Task Discussion

TJ said:

I clicked on this because i need to motivate myself to just do it I kind of set up a blog one night and posted twice and stopped. Too much on or lacking dedication? I dunno. Anyroad I've revived it and created a companion piece to it is it fair use to use lines out of songs? I dunno anyroad heres the links but they are bare coz I haven't finished this challenge but they will get populated.

Also i am not sure which site is best so I went for tumblr and blogger coz of my many google links but I am thinking about Wordpress, I don't know for longeveity. Anyroad the blogger site is part of my PGCE teaching course project on reflective journals. The tumblr is hopefully and outpouring of something worthwhile as ultimately I want to be a writer - is it too late?... nah never too late...

oh the sites: http://throughthemirrorofmymind.blogspot.co.uk/ for my reflective teaching journal- probably destined to be wordpressed

http://ibeenthinking.tumblr.com/ for my less constrained reflective life journal

on April 13, 2012, 12:46 p.m.
Elryc said:

Hi everyone!

here's my list:

Art: theory and style (i'm not sure these are the right words i'm french) {text and pictures}

     - Art Nouveau

     - Art Déco and derivatives

     - Cyberpunk and derivatives

     - Post-Apocalypse

     - Gothic

General subjects about society {text}:

    - prostitution, drugs, freedom, democratic or socialist transhumanism...

Music, drawings, sculpture, photo, design, ... {text pictures}

And here is my first attempt to create a blog or website or whatever to share my universe with the rest of the world http://elrycbathory.tumblr.com/

Oh, and i decided to go with every subject 'cause I have a lot on my mind!

on April 13, 2012, 11:42 a.m.
Dirk said:

My blog is at disfunksioneel.blogspot.com. I tend write infrequently about technical topics and experiments.

I also have a personal wordpress website where I wish to put up more content about hiking, cooking, reading, development, etc. at disfunksioneel.co.za.

Previously I maintained a tubmblr blog for micro blogging: 1appaday.tumblr.com

I am considering consolidating my web writing into one place and let readers (if any) do the topic filtering?

on April 10, 2012, 6:53 a.m.
Vanessa Gennarelli said:
This post on time-saving techniques in blogging recommends:

Setting a content calendar

Pre-loading your posts

Keeping them organized

Might be useful to some folks.
on April 5, 2012, 6:03 p.m.
Philipp said:

My blog is at http://sharing-nicely.net - I write about all things "open" and mostly stuff related to P2PU. In the past I used the blog for semi-personal reflections or updates occasionally, but that seems to have fallen away.

Like many here I have a list of things I'd like to write about and struggle to find the time. Maybe a regular half hour set aside to write a post would help. Stephen Downes has a blog that supposedly works like that. Has anyone tried a regulated approach like that? Did it work?

I'm also wondering what your thoughts are on wordpress (i'm a user) versus tumblr or posterous (twitter just bought them). It sometimes feels like wordpress blogs are going out of fashion and everyone has a tumblr these days.

on March 30, 2012, 10:10 a.m.

Vanessa Gennarelli said:

Hi Philipp--I know Zac Chase aims for a certain number of blog posts/week to keep himself disciplined. He wrote a post a day for a year!

Re Tumblr: I really like the Chrome extension for posting, and hear some good things about the dashboard extension.

on April 3, 2012, 10:23 a.m. in reply to Philipp

Philipp said:

Wow - tip of the hat to Zac.

Thanks for the links to tumblr extensions. I'll check those out.

on April 3, 2012, 1:41 p.m. in reply to Vanessa Gennarelli

Jessy Kate Schingler said:

i joined a "bloodpact blogging" group once for a month. we promised to blog every day. it didn't have to be heavy or deep, just *something*. it was really helpful for focusing on getting things out there, and not letting perfect be the enemy of the good (or, at least, the not-always-terrible). i was always really suprised at how ong they still managed to be.

after a month i found that once a day left me little to no time for longer, more reflective posts. i do think having a goal of posting say xx times a week can help to focus your writing efforts, and having accountability built in through telling people those goals keeps you posting. but one idea/outcome of that experience was realizing that a committment to *write* every day doesn't necessarily mean you have to *post* every day.

