Comments on: Developing blog post topics

By: Weekend Reading: 04/21 « Wandering Ink.

Weekend Reading: 04/21 « Wandering Ink. — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 06:09:12 +0000

[...] Web 2.0/Blogging:Â Fear of Blogging and Developing Blog Topics A couple of articles from two different bloggers about blogging itself.Â The first looks at a few common fears of new bloggers (and how to overcome them), and the second is a great list of sources for blog topics.Â If you blog (or are thinking of blogging), they’re worth a look. [...]

By: EdVentures in Technology » Diigo Links - How Do You Blog? - Thoughts from the blogosphere

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:55:53 +0000

[...] Moving at the Speed of Creativity » Blog Archive » Developing blog post topics Annotated [...]

By: EdVentures in Technology » Tips for bloggers about blogging

EdVentures in Technology » Tips for bloggers about blogging — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:17:09 +0000

[...] Bill Ives - Guidelines for Writing Good Learning BlogsWes Fryer - Developing blog post topicsVicki Davis - Becoming a Blogging Maestro: Composing Beautiful Blog MusicBrian Grenier - How Do You Write?Miguel Guhlin - Blogging Yin and Yang [...]

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 17:27:38 +0000

Wow Cyndi, that is really great– I take that as a great compliment.

I remember meeting at MACE-MTI last summer, if you want to iChat videoconference at some point during one of your classes let me know. We can do some back and forth Q&A, it would be interesting to hear what your students see the potential of blogging and podcasting in the K-12 as well as university classroom is at this point.

I think it is great your students will be creating their own blogs and reflecting and writing there. It is great to get experiences in Moodle, but also worthwhile to post things “out” in the real world outside a login screen. Teaching undergrads and grad students about blogging two years ago, I found students responded differently in a “public” context than behind the login of a course management system. The possibility of interacting with others outside the classroom is also a different and potentially beneficial dynamic. One of my summer students received a comment on her blog from David Warlick, whose books we were using as texts in our course. That had certainly never happened to me before as a student or teacher! We had a videoconference Q&A with David at the end of the course too, which was great.

In addition to having your students blog, I would encourage you to have them gain experience contributing to WikiPedia articles, especially ones about the communities where they live. I just discovered WikiProject Oklahoma, and something like that for your state or region would be great to get students aware of and involved with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Oklahoma

Best of luck, thanks for the comment!

By: Cyndi Danner-Kuhn

Cyndi Danner-Kuhn — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:38:27 +0000

I love this! I teach Instructional Technology to preservice teachers and require my students to listen to your (Wesley’s) Podcast each week and reflect (also a few others like KidCast & Tech Teacher). I am just about to do the lesson on blogging. Thank you (and everyone else) for providing me a ton of content and resources for this lesson. To this point in the semester, my students have been reflecting using the forum in Moodle, but next week they will learn about blogs, look at many examples and of course read this one and then create one of their own. From that point they will do their reflections each week using their new Blog. If you have any ideas or suggestion for these future teachers, don’t hesitate to send them my way!!

By: Eric Langhorst

Eric Langhorst — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 04:05:20 +0000

Wes - Here is my response in the form of a podcast: http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/2007/02/podcast-64-tagged-by-wes-fryer-why-do-i.html

Thanks.

Eric Langhorst
http://www.speakingofhistory.blogspot.com

By: Moving at the Speed of Creativity » Blog Archive » The egalitarian nature of blogging

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 02:01:23 +0000

[...] That being said, I think my comments about how I develop blog post topics reveals that my motivation for blogging goes far beyond striving for popularity. Yes, I want to be relevant, but I write for many intrinsic as well as instrumental reasons. I love to write, think, reflect, discuss, listen and read. Hence, the entire blogging “thing” is very natural for me. I would even go so far as to say it is a “flow activity” for me. [...]

By: » Blog Archive » How I Blog

» Blog Archive » How I Blog — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:08:55 +0000

[...] This overview of my blogging habits comes courtesy of Miguel Guhlin and Wes Fryer, via Brian Grenier who’s using the tag-a-blogger system to find out more about the actual writing process. [...]

By: Eric Langhorst

Eric Langhorst — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:35:30 +0000

Sorry - that should read “bumped by Sheryl” - too early for me this morning.

Eric

By: Eric Langhorst

Eric Langhorst — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:34:09 +0000

Wes

Great question! I will be responding but it will have to be next week - I coach and this week we have had 3 games so there have been several late nights.

…and pumped by Sheryl! I’m crushed! (Totally joking) I was just thrilled that I made your list.

