I promise not to make all my blogs meta-blogs–but this story is too good to resist.
This morning I checked Bloglines, where I subscribe to my own blog (reassures me I’m there, don’t ask), my blog’s comments (quick way to see all the commentary), and a Technorati search on my blog’s URL that shows me incoming links. I can also see the incoming links from my blog’s dashboard, but the Bloglines subscription is more convenient for at-a-glance checking.
This morning’s quick check revealed an incoming link for a blog called Whole New Minds: English in the Flat WorldWhole New Minds: English in the Flat World. Intrigued as always by the fact someone’s linked to my blog (Brian Lamb calls this the “power of positive narcissism“), I clicked on the link and went to see the site. There I found that the incoming link was from Karen Stearns’ weblog for a course she’s teaching now at SUNY-Cortland. On this particular blog post, Karen had linked to my blog. It’s part of the magic of blogging that any such link generates what’s called a “trackback” or “pingback,” which alerts the linked-to blogger that someone’s linked to him or her. The result is a kind of distributed cognition, or what one might call a strongly implicit conversation between blogs/bloggers. I commented on Karen’s blog post (another kind of response, though more direct and less “distributeable”), and Karen emailed me very soon afterwards, surprised and delighted I had found her blog and wondering if a trackback had led me there. I emailed her back, briefly, with a promise to put the longer account in a blog post that would itself generate a trackback pointing to her original post. One of the very cool things about Web 2.0 stuff, and in fact about computers in general, is that explanations and demonstrations can often be accomplished in one creation. This is one reason I say that computers can be like poetry, for poetry also constitutes a uniquely blended instance of meaning and being. But I digress….
I remember very keenly the first time I was surprised by this kind of distributed cognition/conversation. Jon Udell noticed I’d linked to one of his blog posts, and began a distributed conversation with me that I noticed when he began linking to my blog. It’s a lovely symmetry that led eventually to our meeting face-to-face, and to a relationship that’s been one of my most vital sources of intellectual development over the last two-and-a-half years.
As it happens, though I’m not sure Karen intended this lovely bit of symmetry, the blog post in which Karen linked to me concerns James Gee’s idea of “shape-shifting portfolio people,” and as you can see from the comment I left, I quickly found my way via Google Books to an excerpt from Gee’s book on, yes, wait for it: “Situated Language And Learning: A Critique Of Traditional Schooling,” which discusses many of the very matters exemplifed by what just happened when Karen linked to my blog.
Recursion, and spiralling upward. Is it any wonder I get enthusiastic about this stuff? Oh yes, and the moral of the story: link out to other bloggers early and often. Something about casting your bread upon the waters….
This is along similar lines to a response I have half-composed to Brian’s recent entry about a spring conference he missed… my argument is that he didn’t miss it, as evidenced by his post, which itself informed me of an activity (and linked me to a new, interesting edblogger). His social network worked. In a world of too much information (this is where I wish I had that movie trailer announcer guy voice), good enough has to be good enough– and linking early and often out means you’ll see all the benefits coming back.
This beneficial nature of the social network that is so clear when one is in it, but sure seems hard to convey to the skeptics and beginners. More and more often my key concept in faculty development is trust or faith. You have to possess a bit of faith to see the planting through the early times when the garden looks empty of everything but the occasional spamweed.
Just want to concur with Chris; the manner in which these kind of distributed conversations emerge and the value they convey is hard to convey to non-participants, so anecdotes such as yours are always really valuable. Even moreso form you, I think, a peer educator, than from some of us raving educational technologists. Thanks.
Two very perceptive comments, for which many thanks.
Here’s to raving educators and peer educational technologists.
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I should also say that faith is an especially intriguing concept in this context. But I’ll need another blog post to work on that one.
Thanks for the kind words– it’s nice to know my words aren’t just rose petals in the canyon.
I’ve been thinking explicitly about faith and trust (and where they overlap and where they don’t) in this context for the last year or so. And I can’t help but think that it also ties to Nancy White’s concept of “looking over peoples’ shoulders” — as both a way to create trust and to reinforce faith. At some point I’ll have something coherent to say about this… I look forward to your thoughts when they have gestated sufficiently.
I could not agree more with Chris and Gardner. As a new blogger, I too have begun to experience the cognitive, personal and ah-ha connections that form and self-reinforce through the blogisphere. By their very nature these connections course though my intellect, like my vital blood that nourishes my every cell with oxygen. These connections, and the phantasmagorical places it leads me are my new oxygen.
Now how to convey to the budding, yet as of now, untapped campus blogger wannabes, standing in line for their unknown and unfathomable share of these ah-ha moments? How do we steer them away from Campus Marketing allusions, and help them on the journey of honest and truthful discourse? How do we help them overcome the reluctance to step beyond the tactical aspects of blogging and get to their oxygen? To write, just simply write, write what they feel, and feel what they write and connect with others. They need to have that leap of faith and join us on the vital journey through the blogisphere!