Why I blog and other issues
09-July-2007
permalink comments (2) forum (2) email thisI got offered a job blogging a few weeks ago.
It was a good offer - to contribute some 10-15 items a week to a blog about Open Educational resources. The items did not have to be long. And the pat was quite reasonable.
I thought long and hard - and finally rather reluctantly turned it down. Reluctant - because it seems a bit of a dream to be paid for doing something I enjoy writing about something which interests me.
But there seem two drawbacks. The first is that I find blogging on the road to be difficult. When I am involved in a run of intensive meetings and workshops I don't always have the headspace for blogging. And the second is that I am afraid it would destroy the fun of blogging. Along with others, I have always wondered how Stephen Downes keeps writing OL Daily, day in, day out. Sometimes I just don't want to blog - I don't feel I have anything to say. And at other times I have a lot to say. For me my blog is part of my everyday work and everyday life - and the blog has to fit in - not the other way round of me having to write the blog.
I am interested in these issues because of an emerging discourse in the Emerge community about the possibility of a project on using Web 2.0 and social software for supporting academic writing.
It is an interesting idea and an important one. Often, if I am working on an academic paper or a contribution to a book, I do not blog. The style of expression is just too different to quickly switch formats.
So, I suspect we may have to reconsider just what is academic writing. I have been involved in a number of projects trying to use Wikis for co-development and collective writing of research papers and training materials. It is not easy and requires a great deal of planning. I suspect this will be the way we work in the future - especially in the context of European projects involving collaboration between researchers in different countries. But we have a lot to learn about how to do it.
I'd be interested in anyone else's thoughts (and experiences) on this subject.
2 Replies (comments)
1 collaboration
I'm currently working on a study of what it means to be involved in collaborative academic/professional tasks, so I'd be very interested in any developments you come across! The link you've got to the "emerge community" doesn't seem to be working :-(2 the emerge link
Sorry about that bad link Ruby - human error! Shoudl be http://elgg.jiscemerge.org.uk/Linking and trackbacks
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