Eric Langhorst
Speaking of History Podcast

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 00:33:26 +0000

I can’t speak for others, but I think sharing ideas and having conversations is what the blogosphere is all about. It was suggested that people “tag” five others, but I don’t think there are hard and fast rules about this. Stephen is suggesting that tagging more people will stifle conversation, but I tend to think that it would do the reverse. I am really interested in your response to this question, Gary, I wouldn’t have tagged you otherwise, so I’d love to read your thoughts on this. But the decision to write on this meme is, of course, entirely up to you!

By: Gary Stager

Gary Stager — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:01:03 +0000

This tag discussion is interesting to me and suggests some things about the nature of blogging. Is the rule for blog tagging more important than Wesley’s question about how and why we write?

If so, I won’t spend too much more time composing an answer to his question.

By: Cheryl Oakes

Cheryl Oakes — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:13:46 +0000

Hello Wes,
I think in this new digital game you tag as many people as you wish. In terms of blogging I usually blog when I have something to say and time. Blogging at TechLearning.com has really made me think of international topics (and be on a schedule) which I normally wouldn’t write about. Blogging is about the conversations and I always leave the end of my blogs open ended so people can comment and continue the conversation. Hm, when someone leaves a comment is it blogging? Over and Out, Cheryl

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:33:57 +0000

Well, sorry I violated that guideline, Stephen. You’re probably right, I should have just stuck with five. I had a lot of people that came to mind who I wanted to hear from on this, and I also was concerned that some people might feel slighted if I didn’t list them… Like I wrote originally, this sort of felt like picking “my top 8″ friends on MySpace. Next time a meme comes around I’ll just tag 5.

By: Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:06:54 +0000

You’re only supposed to tag five people. Because that gives the people you’ve tagged lots of space to tag other people. When you tag 19 people, what do the next set of people do? And the next?

Tagging many people = exaggerated power law (big spike) (broadcast thinking)

Tagging few people = limited power law (long tail) (network thinking)

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 06:20:58 +0000

I know Sheryl, but I really did want to include you!

By: Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech » The Blogging Process

Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech » The Blogging Process — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:13:28 +0000

[...] Wasn’t really aware of this inquiry amongst bloggers but Wes tagged me so I’ll oblige. [...]

By: Gary Stager

Gary Stager — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:04:09 +0000

I’m trapped in South Florida in one of those senior citizen internment camps visiting my grandmother before I drive to FETC tomorrow. As you might imagine, there is no net access here except via my cellphone and it’s killing me.

So, once I’m in one place for a few minutes with a decent net connection, I’ll respond to your question.

All the best,

Gary

By: andy carvin

andy carvin — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:16:12 +0000

Great post as always. Here’s my response, which focuses on how my blogging work ethic is inspired by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Pete Townshend and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

By: Brian Grenier

Brian Grenier — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 20:38:53 +0000

Wes,

Thanks for the post. I am finding that the more responses I read to this question, the more clearly I see that there are common threads we all share as to why and how we blog. Keep up the good work!

By: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:33:57 +0000

I was TEASING!!!!!!

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:57:34 +0000

Ugh, sorry Sheryl! Now you’re at the top of the list! Sorry I left you off….

By: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:27:34 +0000

Deeply hurt I didnt make the list. (wink)
It is an interesting topic. Over on my blog 21st Century Collaborative I am hosting a series of podcasts on creativity.
After listening to Will Richardson’s podcast with Steve Hargadon I began to think about how the process of creation relates to learning. In the interview, Will describes how blogging should be the result of creative inspiration from reading the ideas of others and then synthesizing your thinking into a blog post.

The connection between using the work of others as a springboard for creation gave me the idea of doing a series of podcasts with highly creative people to see if this strategy was common. I also am interested to see if there is anything to learn from this possible connection in reforming education, especially as it relates to digital and media literacy.

The first podcast, an interview with Rob Sweitzer, the keyboardist from Capitol Records artist MAE. The second podcast, is an interview with my first born, Amber who has been an avid blogger for 8 years and is currently averaging 6000 unique hits per day.

Tell me education doesnt have a lot to learn from digital natives who totally understand how to market their ideas online.

http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com

By: Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:44:52 +0000

This is an excellent post! I am working on my response this how do you write meme, but as my new years resolution, I have determined that I will do a more thorough job and write less but more quality posts, so it is taking a few days.

I am saving this!

By: JenniferW

JenniferW — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:14:13 +0000

You made my morning — in many ways.

Thanks for your post. Thanks for the link.

Hugs to you
Jenn Wagner

By: Miguel Guhlin

Miguel Guhlin — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:59:09 +0000

Wes, you’ve hit on many of the reasons folks blog. I often think that bloggers are knight-errants seeking to bring justice to the chaos of human expression.

You do admirably well.

Best wishes,
Miguel Guhlin

P.S. Your tag “howdoyouwrite” works. I’m going to add it to my posts.