say
Content: The content of this particular article examines the past patterns and future projections of the value of U.S. stock market after last month's stunning decline.
Appearance: The article has a diagram in the beginning, then the article, and then the comments about the article. It is well organized and easy to read.
Ease of Navigation: It is very easy to navigate through the article and to read other's opinion about the article. There are also related posts at the bottom for readers who might want to read more about the subject.
Apparent Bias: Towards, the end, the writer does suggest what might happen if the earnings ratio drop or raise from 15. There is no clear bias, but the word choice and his argument suggest that he doesn't want the earnings average to drop to 13.
Blog 1 (92): A FISTFULL OF EUROS
1) Content: The essential content of this blog is European markets, to put it short and sweet. The blog focuses on the economy situations of European countries and also political and social issues as well. The blog also focuses on European organizations and their effect on the countries.
2) Appearance: AFOE (A Fistful of Europe) has a very sleek and professional feel to it. It is very organized and it is clear to readers that the bloggers take their part in the blog seriously. The site is organized not only by topic and country, but by the author aswell to give readers that extra option.
3) Ease of Navigation: The blog is extremely easy to navigate. The only bad part is the ads that help pay for the site. The ads are a big distraction from the rest of the blog. Beyond the ads, the blog is very easy to understand and navigate.
4) Apparent Bias: The articles and the overall blog have a sense of formality that is hard to comprehend at first glance. The blog tends to look as if its a site for travel, but once you look around it is easy to see how great the blog truly is.
Blog 2 (57): Adam Smith's Lost Legacy
1) Content: The blog focuses on Adam Smith and the studies he perfected. The blog focuses on not only written works about Smith, but ideas that Smith created in his lifetime.
2) Appearance: The appearance of the blog is very simple and to be honest, boring. The template is a simple blogspot template with a white background and plain black, orange, and blue writing. However, the simplicity allows for a cleaner blog.
3). Ease of Navigation: The blog is extremely easy to navigate, especially for those familiar with blogspot. The posts are clean cut and it is organized by publication date.
4) Apparent Bias: At first thought I thought the blog was very clean cut and a little boring. However the blog suprised me by having interesting opinions and facts. The blog is definitely more than it seems at first glance.
Brooke Follett Period 4
Blog #75: "Dr.Housing Bubble"
1)Content: The content is essentially talking about lowering the mortgage rates. Houses are still not being successfully sold in the market despite one of the all time low mortgage rates.
2)Appearance: The outlook of the blog is at first somewhat intimidating because of the many bold and underlined sentences. However,as the reader continues to navigate they find themselves very well informed.
3)Ease of Navigation: Navigating the website is fairly simple because of the tabs and side notes they have provided. It uses simplicity so the reader does not get confused.
4)Apparent Bias: The author does show some biased views and it has formal language to connect to readers in a more personal level than some other blogs might.
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Blog #69: Abnormal Returns
1)Content: The content of the blog is comprised mostly of rhetorical questions and different aspects of the stock market.
2)Appearance: The appearance of the website is at first very scattered and confusing, but once you begin to read the titles and the chart, you understand what the author is trying to convey.
3)Ease of Navigation: The blog is relatively easy to navigate, however, at first the reader can be confused because of the bold and colored wording.
4)Apparent Bias: The author typically tries to maintain bias for both sides.Rhetorical questioning and informal language does build-up a huge portion of the blog.
Blog: EclectEcon
1)Content: EclectEcon is a blog essentially devoted to whatever subject the author of the blog can relate economics or money to, and tends to be very random at times, moving from subjects like Hurricane Irene to Apple to Walmart.
2)Appearance: the blog is somewhat disorganized and not very efficient when it comes to viewing information, especially old information, as it becomes just a wall of text the more you scroll down. Of course this also goes along with the Eclectic theme of the blog.
