A Blog from Nothing
I remember when I put a ClustrMap on my blog. I saw one on a novel study wiki and thought it would be great for student wikis & blogs, to help students see that they have a global audience. It took me over an hour to figure out how and where to embed the html on the Elgg open source blogging platform. Then a few dots started to show up on the map and I must admit to getting excited. And now, when I look at a map of visitors for my first year of blogging, I really feel like something has been built from nothing.
The Children’s Book by This Name
If you don’t know the story, as told by Phoebe Gilman, here is Something from Nothing
A loving grandfather makes a beautiful blanket for his grandson. The boy takes it everywhere with him until it gets ‘tattered and torn’ , and so his grandfather salvages what is left of it by making a beautiful jacket… which in turn gets ‘tattered and torn’ so the boy’s grandfather makes him something from what is left again, and again, and again… and considering the title, I won’t be giving anything away by saying eventually something is made from nothing!
A Reflective Move
Elgg, my blog’s host, switched to Eduspaces. Eduspaces was about to change again when I’d had enough. I decided to move my 80+ posts on my blog to somewhere that I had more control, and so I bought DavidTruss.com. When I tried to transfer my blog I ended up with about 3/4 of the posts being truncated and every tag I used transfered as a blank link… all 1,700+ or them. As I painstakingly erased them, one-by-one, I thought about the opportunity this could be for me to reflect on my blog so far.
On April 26th, 2008 I reposted my very first post with a small box at the end, placed there for my Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting. It then took me over 2 months to repeat the process for all my posts! Despite it being a much slower process than I imagined, I must admit that it has been a richly powerful and wonderful experience. At times my reflections were whimsical; at times they were like whole posts, adding new insights; and at times they either reinforced or challenged what I’d written. My posts are a reflection of my growth as an empowered learner who engages in thoughtful reflection.
When I started the paragraph above, I’d intended to pepper it with linked examples of what I was talking about. I was going to dig through my reflections and demonstrate how I was inventive or contemplative or … However, the purpose of this reflection is not to showcase what I’ve done, but rather to examine the value of the experience. I’m not sure if I’d want to scrutinize and dissect what I’ve written like this again, but I’m very glad that I went through this process, (or should I say ordeal?)
Moving Forward
When I moved to the Grad Transitions Coordinator position I sometimes felt that I had to bite my digital tongue since the things I really wanted to talk about could have sabotaged the program I was running. Then I got to this Vice Principals’ position and again questioned how this would change what I write about… how it would force me to bite my digital tongue not just when blogging with students, but always, as a ‘Person with New Responsibilities’.
Now, thanks to this reflection process, I feel like I can go forward and continue to challenge my own and others’ assumptions. I can question what I, and the proverbial ‘we’, do in institutional learning without hesitation or thinking that I have to watch what I say. This is my blog. This is my learning space. This is my place to question and challenge my thinking. If that gets me in hot water, I’ll deal with that when the time comes.
Addendum
Last October, during an interesting e-mail correspondence with some friends about cell-phone use in schools, I linked to this blog post. I was asked by our Manager of Information Services, who was one of the people in this correspondence, why I didn’t use the district’s Mysite for my personal blog. This was my e-mail response [with updates]:
– – – – –
First of all, I have had this blog for a while now and it is my online ‘home’.
Second, I have a bit of a world audience… specifically a few readers in The US, Argentina, Scotland, Australia, and England, and so passwords protection is not appealing. (I’m not sure if this is an issue, can you directly link to the blog without a password? [You can, it has a district/locked face and a public face])
And also, I already RSS it into my mysite page.
I have considered posting my blog in the Mysite blog section as well (cross-posting in two locations [I’ve done this sparingly since writing this e-mail]), but there is one other reason…
I tend to be public about my dislike for the current state of education and that is MY opinion, not one endorsed by the district. I am not sure how well a blog post critical of education (such as this one http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/square-peg-round-hole/) would sit with some of the people who may be notified internally on their Mysite that I have a new blog post… and I don’t want the thought of that causing me to censor my personal views.
I’ve never actually stated the name of my school or my district in my blog, but they are easy enough to find out.
Perhaps I am just paranoid, but I question the idea of how personal this mysite is?
Do things I put there ‘belong’ to me?
Do I have an obligation or a responsibility to the district?
What if I was critical of the district in my blog? [I have been]
If I left the district how long would I have before ‘my property’ is taken away from me?
Basically my blog is MY BLOG, and I question my rights to do with it as I please within the Mysite space.
– – – – –
His response was honest,
…Your questions about how you can use your my43 blog are excellent – we haven’t thought through that at all yet. I will raise those questions with the design team.
All this makes me wonder: How meaningful are some of these learning spaces we create for our students? Are we giving them a site that is theirs? Who really owns their learning? Who should?