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think, share, learn: blogs and blogging
- 1. think. share. learn. the power of blogs and blogging jennifer arnott : http://modernhypatia.info
- 2. why?
- 3. 20 minutes. 1600 miles. great answer.
- 4. geography context, reasons, connections. complexities oceans, mountains, people. opportunities maps, gear, communities.
- 5. image excerpted from XKCD.com comic “Online Communities 2”
- 6. what is a blog?
- 8. connects people & ideas
- 10. blogs are alive.
- 11. gather ideas.
- 16. grow. thrive.
- 17. image from XKCD.com comic “Online Communities 2”
- 18. image from XKCD.com comic “University Website”
- 19. know the goal.
- 20. welcome maps.
- 21. find your sea legs.
- 23. image from XKCD.com comic “Blogofractal”
- 26. acclimate.
- 27. revel in the season.
- 28. image from XKCD.com comic “Duty Calls”
- 32. be (a little) skeptical.
- 33. a few people are jerks.
- 34. maps help us navigate choices. plans make the most of our time & attention. communities create space for conversation & connection
- 35. types of maps
- 37. what is RSS?
- 38. web based
- 39. email program
- 41. mobile device.
- 44. know your goals
- 45. what’s your main goal? a: keep up with big ideas. b: build a learning network. c: develop an interest. d: become a content creator.
- 46. how often? a: once or twice a week. b: every other day. c: once a day. d: multiple times a day.
- 47. how much time? a: Argh! None! b: Quick skim and bookmark. c: 20-30 minutes per session. d: An hour or more most days.
- 48. do you want to blog? a: Nope. b: Mostly for myself. c: I already do a little. d: I’d like more readers.
- 49. if you mostly chose... a: bookmarks might be fine! b: existing tools, simple options. c: web/application based tools. d: add blogging software.
- 50. good plans build.
- 51. you’re smart.
- 53. getting started
- 54. find a few blogs.
- 55. start reading.
- 56. find your space.
- 58. (with a stable identity.)
- 59. evaluating
- 60. what matters?
- 62. stable identity
- 63. the ? of pseudonymity
- 64. sources for unusual facts
- 65. know their goal
- 66. some examples
- 67. communities
- 68. know when to HALT.
- 72. be your best self.
Editor's Notes
- Some quick questions:\n- How many of you regularly read at least one blog (from outside this university?)\n- How many of you use blogs as part of your own professional development (reading or writing)?\n- How many of you would like a different way to look at blog reading and writing, that can integrate with learning, teaching, growing, and having fun? \n
- Why can blogs be awesome? Let me tell you a story. \n
- The thing I love about blogging and related technologies is how I get to hear smart, interesting, creative people talk about the things they’re passionate about in ways that make me look at the world differently. And that make me better at what I love doing. \n
- One of the big challenges with blogs is that there’s so much out there. So, today, I’m going to break this down into three sections. First, a look at what’s out there: the geography of the blogosphere, and what some of the options are. Then, we’ll move on to some complexities and challenges - navigating choices, feeling overwhelmed, and dealing with interpersonal issues. Finally, we’re going to talk about opportunities, tools, and resources to help us find what we’re looking for more easily and get more out of the experience. \n
- It’s a big and complicated blog world out there, ranging from technology and education to politics, to religion, to personal experiences, to great cat photos. As we talk today, I’m going to focus on ideas and approaches rather than the details of specific tools, but you can find more resources on my website (the address is on your handout.) \n
- Blogs began in the late 1990s as a way to make it easier to both see new and updated material on websites, and to interact with readers. They became a lot more popular beginning around 2005, when a number of user-friendly tools became more widely available. A blog is a collection of smaller posts - over time, the blog owner builds a collection of ideas, stories, resources, and experiences, much like you build up a library a book at a time. \n
- Text is still the most common type of content, but many people also include images, video, audio and other formats. One feature of blogs is that entries usually are displayed with the newest content at the top, rather than the bottom. Blogs often also have a way to comment or easily share (bookmark or link to) a post.\n
- A blog is a place to share information, experience, opinions, advice, and resources. They’re designed to link to other sources, ideas and conversations easily - that’s a big part of the point. Blogs also connect people - public blogs are open to anyone, but even protected or access-limited blogs can be great to connect family information, work on a project, or discuss complicated issues. \n
- Blogs are a way to share information that’s less immediate and less demanding than email (or a phone call, text message, or IM). While some posts age better than others, older posts can still be a great read and very useful. Each day, people can choose to read, respond, or connect in a way that fits other things in their life. With a little attention, blogs can also be highly accessible to people with learning differences or disabilities, and let people access information in the way that works best for them. \n
