Free School Joins Dots
May 2, 2008
Really enjoyed (as you can see) experiencing Free School this week. Congratulations to Seb Mary and all from School of Everything for making it happen. Some fine folk took a short course in Advanced Raving & Merriment to be sure. We also learnt and taught some very tangible things about…
- Public relations and marketing (thanks Heleana)
- Social media, authenticity and learning
- Taking egalitarian education to the streets.. cafes.. anywhere, anytime.
Better still, try getting along to the next one.
You Think, I Think, We Think (Better) Together
March 26, 2008
Been reading reviews about Charles Leadbetter’s book We Think all over the place. Got to get my hands on a copy sooon (come on Rosie, hand it over).
If anyone is trying to get their heads around Web 2.0, social media, new paradigm thinking and all that claptrap – get a look at this. Lovely simple animation. I’m going to use it at the beginning of all my courses. Free event coming up soon to give people a taste of it all. Watch this space.
Guardian review here (including Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky) which also looks reeal good.
Shame The Big Issue review isn’t available online. A different and very valid take on things.
No wonder most journalist’s I meet are annoyed with blogging and What’s Going On with we-think.
No wonder I am compelled to work in and support this space.
So glad Rosie Sherry is in it with me (thanks for the video).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiP79vYsfbo&hl=en]
Blogging at LIFT08
January 31, 2008
Next week I will be dedicating some time to a few long lost passions.
1. Eating fondue.
2. Inviting time, space, stimulation, reflection, dialogue to motivate my curiosity for how we learn and create
3. Learning, creating (well, not so long lost)
4. Blogging at the level we encourage others to.
Actually, they gave me a free ticket to attend, so I really HAVE to blog it. Do unto others and all that.
Since things took off for Authentic Blogging last year, I have to admit to feeling a bit of a fraud. Every week we talked with people about the potential of reflective blogging – and barely found time to walk the talk. No excuses now. Time to put down some real stuff for the Authentic Blogging book.
From 6-9 Feb I will be at LIFT08 in Geneva, then taking a train around the alps to just kind of be in the world, gaze in awe, maybe stop somewhere and yodel. Write. Breathe. Write.
It’s a rawther special happening by all accounts, gathering together the likes of speakers Andy Reisinger (Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore), Naked Scoble, Bruce Sterling, Cory Doctorow and many other lovelies besides. In so many ways the LIFT folk model the way we want to see people coming together in the shared, co-construction of higher thinking, feeling and creating. Hyperlinks subverting hierarchy all the way… I cringe as I name drop the big guys we all respond to (or not), as I espouse the more egalitarian wisdom of the crowd.
Sure it will get a bit techy at times and I will wish my uber-geek Gra was sitting in my ear like a babelfish from time to time. It will be strange being away from my little family, Gra, Bea and Maxi the Cat. But I am guessing that the people, the novelty, the conversations, giggling at the Svizz-ness of it all will keep the baying wolf of homesickness at the door for a few days at least.
There are still some tickets available if you want to join up. It’s going to be amazing.
More to come…
Any offers of somewhere to stay in Geneva or advice on which train journey to take are most welcome indeed!
Case Studies & Styles of Blogs
November 20, 2007
Here is a helpful take by a PR agency on the 25 main styles of blog. Each style has a case study to check out too.
What they don’t say is that, you can of course use a combination of styles and there are many new forms emerging all the time. Take it to the edge. Be you. That’s all I want to say right now. And as Shel Israel dropped into say on a previous post:
“In Naked Conversations, as I recall, we emphasized that short blogs were more popular and that bloggers who posted brief articles and then posted often, would score well in rankings. We certainly did not intend to say what blogs were MEANT to be. They are meant to be whatever the author chooses them to be.”
Every blog has it’s upside and downside, it’s pros and cons. Each one is unique, hopefully, as it’s creator/s. There’s no magic formula, despite the way these PR folk are trying to package it.
You’ve just got to blog, surf, listen and engage with the blogosphere – and let it all emerge. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. You’ve got to listen to yourself. Hmm, I think I’ve said that before somewhere… ;-)
[slideshare id=37589&doc=the-25-basic-styles-of-blogging-and-when-to-use-each-one-14243&w=425]
Editing the self
November 19, 2007
Just out of interest.. I added the bunny ears around “thought leader” in between sending the last post out as an email to some current students, and putting it up publically.
Why do that? Why tell you I did it?
I was editing myself. I was thinking carefully about how I wanted to communicate. I was listening to myself. I was learning, as I am right now in this moment, very very deeply.
In the first version I was uncomfortable with calling myself a thought leader due to the perhaps pompous nature of appointing yourself as that, yet is has some meaning. But I knew I was in a more closed conversation with people that had intimate, direct experience of any credentials I might have in that way.
