First Day...
While most of the people I know are panicking on this first day of a new US administration, I'm sanguine. I have already survived four years of this president, and more than six decades of the rightward shift in US politics.
The more things change...
After facilitating the StoryCenter.org workshop "Visions of the Future Present" this morning, I noticed a Mastodon post by Jim Groom, @jimgroom@social.ds106.us,
"Bloggers Anonymous" featuring this wonder filled picture of Audrey Watters.
Reverend
I followed the link to Jim's blog where he credits Maren Deepwell: "When Maren suggested Reclaim “sponsor” a community of practice focused around blogging to start the year, I was like: let’s go! I share her excitement for blogging and I couldn’t help but think walking the walk is the most respectable path forward, and very much inline with the Reclaim way. To that end, we plan on trasnforming [sic] our monthly community chats to community of practice meetings entered on various elements of blogging. What’s more, we’ll also be running regular streams wherein we talk with bloggers about their craft."
Maren has been coaching me as I create my federated media ecosystem to document and reflect on my work in digital humanities, higher education, and digital storytelling. I've been a member of the Reclaim Community for a decade and have been enjoying its evolution into a platform for learners and teachers sharing their experiences. I'm looking forward to having my own POSSE: Publish on your own site, syndicate elsewhere.
Next, I saw an OLDaily post on Mastodon, @oldailymastodon.social, about "The UX of drafting in space" reviewed by Stephen Downes @Downesleftish.media.
I followed the links to "The UX of drafting in space: How I escaped the pull of the page UI." by Daniel Buschek | Published in UX Collective
I've been using Miro for concept mapping but had not made the leap to using it for plotting texts. I've recognized that I 'build' my texts in a 'lapidary' way; polishing and assembling the pieces of text, and images, until I'm happy with the result.
Now I have the concept of collecting and linking all the various pieces of a writing project in one place: on a Miro board.
Buschek writes: "Sticky notes on the canvas look and feel tangibly like objects meant to be worked with. For me, they offer much better affordances for an early draft than bullet points on a page. They reify unordered thoughts, allowing me to directly manipulate them: I can move them aside, revisit some later, rearrange them, or connect them."
And "While drafting a paper, instead of tracking information across apps, I want to focus on argumentation, related work, connections, data, meaning, and perspectives."
Once the pieces are laid out visually, I will be able to zoom in and out to shift my point of view and add links and resources that can be accessed without leaving my 'draft.' This is the most exciting idea I've stumbled onto in years! I'm looking forward to not just the next four years, but many more!
Hi, my name is Mark and I blog!
