This document discusses virtual mentoring through blogs. It notes that mentors are often discovered rather than assigned, and that blogs can serve as accidental mentors through the topics and communities they create. The document also references surveys that were conducted on bloggers' views of their blogs as writerly spaces and communities. It lists some prominent blogs from past years and notes that while blogs are not dead, the landscape has changed over time, as mentoring relationships are not permanent either.

1. Virtual Mentorship:
Intentions, Absence, Accidents, Communities
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University
skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

2. Required Mentoring ≠Mentoring
• My MFA and PhD advisors, but are they
really “mentors?”
• “Chuck”
• (Great, now I’m Chuck...)
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

3. ity skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com
Mentor defined, hairs split
• There’s a difference between “mentor,”
“advisor,” and “teacher”
• Mentors are discovered
• Blogs are discovered, too
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

4. Unintentional/Absent Blog
Mentors
John Lovas
DeAnza College
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

5. “Blogs as Writerly Spaces”
Survey
• “My primary/main blog was about....”
• Bloggers write about topics, not (just)
themselves
• Bloggers’ audiences are interested in those
topics, not (just) the bloggers
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

6. “Parallel Play”
Creative Commons, via http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenr/
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

7. “Blogs as Writerly Spaces”
Survey
Blogs as Writerly Spaces Survey
On average, how many comments does your blog receive each week?
Response Response
Percent Count
0-5 42.0% 37
6-10 18.2% 16
11-15 9.1% 8
16-20 10.2% 9
21-49 9.1% 8
50-99 4.5% 4
100 or more 6.8% 6
answered question 88
skipped question 14
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

8. “Blogs as Writerly Spaces”
Survey
Blogs as Writerly Spaces Survey
I view my blog as a community for my readers.
Response Response
Percent Count
Strongly Agree 22.7% 20
Agree 28.4% 25
Neither agree or disagree 25.0% 22
Disagree 15.9% 14
Strongly Disagree 8.0% 7
answered question 88
skipped question 14
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

9. “Blogs as Writerly Spaces”
Survey
Blogs as Writerly Spaces Survey
I see my blog fitting into a larger community of bloggers with similar interests.
Response Response
Percent Count
Strongly Agree 34.1% 30
Agree 42.0% 37
Neither agree or disagree 12.5% 11
Disagree 9.1% 8
Strongly Disagree 2.3% 2
answered question 88
skipped question 14
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

10. Where have the blogs gone?
• 2009: Dennis Jerz: Jerz's Literacy Weblog<http://
jerz.setonhill.edu/weblog/>
• 2008: Alex Reid: "Digital Digs"<http://alexreid.typepad.com/>
• 2007: Elizabeth Losh: "VirtualPolitik"<http://
virtualpolitik.blogspot.com/>
• 2006: Clancy Ratliff: "CultureCat: Rhetoric and Feminism"<http://
culturecat.wordpress.com/>
• 2005: Collin Brooke: "Collin vs. Blog"<http://collinvsblog.net/>
• 2004: Jenny Edbauer: "Stupid Undergrounds: I Found It on the Street"
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/%7Eedbauer/blogs/jenny/
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com

11. Where have the blogs gone?
• Not gonna talk about “blogs are dead...”
• ...But check out http://cogdogblog.com
• Mentoring isn’t forever either....
Steven D. Krause | Eastern Michigan University skrause@emich.edu | stevendkrause.com