Has the meaning of “blog post” changed?

Naturally these types of intense periods of blogging attract some discussion about the relevance of the blogging format. As well as the habit forming / repelling nature of writing every day for 28 days.

I enjoyed hearing from Aaron Davis as he shared some ideas about this in his post Sustainable Blogging. It is also good to read through the comments from Kathleen Morris and Bill Ferriter as they contribute some further thoughts.

In his audio post Aaron questions the purpose of blogging everyday and how this might be setting people up for failure.

It depends of what we all count as success I suppose.

I have no expectation that this month will lead to some miraculous daily writing habit. Far from it. I have already been successful as I have been able to share a few blog posts that were half baked ideas or languishing links on my computer.

Davis ponders on whether we should [still] be promoting blogging as a way to connect with an engaged community of thoughtful contributors.

The halcyon days of education blogging has long gone and I think those still running a blog have shifted their expectations. Including me.

I used to enjoy the way ideas I shared on my blog were regularly built upon in the comments and new ideas emerged. It was a great example of asynchronous collaboration. [Take a look at Aaron’s post for a good example that crosses platforms too]

But those types of experiences are just not around anymore and I think my own expectations have shifted accordingly.

I write about my ideas to process them and to help others.

Those two goals have always been there. It is just over the last five years, maybe more, that it has become harder to understand the impact your blog posts have on your audience.

All we are left with is the temporary traces of visits and the fleeting analytics of micro-engagement.

Bill Ferriter raises an interesting aspect about the way that highly polished content and professional writing has narrowed what the community thinks is acceptable, or even what a “blog” is anymore.

 It used to be that quick, transparent reflection that wasn’t perfect was the norm rather than the exception to the rule. Now, the people with the biggest followings — and therefore the biggest influence on our notions of what a blog should look like — are almost universally creating stuff that is beyond even my ability to create.

He continues his train of thought further on his own blog:

Have we gotten to the point where “blogging” no longer means messy reflection in the minds of most people?  Is there now an expectation that blogs have to be filled with content that has been carefully created and “spit-shined?”And if so, does that discourage new bloggers from ever getting started?

I agree with Bill that the sands have shifted beneath us. The definition of the blog post is no longer the same and new contenders for benefiting greatly from running their own education blog, have experienced a very different diet of articles and published content than we did even five years ago. And definitely ten years ago.

I would still say that a blog is primarily a space for a person to process their thinking and do the messy reflection Ferriter suggests.

We might be inundated with the polished self-help style articles that panders to a dependent audience but that doesn’t stop every writer forging their own rationale for creating their own digital space.

It might be harder to define that messy space than before but it is just as important for our education colleagues to have them. I will always advocate for people finding their own path, crafting their own rationale and not to dance to someone else’s tune or writing format.

Photo by Riley McCullough on Unsplash

#28daysofwriting

My Reflection on #28daysofwriting

It was in about early January when I began to mull over the idea of getting back into a writing habit. I wanted to renew the discussion and connectedness I enjoyed through my blog and get myself writing regularly again. The #28daysofwriting idea sprang from that desire.

I have managed a post every day – in case you missed any, here are my 28 blog posts (using OneTab). Here is the link to the #28daysofwriting blog category.

It has been a fascinating experience to be sharing it with over 100 other writers, educators and bloggers from around the world. Some of those who signed up didn’t manage to stick at it and others didn’t post everyday. But it doesn’t matter. To begin with there was lots of “I am not sure if that is breaking the rules” type comments, which made me smile.

However you participated and I am grateful to everyone, whether writer, reader or commenter, who took part, I just hope the challenge has made you think about what professional or personal writing means to you and you have learned something along the way. Here are some of my reflections.

Writing as Thinking

For me I have learned that this is a vital part of the way I think and the way I work. The month has challenged me to write and publish more frequently, and the effort has only strengthened my belief that writing is core part of my life. It is vital to me and I have enjoyed every moment. It has helped me share ideas that were swimming around and has proved the cathartic process I knew it was.

Forming the Habit

This challenge was a very personal endeavour to write more frequently and regularly, to dispel the blog guilt and begin to form a habit of publishing. I still think time will tell. This spike in activity will not continue for me and I will fall into a more mellow rhythm of posting I suspect. I have learned that I can find the time to do it. One of the reasons for this is that I value it. I have been able to find the time because writing is important to me.

Reading and Commenting

In the future I am keen to turn my attention to reading and commenting (#28daysofcommenting is all set for March) as the natural parallel to maintaining a blog. This month has been about writing, but for our education communities to remain strong we need habits of reading, commenting and discussion. If you are looking back on a month of writing like me, perhaps you will consider a month of commenting and discussion.

I maintain that it is a fading part of our professional communities and the longer form discussion is being replaced by micro engagements that barely scratch the surface of what is possible. Let’s rally round and show our support for those brave enough to share by leaving an encouraging comment or challenging question. Let’s show the community we are not just lurking but there with them. Let’s increase the frequency, depth and quality of educational blog comments and discussions.

