Maybe the edublogosphere isn't a place at all - we all just assume that our experience is a shared one, when our blend of influences, voices of authority and "must share/see/use" resources are so instant and seemingly powerful. A spat between antagonists in the comments section of a blog post can equal a controversy and because the names are so familiar in our own chosen list in the aggregator, we can assume that everyone understands our point of view.
But participating in the edublogosphere is a very individual activity - one that dispenses with the "we". I cannot be totally sure of what others' words are really saying - after all, one culture's sarcastic wit is another's pointed insult. A master story teller in one person's eyes can be a boring, metaphor mangling waste of time in another's. You get the idea.
Where I focus my attention determines what I hear. There are loosely connected groups that could be overlooked if I chose only to immerse myself in one group. For instance, unlike one "famous" edublogger who was once quoted at the pre-NECC edubloggercon meetup, I am never going to see the bulk of my aggregator in one room. It's spread across the globe, in various sectors and countries and now across various services (blogs, nings, groups and twitter). There are nodes on my network that are unaware of each other's existence but there are some nodes that know each other very well. So, the way I see it, the edublogosphere is lots and lots of small places intersecting and interlocking in various spots as part of one big place.
Let's not forget what a small microsm of blogging education is as well.
Alexxander Hayes
A beautifully rendered summary of pre-Edublogger award reflection Graham.
🙂
It’s probably high time to take your old award nomination down. Must remind Stephan to do the same.
I also summonsed up enough energy to raise a year-weary blog post about fame-whoring, web 2.0 douche-bagging and other such matters before I was reminded in Twitter that I was due in Secondlife to talk about the Skype sessions I’d been running with students using Facebook as a tool to communicate with potential partners and other such matters.
I agree….my readers have eased off and my linkers have increased remarkably. I’m losing track of who’s who and indeed who reads what, why and what for. Web stats suggest that most of of the entries come in via my old blogger blog and exit through the wound I now call a blog on my own server.
Fact is I’m trying to locate where five months of post went after attempting to suck up a years writing in six other blogs.
Kind of felt relieved in a way…..anxious otherwise. Hows the weather your way ? Warming up ?
Say helloooooo to Michael C. for me and send my hugs and love to Maree Jasinski who is in my deepest thoughts now and forever.
All good. …..Blog on mate.
We need it.
Keeps us alive and tickin’.
Kylie
I have often reflected on the wider world that edu-blogging has opened me up to, yet also how narrow my world has become because of it, and web2.0. I now choose what I read/watch/hear and what I do not. I rarely listen to or watch a general news broadcast or even view television advertising, as 90% of my media is from the web, ad free. I have MY world at my finger tips, but feel more segregated than ever from other realities.
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Taylor
I just made a post in response to your post, but I don’t know how to do a trackback! (Specifically, where to find a trackback address.)
Ed: Here’s the manual trackback link. http://www.taylortheteacher.com/2007/11/14/community-relations/
Anne Van Meter
I think whether your links are a tight circle where “everybody knows your name” or whether they are chained nodes of links depends on your own learning (or blog-reading) style.
Do you read by checking off blogs on your own list? I have a few must-reads on mine. Or, do you (as I do most of the time) just sort of spend time reading, commenting, and following link after link. Sometimes I do end up in familiar places – like when I drive around south Philly – sometimes I end up in new places I’d rather not be (how *did* I get off I95 in DC?), and sometimes the journey is worth the triple snooze-hit in the morning (sort of like doing the Skyline Drive at 45mph on a sunny day when all is groovy and your iPod just hit the B-52’s…)