Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

I am writing here because I wanted this to be a comment, but the blogger whose post I wanted to comment on (Lori J.) just was NOT accepting a comment. (It could be an Edublogs problem–i know they have been struggling lately. But I still think Edublogs is a great platform for beginner bloggers looking to get blog experience.)

Here is what I tried to comment as Lori bemoaned trying to use Technorati to find more online content to read:

Lori–thanks for the nice reference to my blog in your post. Yes I used to use technorati but found it seemed to lead me to content far from what I was looking for too. If you use Technorati to follow posts about tags you are familiar with, you will find it more useful.  For example, the K12 Online Conference (which has launched already-check it out) organizers have set up the following tags (Technorati Tags: k12online, k12online08) for anyone tagging things about that conference so followers can search technorati for information about the conference. It does work.  And it does make sense.  Other tags you might search could include education, web2, edtechtalk, webcast, webcasting, ustream, conference, professional, development, as these are commonly associated with the edtech crew out there too.  I rarely use technorati now unless I know a specific tag to look for. Using global tags returns wild results for me too. Tagging is just a way to “index” your blog content to make it easier for others to find it. I know that is a lot to process, and honestly until you have a specific need and a specific tag to search, technorati can be very frustrating. Now about how to find great blogs to follow: if technorati does not work for you, then do exactly what you described above.  See what others list on their blogroll. Visit them and see if it is something you would likely read over and over.  A blog roll list is really just an acknowledgment to the blogger and your readers that these blogs might also be of interest if they like yours.  Also, when at blogs, look to see who is commenting. You will find a ton of great blogs to read JUST from the comments.  In saying that, when you subscribe to a blog, also subscribe to the comments feed for that blog so you can follow both the posts and the reactions. I would also say if you use Twitter or Plurk, you may find more blogs to add to your reader.  Then, like me, you’ll have too many to read. Sigh.  But I cannot even begin to explain how much I’ve learned from those in my reader (who I also consider my professional learning network.) Thanks again for the nice comment about my blog in your post.

I stand by my feelings expressed here.  Lori is working towards completing SCASL’s “SCASL 23 Things,” a wonderful opportunity for SC school librarians to learn collectively about many 21st Century tools that are slowly but surely making their ways into the k12 schools.

I have blogged about this topic before, so I will share it here for any other 23 Things particpants. This link will list mostly school library focused blogs. I also like to follow SC bloggers, so look at these too. Here is another place where you can find great examples of bloggers that breally write great content–award winning blogs. ENJOY! Share what you find on your own too, okay?

Attribution:

Tags: Blogging, K12, K12Online, k12online08