in my experience using a blogging software that is low overhead is key - i can focus on content instead of the administrative aspects of setting up a blog post. i liked posterous a lot for that, because i would draft and post from email, without worrying about formatting and other configuration options that can be really time consuming but often have diminishing returns.

my understanding was that tumblr is built to be more of a linklog. i think it didn't even support comments for a while? and posterous focused more on YOUR content versus tumblr was more about collecting and commenting on OTHER content. (i think tumblr has comments now via disqus).

on April 5, 2012, 7:23 p.m. in reply to Philipp
Jessy Kate Schingler said:

my blog is at jessykate.com, and split into three mostly distinct areas - general posts (under "blog"), research notebook (which i am still figuring what that means, but generally it is more rough notes and ideas about research), and readings (where i post annotated pdfs and other articles i am reading).

for this challenge i'll focus on the blog section, but with an emphasis on more exploratory posts related broadly to open science and learning, with some specific emphases on open science practice, citizen science, peer learning, and human computation.

on March 27, 2012, 4:40 p.m.

Franklin Chen said:

I see you use Octopress also.

I'm confused that the entries have two dates run together, e.g.,

MAR 18TH, 2012MAR 15TH, 2012

Are the three sections completely independent, or are they "views" into something that has everything? I don't have sections for my blog because it's not clear to me how to optimally separate things that might belong in several places (right now I just generate categories in hope that people find them useful).

on March 27, 2012, 4:55 p.m. in reply to Jessy Kate Schingler

Jessy Kate Schingler said:

grin. yay octopress! :)

looks like those dates are just an artifact of me hacking the display templates. i think one is the creation date and one is the last updated date.

the three sections are actually just categories within the same blog. it's a simple custom template file that, instead of listing posts in a category, actually displays them-- basically another index page that shows only posts that match a category. happy to share that if you want.

on March 27, 2012, 5 p.m. in reply to Franklin Chen
Anonym said:

rachelfreedman.wordpress.com

This is my Personal Learning Network of Teachers and fellow students that I have comprised. Many of my posts are required by a class, but they hold my personal views as well as links to other blogs about education and digital citizenship.

on March 26, 2012, 10:24 p.m.
Christopher Crawford said:

I already have a blog or two (one about Godzilla and other giant monsters from Japan, and one that was a short term citizen science project that covers the 2011 emergence of Brood XIX cicacadas), but I think I am going to start a new blog for this challenge. I am a Religious Studies student interested in Anthropology and Ritual, So I think I am going to focus on Afro-Caribbean religions like Voodoo, Vodun, Santeria, and the like. I just signed up for a new wordpress blog, there isn't anything there yet other than an about page and the default "Hello World" page...

on March 23, 2012, 5:08 p.m.

Leah MacVie said:

This is a great idea. One of my instructors teaches an online anthropology course via photos and video. It might be a good avenue for you to curate your own media content that represents these cultures!

on March 24, 2012, 10:01 p.m. in reply to Christopher Crawford

Christopher Crawford said:

It has been about a week and I haven't had the time to do anything with this. Even though I love this idea and want to return to it one day, I think I am going to have to scrap it for now. Thinking of a topic that will complement either the 'real world' classes I am taking now or my job as a copywriter/editor.

on March 29, 2012, 4:23 p.m. in reply to Christopher Crawford
Paul Oh said:

A little late to the game, but I've got also got a blog up and running and was hoping this challenge would help me post more and consider more carefully what I'm using my blog for. Right now, it's a mishmash of personal/professional - mainly professional, but through the lens of the personal, if that makes sense.

Here it is: dComposing

on March 20, 2012, 12:35 p.m.
Vanessa Gennarelli said:
Hi Paul! Seems like you have a lot to write about--which topic would you like to dig into most?

(I just copied and pasted from your blog--hope that's OK!)

