Comments on: Join the 2008 Comment Challenge

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:50:15 +0000

Kim, thanks so much for dropping by! The first time I marked all my feeds “read” I had an incredible sense of loss – a feeling that I was letting go of nuggets of wisdom that would be irretrievable. I’m over it

This is a flowing river where I can jump off on a group of warm rocks, take a breath, relax and soak up the sun. Then when I’m rejuvenated I can just jump back in and let the current take me where it will.

I’m glad that same current pulled you over here!

By: Kim Cofino

Kim Cofino — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:37:34 +0000

Glad to have you with us for the challenge Diane! I have to admit I’m envious of your under 1000+ items in your Google reader. I am too anxious to consume everything that I have far too much flowing into my account than I could ever possibly read. This challenge is definitely clarifying for me that I need to thin out my reader before I can even begin to change my (currently very poor) commenting habits!

By: Nedra

Nedra — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:14:43 +0000

Nice meeting you too Diane! Thank you for your response. Remembering “the network” is fluid is a good point. At first I was feeling guilty when I didn’t keep up the reader but quickly got over that. I know I’m reading blogs everyday just not necessarily ones from my reader. I tend to read a lot of posts that come through that quickly moving river called Twitter. I’ll keep your blog as well.

By: Diane

Diane — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:17:14 +0000

Hi Nedra – it’s good to “meet” you!

At the moment I have 67 feeds in my Google Reader and four of those are my own projects so I should discount them.

It’s pretty easy to skim a lot of the feeds. Every once in a while the “same” conversation happens all over my network. If I’m interested I jump in, commenting “all over the place”. If I’m not interested I just quickly mark the posts as read.

I also find that some bloggers often post on a theme and if it doesn’t interest me, I unsubscribe. I may find my way back to their blogs through links on other blogs and re-subscribe.

I guess my point is that “the network” is fluid. It’s OK to subscribe, unsubscribe, tune in and even turn it off! There’s so much to be learned – it doesn’t matter what our entry or exit points are.

Thanks for commenting! I’ll keep checking your blog – we elementary teachers have so much to learn from each other!

By: Nedra

Nedra — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:53:00 +0000

I’m also participating in the 31 Day Comment Challenge. Despite the fact that my RSS feeder is 1000+ I’ve decided that I am going to read some new blogs by going to the blogs of people who have left comments on my blog. (Like you!) I hate to admit that’s not something I do on a regular basis and I don’t get many comments so there’s no excuse! I’m also going to check out the blogs of the people that have joined my new Ning for elementary tech teachers. I think this will be one more step in becoming a better blog citizen.

You said, “Four hundred + unread items. That’s actually not too bad, considering it was consistently 1000+ items for the first couple of months this year. ” I’m wondering how you managed to get this number whittled down. I’m subscribed to over 60 blogs. Is that too many? I keep finding more blogs I ‘d like to add but try to resist the temptation. I’ve thought of unsubscribing to some but can’t make myself do it! One of these days I’ll hit the Mark All Read button and start over. But before I do that I’m looking for advice on keeping up with it. Do you have any tips to share?

By: Diane

Diane — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Nice to “meet” you Gabriella! I just clicked through to your blog and read the wonderful explanation of your Reveal Ties metaphor. Simply beautiful! You’ve hooked me, so now I’m going back to read your posts .

I understand completely your feelings of guilt when you just can’t keep up with your RSS reader. In fact I wrote myself a post about it.

I’m going over to your blog now. See you there!

By: gabriela sellart

gabriela sellart — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:02:55 +0000

Diana, I came here through David’s post and also thinking about how I found the time to read and comment last year. Our online universe has expanded so much. I have double feelings about this. I sometimes feel guilty for marking as “all read” the posts I admit will never read, but at the same time I know that this expansion of my network has provided me valuable learning strategies.
Just remembered I was writing a post, which is also something I’ve been neglecting recently.

By: inpi

inpi — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:14:59 +0000

Diane,
Yes, thank you! Yesterday I’ve been taught how to use coComments and I’ve just found your comment through them. I’m surrounded by dozens of comments from unknown and friendly people to unknown and friendly people! Its amazing, I somehow experience the empowerment hidden in this beautiful expression you just used:the “wisdom of the network”!

By: Diane

Diane — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:08:06 +0000

Inpi, nice to “meet” you! If you are like me you’ll find that once you’ve discovered the “wisdom of the network”, you’ll never go back to be a solitary learner again.

As for the technorati tags, you only need those in your own posts, not in your comments. Are you using coComment to track your comments?

By: inpi

inpi — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:00:33 +0000

Hello Diane,
Thank you for your Blog and for allowing me to comment. I’m in this Challenge thanks to twitter: in just about two weeks my whole perception of blogging and using internet as a tool to enrich classic teaching at school has dramatically changed. I was studying some tips on Sue Waters’ The edublogger when I stumbled upon twitter, just by chance. Since then, I’ve discovered web 2.0 and a totally new conception of School; my young students just love to listen to my brand news, each morning, about this wonderful world out there that suddenly became accessible to them; thus we are learning the art of blogging and “micro blogging”.
I have not felt “lost in the web-ocean” any more, since I started following e-learning teachers and colleagues on twitter; on the contrary, the sense of belonging to a Community gives me the strength to study and learn and the joy of sharing it all with my students.
(I’m sorry not to know how to tag my comment with a technorati tag as I’ve been told to do, but this is one of the many new wonders of the web I didn’t understand how to cope with…)