- Some sites have reported that blogs are dead. A recent CBS News story mentions 50 million active blogs, and BlogPulse, a site that tracks blog statistics lists 167 million blogs in existence. While blogging is getting less buzz than it was a couple of years ago, there are still lots of great blogs out there. \n
- So what can you do with a blog? You can take in and gather information and ideas, by quietly reading what interests you, sharing your own thoughts as a writer or commenter, or asking questions. \n
- Blogs are a great way to share and expand on experiences. Imagine that you’re sitting at a conference: you hear a presentation, and it makes you think of a solution to something in your life. If you share that on a blog, the original presenter gets feedback (awesome), you document what you want to try (handy) and other people might find it helps them solve their own needs (very awesome indeed.) \n
- Blogs can be a great way to create resources for a class, project, or event. You can add and update information quickly using consistent formatting, and engage students, peers, or the larger community through comments and interactions with other blogs. \n
- One of the reasons I blog is that writing for (and to) someone outside of my own head forces me to get better at explaining what I mean and what I care about the most. While I like readers and comments, I get a huge amount out of the sheer process of writing something down and sharing it, even if no one else ever reads that post. \n
- Blogs are also a great way to document projects or how to do something - the wide number of cooking and crafting blogs is definitely a good example of that. The same idea works just as well for educational settings: it’s an easy way to explain a process or project and document what you did. (And that can be very useful when you do a yearly review, or are looking to highlight past projects or ongoing interests as you job hunt.) \n
- Basically, blogs are a flexible tool that can adapt to your needs and help you learn, grow, and thrive. And they’re a great entry into using other kinds of technology, because there’s a lot of different ways to get started. \n\n?: How else can you think of blogs helping you, either by reading them or by creating your own? \n
- So, now we get to the hard part: there’s a lot of world out there, and none of us has the time, energy, or speed-reading ability to take it all in. Sorting through all the choices, opportunities, and information can seem overwhelming - like being lost on the ocean, or trying to figure out how to climb over a mountain. Let’s talk through some of those challenges, and then move on to tools that help us find our way. \n
- The information we can find easily is not always the information we actually want. I think of this like being on the ocean. There’s lots of neat stuff out there, but we often need some help finding it. \n
- The most important part is know what your goal is. If I want to develop a better understanding of librarianship as a field, I might make different choices about where I read or what I write or comment on, than I would if I were a fiction author looking to connect with other writers. Knowing what we’re looking for will help us get there - and help us manage our time and energy more effectively. \n
- We are not the first people to go “Oh, wait, that’s an ocean!” Chances are, other people have wanted to do very similar things to what we want. Maybe they already have a map. Check with colleagues, classmates, friends in related fields, or people in your own field who have been active reading or writing blogs about the topics you’re interested in. Chances are, you’ll find some great places to start, and maybe some mentoring. \n
- You don’t need to do everything at once. Take some time to adapt, and set a couple of check-in points to see what you need to adjust. We’ll talk later about a way to get started, but starting small and adding more things later is usually a good way to go. \n
- Don’t feel that you have to do something that makes you miserable. There are so many benefits from reading blogs that it’s good to try it out - but if you discover it’s not for you, don’t force yourself to be miserable. Play, experiment, and explore the things you really are interested in. That goes for your topic, too - some people find that exploring blogs related to their job is hard, but love exploring blogs about their hobby or other interest. \n
- Sometimes, we can feel overwhelmed by the scope of the task, how much there is to sort through. (And there’s more every day.) \n\nThis is like a mountain: it’s awfully big, but people do climb them. It just takes a plan. \n
- Take a minute to think about how much time, energy, and attention you have for a new thing in your life. It doesn’t necessarily take a lot - you can do a lot with 15 or 20 minutes every couple of days, over enough time. \n
- Good tools make a lot of the difference. Using a tool that you enjoy using, and that works well for your particular preferences can mean the difference between 40 minutes of frustration and 20 minutes that’s mostly reading a couple of important articles, and 5 minutes of skimming for what interests you in your reading list. \n