"Home

baseball

bay area

education

history

immigration

journalism

korea

new media

running

slow food

social networking

sports

uncategorized

writing"
on March 20, 2012, 5:26 p.m. in reply to Paul Oh
Paul Oh said:

Of course that's ok! I decided to focus on education.

on March 27, 2012, 3:48 p.m. in reply to Vanessa Gennarelli
Andres Ochoa said:
¡La programación!

Enseñar a programar

Uso del lenguaje VB

Uso del lenguaje C#

Uso del lenguaje C++

Uso del lenguaje Java

Uso de HTML

Uso del lenguaje JavaScript

Uso de CSS

Proyectos para practicar
on March 19, 2012, 7:50 p.m.
Vanessa Gennarelli said:

Hi Lisa! Your perspective on blogging about classroom issues is a good one. I know that there are several mentors in this challenge who wrestle with just this issue. Looking forward to the discussion about it.

Awesome that you outlined your goals for this challenge. I'm specifically interested in that you'd like to blog "deliberately..." what would that mean? What would that look like?

Vanessa

on March 19, 2012, 9:39 a.m.

Lisa said:

Hi, Vanessa,

By deliberately, I mean a couple things: mainly blogging regularly. There's no way I could do this daily, but I think I could get in the habit of doing it weekly.
In addition, I'd like to intentionally share ideas I've found that work - or even don't, and invite feedback. My blog's subtitle is "Adventures in Advising," and as most advisers could attest, there is much that can be discussed. I'd love to attract an audience of others who teach what I teach, as well student journalists.
As I mentioned earlier, I also want to use the blog to document what I deal with on a daily, weekly, yearly basis. Publications advisers put in many more hours than other teachers, and when it comes to negotiating for a larger stipend or other compensations, I think it could be a handy tool.

Lisa

on March 21, 2012, 1:44 p.m. in reply to Vanessa Gennarelli
Lisa said:

I feel like I'm late turning in my homework, *sigh*. I teach journalism and English, advising both the high school newspaper and yearbook. Started a blog in the summer, largely so I could document how much time and energy I put toward the whole advising thing. My goal was to post weekly, and I do well for a while, then get caught up in other aspects of work/life and fall off. Find it here: http://teachjournalism.wordpress.com/

I also started a tumblr before that, a bit more random as far as topics go, but my five topics of choice would be:

1. insight/my viewpoint of everyday situations
2. teaching - more general topics
3. advising publications
4. family
5. writing

The one I feel most strongly about is advising. It's also the one I have the most fodder for, as it engulfs my life (hence the late homework). Even with this topic as my main, the others find their way in. After all, I'm teaching, I'm teaching writing, my everyday life includes situations on which I have a viewpoint, and my family is jilted by my work.

My goals, and the reason I wanted to take this learning project on, are that:

1. I want to become more deliberate in my blogging
2. I want to figure out what is safe to blog. I'm in a precarious situation as to whether I blog openly (must be careful what/how I discuss content) or anonymously (as many teacher/advisers do). This is one reason I "fall off" now and then. Situations with student staff, lack of motivation or productivity, administration issues all make public, open blogging touchy as far as my employment goes.
3. Considering that last goal, I want to figure out how to get a wider audience. I haven't promoted my blog for the above-mentioned reasons, though I do have one follower, an adviser from another state.
4. I need to learn to write for the web, i.e. shorter (I know I was meant to be a novelist, lol), and using links, photos and such. Haven't practiced providing that secondary content yet. I just prattle on as if it were a diary.
5. I want to teach blogging to my students.

Looking forward to the feedback.

on March 18, 2012, 8:32 a.m.
Chloe said:

(Cheat) I also have a blog that I mainly started when I was still working at Quest to Learn and was getting a ton of requests from teachers to post examples of how game based learning looks like . I kept blogging my work after I joined p2pu.org as a way to document/communicate/get feedback from the community, but I have to admit I didn't think of who is my audience till recently ( I am also always assuming that I have a pretty small audience of people in my work circle :)). Looking forward to exploring writing on the web more!

Here are things I care deeply about; games, design, learning, open source everything really (from edtech to robots)

Link: http://chloeatplay.tumblr.com/

on March 13, 2012, 8:37 a.m.
Jonatas Emidio said:

Hi Guys!!