3)Ease of Navigation: This website isn't very easy to navigate, and unless you use the control+f function on most laptops, finding a particular subject from a much older post would be impossible.
4)Apparent Bias: after looking at several of the author's posts, dating all the way back to the beginning of summer, the author of this blog appears to have a strong conservative, pro-Israel, and pro-American bias, which is totally fine with me.
Blog # 5: Economic logic
Content- The content of this blog is information about economics, mostly taxes and federal government programs.
Appearance- the appearance is very interesting. The base colors of the blog are brown and a type of cream.
Ease of Navigation- it is easy to navigate because you just need to scroll down and on the sides there are comments from the people.
Apparent bias- The apparent bias that he mostly one sided. He always supports the minority while not taking the time to discuss majority reasons for creating restrictions.
Blog# 22
Content:Is a blog with wide variety of topics.In this blog they talk about how casinos are taking your money to school uniforms improving attendance.
Appearance:the appearance of this blog is interesting. It unexpected. The base colors are green, blue and gray. It has a playful feeling about it.
Ease of Navigation:The tab on top makes it easy to navigate through. there is also latest blog titles on the sides which makes it easier to look through new blog entries.
Apparent Bias: I did not see anyway bias. it seemed very straight forward.
Blog# 82- Boom2Bust
1)Content: This article page talks about the crisis the US is experiencing in terms of maintaining our military might, while china is continually trying to grow its naval power by building aircraft carriers. The possibility of the US going through a double dip situation in our economy could make matters even worse to predict.
2)Appearance: This was a interesting view to the folks who want to seriously understand the position of the US economy according to the economists and the knowledgeable people in this world. The different pictures contribute to the understanding and clarifying the important components.
3)Ease of Navigation: The blog was pretty easy to navigate for the most part due to the presentation of the information in a orderly manner. Each to read font and the information is easy to understand.
4) Apparent bias: There wasn't any bias that I thought was present in the articles. The information conveyed were pure facts and little opinions of other people.
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hello
Blog #93: Japan Economy Watch
1) Content: The blog focuses on the ongoing economic crisis. It explains the idea of pre-recession that Japan is facing. With slower global demand, this export dependent economy is crashing.
2) Appearance: The website is clean and simple. The colors are light blue with a basic white background. All the graphs on the page contribute toward the objective of the blog, each graph explaining the gravity of the economic crisis. In addition, the optional websites suggested on the right provide more information on the subject matter.
3) Ease of Navigation: The navigation here is complicated as the categories are placed on the right on the blog. It creates some confusing because of the lack of organization. However, the main blog is direct and simple.
4) Apparent bias: The author tends to suggest that the economic situation has been effected by the aging population problem. He also implies that the older generations should start spending as the younger generation because the conservative behavior is conflicting with the nation's economy.
Gloriya Alex, 4th period
Blog #35: The Atlantic Business
1) Content: The blog establishes that the government is losing control as America is falling even further behind. The purpose is to let the readers understand the severity of the unemployment status and how it is affecting the economy on which we depend on.
2) Appearance: The website illustrates its information and highlights the topics in red and blue in order to emphasize its patriotic stand for America. All the elements, including the photographs and advertisements, come together to establish the standpoint of the blog.
3) Ease of Navigation: The blog allows easy navigation through the page. it displays criteria to be selected on the top and further blog suggestions on the bottom right for in-depth investigation. However, instead of focusing on the primary goal of the blog, it allows an easy distraction as it invites unrelated topics to be a part of the whole of the subject of analysis.
4) Apparent bias: The author of the blog openly blames unemployment. He also suggests that it does not actually matter how it happened, rather, we must move forward to finding a solution.
Gloriya Alex, period 4
Candice Horde; Period four says..
Blog#25: Beat The Press
1)Content: The content on this blog is full of news on politics and current events that focuses on the news stories around the world and how each matter effects America's economy and state of a nation.
