Blog Questions Challenge 2025

Brian tagged me in this blog challenge. It’s probably been a number of years since I’ve done or seen one of these but more recent than I thought. Maybe 2018 from Alan?

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I was teaching 6th grade in a 1:1 laptop school in the very early 2000s. It was challenging and I was trying to figure out what to do. I started writing on a very early free account on a WordPress multisite run by incsub.org. You can see some archive.org results that indicate I was trying to use Google maps and Omnigraffle in 2005. I was even blogging about blogging within two weeks of starting blogging (excised below). The ideas still hold up for me 20 years later although the community aspects have actually gotten harder with more people, more platforms, etc.

In my extensive experience blogging (nearly two weeks now) I have managed to learn a few things.

1. Blogging has changed the way I read and think. Some of the people I read have been kind enough to come by here. I have a real audience, however small, of people I respect. That has changed how I read their blogs. I now look for ways I can join the conversation, ways I can contribute rather than just being a detached observer. I am now a productive part of a community and have a personal stake in what is happening.

2. Comments mean a lot. A comment often mean more than you’d expect. To me it means people are reading and are interested, which is important to me. Comments mean you have been heard. What you said mattered enough to someone to take the time to write something back. Comments and trackbacks are what changes this medium from an online diary to a conversation in a community. I try to leave more comments now. I hope they encourage others the same way they encourage me. This is also something to keep in mind when I am grading papers.

3. I now see why the open source community works. There is something powerful in finding a group of people who share your interests, especially when they are atypical. Most people I try to talk to about educational technology tend to glaze over, nod off or tell me to shut up. I get excited about this stuff and I have found some other people who share that. I would/will gladly go to a lot of trouble to help you out because I feel a certain kinship there. I also know there are plenty of you out there who would do the same for me. This community is there to help, to inspire and to challenge each other. That creates better teachers and better ideas.

What platform are you using to manage your blog and why do you use it?

I’m still on ye’ old WordPress. I use it because I’ve always used it. I’ve also built a variety of workflows and custom plugins that would be a hassle to change. Although, the continuing nonsense from Matt Mullenweg might drive me to something else.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

I have but not with any regularity and not as my personal site.

How do you write your posts?

My posts are erratic. Different types of posts get written in different ways. I write a lot of documentation posts which tend to happen contemporaneously so I don’t forget and, if it doesn’t happen then, I won’t write it. Other stuff happens over time. I have tons of draft posts. Many I will never get back to. I was inspired in the minute and either got interrupted or realized when writing it that it was better to just shut up.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

Again, right after doing something technical I’ll want to capture it. Sometimes I write because I’m sure other people are suffering through doing something miserable and I might help them.

Do you normally publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit?

If it gets finished, it gets published immediately.

What’s your favorite post on your blog?

I don’t have one. I tend to search my blog for technical stuff but I rarely go back for anything else. I did enjoy skimming my Long Goodbye to VCU posts recently. I wrote them back then knowing that sooner or later VCU would erase all that work and I wanted to capture what I could for when the links went away. I found out recently that they would go away this summer.

Any future plans for the blog?

Not immediately. I may finish building out an internalized social bookmarking option and bookmarklet. I’ve got no strong incentives at the moment and lots of other work that’s either paid or more interesting.

Who will participate next?

I’ll tag Brian Lamb and Shannon Hauser so they’ve got an easy post to write if they want one.