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February 07, 2005
late night blogging
When I first started taking online courses, I changed the way I interacted with my computer dramatically. That period was the first time I seriously used e-mail, at least the personal, non-work related kind. It was the first time I started really "reading" online texts, and the first time I started really exploring websites. Often this happened late at night, after work and school were over and I had assignments to do or posts to read or comments to make. I started to have some regular e-mail correspondents, and late night became chat time too. All of that had faded away now.
Now I have blogging, which I am finding it increasingly difficult to tune my brain to, and more so to feel like I know what I'm doing or that I have anything to say. But as I'm sitting here today trying to catch up (after only three short days I feel weeks behind) I realize that this blogging is something of the next phase of my late night interactions. Starting dialogue always seems awkward and stilted, but once it gets going it becomes sustenance in a strange way, like Lilia Efimova talks about in her Blogging as breathing article.
Like Dianna, I need to get a sense of this new rhythm. It seems this would be easier if I were still in a job that tied me to a desk and computer all day every day, but that's the sort of thing I deliberately chose to leave behind. So now I have to find the balance between liberation from the desk/screen, and the conversation taking place on the other side of it.
Posted by cageyer at February 7, 2005 02:02 PM
Comments
GO HUSKIES
FUCK THE DUCKS
Posted by: JeremyJ at February 8, 2005 02:45 AM
The "rhythm" thing has got me thinking about online classes (sorry to always get bogged down on this topic)...
When you were taking your online class, did you find it difficult to create a rhythm of reading, writing, resonding? Was it as difficult as blogging?
I'm just wondering if it has to do with the indirect nature of the blog -- indirect in the sense that audience is so much broader. In the online classroom (threaded discussions, email, chat, etc.), the forum and audience seem so much more defined. Writing in such an environment removes a lot of the unknowns (who am I writing for, why am I writing, what the hell is the topic). The "rhythm" is almost imposed (although I hesitate to go there -- the word "contrained" seems to pop into my head).
Posted by: mike at February 9, 2005 11:15 AM
I've delayed responding to this because I've been reflecting on it elsewhere. It's been interesting.
I didn't have a problem with the rhythm of the online course. But there were good reasons for that. At that time, school was the interesting "other" or hobby activity that gave me relief from my corporate life, which wasn't all that fun at that time. So I was really, really busy, but I was also really interested in playing in that space. Plus I was so excited to be able to take a full load of classes even while working that it seemed special to me.
The late night part was also a function of wanting to find some kind of connectivity to people with interests like mine - fellow academically interested people, or just anyone who would engage me in a conversation that was about something more meaningful than insurance sales. I needed affirmation, and I sought it through the flat screen and keyboard.
There are two things about blogging that I think are differnt and you've hit on part of in indirectly above. It wasn't the audience that made the difference, it was the delivery system and the common content. Some of my online courses were listserv, showing up in e-mail and making themselves very present and urgent because of that. Some I had to log in for, but once logged in, everything was fed to me, and I knew exactly what I was reading and how and in what context to respond.
Blogging is more like that now that I have my bloglines feed set up, but I find that because the several blogs are also touching on a very wide range of subjects I don't know how to respond or just what to say. And I can't always find the post when I think of something to say, because I forget exactly where I was.
It's an odd analogy, but sometimes the input part of blogging, the reading and linking, is just like noise, like a slightly staticey radio signal. I recoil from it, even when I want to talk back to it. So it's really a different kind of paying attention, one that I am starting to tune into. And I realize that I am, in a way, seeking new kinds of connectivity through this same flat screen and keyboard, for different reasons and to different purposes than before, and I'm starting to realize those too.
So thanks for asking.
Posted by: chris at February 16, 2005 06:53 PM
BTW, I found this post because you talked about it in one of your comments above so I had to come see what you were talking about. So, there is value to linking/mentioning yourself to develop community.
The comments here make me think how much I like blogs with pictures. I like pictures of bloggers, pictures of food, desks, offices, views from home/office windows. If I had more time I'd link a few here. Maybe I'll post more about visual rhetoric at my blog.
Posted by: Marcia at February 22, 2005 05:50 PM