2)Appearance: The blogs color scheme consists of red white and blue, portraying that this blog is inadvertantly about America as a nation. The ruggedness of the pictures displayed on all pages aligned with each headline of a different news story is also a reflection of the truth behind each story, and their importance. The credentials of all of the authors in about TAP, gives the reader a sense of security in the truth of the infortmation.
3)Ease of Navigation: The blog is full of clean lines and boxes that seprate major stories from the minor ones. The tabs at the top organize all the data and information that the reader needs to easily navigate from section to section of the blog. The subtabs under each major section narrows the search even more making the page easier for the user. However, the many pictures and stories piled on each page can get overwhelming to a reader.
4)Apparent Bias: When you read the headliens for each story and read into a few stories themselves you realize that the authors have a negative veiw on the "conservative" press thats rising. The news stories are in no way politically correct in the fashion that each is opinionated in the elections and laws that may be passed.
Blog: Oikos
1)Content: The content of this blog focuses on the how the enviromental policys and the economy of a nation go hand in hand. Though this blog focuses specifically on austrilia's enviromental policies and economy the information can be correlated to other nations in many variable ways.
2)Appearance: The blog is very simplistic, simariliy mirroring your blog, Mr. Pye. The color scheme of the blog is different shades of blue which can reflect nature in the aspect of the oceans or the sky. The few pictures and many policies portray to the reader this blog is very straight forward passing more facts and less opinion, each story with very little normative statements. The bio of the author, David, explain that he is a lawyer in the goverment enviromental agency with a masters and gives the page merit.
3)Ease of Navigation: Since the blog is very simple, the navigation across the site in very easy. The links of the side are all straight forward with the subject topics of the enviromental policies such as water, energy, climate change etc. The blog is very easy of the eyes with not many things going on in the page.
4)Apparent Bias: The author(s) of the page mostly focuses on how the negative policies involving the enviroment are causing even more negative responses in the economy. The author(s) seem very interested in the right use of our resources and use many ads about recycling and correct use of resources. The site is very pro-going green.
Blog: Naked Capitalism
Content: The blogs primary focus is similar to the title, to unveil capitalism and give historical backgrounds of certain events while keeping up with what is going on today as well. Discuss world events as well as whats going on here at home.
Appereance: Although the text at times has awkward structure, overall it is very easy to read and simplistic in design, the photos also add overall appeal in the blog format. Has a real "Blog" look unlike some other sources which look more, for lack of a better word, news-ish. Although the ads to take away from this particular page I personally do not like their integration on the side.
Ease of Navigation: Very easy to navigate, includes tabs links and topic buttons so when looking for something specific it is even easier.Has the dates of when things were posted and discussed as well as hot topics and recent post. Include blogs of similar discussion as well.
Apparent Bias: When you first go to the blog it can be a bit confusing on to just what its about, as it has a picture of a cow and then some tigers later on. However, the bias appears to be in the middle, while making the dangers of capitalism apparent it does not go against it rather shows its issues with the current fiscal situation taking place.
Blog: Crossing Wallstreet
Content: The content is just as its title says, it focuses on wallstreet and what is going on with the market. It has a buy list as well as a guide on how to be a smart investor. Contains information on the US stock exchange obviously and from what I've read this particular blog focuses more on S+P rather than DOW
Apperance: The blog has an older website feel to it, it feels reminiscent of websites from the Windows 98 era. However this is not a completely bad thing. The walls of text can be a bit of a put off but the additions of graphs and charts aid in the information gathering process.
Ease of Navigation: Fairly easy to navigate, the links on the homepage feel a bit messy sometimes but the navigation bar is organized and fully functional.
Apparent Bias: Obviously in favor of wallstreet as a whole and doesn't target the president nor favor and particular party so its a nonbiased site.
Jovan Hill, Period 7
Blog: China Economics Blog
1) Content: The content of this blog is a simple yet lengthy observation of China's Economy as it changes. China's reaction to supply and demand is also analyzed, along with the water scarcity that the nation faces, and what the building of dams can do to fix this scarcity.