I use to post very thing that i consider interesting on the web.

My favorite topic is about "technology"!

Nowaday i write less than before, but i don't stop.

Guys... I'm brazilian and my blog is in portuguese!!

My blog is: http://varandageek.blogspot.com/

on March 13, 2012, 8:26 a.m.
Zac Chase said:

Hey, writers! I've just added everyone to my google reader feed in a special folder. I'm excited to have posts to comment on. If you haven't had a chance, the suggested reading for this task is pretty great and gave me a ton to think about in terms of how I've developed as an online writer over the last few years. If you've got the time, it's certainly worth checking out.

I'm over at autodizactic.com.

On to Task 2!

on March 12, 2012, 10:57 a.m.
Franklin Chen said:

I've had a blog since last fall, at http://franklinchen.com/

It's still quite a work in progress (and I get the feeling it will always be). I have mixed in all kinds of discussions or stories about anything, as a way of just getting started rather than being a perfectionist, but I believe I need to better define my focus, tone, and audiences. And also I want to write more substantial posts that I have managed to put off completing for various reasons. Writing is complicated!

on March 11, 2012, 8:23 p.m.

Zac Chase said:

I know what you're talking about on the putting off writing posts front. I've a long-standing Evernote note full of ideas for posts that have yet to be built. A few months ago, I realized I could winnow down that list by pulling each big post apart and writing out the little ideas that made it important in their own posts.

It was such a feeling of accomplishment as I started ticking off posts on my to-write note.

What are some of the big posts you're putting off?

on March 12, 2012, 11:02 a.m. in reply to Franklin Chen

Franklin Chen said:

I have a list of a hundred things I could write about, on dozens of topics. I feel like I should have been writing for decades already, and have enough material to last me a lifetime if I were writing full time every day. What is hard: finding the time to write at all (I am always overwhelmed with other projects, non-writing), and making sure that the "heavy" articles where I want to make strong claims or reveal unique insights are well-researched and supported, as well as narrated convincingly.

What you say about breaking things up into smaller chunks resonates with me, and I consciously try to do that by asking whether I'm making a single point or multiple points in a post. Sometimes it's hard, though, when I'm trying to pull together different and unexpected ideas, and want to make a case for the connection.

on March 16, 2012, 11:21 p.m. in reply to Zac Chase

Mark A said:

I hear what you're saying, mate.

I'm starting to feel sorry for my Evernote - it's constantly being stuffed with blog post ideas but I can never seem to get around to it.

I started this challenge without even knowing it by creating a blog for my small design studio: Red Giant Design Blog

I have no problem writing quality content for the blog when I actually get to it. I think the problem is that I manage almost every facet of the business by myself and finding the hours in a day to churn out a blog post or two is becoming increasingly difficult. The sad thing is that I actually love writing!

I'm also really wanting to start guest posting for high authority websites/blogs, but I can't even get the ball rolling quickly enough on my own website.

Lastly, I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to writing for the web. It seems you have a similar "problem". Some web designers/bloggers seem to be able to churn out a blog post in 20 minutes. How I wish! I can easily spend a good few hours on a quality blog post.

Perhaps I should put a little less effort into blogging and just write as the thoughts pop into my head?

on March 22, 2012, 4:57 p.m. in reply to Franklin Chen

Vanessa Gennarelli said:

Hi Mark, welcome to Writing for the Web!

I think you raise 2 important questions:

How much effort does content production require?

Does blogging capture ideas-in-progress or a finished product?

Vanessa

on March 22, 2012, 9:47 p.m. in reply to Mark A
Vanessa Gennarelli said:

Great to see this challenge get underway!

Us mentors are here to help with questions, if you get stuck, if you'd like feedback--post those to the "Discussions" tab.

My blog topics: educational technology, collaborative learning, peer assessment, and Italian-American culture (for good measure!).

Here's my blog--a Wordpress number: http://mozzadrella.wordpress.com/

Now off to find an article for Task 2 :)

on March 11, 2012, 11:39 a.m.

