Saturday, March 27, 2010

Context is what context does. Or is it what you do?

Written on November 25th 2009. Last edited March 2010.

A few days ago Gabriela Sellart asked to save a comment I made on a Facebook thread somewhere visible. Gabriela was doubting whether to pull Twitter statuses into LinkedIn. I said I wouldn't.

Pablo raised issues of context and transparency. He said you are who you are regardless of context. I assume I have no permission to reproduce what Pablo -who is not my friend in Facebook- said in a semi-private medium, so I just quote my answer:

"My Twitter does not have a padlock. It's wide open. Anyone in the whole world can read it. I can put my Twitter address in LinkedIn as a website of mine. I would not let it replace the status bar in LinkedIn.

Whether you are who you are is not for me to say. Although I see a lot of people creating a persona in their blogs. Meeting them f2f changes things a lot.

I am a language teacher interested in communication online. Two issues here:

1-Meaning is affected by context.
2-I wouldn't force the same info to different audiences. I like letting people choose."

I think choice matters. Who owns the choice? Those who are literate, which reminds me of a tweeted quote from a recent presentation by Michael Wesch:


Maybe a blog post is a better venue than Facebook to enlarge on the idea of transparency. I think Pablo and I are not using the same definition here. Transparency for me is not about showing it all. It's about showing everything that matters; that is, sharing the path for learning what you've learnt. How have you seized that learning you blog about? This is what gives a text online authority and validity in my opinion.

The idea of choice and context remained at the backstage of my mind until this morning. Terry Freedman published a post that set me commenting and wondering what is context when we are online.

So I dwell on those ideas...
The choice of context and how it affects the message. The power of context for creating meaning. To what extent does the medium make the message? This question seems to state a battle no one can win. We cannot fight RSS fragmenting all our conversations and distributing them everywhere. RSS per se is not against the law.

But reading in depth, what I sense Terry is worried about is a much more complex issue. That of how much will we let the machine do for us?

This is not a legal conversation topic, but an ethical one. A conversation worth having, by the way.

Meta-thought
The interesting thing is that I wouldn't engage in this conversation, I wouldn't have gone for more depth into it if it had not been written by Terry, whom I follow and learn lots from. I am here writing because it is in the context of Terry's blog.







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Friday, September 11, 2009

RSS Reading Habit

This seems to be my current RSS reading habit:

1.Sift for posts
2.Star them
3.Mark the rest as read
4.Focus on the stars

Now each step of the way probably involves more complex processes that I am able to spot or describe. I find that these steps may apply whether you tend to subscribe selectively or just one interesting post compels you to subscribe to many new bloggers for a while. I like to think that even if you subscribe to 100 feeds, it would be important to develop reading habits as if they were 1000. Scalable tools probably require scalable skills to keep up.

Now in more detail, this is how I intuitively think or explain what is going on when I am reading.

1. Sifting
It's a kind of treasure hunt. At times I want to be informed. More often than not, I want to be inspired or challenged by the ideas. Definitely sifting through posts is a skill that ranks top for me. Much more than any tool playing/tweaking ability. Why? Because I think it is the antidote to being overwhelmed by the task.

What does sifting entail? These words from Howard Rheingold explaining mindful infotention resonate with me here:
Knowing what to pay attention to is a cognitive skill that steers and focuses the technical knowledge of how to find information worth your attention. More and more, knowing where to direct your attention involves a third element, together with your own attentional discipline and use of online power tools - other people. Increasingly, most of the recommendations that make it possible to find fresh and useful signals amid the overwhelming noise of the Internet are social media - online networks that make possible social exchange and relationship. Tuning and feeding our personal learning networks is where the internal and the technological meet the social.
2. Starring
The advantage of starring is its quickness (one click, no reloading page to get it done). This quickness matches the sifting speed you get after using RSS for a while. It's a smooth decision-action cycle. Google Reader now allows you a range of instant posting features, but at this stage, classifying or deciding who and where to share it with needs a time that doesn't match the priorities involved at the sifting phase. I prefer not to shift focus and keep on spotting my selected readings for my own selfish reasons.

