The Blog Tour 7,March 2006
Posted by infomlbunyipau in Uncategorized.trackback
Camille Jensen Skyped me early in her morning and we took a Blog Tour together. Lots of unplanned informal learning for us both as we discussed ‘life, the universe and the meaning of life’ as well as the Blogs that we were looking at.
Camille suggested We started with www.fullcirc.com/weblog/onfacblog (Nancy White) The news from Stephen Downes an existing and respected source for us both had to be discussed before we dug down. This will be one for my Aggregator (When I set it up) We found that the Blog explores material of real interest to us both. The big surprise is that whilst it displays perfectly in Firefox it does not work well in Internet Explorer.
Next was www.edtechpost.ca/mt/ (Scott Leslie) was next on the list. His interest in ‘Technologies for Learning, Thinking & Collaborating’ make this one that will be of interest to many on the Unworkshop. (From here I linked to and bookmarked http://elgg.net/dtosh/weblog/ (Dave Tosh) because this is one for my future investigation.
By way of contrast we visited TD Blog at http://tdblog.typepad.com/ by R Davenport the editor of ASTD’s T+D mag. This Blog is in many ways advertorial and seeks to sell articles to non subscribers. For many that would limit the usefulness of the site and provides a distinct contrast to …
eleaningcentre.typepad.com A Blog site spun of the home site of a UK e-learning consultant http://www.e-learningjobcentre.co.uk/ The bulk of the information on this easy to navigate site appears to be free of charge. A notice board advertising and seeking e-learning employment may well be a good reason to revisit for many in the UK. The Bookstore lists a variety of interesting titles such as. “Classroom blogging: a teacher’s guide to the blogosphere” should provide and launch ideas for harnessing both Formal and informal learning. Elsewhere I have read of the powerful impact for learning derived from feedback comments left on Blogs as the Blogger discovers and interacts with their audience. A collection of advice and information is also maintained here including this for the new Blogger:- “Most weblog audiences are small, but with time and regular updates audiences grow. Bloggers may never have more than a few hundred readers, but the people who return to (your Blog) regularly are generally interested in what you have to say.”….Here’s Hoping for that success.
I started out by giving myself Visual indigestion by opening all the suggested Blog links in Firefox’s Tabs. Not a good idea. Selection became essential.
Overall reaction. There is a great deal of interesting material out there. Developing some kind of search process and being selective will be essential if I am not to drown in excess information. And to think I plan contribute to the Blogsphere as well!
Before Camille joined me I had looked at a number of others including…
elearnopedia.com Is a great example of the many sites that work as an ever growing resource. Including such blogs in an Agregator like SuperGlu or Skidoo will enable an quick and easy way to keep up to date (well nearly) on this exploding web 2.0 field.
http://jaycross.suprglu.com/
Is a good example of how to create an aggregation of the blogs that will enable the necesary skimming of the less than eye catching posts and in depth reading when our favoured Bloggers post matters that hook our interest.
koolabora.com Is a Group Blog site bringing together all sorts of practical guidance to enable implementation of all sorts of web 2.0 initiatives for all kinds of organizations from the very large through to the smallest SOHO operation.eg. “Identify Your Ideal Online Collaboration Tool In Four Easy Steps” The home page provides a wide ranging News service covering not just the technology but also the human side as well.
Parkinslot.blogspot.com This is like so many other blogs an opportunity for reflection and trialing of ideas by an individual who has a good track record as a Thought Leader. To me some of the posts read as a little too self confident but then my cultural heritage has a fear of setting onself up as a “tall poppy’ and so inviting being cut down to size. How refreshing to read outside my habitual box.
Good tour. Many of these are in my own aggregator (http://www.bloglines.com/public/Harold). I’ve also set up an abridged learning aggregator on SuprGlu (http://jarche.suprglu.com/)
I don’t know how I would keep up to date without an aggregator. So far, Bloglines works for me.
Now that was the Grand Tour. You banged on the doors of some of my favorites. Nancy (“choconancy” on line) is a mover and a shaker; she frequently does stuff with Etienne Wenger: but she’s more clear. At T+D, Rex is trying hard but not firing on all cylinders; I couldn’t find the article on cover boy Tom Peters and I do have a subscription.
eLearningCentre is great, one of my all time favorites. Jane and I have become fast friends. As soon as this unworkshop ends, we’re going to meet in Barbados. Not as suspicious as it sounds; her new husband will be there, too.
Kolabora is one of many outlets of Robin Good (AKA Luigi Cardinali). Godfrey Parkin is a trip; we see eye-to-eye on many things. elearnopedia is your tax dollars at work, a spinoff of the ADL Co-Lab, a DoD thing. Oh, sorry, not your tax dollars.