CAUTION: This particular post will continually be updated as new information shows up.
From the days of Google's blogspot, I have blogged. So, why do I blog? I blogged as a tech responsibility in order to understand every aspect of blog development and be in a position to set it up for clients. I also blogged to have a webpage to share content with various stakeholders on my journey (an easy and cheap way to have a free website). I am not a persistent blogger because of another feature called Micro-blogging read a smaller blog. Twitter is an example and I relatively tweet things more than I blog. Howbeit, I have an idea. For the purpose of this course, I will partly develop tweets about an activity for instance, post it and then aggregate on the blog. That seems to be a cool idea, right?
The fact that blogging helps to push ideas in a condensed manner is a great way to use blogs. I am using the blogging platform provided by Open University (OU) where I am presently studying for a Masters in Online and Distance Education. Of course there is a lot of blogging platforms available on the Internet including blogspot, wordpress etc which can be graduated to a full website compartment. Additionally, web developers often design a blog page on a website such that blogs can be written for whoever manages the site.
Blogging is good, tasking but fun too. Oh, the interactivity of blogs is one of the key things that differentiates it from a normal webpage. On a blog, people can be allowed to comment. Interestingly, I just realized that it is the same model that most online news outlets use to post their news (fig 1). Relatively, you will find a comment section below a news page - that is a refined blog.
Fig. 1 - the comment section of an online news page
Okay so, let me learn from your experience about blogging. Do you have one and is it straightforward for you? Your various opinions are worth a huge measure of learning for me.With gratitude
JT
Comments
Good to read your blog about blogging
Hello John, I am interested to see your course has you blogging, and that you chose to blog about blogging! I keep a blog, it is a place to hang memories of activities done with others, and to highlight and thank them for their actions. I was introduced to blogging as part of a collective blog in a TeachNet project in Ireland years sgo. I mainly use Wordpress now, but have used Blogger in the past for my choir and with my students. I like the ease of building a post in the template, and have recently switched to using the app version on my phone (but I prefer the larger palette of the laptop). I look forward to reading onwards as your course continues ... MagsNew comment
Hello John. I enjoyed reading your blog. Great link to the newspaper comments streams as a blog. I hadn't thought of them in that way.
Did you find it difficult to start blogging. I am a fellow student on H817 and rather nervous about starting my blog. we were advised to create a blog when I did H810 in 2016 but I see I only created one private test post. I'm hoping to get off the ground with my blog in this module though.
Tanya
New comment
In response to Mags post,
Hi Mags of life, I will think of a gift for you been the first commenter on this blog.
Let me rehash your keywords:
Hang Memories - This is by far, one of the most important reasons to blog. Ones thought progression through life can be powerful but if it is not stored, you can't even realize how you have grown over the years. Blog is a snapshot of your thought per time and consider you looking through those old pictures and re-living the memories of the past. Such is the experience blogs brings up to thought and growth.
Highlight and thank (gratitude) - Have you ever read something in the past and question yourself, what were you thinking when you wrote that piece (or what were you smoking, that inspired that thought)? Blogs helps us to be grateful for growth and life itself over time. Blogs help us to connect the dots backward and be grateful.
TeachNet - Mags, can you share at least one thing about TeachNet. We will all learn something I believe about it.
Blogger & Wordpress - I think in terms of how simple they are for blogging and at the same time how advanced they have grown that some organizations just use them for their websites.
Ease of building - That is what you cannot take away from blogs. I caught up with an idea that you can actually fill up your website in a short time if you adopt blogging as a way to push content on it. I am trying that next.
Mobile vs Desktop blogging - Hmm, this is sweet. I think I will interface with mobile blogging and give an update on it soon.
Thanks sweetheart, you have always been supportive and I look forward to another teachMEET! Do you blog about #TeachMeet? Was TeachMeet an offshoot of TeachNet?
Before I start another blog....
With gratitude,
John
Thanks
Hi John Like the idea of a blog about blogs - good thinking Cheers AlanResponse to Tanya
Dear Tanya,
Hello John. I enjoyed reading your blog. Great link to the newspaper comments streams as a blog. I hadn't thought of them in that way.
Thanks for commenting on this post. Well appreciated. Also, the links of the newspaper as an example of a blog occurred to me also while I was writing the post. In fact, one more reason we need to write blogs is for the sheer opportunity to think about several things we engage with daily and learn about them. There are so many of them.
Did you find it difficult to start blogging. I am a fellow student on H817 and rather nervous about starting my blog. we were advised to create a blog when I did H810 in 2016 but I see I only created one private test post. I'm hoping to get off the ground with my blog in this module though.
I don't find blogging difficult. I can't remember if this is my first blog http://johnoke.blogspot.com/2008/01/welcome.html which was created in 2008. However, I find it pretty difficult to be consistent i.e. constantly making my posts there because I have so many options and platforms to post. Twitter as a microblog seems the most used platform for me.
Okay to you Tanya, don't be nervous. I have read your responses on the Activities in H817 and I figured out, you have all that it takes to blog. Simply put, when you articulate and respond to an idea or something a blog becomes ready. By the time you respond to this, you already have the content to blog.
I have an idea, can I make it a point of duty to look out for your blog every week for the next 6 weeks.
With gratitude,
John
Food for throught for a novice blogger
Thank you, John
I see what you mean about blogs being a good way to condense a lot of material in one. I can tell for you you are in the highly creative stage of your skills but your message is still a lot to unpack for the novice. I will, however, go through this and see how it inspires me to both tweet and blog much more for use as a professional development tool and also as a professional skill.
Love it!
blogging about blogging
Hello John,you have a great sense of humor(blogging about blogging
).i really enjoyed reading your blog.i can clearly see than you have a great capacity for writing.