Starting to pull together my Carroll blog pieces into coherent groups to provide material for testing Mike Nelson’s Print My Blog Pro plugin.
I initially made many half-hearted attempts at blogging around 2007 but didn’t seriously start using blogging tools until I was awarded an opportunity to become an online “community blogger” as “Curious David” for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It was during that year that I discovered the seminal technology tool dissemination work of my “virtual” mentor the indefatigable, who never seems to sleep, Jane Hart. Thank you, Jane, for your idealism, generosity, and persistence. I value your collegiality.
I was also blessed to have a supportive editor who gave me a free license to explore Web tools and to write about whatever I cared to. Given the freedom to explore, I rediscovered the joys and challenges of writing. The following year I was given the opportunity to teach a semester-long course on Web learning tools to 25 Carroll (then) College freshmen. Blogging was one tool I introduced to them.
One of the best books about the history of blogging I read was Suzanne Stefanac’s dispatches from blogistan.: a travel guide for the modern blogger. Thoughtful, witty, pithy, practical, thought-provoking—it opened my mind to the value of blogging tools.
I have investigated the relative strengths and weaknesses of WordPress, TypePad, Edublogs, Blogger, and Tumblr. In part because of the beautiful and lucid book Teach Yourself Visually WordPress by Janet Majure I decided to invest a good deal of time exploring what WordPress blogging tools allow me to do. WordPress.com itself provides so many rich learning resources.
As Suzanne Stefanac points out, some blogs are linkfests, others diaries, some serve as clubhouses, others as newsrooms, still others as soapboxes. I blog when I feel I have something to say that might be of interest to others. I have an enduring interest in life-long learning and enjoy sharing what I learn. I have no particular interest in having a large number of followers, but I cross-post to Linked-in, Twitter, and Facebook because those are venues that allow me to stay in touch with friends, former students, and people I learn so much from. I welcome comments and feedback. In the past few years, I’ve corresponded with a large number of interesting individuals from across the world who have enriched my life and informed my teaching and learning.
Here are some topics I am thinking of exploring in the future:
- Popularizing (psychological) science with integrity
- Favorite books
- On the strangulating limits of (over) efficiency
- Ten psychological findings that have impacted my life
- On replication
- Fraud in psychology
- Post-retirement courses I’d like to teach
- Canine companions
- Creativity
- Current topics in psychology