However, sharing within Google Reader or Twitter generally happens at this stage. Yet I think sometimes I do not stop to consider the consequences of sharing it. I may simply grab the tool at hand to satisfy my impulse to share the reading happiness; but well, you know that I do not think passion does it all. Sometimes it is wiser to stop and decide where, when and what for to share. Another drawback for me is that after microblogging it I might not blog it in more detail later. Sadly because it's a read/write web after all.

3. Mark All as Read
This is a crucial step. The prerequisite of hitting the button is keeping your inner voices quiet. Mine tend to say things like: "Maybe I missed something important". Some anxiety management might help. Drop a read-now-or-never attitude. Reading past posts is not like reading yesterday newspaper. You'll learn in your time and mode, your learning receptive time. Besides, you are not alone reading. You are doing this in a networked way. If it is important, someone will tweet it or RT it, bookmark it with a tag you have subscribed to and content will come back to you. So the antidote is being networked and staying tuned.

Reading it all or feeding yourself less to avoid choking is not a valid alternative for me. That is the old way. The new way is perfecting steps 1 and 2. We have all at some point posted our dissatisfaction about the unread feeds on Twitter. What to do? Stop needing to catch up so much. Expect cross postings and repeated information. Accept not to have the satisfaction of the task completely done. This also involves giving up illusions of knowledge waiting somewhere for you to discover and seize. Who cares what you haven't read? The blogosphere is less for that post you haven't written.

So far for what and how I read. Now it's the turn to explain when and where I could read.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 could well be done in any place -bus ride, airport waiting time or the quiet of your home. I feel it is possible to go through them in a multitasking mode full of interruptions. Periods of short attention span are enough.

4. Focusing on the stars
Beware the stars. I've discovered that to read certain bloggers I need time enough to draft something quickly before their thinking puzzles or thrills me beyond articulation. Sometimes it is good to jot down notes before finishing reading the post. Even if you are not going to publish that yet or ever. Writing to me is a way of keeping track of the way I think, not just the resulting ideas.

When your aim is reflection, the reading skills involved entail the time they require, not necessarily the time you have. The context of the blogger I am reading is generally completely different from my own. Personally I choose to find a quiet hour. (Lucky me when I do.) A hour far from the quick sifting moments that leave me as if I have been running a race. I need a shift of pace. Another mind wave to go into enjoyable learning mode. A quiet moment with perspective. Simply stop. Allow myself to be inspired at the site of a blank post in the editor. For that, I may close my eyes to recreate the feeling of being in my home family garden. I might even succeed seeing this picture of a tweet by @bgblogging (11:49 AM Sep 4th). Try it yourself.
From words to images and words again. Write. Post.


Paying attention, having time, overwhelming effect management are intertwined concepts. You need all three functioning fluently to profit from online learning experiences. You also need powerful tools. As the tools evolve facilitating the tweaking that pipes content to you, my four steps today will be a thing of the past soon. Understanding how we pay attention and manage overload will always be the poser.

This is a related post about how I read in 2007. Let's see how I am reading in a years' time.





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Monday, April 13, 2009

On Networks and Networking Awareness

I am concerned with not becoming too closed to rely on learning first from within my closest circle of friends. I realise it is a natural trend. I am far readier to accept recommendations to read from people I contact more often. As inspiring as they all are, gradually they are becoming my comfort zone of learning, which makes me wonder whether I practice what I preach.


I believe a network is an organic entity. It needs permeability. Some RSS feeds going in and out of my attention constantly. A network needs to allow me to reach the people and places where sense will be made here and now in my learning journey. This reaching out/pulling nodes process has to be elastic and fairly easy -at least in theory.

I find all of the above is related to the dichotomy sometimes expressed like this:
In blogs, you subscribe to content. In Twitter, you subscribe to the person.
Or vice versa. It does not matter too much. There is no correct way of doing it. What is necessary, if we are to make sense, is to be aware every time what, how and why we are subscribing.