I was uncomfortable with the use of it for two reasons. One – it makes me sound like a tosser to include myself in that category. Two – in context, it was ironic due to the inherent hierarchy implied. My authentic self sees everyone as potentially thought leaders, and that’s a part of the potential blogging offers. That’s the deepest part of the conceptual space we are developing here. Lead your own thinking. Listen to yourself first.
In the second version - I used the bunny ears for “thought leader” to suggest the questionable use of the expression, as if I was quoting some else in using it. Which I was. Earlier I spent some time (on an off day when I should be in bed recovering from a cold) looking at some of the world’s top, self appointed “thought leaders” who might want me to join them at the top.
I guess I’m not quite ready to go there. I think the view and sense of interconnection is better from the earth, not up on the mountain looking down. I hate heirarchies.
There. Lesson to self finished. If anyone else gets anything from it, that’s a total bonus.
Free E-Book on the Essence of Authentic Blogging
October 13, 2007
Here’s a living document I prepared for our first three groups of budding bloggers. I feel a collaborative book coming on.
Not sure I see myself in the same light as the company I am keeping in this collection, but some wonderful people to be gaining inspiration from all the same. David Bohm, Carl Rogers, Carl Jung, Natalie Goldberg, Julia Cameron, The Cluetrain folk, Scoble, Meerman Scott (in some order of importance).
We see this as essential reading for anyone on a quest for personal and professional growth through blogging, but it is a very first draft. Stay tuned for more…
Have a read and let me know which quotes resonate most for you…
FREE E-BOOK on the Essence of Authentic Blogging
More posts on writing to help get your words flowing…
Authentic Blogging for Staff at Sussex
October 10, 2007
It’s early days here in the development of our courses for academics and blogging virgins. So I am going to show you this presentation on the proviso that you see it as a beta version okay.
Session one went well this week, with our first brave group of budding bloggers at the top notch Sussex Uni last week. It’s been a huge week, with three new groups starting. Lots to blog in a reflective way about how it’s all going. For now, I am just trying to get as many resources up for them (and you all) as possible.
There’s no substitute for actually being there, but some of these posts might get you thinking and feeling what Authentic Blogging might do for you. In a personal and professional growth, integrated human way. Yay.
Viva la online revolution!
[slideshare id=132666&doc=blogging-for-academics2577&w=425]
Also putting up the extra items that can’t be read easily in the presentation.
Academic Stakeholders - Stakeholder mapping is an exercise we run all our clients through. We say “Think of yourself as the first audience for your blog”, but then you really need to start knowing how to talk to your stakeholders. But then, as Gra calls it, blogs still allow a wonderful sense of “Enhanced Serendipity”, so you never really know who’s going to drop in and make a connection.
Academic Blogging Mindmap - Novamind Pro mindmapping is great but has a few glitches to sort in the next version, so here are the links from the main Authentic Blogging mindmap for now. Some of these are very specific and others are by way of example to begin exploring the concepts.
Deep (or person-centred or holistic) learning
I tend towards social constructivism and am much inspired by the Reggio project. See my previous blog “Learning” re: this. All linked to life orientation and current MA in Person-Centred Education at Sussex.
- Human becoming
More links to come…ie, reflection, story telling, dialogue… so much material to share! Feeling rather evangelical about the potential of blogging for human communication, connection and learning.
More posts on Academics Blogging…
Our blogs
September 24, 2007
Wow, just sent a list of our blogs to Brighton Bloggers for inclusion. It’s getting a bit long. Hadn’t realised just how much blogging Gra and I (mainly Gra) have been doing over the last few years. So here it is…
www.authenticblogging.com – the place for a deep, authentic and truly happening approach to blogging in all it’s potential and ripeness. Blogging courses and an emerging new community – here we are!
www.barkingowl.com/learning – began with documentation of our early learning project and moved on from there into person-centred education, blogging and beyond… still sometimes active and ranks well with Google, loads of good stuff to check out and comment on, but have largely moved across to authenticblogging now
www.gravyland.net – our personal, family blog (including some contributions from Bea age 6, eg. this lovely picture she drew. Still not entirely sure how open I should be online, but this, like everything, is a work in progress.
http://blog.scouta.com – Scouta is our online media recommendations venture. Regularly featured on Techcrunch, actually.
http://presencelabs.com – Business blog for our main consulting vehicle, Presence Labs Ltd.
http://aplacecalledprovidence.com – A group blog for the co-working
office space at 50 Providence Place in the New England Quarter (where Gra is based, while I am at home hanging out the washing in between brain flashes and mad typing). Includes contributions from such neo-reno’s as Snipperoo’s Ivan Pope and the lovely Dom Stockdale.
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