- Take time to get used to what you’re doing, and the tools you’re using, before you add lots of new things. You don’t want the mental equivalent of blisters from new hiking boots! Different blogs and different topics have different cultures, and it can take some time to learn how things work (just like you need to stop when you’re climbing a mountain and get used to the altitude.) If a particular blog’s comment style isn’t your thing, there’s probably something out there that’s a better fit. Don’t feel bad about exploring some more. \n
- Blogs have lasting content, but they’re also fleeting. It’s okay to mark everything in your reader as read when you come back from vacation, or focus on just a couple of blogs, or decide you just can’t think about work anymore, and want cute cat pictures. If it starts becoming misery, go do something else. \n
- One of the challenges of being online is the people. As you probably know, it can be really hard to get a good sense of tone, emotion, or humor sometimes, so even when everyone’s trying to communicate well, misunderstandings happen. Plus, some people take advantage of anonymity to be difficult, or forget that there’s another human on the other side of the screen. So, this is like the sun - tremendously useful, absolutely essential. But not without some quirks and precautions. \n
- The most important thing to remember is that what you say in public may be seen by other people - including people you didn’t anticipate. It can be easy to say something (quite reasonable) and forget that a family member, co-worker, or friend might stumble across it and take it quite differently. \n
- Given that, the best blogging is aware of its audience. Is this blog writing to professional peers? People with the same hobby? Family members? As a reader, look for blogs that are thoughtful about how they write to their audience. Look for bloggers who treat you (as a reader) well, by being clear, thoughtful, and up front, and who clarify or apologize when that’s appropriate. \n
- Even with all the best intentions in the world, misunderstandings and glitches happen. Try to assume the best of the situation, and ask questions, rather than leaping to the conclusion that someone hates you. Take a break, ask what’s up, before you assume the worst. \n
- Don’t believe everything you read (and we’ll be coming back to this.) Take in information and ideas, but don’t automatically trust them until you have reason to do so. You can have great conversations that make you think and explore and learn, without being totally true or accurate. \n
- Sometimes, you get people who just want to be difficult for some reason. There are lots of approaches for dealing with this - I suggest a few below, and on my resources page. While most online interactions that go wrong are unpleasant for a few days, and then everyone moves on, it’s good to be aware of the ones that might be more difficult: threats that might turn physical, significant invasions of privacy, or anything else that makes it hard for you to get on with your life, and have a plan in case that happens. \n
- So, now let’s talk about what we can do to make those things easier. Maps help us figure out our choices, plans make the most of our time and energy, and communities can help guide us to better experiences and understanding. \n
- Maps can give us a way to get somewhere - but they’re also a tool that helps us explore for ourselves. So, what kinds of tools help us explore the blogs out there? \n
- One option, of course, is to bookmark everything you want to read regularly, and then remember to visit it. This can get really frustrating - and it’s easy to forget and miss interesting things if you’re busy. And it can be hard to see what’s new - you have to load the page to see it. \n
- RSS - generally considered to stand for “really simple syndication” is a way for you to check for updates on blogs and other source of information, and gather them into a reader so you can read everything in one place (and see everything that’s new.)You can usually find a link to subscribe to the RSS feed of a site by looking for something that looks something like this - either the dot and two curved lines, or the orange color. \n
- Google Reader (free, with a Google account) is the best known here, but there are a wide variety of others. Facebook, for example, will allow you to subscribe to feeds on other people’s pages as part of your wall. \n
- A number of email programs allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds within their program. (Outlook, Thunderbird, Mail, etc.) \n
- An RSS reader will help you organise and arrange what you’re reading. These tools often also give you tremendous control over formatting, organization, and other aspects that make reading through a large number of blogs easier. \n
- And with a mobile device, you can take it with you - to a treadmill at the gym, while commuting or travelling, or anywhere else you don’t need to look at what you’re doing. \n
- But how you arrange your feeds can also help you out a lot. \n