Reading the Wise is easy, sifting for great thoughts in a sea of publications is more like the kind of advanced literacy we will need.

We go from content to people to achieve learning resulting in networking. My point is it should not end there. The process needs to restart all over again at several points.

Just wanted to note down this to bring me back to the original track. Sometimes I go astray in my learning journey.

Image credit
Ammonite Circlets
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/3268264059/
by

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Friday, March 14, 2008

Wiki DRP

Wiki DRP 
(Disaster Recovery Plan)

This is the wiki for the subject Materials Design at CAECE University created in 2007. Ana María is using the wiki again this year, but with a few changes. With surprise, I read the email notification of the latest changes. All the profile pages of the students of last year have been deleted. Those pages were full of trials and encouragement comments to those playing with the wiki tool for the first time. I understand my tutor deleted it because it definitely did not add value to the project. 

However, I must say I felt kind of sad to see my homepage deleted there. I remember a rich mini exchange with my teacher I wanted to save. So I immediately proceeded to the DRP action. I rescued the following from my RSS subscription.

Claudia Ceraso - Student Profile

After a year of using online tools to enhance my teaching, I admit I do not need much talking into it. I probably cannot go back to considering the web a place to read only. It is a read/write web -just like this wiki- where every page you see is liable to change.

My attitude in front of a screen has changed. I figure our students will face a future of information and communications change for which we cannot fully prepare them. Yet, we can give them tools and a glimpse of the digital literacies they will need for lifelong learning.

Technology Integration
Ana María asks 'Are these tools useful?'. I venture to say they can, as long as they are used with a clear direction. A learning objective. A teacher's need to fully control the outcomes of the activities misses the point. Teachers must be willing to learn together with their students.
My FCE class is the population of students in need of tailor made materials. Course books do not cater for the blend of needs of these students.

 So needs were partly addressed.
This last summer I designed a wiki to create a portfolio for all our written production. It is meant to organise homework and it will be also used in class. The activities I design in this course will be used there.
I must say I felt so glad last January when I found Ana María had joined B4B workshop because by then, my steps towards integrating these tools to my teaching had started triggering off potential research questions.
I expect this Materials Design II course to help

...................
But this is a profile page; not an essay!
Links
I will be including here some links to my work:
The blog I created for my students:
http://fceblog.blogspot.com

The students' Corpus wiki
http://www.corpus.wikispaces.com
ELT Notes 
http://eltnotes.blogspot.com
and my teacher's blog, where I keep my reflections, useful links, etc. Sometimes, people comment!


April 4 2007

Ana María Rozzi de Bergel commented on Claudia Ceraso - Student Profile

Dear Claudia, 

I hope we can all learn together to find the correct use for these technological tools. We must start off by analysing our students' needs. It is not a question of enjoying "the new toys".

April 14 2007

Claudia Ceraso commented on Claudia Ceraso - Student Profile

Ana María, 
I wonder whether the expression "correct use" will apply to tools that came into existence to cater for needs that were not educational. That's a challenge for us. 
If we can find together at least one instance of appropriate use of these tools to meet our EFL students needs, we will certainly have achieved a lot in a semester. 

Look forward to it.

April 15 2007

Pablo Cinalli commented on Claudia Ceraso - Student Profile

Hello, Clau!! Well I think I have made something wrong because I have my page but I cannot edit, I will go on searching and trying with blogs.........Your comments are always interesting!! No doubts...We go on in contact. 

April 17 2007

Angie commented on Claudia Ceraso - Student Profile

Dear people, I'm really amazed! I am not good at this type of technological tools, but I promise to do my best to keep up pace with you and enjoy this motivating challenge of learning.

April 18 2007

Ana María Rozzi de Bergel commented on Claudia Ceraso - Student Profile

No matter how technologically advanced these tools are, the important thing is that we use them a)if necessary; b) coherently.

April 21 2007

ivana commented on Claudia Ceraso - Student Profile

I would like to use this new technological tool with my students!