Being Accountable to My Network

I stated I was embarking on this challenge for February to tens of thousands of people. It is quite a clarifying experience being accountable to that. Scott Belsky refers to it in his book Making Ideas Happen. It has been even better to share the month long writing experience with so many others also having a go. As I have already said, I am so very grateful to everyone who accepted the challenge and followed my crazy idea.

A Wise Crowd

I have been able to learn so much from the sharing of others. Throughout the month I have been able to read blogs from connections I made years ago as well as teachers I have not had the chance to meet with yet. It has been so refreshing to see blogging and professional writing alive and well and to share in the wisdom within these special networks. I have always advocated for this particular type of professional sharing and I hope it inspires more people to start a blog and begin to share.

What is Different and Next Steps

From the experience this month I am more confident about the structure of my writing, I know how long I need for certain types of posts, I know when I write best and in what conditions. I have a better sense of the types of posts I want to write about and the core topics I will be exploring in the future. I spent a lot of time this month studying the way content is being published online nowadays and I have better understanding of the technical requirements of generating great writing.

#28daysofwriting continues. There are many who will be still writing and posting so keep tabs on the hashtag. Another round starts for some in March and although I am not blogging I will be maintaining the mailing list I set up for those who signed up. I will be sharing more tips and ideas on writing, and general curiosities about professional blogging.

#28daysofcommenting begins in March. Please consider joining this challenge to complement the success in February with your own writing. Just comment on other people’s blogs, you can do one a day or 28 minutes of commenting each day – whatever you like. Tweet and share your comments using the hashtag.

Thanks again for your support and whatever you do, keep writing.

What Makes People Creative?

 

When you start to explore the literature around the definition of creativity, or what it means to be creative, the lists and references go on and on. In this post I wanted to share a few key characteristics of what we might deam a creative approach or disposition. In my last post I shared the idea of developing a creative council in the classroom to learn about key role models and why they were/are so influential in their fields. With a better sense of the characteristics of creative people we can form better perspectives on our own work and speak more confidently about what makes up ‘being creative”.

What makes people creative?

  • Tenacity – grit, determination, resilience, call it what you like but some people don’t allow bumps in the road get in the way of the journey.
  • Courage – it is not just bumps in the road but sometimes the traffic is against you. Creative people are often risk takers and go against the common paradigm.
  • Inventiveness – to be able to explore new connections and combinations, to continually push what is possible.
  • Leadership – some people are moths others are flames.
  • Impact – some individuals either through their established position or their authority have had greater impact in their fields than others.
  • Vision – not just being able to project what is ahead in a field of study or development or art, but to bring that horizon closer much quicker than others.
  • Passion – an unquenchable fuel.

I am not saying that this is an exhaustive list in fact I would welcome your additions and amendments. The complexity of defining these characteristics means that many individuals would display some of these dispositions more strongly than others. Some were natural leaders whereas others showed greater courage as they worked alone. We each show these tendencies in different measure, making up the unique definitions of creative people and what creativity is.

Thomas Edison’s Creative Approach

I really enjoyed this piece by Wouter Boon who outlines the characteristics of Thomas Edison that contributed to his creative success:

Persistence / Conviction / Associations / Productivity / Trial and Error / Combinations / Imagination / Relaxation / Diligence / Collaboration / Knowledge and Skill / Value / Luck / Entrepreneurship / Curiosity

And this from the Centre of Excellence in teaching in Learning at Iowa University expands on some of these ideas when they suggest the following characteristics that researchers look at when measuring creative aptitude:

  • Fluency (number of ideas generated)
  • Originality and imagination (unusual, unique, novel ideas)
  • Elaboration (ability to explain ideas in detail)
  • Flexibility, curiosity, resistance to closure (ability to generate multiple solutions)
  • Complexity (detail and implications of ideas; recognition of patterns, similarities and differences)
  • Risk taking (willingness to be wrong and to admit it)

Creative Flow

One of my favourite concepts in the study of creativity and the creative process is that of Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In Creativity – Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention he suggests the following characteristics of the creative personality:

  • Creative individuals have a great deal of energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest.
  • Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time.
  • Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
  • Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy ant one end, and rooted sense of reality at the other.
  • Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion.
  • Creative individuals are also remarkable humble and proud at the same time.
  • Creative individuals to a certain extent escape rigid gender role stereotyping and have a tendency toward androgyny.
  • Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent.
  • Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
  • The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.

Take your pick from all of those. One thing that you quickly realise is that even defining characteristic of creative people becomes divergent. However simply beginning conversations around the common themes or elements would be a great discussion with your colleagues or class. Take another look at my creative shortlist at the top and let me know what you think.