2) Appearance: The appearance of the blog is one that is simple, with only two colors-- white and red. However, its simplicity is such that it makes the blog tragically dull. The over all feeling conveyed by the blog is a sense of disorganization. The disorganization makes it hard to concentration on the information being discussed.
3)Ease Navigation: The blog is very poorly organized. There are no tabs at the top of the site that a person could pick and choose from. The blog just simply starts without any warning. You have to scroll down quite a bit to find the sections of topics on the right hand side. However, once you find the links to the different topics of discussion within the site, navigation instantly becomes easier.
4) Apparent bias: Despite the blog's cluttered layout, it does make a statement of its purpose right at the beginning of the blog. Within this purpose, the site's owner states that the site tries to stay neutral within its discussion. Every segment on the blog stays completely informational only and takes no particular stand in China's unstable economy.
Keavy Bradley, Period 7
Blog: Global Economy Matters
1) Content: The Content of this blog is very clearly an overview of every current aspect of the Global Economy. The Current Topic at hand in this blog is the economy of Russia. The blog is one that looks beyond just the economies of the United States and China. Prior to the lengthy discussion of Russia, the blog spent time analyzing the economic state of Greece. The Blog is, overall, very in depth and relevant to the current economic crisis of the world.
2) Appearance: The Appearance is one that is very clean and sleek. As opposed to the majority of blogs, this one is pleasing to the eye, with its main colors as dark blue and white. Another positive aspect of the appearance is that it has an effective use of photographs. These pictures aid the blog in that it gives the readers a visual understanding of what they're reading.
3) Ease of Navigation: The simplicity of the blog's layout not only is pleasing to the eye but is also pleasing to the user. The site gives a list of countries to be discussed, categorized by which part of the world they are in. At the very top of the blog, it gives a list of emerging economies, which is very useful to an observer of the global economy. You do not have to look hard to find different topics on this blog.
4) Apparent Bias: This blog seems, for the most part, to have a very neutral outlook on the topics that it covers. This is shown by the fact that is covers a wide range of countries instead of just a select few. The information given is also strictly factual. However, the blog is expressed in first person, which automatically gives it a personal and slightly biased feeling towards it. For instance, an author stated in one of the topics that he always had a problem with some aspect of Russia's demographics. Other than that, the blog stays unbiased.
Keavy Bradley 7th Period
Blog: Bankruptcy Beat
1)Content: This blog gives a look into companies and big time people that are filing for bankruptcy.Not to mention it also gives in look on some of the scandels and rumors on the companies as well.
2)Appearance: Kind of blunt. Made by the Wall Street Journal so information seems accurate. Mostly grey and blue that make up the colors.
3)Ease of Navigation: Very easy to navigate has specific topics and areas you can look into. Has a search engine also for more accuracy.
4)Apparent Bias: Not really Bias. Mostly straight foward. It informs on the news thats going on with the companies and people in big buisiness.
Blog: TheMoneyIllusion
1) Content: Scott Sumner discusses various issues in relation to monetary policy in his blog posts. One such issue is how he believes that the Fed will collapse due to is handling of monetary policy. He references various sources for facts and figures, but does not cite them directly.
2) Appearance: The blog site is very simple in appearance, only displaying the essentials for those who read it. A lack of contrast may lose the attention of those who read it.
3) Ease of Navigation: Because the blog is so simple, it is quite easy to find blog posts from specific dates and to navigate in general.
4) Apparent Bias: Sumner appears to be quite biased. He presents a side to an issue through examples and argument and does not provide an antithesis and refutation for the most part. He is quite clear on what he believes and how he thinks such beliefs should be accomplished.
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Blog: Bronte Capitalism
1) Content: The blog focuses on commentary on investments and uses these as examples as to educate and to explain the rights and wrongs of those who invest. The content is not focused on a singular group of investors, but large investments as a whole, such as Bernanke and his $5 billion investment in Bank of America.
