A Little Bit Literate

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Is this thing on?

So, as I mentioned in our first class that I love technology, particularly the internet. As I was saying that, I couldn't help but think about how often my friends and family tease me about the number of blogs I have. And most of them only know about one or two of them.

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I've always been like this, though not always in an electronic form. I have a whole suitcase full of old notebooks and journals I can't seem to get rid of, and my blogs are kind of similar. I have one for recipes and cooking ideas (and as a project with my sister, as a means of keeping in touch), and one that's kind of a scrapbook of ideas and images I find online (and that I know at least two friends read, so sometimes I post things especially for them), and one about library issues and trends (that I collaborate on with some friends), and now I have this one here, where I will post reflections on readings for my class on Instructional Technologies, a sort of notebook for the readings I do there (and where I will have conversations with my classmates). Oh, and then there's the new SILSSA Blog, too (which SILS students are all welcome to join & collaborate on as well). [I had to mention it.] Unlike notebooks, blogs not only allow me to keep notes and collect ideas and images and keep them handy, but they add the ability to collaborate and share these ideas with others. I'm excited to apply that conversational aspect of blogging to a class situation and see what comes of it, especially since I'll get to read what my classmates have to say as well. (Did I mention that I'm also a chronic RSS subscriber? My feed reader is out of control.)

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Since this blog is certain to be commented upon, I am using a Wordpress theme (via edublogs.org) called CommentPress, which was developed by the immeasurably great Institute for the Future of the Book as an experiment in online publishing. This is why the comment thing on the side is there. You can comment on particular paragraphs if they strike you, or on the entire post, if you prefer it. I've been itching to try this  out since I first discovered it, but I've never really had a good excuse to use it, and now I do, so I am. CommentPress strikes me as a particularly interesting educational tool, and it has been used to comment on a particular text, for example, or to workshop a books and papers of sorts (starting with one on video games, incidentally).

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Judging from our first meeting, I'm really looking forward to the class and the conversations we'll have there (and on our blogs). Also, the readings. I am so excited about the readings. I accidentally read most of the McLuhan, and I just ate it right up.