Sorry if that last post was a little too Doogie Howser for you. Hope you are having a good week. Expect a post this week on conversation theory, connectivism, and participatory librarianship.
I can't mention Doogie without showing a clip:
Have a good week!
Thinking and Riding
I was riding my bike into school this morning and I thought about how fun it would be to travel back in time and tell myself that someday people from all over the world would be reading work that you published.
It seems that if I were to tell myself in 1989 or even 1999 I would have a worldwide readership in 2009, I would have thought that I was some kind of prolific writer and I had done something important or extravagant. I certainly would not have believed you.
I thought about how I could explain this improbable feat to my younger self....I am my own publisher. I share my thoughts on the world wide web. I have conversations with educators in Canada, China and Mexico. I do this all from the comfort of my living room...
In this one person production environment the walls that separated out the signal from the noise in traditional publishing are torn down. The elaborate systems that intervened on unbridled thought are gone and it is up to me alone to uphold that sacred storytelling contract between the reader and the writer.
As I parked my bike in my office and stared at my computer monitor and scurried the web for the next flashy new technology to share or my machinations on something I read, the pile of books to put on the shelves grew. I started to wonder if this blogging thing was really worth it, worldwide audience and everything.
Tonight as I reflected on my day I began to wonder why I ever thought this new media stuff was so important. With that malaise came a lot of other doubts and uncertainties about being in school (I really miss being in the classroom). Suddenly I recalled a dream from Thursday October 1st. ...
As I fall asleep tonight and my dreaming mind continues to unravel the details of this assignment, maybe I can remember that my waking life is resembling an elaborate dream from my past.
It seems that if I were to tell myself in 1989 or even 1999 I would have a worldwide readership in 2009, I would have thought that I was some kind of prolific writer and I had done something important or extravagant. I certainly would not have believed you.
I thought about how I could explain this improbable feat to my younger self....I am my own publisher. I share my thoughts on the world wide web. I have conversations with educators in Canada, China and Mexico. I do this all from the comfort of my living room...
In this one person production environment the walls that separated out the signal from the noise in traditional publishing are torn down. The elaborate systems that intervened on unbridled thought are gone and it is up to me alone to uphold that sacred storytelling contract between the reader and the writer.
As I parked my bike in my office and stared at my computer monitor and scurried the web for the next flashy new technology to share or my machinations on something I read, the pile of books to put on the shelves grew. I started to wonder if this blogging thing was really worth it, worldwide audience and everything.
Tonight as I reflected on my day I began to wonder why I ever thought this new media stuff was so important. With that malaise came a lot of other doubts and uncertainties about being in school (I really miss being in the classroom). Suddenly I recalled a dream from Thursday October 1st. ...
I was sitting in a middle school classroom lecturing my students on why social media is so exciting. They were all buzzing away on their computers and web enabled cell phones. Nobody was paying attention, they had this "out of it" sort of look on their laptop enlightened faces. I stepped out of the room for a moment to take a break, and to respond to a text message from a friend. When I walked back in the seats were filled with my former high school classmates. Most of them were asleep. I became furious and yelled at them, "Wake up, we have an assignment to complete."Are we the Dumbest Generation on Earth? Are the first generation of digital natives just asleep in learning's waiting room? Is graduate school frying my brain? I don't know.
As I fall asleep tonight and my dreaming mind continues to unravel the details of this assignment, maybe I can remember that my waking life is resembling an elaborate dream from my past.
MEMO
Today was the first day at the 2009 MEMO Conference. It was exciting for me to meet some of my "friends" who I follow on Twitter and whose blogs I read.
It started off with a keynote from Scott Mcleod ... To say the least, he stirred the pot (it was great).
I got a chance to meet Doug Johnson, Jen Hegna, Anne Walker Smalley and Ruth Solie
I learned about a lot of new tools and technologies, but I also got a good window into the everyday lives of media specialists in MN.P.S. Follow our tweets here: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23mnmemo
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