2) Appearance: The appearance is rather sleek, with a blue and white theme that has an appealing appearance that isn't dull. There are also a few posts with pictures such that the reader won't lose focus in a never-ending wall of text.
3) Ease of Navigation: Like many other blogging sites, navigating is rather simple with no complexities to bar the way for any new readers. Past posts are easily accessible, and differentiating between posts is very easy.
4) Apparent Bias: John Hempton demonstrates an understanding and presentation of both possible sides of an argument, allowing his views to, in general, be free of slant. He backs up any possible bias with clear evidence. Though, on occasion, Hempton can ramble without a sense of direction (such as in "Risk management and sounding crazy").
Alex Collins, Period 4
Blog: EconoPundit
1)Content: The content of this blog
is full of general news that serves
to provide information about
different aspects of the economy,
2)Appearance: The appearance has
some pictures, but is mostly just
gray lines for topics and the
actual post right under said
line. The colors imply a serious and
austere mood.
3)Ease of Navigation: This blog has
no hindrances at all. This blog is
very easy to navigate through and
is organized very effectively with
the headers.
4)Apparent Bias: There is some bias
because the same author, Steve
Antler, posts his own views on some
of the topics mentioned in the
blog. Since he himself is the
author, there is some bias towards
his own views.
Blog: Dealbreaker
1)Content: The content of this blog
is to inform the reader about
economic opportunities and ventures
taken by others and companies. In
addition, there is information
about general economic happenings.
2)Appearance: This blog's
appearance is nice and has a lot of
pictures to illustrate each story.
The blog feels inviting because of
the myriad of links present.
3)Ease of Navigation: This blog is
extremely simplistic to navigate
through because articles and
stories are divided by sub-
categories and links on the right
margin as well as in the center.
4)Apparent Bias: There does not
seem to be much bias because the
authors for each article vary and
the articles are almost completely
objective.
Haris Vakil, period 7
BLOG #32: BUSINOMICS
1)CONTENT: The main objective of this blog is to make people more economically aware. It consists of ideas and theories to help people make smarter decisions in business.
2)APPEARANCE: At first sight the blog is eye catching for its refined look. By reflecting on the appearance of the blog one can assume its credibility, for the author's qualifications are provided. By only incorporating the colors red, blue and cream, the overall presentation is enhanced and welcoming.
3)EASE OF NAVIGATION: The simple design makes the blog very straightforward and user friendly. Although not exceptionally lengthy, the blog is very comprehensive and easy to navigate through. The posts are chronological, and the side tabs are labeled according to topic—making the blog very accessible.
4)APPARENT BIAS: Bill Conerly is extremely opinionated in his blogs. However, he refers to major economists like Robert Barro to support his viewpoints—to make himself persuasive. His humor reveals his bias. For example, he hinders that none would consider the government to be “prudent [or] responsible.” Moreover, he advises people to “spend less now because taxes are going up.”
BLOG #46: GRASPING REALITY WITH BOTH HANDS
1)CONTENT: The content is very thorough in many aspects of the economy. Delong attacks ideas of the economy head on and establishes his viewpoint on ways to solve today's economic problems.
2)APPEARANCE: At first the blog looks very overwhelming and complicated. The blog seems very lengthy and in my opinion, not appealing. However, graphs, references to other works and suitable colors aid its thoroughness.
3)EASE OF NAVIGATION: This blog is somewhat navigable. The side tabs are well labeled and titles are very reflective of the body. Although very informative, compared to other blogs this one seems very rambling and lengthy.
4)APPARENT BIAS: Although he uses ample references, the blog is still bias. While his thoughts are supported by previously credible ideas, his attitude proves bias. For instance, he readily criticizes certain acts of the government in “Life in Hooverville.”
