Slow Blogging, Connections, and Readers

Jenny Mackness posted an interested question on her blog earlier this week on the implications of slow blogging, saying:

“I read an article in a daily paper…about slow blogging. The article said that slow blogging had been a very popular idea, but that the person who had originally raised the whole idea of slow blogging now no longer blogged, presumably (according to the article) because people got fed up of waiting for the next blog post. This is an interesting dilemma – don’t you think? On the one hand we need time to be reflective, or simply to spend time away from the computer and on the other, if we don’t post on a fairly regular basis then no-one will read our posts anyhow!”

I’ve seen this train of thought expressed before but haven’t ever jumped into a discussion on the matter, but I think it’s an important one to consider – especially in the realm of educational blogging – so I responded with a fairly long comment.

In the interests of inspiring more widespread discussion on the matter I’m including the bulk of my comment below, but I’d encourage you to comment on Jenny’s post since she get’s credit for starting the thread.  Alternatively, be sure to send us both a trackback if you write about this so we can read your thoughts.

…In my view the core readers will stay with a blog no matter how long the period between posts. When I find a blogger I identify with – or better still, connect with – I’m happy to wait for the next post, so long as there is a next post.

I think this is particularly true in edu-blogging, since a core and critical aspect of the dialogue is to ensure the content is as accurate and well-considered as possible. Sometimes building conceptual connections takes time, and I think we owe it to ourselves as learners to leave as much time as is necessary to maximise the learning experiences.

In terms of Connectivism I find too that bloggers can connect with one another through other means than just blogging – Twitter, forums, YouTube, commenting, and others – and these can do a great deal to maintain dialogue and interaction when not posting.

In fact I think it’s critical to diversify the nature of ways we maintain connections with others, because I think this can lead to more in-depth, quality connections and learning opportunities. In my case my blog is a critical component to my connections, but it’s not the only way I learn. YouTube, the blogs of others, news articles, face to face chats, Twitter, whitepapers and journals, etc – all contribute to my learning experiences.

This is why it’s so important, I think, that we look past the tools themselves and to recognise where they fit in our own personal learning networks or personal learning environments. The tools and tech help us do a lot, certainly, but ultimately they’re facilitating mechanisms. In the case of my blog, it is just a vehicle to a wider purpose – in this case reflective writing, discussion, documentation, research and experimentation. So posts come as often as they need to.

I think that’s a sign of a good blog too in a way – the content is kept topical, relevant, and as in-depth as it needs to be to convey a point or concept at that moment.