Posts tagged comment08

The 31 Day Comment Challenge was a project designed to reinforce and introduce some good commenting habits. Through a series of activities presented and explained by the challenge hosts ( Sue Waters, Silvia Tolisano, Michele Martin and Kim Cofino), participants not only engaged with other bloggers on a series of conversations, but we cast a critical eye on our blogs.

I thought the challenge was a wonderful experience and a great way for me to move out beyond my own networks.

Last week, I learned that I was one of the “winners” of the prizes being offered by the challenge organizers, who were being supported by Edublogs (my preferred blogging platform) and CoComment, which is a tool that I began using in the Comment Challenge, as per the organizers’ recommendation, and have come to rely upon as a way to keep track of my blogging conversations.

Here is the news announcement from Michelle’s blog, The Bamboo Project Blog:

I’m very pleased to announce the winners of the 31 Day Comment Challenge! They are:

• For the most comments on a wide range of blogs (not just the “top” edubloggers)–A tie between Bonnie Kaplan and Claire Thompson.

• For the most high quality comments that thoughtfully reflect on the topic– Carla Arena

• For the comments that provoke and promote the most learning– Kevin of Dogtrax.

• The student award–Taylor

Each prize winner will receive:

• From coComment: US$100 to the winner in each of the four categories
• From Edublogs: $50 in Edublogs credits to the winner in each of the four categories

Thanks to everyone who participated, and to everyone who voted, and most of all: thanks to the organizers for making us think and reflect and connection. I see a nice dinner with my wife in the cards sometime down the road.

Peace (in comments),
Kevin

(Playing catch-up today)

1. The other day, the task before folks in the 31 Day Comment Challenge was to consider how to best brand ourselves as part of our blog. I mulled this over, ignored it, then mulled it again, and then realized that I was having reservations about this topic. I wrote a comment over at Michele’s blog, where the tasks are being released each day, about my thoughts.

Here is what I wrote:

What do you think? Was I misreading the whole “branding” idea? I would love to know if folks see the idea of a brand as important to you as a blogger and visitor to other sites. For me, I am looking for reflection, insight and personality — but maybe that is the “brand” that Michele is writing about.

The one thing that Dauwd wrote in the article reference in this task is that he realized at one point that he had multiple user names and nicknames floating all around the blogosphere and he made an effort to bring all of those personas under one “roof,” to speak. He hopes that people who see his name in comments and in article and on blogs will connect with him, and him alone.

2. I may just be cranky, but the next task was to consider how you use commenting to keep building the brand of your blog. Michele pointed us to an article that was interesting but the one fact that kept point out to me: the blogger uses the concept of comments in order to bring people back to her own blog. That seems disingenuous to me. I know it is a common reason for many to blog. But not me. I comment because I want to have a voice, and I want to engage in conversation, and not that I want people to follow me back home to my blog. The blogger did have some other interesting points — mostly from a business standpoint, it seemed to me — and it occurred to me that there is some sort of invisible line here among those who blog just for the sake of writing and sharing, and those who do the same but then use blogs as a way to create a professional presence for business interests (such as consulting, workshops, etc.) Interesting insight for me, anyway.

Let me know if you have thoughts on this topic.

Peace (in words),
Kevin

I realized that I am a bit behind with the 31 Day Comment Challenge and like many others, I am going to consolidate and condense some of the daily activities here into one single post as a way to bring myself a bit closer into the project.

Five in Five: The other day, I did the Five in Five task, which involved speeding through at least five blogs and leaving comments on those five blogs. I went back to the Comment Challenge participant list and tried to move into new blogs. It took longer than five minutes, of course, and I did not really like the feeling of rushing. I know the attempt here is to generate writing but it seems as if I short-changed not only the bloggers but also myself. I can’t even remember now which blogs I visited (although I am sure they are popping up in my CoComment page). I was not a big fan of the Five in Five.

Analyze Comments: We are asked to look at our posts from the last few weeks and think about what kind of posts generate the most comments and the most traffic. It seems to me that our Day in a Sentence (you are invited!) is a great activity for pulling people into a blog, and then, when I took all of those submissions and recast them into a video found poem, that generated even more comments. I think it comes down to being creative with what we are doing, and people will be inspired to join in, if you give them the option. I guess we need to make sure we are going out of our way to be inclusive and welcoming, and make people feel as if they belong here and not just some interloper into the conversation. I know controversy drives comments, too, but that is not the only impetus for interaction, it seems to me.

Responding to a Commenter: We are asked to bring a commenter from behind the scenes (the comment bin) to the front page. In this particular case, I was thinking about the comments from my post yesterday on my virtual mentoring program. My friend, Blink, reminded me that sharing out what we are learning is so important.

She wrote: “Your “virtual mentoring” experience could be a very interesting concept for a future professional article.”

Now, I have a lot going on right now (including the co-editing of a collection on technology and writing and assessment, and some work for Pearson on claymation) but it is clear that we really do want to learn from each other. I’ll keep that topic in the back of my mind (and it makes me think of Al Upton and his mini-legend issues, too)

Three Links Out: It is suggested that we not only explore new blogs, but like the old Will Smith-inspired Six-Degrees-of-Separation, we follow at least two links from the blogs in a sort of daisy-chain maneuver. I began with Carla’s blog. Her post about the meme (that I did last week) was very cool, as it showed a world view. Since Carla’s friend, Mary, tagged her for that meme, I figured I would follow the trail to Mary’s place. From Mary, I ventured into the terrain of Cris and lo and behold, I find a familiar name in one the post there (my friend in six words, Illya). I left a video message for Cris and then posted a comment for Illya, too. I found it interesting that as you move outward, some familiar names can still be found. It’s both a large place and a small place, isn’t it?

Make a Recommendation: We are asked to recommend some resource that might be beneficial to our visitors. Can I just point folks over to Ruth and Stacy at Two Writing Teachers? This is a place where writing is at the center of so much — from classroom practice to personal exploration. Another resource is at the National Writing Project’s page for its technology work. There are many articles and links about using writing and technology, and other areas on the NWP site connect writing in many ways.

Well, that is it for me for today.  I invite you to reflect on what you have been doing, too.

Peace (in comments),
Kevin

As part of the 31 Day Comment Challenge, we were asked to consider a visitor to our site who exemplifies the concept of a “good commenter.”

I have so many wonderful visitors and so many great contributors, that this is difficult, so I will have to narrow it down to two folks.

First up: Matt Needleman, who always has a constructive thought or words of praise or a link to some great resource. He has been a bit quiet lately due, which I attribute to a combination of factors. But I always look forward to Matt and his comments. Thanks for being a visitor here, Matt.

Second: Bonnie Kaplan (who, I should admit out in the open, kindly gave me this very award at her blog, so it feels a bit strange). Bonnie and I have been on a few tech adventures together through our friendship with the National Writing Project. We push each other, and we help each other, and we are regular visitors and contributors to each other’s blogs. I always know she is at least one reader out there. Thanks, Bonnie: you get a badge, too.

Here is your badge (created by Scott McCloud). Wear it with pride!

Peace (in recognizing the network),
Kevin