My non-traditional, online publications (e.g., blogging, wiki resources) and related activities (e.g., microblogging) have proven the most useful and relevant of all of my research & dissemination activities. In this section, I will describe several of these activities especially as they relate to influence and audience.
My Blog – Open Thinking
I have been an educational blogger since March, 2004. Since then, I have written hundreds of posts sharing resources, asking questions, or reflecting on my research and teaching practice. Most of this activity can be found at my primary blog, Open Thinking. This blog has been nominated to numerous lists reporting it as a top educational blog (e.g., #26 after analysis by Dr. Scott McLeod), was voted 2nd best Canadian educational blog in 2007, and has currently over 3000 daily RSS subscribers (as noted by my feed statistics).
Below, you will see a linked document with statistical analysis of online traffic to this blog taken from March 27/09 to November 27/09. Key statistics reported over this 8 month period include:
Total visits – 65,319.
Page views – 98,064.
Absolute unique visitors – 49,812.
Top country visiting – USA with 30,249 (Canada 2nd with 12,962).
I have facilitated hundreds of presentations and workshops since I have been at the University. Over the last two years, I have been developing a central wiki resource that hosts all of my resources. This allows participants and students to have direct access to presentation slidedecks, links to articles and other digital artifacts. You can find the complete wiki here, and as you will see, it includes a wide range of topics such as digital storytelling, media literacy, media representation and social justice.
As an example, I made a special page on this wiki available after I gave my keynote at the University of Delaware. There, I shared the slidedeck as well as resources relevant to the material covered. Participants were also able to add their own resources during the presentation, or afterward. The wiki, as a whole, has been one of my the most shared resources I have ever created.
Microblogging
“Microblogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user.” (Wikipedia, 2009)
I have been a microblogger since early 2007. I have found microblogging (e.g., Twitter) to be one of the best methods to share resources, connect to passionate educators, and to find authentic audience and feedback for my students. I have slowly developed a strong following of educators around the world (5700+) who connect with me for insight, resources, and expertise. While there are millions of microbloggers, I have been consistently included in several ‘top 100 educators to follow on twitter’ lists (example #1, #2). Additionally, I rank high (top 10) on social media metric sites such as wefollow. While I find the ranking instruments of such sites problematic, I am sure however, that microblogging has been incredibly beneficial to my professional status as an academic.
Online Publication & Activity
My non-traditional, online publications (e.g., blogging, wiki resources) and related activities (e.g., microblogging) have proven the most useful and relevant of all of my research & dissemination activities. In this section, I will describe several of these activities especially as they relate to influence and audience.
My Blog – Open Thinking
I have been an educational blogger since March, 2004. Since then, I have written hundreds of posts sharing resources, asking questions, or reflecting on my research and teaching practice. Most of this activity can be found at my primary blog, Open Thinking. This blog has been nominated to numerous lists reporting it as a top educational blog (e.g., #26 after analysis by Dr. Scott McLeod), was voted 2nd best Canadian educational blog in 2007, and has currently over 3000 daily RSS subscribers (as noted by my feed statistics).
Below, you will see a linked document with statistical analysis of online traffic to this blog taken from March 27/09 to November 27/09. Key statistics reported over this 8 month period include:
OpenThinking – Statistics March 27-November 27/09 (8 Months)
Open Thinking Wiki
I have facilitated hundreds of presentations and workshops since I have been at the University. Over the last two years, I have been developing a central wiki resource that hosts all of my resources. This allows participants and students to have direct access to presentation slidedecks, links to articles and other digital artifacts. You can find the complete wiki here, and as you will see, it includes a wide range of topics such as digital storytelling, media literacy, media representation and social justice.
As an example, I made a special page on this wiki available after I gave my keynote at the University of Delaware. There, I shared the slidedeck as well as resources relevant to the material covered. Participants were also able to add their own resources during the presentation, or afterward. The wiki, as a whole, has been one of my the most shared resources I have ever created.
Microblogging
I have been a microblogger since early 2007. I have found microblogging (e.g., Twitter) to be one of the best methods to share resources, connect to passionate educators, and to find authentic audience and feedback for my students. I have slowly developed a strong following of educators around the world (5700+) who connect with me for insight, resources, and expertise. While there are millions of microbloggers, I have been consistently included in several ‘top 100 educators to follow on twitter’ lists (example #1, #2). Additionally, I rank high (top 10) on social media metric sites such as wefollow. While I find the ranking instruments of such sites problematic, I am sure however, that microblogging has been incredibly beneficial to my professional status as an academic.