Blog: Vox
1) Content: The main objective of this blog is to extrapolate on countries around the globe and how they react to their current economic hardships. On the front page it includes recent topics of economic discussion ranging from China, South Korea to Turkey and Europe.
2) Appearance: The appearance is very basic but appeasing at the same time because it seems so simple to navigate topics. The blog has a very calming color scheme of blue and white. On the left side of the page, it displays all the founding contributors and on the right it shows their research as well as their discussion papers.
3) Ease of Navigation: The blog is incredibly easy to navigate due to its relatively basic structure. It seems the website was made for the public because of this and also because of the fact that you can subscribe to a weekly newsletter to receive through email.
4) Apparent Bias: When looking at the topics of the articles they have posted, a feeling of pessimism creeps into thought. The blog takes more interest in the stories that show decline because the media in general does the same to attract views.
Blog: Money and Policy
1) Content: The content of this blog is an examination of money and policy in the United States' healthcare division. This is expected because it is part of the New York Times which is of course located in America.
2) Appearance: The appearance is the one of a very established newspaper... which it is. The black and white theme of the blog section displays a feel of tradition and establishment because the paper has in fact been in circulation for almost 200 years now.
3) Ease of Navigation: The blog is inherently easy for anyone to navigate. This is expected due to the number of visits the website must get per day. On the left side of the page you will find all your economic publications but on the right you have a lot of other topics that can side track you from your goal of focusing on economic news. This is a major fault of the blog.
4) Apparent Bias: As being an American publication, the blog is going to naturally be on the side of American economic policies and focus on our healthcare policies. Also, the blog will naturally have a tendency to only cover the bigger stories so it can attract views.
- Kamal Mcmillan, 4th Period
Blog: Bailout Sleuth
1) The content of this blog has to deal with the TARP program and the various dealings that are involved with it. There are very oddly specific facts about all aspects of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
2) The appearance is very simplistic, nothing too extravagant as to detract from what the site intends to share.
3) It was very easy to navigate as all the current blog entries are on the front page and there is even a search bar if you need to find something specific.
4) There is little bias, however I did notice how the blog writer chose to point out seemingly insignificant coincidences about certain politicians. In one article, the blog writer is mentioning the House Ethics commitee and it decided to mention various Democrat's who had been chastized by this commitee. Other than that, I saw no bias.
Blog: Financial Armageddon
1) The blog contains opinions on various fiscal policies that he believes will lead to a financial armageddon. The author writes about various points he disagrees with and cites articles that build his arguement.
2) The appereance is a bit busy, as the pictures, and various other things detract from the actual articles.
3) The site is a bit of a pain to navigate as you have to scroll down to whatever specific article you wanted to look for.
4) The author has an obvious conservative bias. They exaggerate certain claims to make their arguements more valid.
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Content: Explain big time Risk countries and companies are taking with their money and how it will effect the world. Mostly focused and on foreign countries and how WSJ and NY Times judge those.
Appearance: Appears blunt. Doesn't really grab the readers attention. Really can throw you off with ads and other post that have nothing to do with the blog itself.
Ease of Navigation: Fairly easy to navigate. It's organized by seven sections. On the right panel, it has even more post that you can refer to. Has a search engine for specific post.
Apparent Bias: Pretty straight forward. They could explain companies and American economics risk. They seem to stick more at Europe then any other country. It could use more diversity
Blog: Econbrowser
1) content: This blog deals mainly with the analysis of current economic conditions and policy of the USA. the blog gives not only graphs, and statistics, but also James D. Hamilton and Menzie Chinn's opinions about economic situations, and policies.
2) Appearance: the blog is surprisingly bright, with its blue background and colorful sections on the side, it gives a happy contrast to the gloomy topics of recent entries.
3) Ease of Navigation: the blog is very easy to navigate. the center of the blog gives the most recent posts, and the side gives access to older entries, and other blogs.