- You can see here that I’ve grouped my feeds into different folders. That makes it easy for me to focus my time and attention when I’m short on time. I use symbols to push particular groups higher in my list (which is sorted alphabetically), and I have a ‘when time’ category for stuff that’s not urgent but often useful. I group by general topic - so you can see job hunt feeds (mostly for new job postings), authors, writing and publishing, education, internet apps and tools, internet use (for more theory and daily practice), libraries, humor and comics, productivity, and subject specific blogs. \n
- Let’s do a quick exercise to look at how this might work for you, and what kinds of things you’d want to think about to have a great experience with the information and sources you care about. There are no right or wrong answers here. Just write down the letters of your choices to the following four questions. \n
- Think about your main goal - do you want to keep up with big ideas in your field? Build a learning network to support your professional or personal growth? Develop a hobby or interest? Become a content creator? Or something else? (There are lots of other options.) \n
- How much time do you want to spend? Once or twice a week for an hour or so? Every other day? Once a day? Multiple times a day? \n
- How much time do you want to spend? Some people just feel they’re too busy to add anything else - and that’s okay. Some people skim quickly and bookmark the articles that have useful information to come back to (especially for blogs that talk about solving a particular need.) Some people read a short amount of time while waking up, exercising, or at other ‘down’ times. And some people really enjoy blogging - if they write, they might spend a substantial amount of time. \n
- \n
- If you mostly answered A, you might be just fine using bookmarks and loading them once a week or so. (I love using a tabbed browser for this: I save those pages in a single folder, and open them in tabs when I’ve got extra time.) People who chose mostly B might want to explore their existing tools like the options in their email programs or mobile devices. People in groups C and D will want more robust tools with options that help them organize and manage their time - and of course, people in group D will also want to explore different blogging software options. \n
- Good plans build on what you already know. And you already know a lot! \n
- You know how you learn best, and you know what kinds of things you’re interested in. This is a new thing - but it’s something that will make other kind of learning easier. And it’s easier than lots of stuff you’ve already learned. \n
- You even have experience that will help you out a lot with even the trickiest parts of blogs - like dealing with a disagreement, or figuring out what sources to trust. After all, you make those kinds of decisions all the time, right? Doing it online isn’t that different: you just have some different kinds of information. \n
- So, let’s look at a simple plan and ideas for someone who’d like to get started reading blogs, but who isn’t sure where to begin. \n
- Good places to start are recommendations from colleagues, awards in your field, blog awards in general (especially those from well-known sources), or articles in professional resources (for example Library Journal, School Library Journal, and Booklist all periodically mention blogs in the library field.) \n\n
- Plan some time into your calendar/make it a thing on your to-do list (at times when you can relax and enjoy it. Saturday mornings, while doing laundry, that kind of thing.) Edit your list until you find a happy balance. I aim for having somewhere between 20 and 50 posts in my reader when I check it, and I usually check every day or two. (besides the very active ones that are in my ‘when time’ folder.) If you don’t have any posts when you check, you might forget. If you have too many, you can feel overwhelmed. Look for a balance in topics, too - I include library comics in my feeds. \n
- Read regularly for a little bit. Find a few anchors - people solid in the topic area who tend to link to major news/issues/concerns. Play around with what you read first or most often, and what helps you feel connected in ways that encourage you to grow and learn. \n
- Or at least consider it. Many bloggers really love comments - anything that indicates that you read something and thought about it, and liked it. Sometimes it’s easier to start with a post that specifically asks for a comment. Or, if you want to try blogging, consider doing a periodic link roundup of posts that interest you. (Bloggers will see these as incoming links.) \n
- Some people use their full name, some people use a nickname, some people pick a handle or something else (like a link to their blog) that helps separate them from all the other Jennifers. Whatever you choose, using the same thing consistently helps people get to know you, and recognise you as part of a continuing conversation. We’ll come back to the question of names in a few minutes. \n
- One of the most challenging parts of interacting online is figuring out how to evaluate what we’re reading. \n
- The biggest question, and the one I always start with, is what matters. Someone can share a great idea, without being who they claim they are. Obviously, for some topics - law, medicine, other professions - accuracy matters a lot, but much of the time, you have all the skills you need to decide whether something is worth exploring already. \n
