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By Jeff Pierce, 25 August 2009 14:48

Here’s an attempt to try to define this blog and what I’m doing here. I would love to give you my word that  nothing communist will appear on this blog, but after some of the topics that were covered in my module on Multiculturalism, I don’t think I could make good on that promise.

I digress. The definition fits: “a public declaration of intentions”.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61683005@N00/565924862

In this first iteration of my attempt to define online professionalism I will simply expand on what I wrote earlier.

There were two guidelines I operated under:

1. Don’t use real names
2. Don’t post anything I wouldn’t want sent as an all-users email

I can see clearly how they stifled my last blog: they are “donts”, negative rules.

Let’s try this again:

1. Don’t use real names. Share my blog with people that I work with. Not that I expect to use this in any capacity related to my job, but because I don’t want to feel like I’m hiding anything from anyone.
2. Don’t post anything I wouldn’t want sent as an all-users email. I need to be excited about the fact that all-users can see what I write rather than cowed. When I post something onto this blog, I’m saying that it’s an idea worth sharing. If I post it here, I’m standing behind it (until someone comes along to show me, duh, why I’m wrong).

…is this enough? It doesn’t feel like it. I don’t like how open-ended and messy this sounds. But I can’t seem to find anything better anywhere else, yet.

I’ll have to come back to it. For now, thanks to all the blogs I’ve read, and in particular thanks to Karl Fisch and Konrad Glogowski, whose words seem to most match what I feel is appropriate.

Comments (2)

By Jeff Pierce, 15 July 2009 22:46

So to follow up from my previous post, I went hunting for models / discussions of how to start up a blog, and specifically, what it means to have professionalism online.

I started with a big player – Will Richardson – and specifically this page, where he has posted all sorts of resources and relevant links about blogs. I clicked on about a dozen links that seemed at first glance to be relevant.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is a “retroactive live-blog” of the highlights of my one hour hunt. (Stealing a page from Bill Simmons – his passion and humor deserve all praise.)

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First Stop: Anne Davis.

Hmm. Nope, this is a post to get educators convinced of the value of the blog, both in and outside of the classroom. Not for me – I’m already converted!

But before I leave her page let me skim the right sidebar…wow, she’s been blogging since I was in college! Back then, all I did online was Napster. Maybe there’s something else to be found, under “Beginnings” (3 posts), or “Obstacles” (3 posts)…nope…and the category of “Weblogs” is too big to spend time on, with 349 posts.

Repeating the fruitlessness of this experience with the blogs of Clarence Fisher, Chris Lehmann, and Scott McLeod, I wonder if I’m going about this the wrong way? What else can I do in addition to scanning tags and categories and few searches?

We’ll try again: Konrad Glogowski

Vygotsky reference in the title of the blog is a plus. Nice prose as well – despite running on for substantially longer than your typical blog post.

Initial reaction is that this looks like more of the same, preaching to the converted, as the ideas in this post are on how to foster student blogging. But upon a closer reading of this related post, I wonder if what I am looking for isn’t contained in the ideas there. I also have the feeling after reading the bio that if I dive deeper into the archives I’ll find what I’m looking for here.

We end with one last flicker of hope: Karl Fisch.

I remember his blog fondly as one of the sparks for my first ever presentation on technology – it should still be alive online at slideshare here.

And it looks like with Karl I have again found something worthwhile! His last two posts are on the topic of protecting student identities online. Not directly related, but this would be a great chance for me to add my two cents and put in a question as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76206184@N00/775521097

So – what did my hunt catch me? Konrad’s (dormant?) blog and archives which should occupy me for some time, and a “happening now” conversation related to this topic at The Fischbowl. Hopefully I have enough food for thought to formulate whatever will satisfy me as a “code of online professionalism”.

I have to say it, though – should I have had to look so hard for this? Or am I tilting at windmills when the answer to being “professional” online is something simple and right in front of my face?