4) apparent Bias: the blog is mostly about data and the analysis of that data, as a result, there is not much bias. They (the writers) obviously have their opinions about what actions should be taken, but those opinions are only present in the posts specifically dealing with those topics.
Blog: Wine and Food Economics Blog
1) Content: (as the name implies) this blog is about the wine and food economy of the USA. It also provides data from other Countries to compare to the US.
2) Appearance: the blog is simplistic in appearance, with only black, white and grey. the bright and colorful logos of the aawe and the afe offset the black and white theme at the top, but as you scroll down, the blog seems to get more somber.
3) Ease of Navigation: the blog is "OK" to navigate, not the easiest, but not to difficult. the blog has a couple of links to older posts on the side, but only to either dates, or the most recent couple of entries.
4) Apparent Bias: there is no apparent bias in the entries. He admits that the data cannot be trusted 100%, but that is based off of error collecting data, and not his interpretation of it.
Gavin Bauer, period 4
Blog: #7 Economists Do It With Models
1) Content: Wants to teach people about economics in a witty and fun way so the learner will not get bored. Not focused on one subject but is mostly about incentives and behavioral economics.
2) Appearance: Kind of weird. All the white is kind of blinding. The font is annoying to read. Mostly white with black font, but some colored font, mostly neon colored. Hurts my eyes.
3) Ease of Navigation: Easy to navigate. Tabs at the top help you know more about the site. Only complaint is that you have to scroll down a bit for the category navigation.
4) Apparent bias: Tries to make economics more fun and easier to approach while still being informative. Main focus is behavioral economics.
Blog: #13 DataPoints
1) Content: Mostly contains videos that has to do with current events and how they affect the economy.
2) Appearance: Has a nice, clean professional look to it. But looks boring.
3) Ease of Navigation: Actually, I'm kind of confused with how to get around on here.. I guess what's on the side are the recent posts, then you can navigate by month.
4) Apparent bias: None. No specific focus, as long as it affects the economy. Has global events as well.
-Dianne Sigua, Period 7
Blog: Infectious Greed (Hard Times)
1) Content: The blog claims to be relevant to "Finance and the money culture", and sometimes it is, however the majority of the content is pop culture somewhat relevant to finance/economics. A majority of the blog is made up of semi-relevant YouTube videos or equally as questionable 'tweets' regarding a wide variety of subject matter.
2) Appearance: The choice of content alone is enough to make the blog unappealing, but the simple, not thought out layout is as equally a big turn-off. The blog tries to draw you in with lots of media, but little content to back it up.
3) Ease of Navigation: The blog itself if simply one webpage, so there is no need to navigate throughout the blog. There are options to navigate away from the blog to other 'relevant' websites, but they seem to be equally as unimpressive as 'Infectious Greed' itself.
4) Apparent Bias: As the name suggests, 'Infectious Greed' seems to display a bias towards companies or individuals that the blog deems as 'focused on finance only.' Little relevant is presented on the blog, making this bias hardly relevant or noticeable.
Blog: Macroblog (News)
1) Content: As expected on a news blog, the content of 'Macroblog' is basically a presentation of popular financial news stories from the Georgia/Southeastern US region and the commentary on said stories by economists from the region. Popular topics include financial policy, developing economics, and regional trends.
2) Appearance: The appearance of the blog is very clean-cut and professional. Posts are displayed clearly, and all relevant information is easily viewable. The website has an attractive appearance, but doesn't take the the focus away from the posts or important information.
3) Ease of Navigation: The blog has tabs at the top to easily navigate within the blog itself, and also has a variety of links to navigate away from the page to other relevant blogs or news webpages. The simple design and appearance make the navigation that much easier.
4) Apparent Bias: As you would expect from a blog based out of the Georgia/Southeastern US region, there is a slight pull towards the conservative side in the blog. However, the authors do a good job of remaining professional and presenting all sides and information of the news stories.
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