- We’ve had a couple of recent high profile cases of bloggers who turned out not to be what they claimed. On one hand, sometimes that brings attention to an issue or community that benefits from it. On the other hand, outsider perspectives on a culture or situation can skew understanding. Ask yourself if it matters if this person has authentic experience with the topic they’re discussing. \n? : Can anyone think of an example when it does? When it might not matter so much? \n(major political events, physical world consequences vs. recipe or crafting blogs.)\n
- Is someone’s presentation stable over time - in the sense that people may share more or less at different points in their life, but those things should not massively contradict each other. One great thing about blogs is that it’s often pretty easy to go back and read posts, or even look at people’s comments on other blogs they follow. \n
- One challenge with blogs is that not everyone uses a legal name - sometimes for very good reason. A thoughtful pseudonym can be an effective way to talk about complicated topics: educational reform from a teacher, administrator or untenured professor, challenges in learning or professional life or simply a desire to keep personal interests (religion, relationship status, health) separate from professional interactions. Be thoughtful about what you share and how it connects back to you. \n(Example of the Dean Dad posts) \n
- A good rule of thumb is to look for sources for unusual facts, things that go against mainstream understanding of the topic. Thoughtful bloggers will generally indicate where they got their information (though usually a lot less formally than in academic writing.) Links are common, but so are quick references to books. It should be fine to ask for more details, and if someone is upset that you did, that’s often a sign you should be skeptical about the information. \n
- Be clear about what the blogger’s goal is. Many simply want to share their interests, passions, and ideas with other people. However, some people are out to sell you things you don’t need, convince you that they’re right, or try to get you to take some other specific action. Again, you have lots of experience with this, so if you sit back and take a deep breath, you’ll probably be able to see through a lot of these. Many bloggers do get some money from advertising, but ethical bloggers are clear about how that affects anything they write, and disclose the basic details. \n
- Your handout has a few example case studies. [If time, which there should be, case study exercise: ask people to form groups, and each read a case study, and figure out what would be important to know to evaluate that blogger and their writing. If not, refer to the case studies and the resource page notes.] \n
- Communities are what happen when people get together, both formally and informally - and the same is true for blogs. And of course, each blog can form its own community: several of my favorite blogs will get active comment threads with dozens or hundreds of responses from regular readers. \n
- One simple rule will save you a whole lot of discomfort in online spaces: be aware when you’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired - these are the times we’re most likely to make stupid decisions we might regret later. If any of these are true and you’re upset or frustrated, eat something, take a walk, talk to a friend, sleep on it before you respond. The blog or comment will wait. \n
- Hang out in places that challenge you to be better. You’re already smart: spend time in places that challenge you to think more broadly, more deliberately, more deeply. You’re already good at connecting with at least some people, find places that connect you with people you might not see in your day to day life that encourage meaningful conversation. These spaces are also the ones most likely to be pleasant for you to be in, with other thoughtful, creative, curious people. \n
- It’s a big place, and there aren’t many simple or easy answers. The more comfortable you get with complexity, the easier it is to navigate online spaces, including blogs. Listen to what people say - and what they don’t share. Explore different perspectives and priorities. Visit ideas, and try them on and see what you think about them. Can you see yourself doing that? Why or why not? \n
- By remembering your goals, you’ll be better able to manage any challenges. If you start feeling overwhelmed by your blog list, go back to your goals, edit them if you want to, and edit down your reading list until you’re comfortable again. And of course, remember that this is only a tiny part of your world: it’s fine to take a break, step back, or go silent for a bit, if other things are taking your attention (or even just because you have something else you want to do.) \n
- One of the best tips I’ve read about online interactions is that being online allows you to be your best self: you can edit what you say, review it, and wait to hit “send” or “post” until you’re ready. Use that to your advantage, and let your best self shine. \n