The More Things Change

From my original blog in a post from May 20, 2005 (thanks to the Internet Archive)

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.

I find reading this stuff a bit like reading a diary from your teen years- some mix of nostalgia and embarrassment. It all seemed so easy, almost predetermined it was so obvious. I still think most of this stuff is true but I stopped thinking it’d be easy a long time ago.

5 thoughts on “The More Things Change

  1. You almost seem, what’s the word….optimistic! Damn, that is wild. I love every minute of it because whose says we can’t be. Even if everything is shit, why not dream. This is good stuff, and we can only do what we can do, blogging with heart and soul is one way to make things more bearable. En fuego!

  2. And, as you pointed out when we chatted in March, you not only blog, you comment! That’s the piece I need to master so I’m practicing on this blog post. It really is about community: the chance to chew the fat of the work we do informally but intentionally. You’re my water cooler.

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