Shout out to all the Challengers!

As I introduced our HVWP Tech Strand last weekend to our new 2008 Summer fellows I was prepared for the look when I got to talking about blogging. You know the look, the Facebook look: drunk and naked college kids ruining their lives with their photos uploaded for the world to see, for eternity. I saw that look of fear in some newbies and I tried to diffuse it by just bringing it out into the open with a conversation about these challenges and when in doubt just avoid their eyes.

I tried not to sound like a born-again techie as I started to get misty when I recounted my own rocky adventures on the web but that sense of community through blogging is so attractive for writing project lovers; that sense of community teachers find during their SI is what they can enlarge with a few clicks to the web. Well maybe more than I few clicks.

I remember my early blogging efforts. I had my mac and the Ilife Suite software including Iweb and I could start uploading photos and writing a bit, but when it came to clicking publish, I moved right over to the don’t publish spot and then closed down the program. I wasn’t ready to be seen. Did I really think there were hordes on line just waiting to get their hands on my writing? It took me a long time to go public.

And then I wrote and wrote and wrote and wondered, if anyone out there was reading. I wanted to see a comment appear first, in my email, and I did get a few comments from spammers and a from a few movie lovers. But it took more time.

Slowly the community began after the face-to-face connections at the NWP Tech Matters Institute and just regular online writing moved me to seek out communities: challenges!

A month of slices, a week of poetry, every Tuesday, and a community. Now another challenge month : over 100 bloggers participating to reflect on the act and art of commenting.

I didn’t want to overwhelm our new SI blogging community. I am hoping that they can move steadily on our new HVWPSI08 blog and the Eanthology, and make some online connections with new fellows at the Western Mass site first and slowly move beyond. With the help of our collaborative leadership team,I shared and watched wonderful things happening as the group moved like a rocket through and beyond our initial agenda in the lab, after getting comfortable with the new group face-to-face first and then in this concluding session, on our blog.

They played with their own blogs, personalizing them in the Presentation mode on Edublogs and exploring the links on the homepage.

I was exhausted with anticipation and joy!

The blogging universe, I love it!