Though I’ve been posting information online since 2003, I did not begin to seriously blog until September of 2005. What I mean by seriously is putting my thoughts out there, in public, for all to view, comment, contest, react to.
Also new to me was the realization that trackback tools and rss feeds bring people to you, and develop a readership. My first impression was that we blogged in the black hole of the web and only were recognized by those who actually had your url. That was surprising … actually a happy surprise.
Lately I’ve been complaining that I can rarely speak of much that actually matters to me ‘intellectually’ with people in my immediate surroundings. Though being in a doctoral program is stimulating–when you actually are in direct contact with your peers, it can also be lonely if you choose a subject that is far removed from what others are actually researching. I’m sure I’m not the only one in that position.
In comes blogging! all of a sudden, a whole new world opens up! I’ve discovered other like minded individuals who are responding from Australia, the US, Spain, India, BC and other places in the world ! Interesting, fascinating people, opening up my knowledge vistas, sharing their views, inviting me to see this or that and think it through from another angle. I’m .. in french we say ‘comblée’, which means content as in full and happy.
For a moment you feel recognized, that what you wrote actually matters enough to first be read and if you are lucky commented. A kind of approval stamp, or dissaproval sometimes when your views are contested… but never the less ‘seen’. This is a fundamental psychological need in human beings, one that came to fore very significantly during these first months of blogging.
Having someone you respect put his 2 cents below yours, when a few weeks prior you were unknown and invisible, is –I have to candidly admit, exciting. Though I have “yet” to become popular 
or taken the extra ‘techno’ related steps to make sure I’m visible.
I’m really concerned with how addictive it can be. ..no joke.
The other day I came across a series of posting which I can only reconstruct through the main players, but not the actual postings. They spoke in different terms of the importance of quoting who said what (…. must be unconscious on my part to not remember here!!!) attributing who said it first and making sure our people facts were straight. This “being on stage” and the audience that goes with it can feed narcissistic traits. (ps. There is such a thing as healthy narcissism).
I am not going to fault anyone, point a finger or do any of that. Instead I add myself to the bandwagon, feeling the twinge of having someone else get credit for an idea, thought, reflection initially introduced but given credit to another. We get addicted to recognition, something else I learned here. Original ideas, interpretations and finds are the currency of blogs. You need something to barter or else you get ignored. Right?
I also discovered hints of a public writing personality, with a preference for critical approaches to subjects, and themes that kept reemerging: info management; balancing the copyrights & copyleft movements; discourse; learning theory; social software; epistemology .. didn’t develop the latter too much.
I was sometimes stumped with where to put my comments when more than two lines; below another’s posting? or on my own blog? I discovered that I have an addictive personality and the more I write the more I want to write. Unfortunately it works the other way around too.
I may have overdone it last semester with three courses, 32 hours of work, very active reading months and a number of family events that threw my thinking and focus off kilter. Am I back? not sure yet.
I didn’t keep up with blog readings, and must admit that what I did read in January felt a little redundant. I tend to get bored with repetition… too much of the same wrapped in barely different packaging! Some bloggers call this the “echo chamber” effect! I’ve ranted before about the large supermarket chains that are like warehouses in which you find walls of cheezwiz in 12 different formats. If bigger is more of the same… sorry not interested.
But it just could be that I missed the good stuff or didn’t have the mind to take it in. That is possible too. I can definitely say I learned a lot in a very short time.
[unhuh! I did miss good stuff like this !]