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Sunday, April 22, 2007

Networked Thoughts

Networked Thoughts

I am experiencing a network overdose. I mean, I am writing about a topic and suddenly a seemingly unrelated post or image I saw yesterday or this morning comes to force itself into my post.

I guess you call that intuition, some kind of knowledge or certainty that the nodes in my thought actually belong to the trail that will lead me to a conclusion. Or at least, a mind plateau: a somewhat balanced new state of affairs that satisfies me and leaves me with a sense of accomplished task so that I can press publish and continue with my RL (real life).

I am always fascinated at this mashup way of framing knowledge roads in my mind. I think it has always been a mashup, even before the word or the meaning we attach to it existed. Years ago, while reading Virginia Woolf and a bit of T.S Eliot, I thought the term stream of consciousness best described it.
Now I think my mind is a folksonomy invaded by RSS, technically speaking. I am thinking about what other nodes in my del.icio.us network have tagged as 'valuable' (which is in itself a form of mind frame or identity ) and, suddenly, the mental RSS notification refreshes and I know it is time to stop and go to a classroom.

This is a picture of my mind now
(Spoiler warning: read at your own risk)
-Students's wiki homepage updated
-How technology is changing, not the changes, but the direction
-What is the direction of schools, traditional, taxonomic? Can they change with Web2.0
-What is the change agent? Where can we start to change?
-How assessment methods (mainly summative) lock us into School 1.0 (to be encouraging... maybe we should say School alpha)
-How to speak to a small crowd of people who will be listening to me presenting my thesis (not soon, mind you, but anyway in my thoughts right now) and really make sense of it all in a few minutes.
-The images from a slideshare I've just seen about business implications of social software is looming in front of me...
-Which programs makes those cool graphs?
Ctrl + K and I am at Google but...
-Time! Just enough time to eat and then a string of lessons this afternoon.
OK. Try to post about it this evening.

Thoughts over. You get the picture? I am RSS-ed!!

Because time is like a notification. It stops the mind from focusing and flowing into thoughts.

I know, not promising.
How to get somewhere with a swinging mind like that. The hopeful note is I do not think I am on the verge of madness. I am quite sure this happens to all of us -or does it?

On a quantitative basis, let me sum it up like this:
221 people in my del.icio.us network
524 feeds in my RSS

No wonder.

On a qualitative front, how much reading am I actually doing?
This is the question.
I think I read quite a lot. But so differently. What I have stopped doing is following single nodes in the network for a long time (except perhaps the commenters in this blog, I'll tell you why, just read on)
As my focus shifts from one topic to another I need to find again the relevant person, mind, converser to learn from them.
Then I am surprised. I wonder why I do not always check first something like: what do Will, Stephen or Jay say about this? Well, that is the frame of mind that changes with the Web2.0. The attitude. Even though they are the great bloggers, if I did that, I think I would be adopting the top-down model of thinking and organising info they always blog against.
But perhaps they read each other first before posting. Right. Because they also comment on each other first.
You go in circles from the latest published to the core. You check the topic of conversation, then the conversation, then the people. And last -how could it be least?- you do check the big names. But not out of a need to read the "right" or "best" opinion, or the punch line, authoritative, expert view on the issue. Nope. It's just that you cannot start talking about something as if it were new when they have published it and everybody has been informed. That would not being there in the conversation. Again it's not looking for authoritative views but the people in their network. They have so many readers: it is their readers I want to know about.

And how does all this relate to my networked thoughts? Well, because if I do not write about what I read, if I do not filter it from myself I can get intoxicated with an RSS overdose. I would conclude that my RSS reading skills improve only if I write. And writing provokes research, i.e. a web search (let me explain: not in Google. Ah sorry, you already know, no need to explain) and then a process, and then you publish it.

Hopefully you survive my networked thoughts. Have you? Phew!

Now, right now, we are talking. What do you say?
Comments...


Related Post: RSS Digestion: Too Much to Read?

Picture Credit:
lusi

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