Dangerously Irrelevant’s fifth birthday occurred quietly last week. After much soul-searching and a very helpful conversation with my CASTLE co-director, Justin Bathon, I decided to move the blog back to my own platform (as some of you may have noticed this morning).
I had moved to BigThink because I thought it might raise my profile and allow me to reach new readers. As I have mentioned (and been criticized for) before, I am unapologetic about wanting to spread my message to larger audiences. We have significant changes to make in our schools. For those of us who care passionately and want to influence others about what those changes look like, I don’t think we get there with small listener bases.
But the past six months have helped me clarify why I’m blogging and what I care about. In addition to being a space where I can have a voice, I always have viewed my blog as a listening station, a place for community and conversation, a learning platform, and a place for me to offer resources to others. Because I was embedded within a larger, different platform over at BigThink, I lost many of those things with the move. I thought the tradeoff of a larger, different audience would make up for it but I have come to realize that I probably will always need a space that is uniquely mine.
My move back shouldn’t be interpreted as a knock against BigThink. The folks there have been great. Their site was just named one of the top 50 web sites of 2011 by TIME magazine and next week they’re launching a new initiative, The Floating University, in conjunction with Harvard, Yale, and Bard. Even though it wasn’t a great fit for me as a blogger, I’ll still be a regular reader and encourage you to be one as well. There’s always something interesting right there on their home page.
For me, I’m back on WordPress. If you have any trouble accessing the site or the feed, let me know. Otherwise, thanks for bearing with me, both during this inward-looking post and during the transition to and from BigThink. I’m looking forward to the next 5 years (and more) of talking with and learning from you.
Image credit: Five
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