How do I blog thee? Let me count the ways...

Wesley Fryer and Miguel Guhlin have both ‘tagged’ me to discuss how I blog, think about blogging, create my blog posts, etc. I’m usually happy to play along, so here goes…

1. Like everyone else, I blog on stuff that crosses my radar screen. My ideas might come from electronic sources such as blogs, web sites, podcasts, etc. or they might come from more traditional print resources. I probably tap into some literature sources that most other edubloggers don’t. For example, I not only live in the educational blogosphere but I also live in the world of educational leadership academia, research, and practice. Accordingly, I’m reading educational administrator practitioner magazines and research journals, attending conferences, listening to academic presentations, staying in touch with all of the major educational leadership and educational research associations, and so on. Good print and/or local resources can be excellent idea generators for blog posts and go beyond the same education blogs that we all read.
2. Sometimes I’ll see something that someone else did and feel that I can add some value to it rather than just post about it. My recent modifications of Karl Fisch’s Did You Know? video and Christian Long’s Future of Learning manifesto are examples of this. So is the aggregation of various quotes from the blogosphere that I did last September. When I’m ‘adding value’ to something it’s because I need it in a different format for my own teaching or presentation purposes, not because the original is inferior.
3. Finally, I try to be somewhat intentional and proactive about what I blog rather than just being reactive. For example, my two series last fall on blogging for administrators and gaming, cognition, and education were both planned well in advance of the actual blog posts occurring. I like to identify areas of need for administrators and other educators and then try to create resources that I think will help them. I am a strong believer that we need to be creating resources for educators to help them in their jobs, not just pontificating.

So there it is: nothing earth-shattering. I think the key is to write passionately about stuff that interests you. If it fires you up, it will fire others up too and they will find you and stay with you. Remember that you don’t always need to come up with ‘original content.’ Adding a new perspective to others’ content or making interesting connections across others’ content also works quite well. Don’t forget to use all of the tools at your disposal to publicize your blog: Technorati tags, Feedburner tools, frequent comments on others’ posts, creative post titles, trackbacks, blogrolls, begging, etc. It all helps.

P.S. Be sure to visit the two links to Higher Edison in the last paragraph above. Good, thought-provoking stuff...

Comments

[Scott Schwister]

1.

Scott,

As a former English teacher, I've particularly enjoyed following this meme---gotta love all this metacognition on writing and communication---and appreciate your thoughtful take on it. Your third point is right on. And as an edublogger who's still trying to keep track of it all, I think you suggest a good model for occasionally stepping back from the read-react-connect-synthesize mode. Although that's an awful lot of fun, too.

Finally, thanks for the gracious mention in your post. As someone who's still in the wet-feet stage, I'm constantly impressed by the power and immediacy of these connections.

-Scott

[Wesley Fryer]

2.

I think your point about the value of remixing to create your own meaning is very important. Blogging is as much about process as it is about content, I think, and this is reflected in your idea. I appreciate the fact that you bring higher ed perspectives into the blogosphere and your writing as well. Thanks for sharing! :-)

[Tami Brass]

3.

I have another one for you:
(The Rules):
1. Post these rules before you give your facts
2. List 8 random facts about yourself
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged