What is our experience with blogging?

Glenn Groulx launched the SCoPE seminar: Blogging in Professional Networks with the question: What is our experience with blogging?

He provided some guiding questions, and an option to post responses on our blogs rather than in the forum. Nice idea! It makes sense to use blogs in a seminar about blogging.

What are a couple main reasons for why you blog? 
I'll try to keep this response to "a couple" :-) One reason is to keep track of my work life, although I confess that I don't do a very good job of this. If I present at a conference, or participate in a workshop, I like to document and reflect on the experience on my blog. Which brings me to the next reason -- reflection. I find taking the time to write causes me to pause and think about what I do. It's a fast life, and it's very easy to just jump from one event to the next without thinking about how you are benefiting, or what you would do differently next time.

I contribute to several other blogs in addition to this one, related to work as well as home life.

What roles does the blog play?
Hopefully, the blog is a glimpse on my professional life, mainly my involvement in online communities. Also, in my role as community steward I use my blog to help promote events the people who are involved. I've also used my blog to participate in online courses, like the 2008 Facilitating Online Communities course facilitated by Leigh Blackall.


What other bloggers do you follow? Why?

I follow MANY bloggers, mostly because I learn so much from people who are involved in similar work. I also follow bloggers that just plain have interesting things to say. Dave Pollard's how to save the world was the first blog I ever subscribed to, and is still one I look forward to reading.

As a community steward I also subscribe to members' blogs as a service back to the community. For example, for the Educational Technology Users Group I use the RSS feed from Google Reader to display the latest blog posts on the community site. I also send a quick note out on twitter to draw attention to new posts by ETUG members.

What is your preferred style of writing?
I'm not sure how to describe my style. Informal for sure.

How frequently do you post?
I have bad blogging habits. I tend to write way more than I post. Usually it's because I plan to return to the draft to refine it, and that just doesn't happen. Right now I have 44 draft blog posts.

Has your blogging changed over time?
Hmmm, maybe it has. For sure I don't blog as frequently because it's difficult to find the time. Also, twitter has taken my attention away from reading and posting to blogs.

What are your experiences with blogging? Join the discussion at SCoPE!

30 Web Tools in 30 Minutes

Dean Shareski from Prairie South School District in Saskatchewan prepared this slide show of 30 Web Tools in 30 Minutes for an IT meeting. There are some great recommendations here! 30 for 30

View more presentations from Dean Shareski.

Spotlight on SCoPE

Last week at the ETUG Fall Workshop I was interviewed by Glenn Groulx, researcher from Athabasca University and faculty member at Northwest Community College. I've been following Glenn's work for a long time, and have been waiting to meet him in person. Of course when he asked for an interview I said absolutely! From (one of) Glenn's blogs:

In this podcast, Sylvia and I sat down during the ETUG workshop to talk about the SCoPE community, an international voluntary organization of educators interested in colloborating and exchanging ideas about the use of technologies in education. We talk about the nature of SCoPE, its early beginnings, how its participants have (or have not) changed, and methods for effective stewarding.

Talking with Glenn about the early days of SCoPE brought back a lot of memories, and now listening to this podcast I realize that I neglected to mention how grateful I am to the many members who have contributed to SCoPE over the years, and to SFU and then BCcampus for providing support for this online community.

Glenn  is facilitating a seminar at SCoPE for the next 3 weeks: Blogging in Professional Networks. I hope you'll join us!

SCoPE Seminar: Blogging in Professional Networks

Facilitator: Glenn Groulx
November 8-26, 2010

Description:
This 3-week seminar will cover blogging strategies for participating effectively within professional networks. Topics will include strategies for gathering information from various online sources, organizing these sources within blog posts, and connecting with experts and peers by engaging in way-making activities to explore, find and connect with others.

SCoPE seminars are free and open to the public, and are facilitated by volunteers in the community. There is no need to register. Just show up! To contribute to forum discussions you will need to create an account on the SCoPE site -- a quick process.

Direct link to Blogging in Professional Networks seminar:
http://urls.bccampus.ca/ssproblog