 

Convene your Classroom Creative Council

Creative Council Member Ada Byron

During some research on Thomas Edison I stumbled on the fact that he deliberately surrounded himself with a diverse range of expertise in order to generate new thinking and ideas, a creative council. In a recent post I referred to the concept of “casting widely” to make creative connections, Edison gathered people into his creative council to accelerate this. It is a practice that has been replicated by many visionaries, inventors and, more recently, innovative companies.

Classroom Creative Council

Andrew Carnegie called this creative council a “mastermind group alliance” a gathering of people towards a common creative goal. I was struck by this lovely idea, not so much in the sense of connecting classrooms with a varied external expertise, but the idea that you could convene an imaginary Classroom Creative Council.

Encouraging a creative mindset and learning about what this actually means can be done through creative inquiry processes such as design thinking. They emphasise the imperative of thinking and connecting deeply with a topic and developing a range of dispositions. But one hugely important element within an experience of creative inquiry is the modelling from peers, adults and who we might learn about.

Just picture an imaginary Classroom Creative Council of visionaries, inventors and innovators from our past and present, who epitomise the mindsets and dispositions we all want to uphold. A Creative Council filled with members that everyone in the class has learned about and who we recognise for their individual strengths.

Who Would Have A Seat?

You might plan for literacy, science and history lessons about these characters as they are introduced, or indeed offer the opportunity for the class to put forward their own recommendations for the council. The reason you would have such a reference group would be as Wily Walnut puts it, to:

“tune in” to the vibration, to the morphic field, to the archetypal meme, perhaps to the very soul of that person in order to share in their wisdom, insight and ways of thinking, acting and being.

With one of the members of the Creative Council in mind we might ask a series of questions and provocations to establish a new point of view about a project or idea. Imagine if Edison or Da Vinci, or any number of creative visionaries, were the subject of the following prompts:

  • What would…think?
  • How would … approach this problem?
  • What historical precedent or example can inform us about what to do next?
  • Who would be smiling about what we are doing and why?
  • What would … say are the biggest challenges to this approach?
  • What actions would … take next?
  • What would … say we had forgotten and why?
  • Would … be proud of us?

In order to answer these questions well, with a depth and authority that allows a new perspective to contribute to our work, we would need to better understand the people involved. The members of our council should be familiar to us, we would need to know their mindset and approach to work and life. Equipped with a deeper knowledge of these role models, we might be able to gain insight from their imaginary mentorship.

I am always inspired myself by historical figures who are beacons of creative light for us to follow and in some future posts I will outline some of the elements we might look for in those figureheads.

In the meantime why not make a suggestion in the comments as to who would be in your Creative Council. Who inspires you? Who would you like as a virtual mentor contributing to your ideas? Who would have a seat in your Creative Council chambers? I would be fascinated to learn who you would nominate.

pic – Portrait of Ada by British painter Margaret Sarah Carpenter (1836)

Sign up for March #28daysofwriting

Blogging and commenting are like Luke and Leia Skywalker. Blogging comes first (like Luke did – they are twins y’know) but commenting and discussion makes everything better (much like Leia’s influence) – they are lonely when they are apart. If you are keen to get into a writing habit during March sign up for #28daysofwriting.

#28daysofwriting continues in MARCH

I am delighted to keep this momentum rolling with a new round of March sign ups for#28daysofwriting. It is open for those of you keen to get into a writing habit and itching to join the 115 or so writers and educators who are taking part in #28daysofwriting. Add your details below to the signup form for MARCH, we’ll kick things off on 1st of March.

Remember the rules are simple – write about whatever you like, as much as you like, but you have to stop after 28 minutes and you have to stick at it every day for 28 days. #28daysofwriting.

Signup for #28daysofcommenting

We have over a week to go for the first cohort to get through February and this inaugural round of writing. But the more I have been thinking about blogging this month the more I have been considering the Skywalker Effect (yes I am calling it that!) – the lack of commenting. So for those of you keen to stay in the blogging habit consider signing up and committing to #28daysofcommenting.

Same rules apply: every day for the first 28 days of March, read and leave comments on blog posts you come across. Do as much as you can in 28 minutes. No need to hit up new posts everyday you might continue a discussion taking place somewhere as well. One key thing would be to share to your networks, through Twitter and G+ etc, the comment you just left.

“I just commented on … for #28daysofcommenting” sort of thing, you get the idea.

Just a quick signup form to get a sense of numbers really nothing more for now – and we always feel more committed when we have filled out a form.

It works as a nice parallel to the writing challenge – we will have a crew writing everyday and we will have a bunch of supportive people chipping into the discussion too.

Discussion is such an important part of our edublogging community so I hope you will consider taking part and supporting the new bunch of people taking the writing challenge. Really l0oking forward to kicking on with this challenge for month – we have 10 days to get signed up using the forms above. Don’t forget to share this with those people who didn’t quite commit for February – it’s be great to continue to grow the community.

So the hashtag lives on and we now welcome the twin to the edublogging galaxy!

#28daysofwriting

#28daysofcommenting