TJ said:

I just tried to click the link 5 times and kept rebounding back to p2pu then it struck me all I had to do was select it and copy it.

on April 13, 2012, 1:14 p.m. in reply to Vanessa Gennarelli
Anonym said:
I have also had a blog for a long time, but have never really made use of it, and I'm hoping this challenge will get me going.

Site: http://barbarahui.net

Some things I care passionately about & also want to learn more about:

Programming, particularly for libraries and humanities projects

FOSS, open data, open access publishing

Women in tech

Literature, especially experimental. Especially the author W.G. Sebald.

Maps, digital mapping -- especially OSM and other FOSS mapping.

I think part of my worry is what Andrew Sullivan talks about in his article (which is great!) -- namely the exposure of writing for the web, and being "out there" in a way that you're really not with other kinds of writing. I'd love to be a bit more impulsive/casual with my writing and be able to use my blog as as log of the things I'm thinking about that I can look back on. And I'd love to get feedback from other people in real-time, too!
on March 9, 2012, 8:39 p.m.
Vanessa Gennarelli said:

Barbara--think you're onto something--maybe our writing for the web is never "final"? Maybe it's always in beta?

Coming from a more formal background, I try to get more casual and from-the-hip with my posts too.

on March 11, 2012, 11:33 a.m. in reply to Anonym

Doug Belshaw said:

I agree - to me blog posts are more like conversation-starters (or sustainers) than formal position pieces. :-)

on March 12, 2012, 10:49 a.m. in reply to Vanessa Gennarelli

Zac Chase said:

I'm just going to add 1 thought to this thread.

Last year, I committed to writing a post a day. It was tough at points, but also amazingly educational. At about 100 days in, I realized my writing was a marker of where my thinking was on that day, in that moment. Tomorrow, I could examine the ideas again and come up with a different argument entirely.

Maybe that helps with not feeling held back by the informal voice that sometimes happens in blogging?

I'm excited to count myself as one of your readers!

on March 12, 2012, 11:11 a.m. in reply to Anonym

Philipp said:

The ones that start conversations are the best ones. What I've found frustrating in the past is that I would write a post I really cared about and it didn't connect with the audience / readers ... or maybe the audience was just too small.

These days that seems to be less of an issue, but I think web writers go through very distinct stages: before they have an active readership that comments, and after. At least for me writing for the web comes alive when it feels like I'm part of a community of people with opinions.

on March 30, 2012, 9:58 a.m. in reply to Doug Belshaw
AJC said:

(Cheat) I have a blog that I started some time ago: http://www.grungefarmer.org/

Focus: Ecological design + my experiences as I work towards becoming a DIY ecoligical engineer.

I'd like to see if this challange can boost me into paying greater attention to it. It doesn't have an audience yet, and I'm not quite sure if I need/want an audience. My approach has always been more geared towards open, but personal documentation.

on March 7, 2012, 1:30 p.m.

Zac Chase said:

Really interesting idea that you're uncertain to whether you want/need an audience. I wonder if it will matter as you make your way through the challenge that what you're doing is public, no matter the audience participation. Glad you're up to the challenge.

on March 9, 2012, 1:56 p.m. in reply to AJC

audrey said:

I also have a blog already -- 2 in fact. One's my "personal" blog. One's where I do my writing/ranting about ed-tech. I think a lot about the question of audience. I also write little on my personal blog -- partly because I write so much on the ed-tech blog. But partly because I am not sure what sorts of posts I want to put there -- that's the problem of having too much of an audience, in some ways.

on March 9, 2012, 7:41 p.m. in reply to AJC

Doug Belshaw said:

That's the problem, isn't it? Knowing what should go where!

I started around 2005 with a teaching blog (http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk) and a personal one (http://dougbelshaw.com/blog).

To cut a long story short, I went from several, down to one, and then have split up into several again. There's always a tension between writing about a specific thing for a specific audience, and wanting to reflect all facets of your personality. It's a tension I've never resolved satisfactorily.

(Most of my blogs are listed at http://dougbelshaw.com)

on March 12, 2012, 10:53 a.m. in reply to audrey