A Comment on Commenting

I've enjoyed looking around at some of your blogs, my fellow 23's. Some of you are so good at writing, I feel intimidated. Others are more tentative about blogging - good for you for giving it a go!

I have to admit, I didn't leave comments on every "23 Things" blog I read. Sometimes, I just can't think of something worthwhile to say. I know it feels great to see that someone has commented, and even better to see that several people have commented; especially if they get a meaningful discussion or debate going. It builds a sense of community and connectedness. But I feel there's a bit of a let-down when the comments are of the "Just saying hi!" variety. I know that I hate scrolling past all of the "I love this author! I love this artist!" one line comments on my favorite web-comics. The comments that share other readers' interpretations or predictions are the most valuable to me. Because of this experience, I'm actually pretty hesitant to leave a comment unless I feel pretty strongly about something in the post.

Even when I am going to leave a comment, it takes me a while to write it. I often feel a pressure to make sure it's witty or profound; a pressure I'm pretty sure is self-imposed. Those are the comments I like to read best, so that's what I try to leave. Does anyone else feel like that when writing a comment or a post? That your comment will be valued more if it's clever?

I also struggle with brevity. (She says in paragraph 3.) If I feel strongly about something, it's easy to write a novel on it. (Though it occurs to me that the best idea would be to write a blog post in response, then leave a summary comment that links to it...) I tend toward wordiness in general. I talk a lot, and that translates into my writing. I think my scientific and mathematical training are also to blame - "express your ideas fully and clearly". (I think I missed the day when they taught us to do it concisely!)

Anyway, if I don't leave a comment, it's not because I don't like your blog. It probably means I like it enough not to clog your comments with unnecessary blatherings.

I have a somewhat related question. If I were to create a blog with my students, one where they do most of the writing, how do I get the blogging community to take notice, read and affirm my students' blogs through comments quickly? One thought is to have them leave comments on other blogs, so that readers there can follow the trail back to our blog. Are there other ways? I believe that thoughtful comments affirm that your thoughts and words are worthwhile, and build an interest in continuing to share those thoughts and words. I wouldn't want to wait till the end of a term for that to happen for my students. The blog would become unwanted work with no rewards.

One last quick note: If you want to insert a link in a comment (which doesn't have all of the handy-dandy editing buttons), check out this post by Rosidah Abidin.

"A writer needs 3 THINGS..."

"...experience, observation and imagination; any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others." -- William Faulkner

I wanted to use a quote by Einstein, but this one seemed to fit both the title requirement and the topic of this post.

I think it best to start with a list of the blog posts I read. I'm sure it was more than 5, but I'll list them to be sure. (And so you have a point of reference for later on.)

1. Bud the Teacher's "What's 'Print'?"
2. Betchablog: "The Myth of the Digital Native"
3. dy/dan (Mr. Meyer): "Why I don't Assign Homework"
4. CoolCatTeacher: "Spies Like Us"
5. Extreme Biology: "09.09.09 Homework: Observations and Inferences"
6. Students 2.0: "Teaching Brevity"
7. Andy Carvin / Learning NOW: "An Open Letter About Cyberbullying"
8. Pair-A-Dimes (David Truss): "Students, Information and Schools"
9. Wandering Ink: "How to Prevent Another Leonardo Da Vinci"

Yup. More than 5. I liked the reading part of the assignment. Can you tell?

Several of these blogs remind me of magazine articles or certain newspaper articles. Not the formalized, reporting the news articles, but more like op-ed columns. )Though I supposed they could be considered editorials, since we're looking at self-published blogs.) They're personal opinions, but usually well written and well argued. I'd say that #1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9 all fall under this category. And in some ways, so does #7. Andy Carvin's post is almost a "Letter to the Editor", aside from it appearing on his blog, and not in "Wired" magazine.

The big difference between these blogs and magazine articles is the hyperlinks. I often found myself pausing in the middle of reading the post to follow a link to a related website or blog post. In fact, I sometimes found myself hopping from post to website to article to website, without actually fully reading any of the pages. I had to make an effort not to follow the links right away, but instead right click and open them in a new tab, so that I could go read the related sites once I finished with the first one. It's amazing how quickly the amount of reading you intended to do grows!

For example, I really enjoyed reading Dan Meyer's blog, starting with his "Why I don't assign homework", then following his links to read about the software he uses to help keep himself organized, how he analyzes his use of classroom time, and his ideas on how assessment should be handled in a mathematics classroom. I had 4 or 5 tabs of his blog posts open at one time. (And now, so might you!)

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Anyone else thinking of Dr. Seuss?

Now that I have my blog up and running (Thing 2), it's time to talk about what I'm looking forward learning in this project (based on Thing 1).

I'm still not entirely clear on what Web 2.0 is. The YouTube video interesting to watch, but I don't think it does a good idea of explaining. I want to know more about xml. I've used the built-in web editor in Firefox, but it coded in html. Have the browsers updated their editors to code in xml? Are there other programs that do that? Are they considered Web 2.0 tools?

*Edit* From our meeting today, Web 2.0 is being defined as any tools or applications that are for collaboration; as opposed to the Web 1.0, where we were passively reading. Now I have a new question: are forums part of Web 2.0 or Web 1.0? It seems like almost everything I've heard described as Web 2.0 is quite a bit fancier than just a forum.


I'm looking forward to learning more about and working with RSS feeds, embedding video and Flickr. I've kept a blog for my family for a few years now, but I'm always looking for ways to make it better and more interesting to look at.

Here's to an interesting few months!

Ah, beginnings!

Welcome to my blog! This first entry is a short one of explanations and hopes. Mostly explanations, though.

I am currently participating in a program at my school to introduce me (and the other participants) to 23 things related to Web 2.0. Coincidentally enough, it's titled "23 Things ASH faculty/staff need to know need to know about Web 2.0" or the "23 Things" project. I'm taking part because I'm still not entirely sure I understand what Web 2.0 is. (I'm also taking part because I need more tech hours...)

And you must be wondering about the title of the blog. All I can say is it seemed like a good idea at the time.