Earlier this week, I published a post – 10 Learning Paradigms that can be implemented by Teacher Librarians – on a subject I feel quite passionate about. It talks about how the skills set of Teacher Librarians could be better utilized in our schools to lead and guide other teaching staff in their ongoing professional development.
It’s clear to me, when I look at the stats and see the very high number of reads that this post has garnered, that this post seems to have struck a chord with many of you.
BUT ….. I will never really know! Nor will I know whether any of you agree or disagree with my ideas and thoughts nor whether any of you have other ideas that could be implemented in our schools, for, of the many comments received, only one of them is in fact a comment! All the others are pings, indicating that my post has been scooped by readers of my post, which in and of itself is quite overwhelming. I would never have thought that anyone would consider my post worthy of keeping or of sharing on a Scoop.it! and to those of you who have scooped it I express my sincere thanks.
It was only a day later when I was off reading links I’d discovered when catching up on Twitter that I realized that I too was doing what others are doing. As I read fabulous posts about topics that I am curating, I scooped them with the sure knowledge that I would revisit these posts another day. But ….. did I stop to leave a comment on the post I’d felt worthy enough to scoop? Sometimes yes, but most often no.
“Uggghhh!!” I thought to myself. I’m doing exactly what others are doing! In an effort to make the most of precious minutes, trying to squeeze as much as possible into a ‘computer sitting’ session, I was zooming around scooping here and scooping there.
I then found myself sitting back thinking about what I was doing, what we are all doing, and what in fact Scoop.it! – one of the coolest curating programs around – has and is doing to us all. Most of all I found myself wondering about the impact Scoop.it! and other curating programs such as paper.li is having on the Blogosphere?!
I’ve given some hard thought to why I enjoy blogging so much. Yes – one sure joy is being able to rant on to my heart’s content about issues and thoughts that pop into my head at the oddest of moments! Another is certainly the chance to share those thoughts and know that others are reading them, considering what I’m saying, perhaps thinking about them and adding them to their set of experiences and knowledge. One of the real joys of blogging is knowing that we are all part of an enormous store of knowledge. Absorbing the ideas and thoughts of each other is *very powerful* stuff!
But we all know that the biggest power of blogging comes from the discussion that occurs at the end of a blog post.
As someone leaves a comment and the blogger responds, a virtual conversation is started where ideas build on top of one another. My thought here is not original. While I can’t put my finger on examples right now, I know that I’ve read the words of many of you in my PLN who have made reference to this very thought in your own blog posts.
Just yesterday I got into a lengthy conversation about blogging with a friend over a coffee. She told me that she didn’t leave comments on blog posts she read, because she didn’t think she had anything of value to say. “You do so!!” was my immediate reaction!!! All of us have knowledge, experience and thoughts that are worthy of sharing.
When we converse about topics of interest over coffee – isn’t there always a give and take in which we share our thoughts and reactions to what the other person says. Consider the Blogosphere as a virtual coffee chat! Within the virtual world of the Blogosphere, thoughts and ideas are shared via ‘comments’ left at the end of the blog post. Know that you do have something to offer! We are all a store of an immense amount of knowledge, ideas, thoughts and experiences that are most worthy of sharing. And if you read a blog post and consider it worthy of scooping, saving, bookmarking or curating, take a minute longer and leave a comment or a thought. Your words don’t need to be ones of praise. Leave suggestions of ways the bloggers’ thoughts could be enhanced by reading or exploring other points of view. Cite examples of what the blogger could read. Link them to a post you’ve written on the same subject. Give constructive feedback – bloggers value this so much. Without the input of readers, it just may be that the wonderful, powerful Blogosphere could curl up and die!
Let all of us resolve to not let curating kill the Blogosphere!
Hi Bev
I retweeted your post re the 10 paradigms and saw it mentioned several times on Twitter over the next 24 hours as it was an excellent post. Thanks for that and apologies for not commenting on it.
One issue that deters me from commenting on blog posts is their presentation on the iPad. I do most of my online reading this way and find that I need to switch off the onswipe in WordPress and the dynamic views in Blogger in order to be able to comment. A minor bugbear I know but perhaps it is not just Scoop.it that is slowing blog comments.
Keep up the excellent posts that give us all food for thought.
Thanks for this comment Carmel. Yes – I did see that you retweeted my post on the 10 paradigms. Thanks so much.
Your point about the deterrents encountered when using the iPad for reading blogs is one I hadn’t considered at all. I’m yet to start exploring iPads in earnest, so really wasn’t aware of this issue. Perhaps I have jumped to conclusions heaping blame on some of the great curating tools that are out there.
Thanks also for your kind words about my blogging. Your encouragement is greatly appreciated.
Food for thought, Bev, you got me thinking. Although Scoop.it is fantastic both in its ease of use and sharing as well as it’s visual layout, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you say that you scoop relevant stuff from others expecting to comment later. In fact I would go so far as to say that we might not even read the article properly, we might scan it and save it. This is great for mass collection of online resources but not so good for deeper reading and understanding. This is where the blog is king – posts are usually longer (although some people prefer the quick shares, nothing wrong with that) – and if you read a blog post you usually give it your full attention. I’m a little concerned that my online behaviour has become that of a child in a lolly shop, wanting one of everything. Sometimes I think we’re all scooping the same topics in similar-named Scoop.its. We’re scooping and rescooping. Your emphasis on the importance of discussion in the comment section of the blog makes a lot of sense.
Thanks so much for your comment Tania. I feel somewhat vindicated in writing this post when I hear your thoughts echoing my words.
Scoop.it! had it right in the planning stage I think as they won’t allow two people to scoop on the same topic – or at least the same title. For my first foray with this new tool, I was keen to curate info on Personal Learning Networks. But, others either before or after me wanted to curate on the same topic. A quick search pulls up variations such as: Personal Learning Network, Personal Learning Networks for Librarians, Personal Learning Networks for Educators and The Personal Learning Network to name just a few! So yes – we are actually duplicating each other. Waste of time? Maybe. Is the curating of value to the curator? Yes – almost probably.
But the point really is, as you say, deeper reading and understanding is a by-product of blogging. There’s no doubt that as we read each other’s blogs, we think about the content and feel inclined to comment because the words/thoughts of another turn on a light bulb within us.
Don’t get me wrong though – I am as guilty as the next for scooping without reading thoroughly. Having developed an awareness of what I’m doing though, I’m resolving to change my online behaviour.
Here’s hoping I do!
Here’s hoping we both do. Thanks for the conversation, Bev.
Hi from your coffee friend! Not being a tweeter, I’ve never heard of the terms scoop and rescoop … and rarely have more than a few minutes to read/scan Linkedin discussions and blogs I come across, so yes, I can see it’s frustrating for a blogger not to get comments. But often it’s a matter of time, or not having anything useful to add. Be assured you are being noticed and make a difference to people’s thoughts.
Thanks for stopping by Anna! And thanks for your positive input! Your words over coffee yesterday, really fed into the level of frustration I was feeling with the lack of comments left on my previous post “10 Paradigms …” even though many had read it and others had even saved my words. While it’s great that we save each other’s blog posts, it shouldn’t be at the detriment of not leaving a comment, feeding into the thoughts of the blogger or sharing a little of ourselves with others. After all – that really is what blogging is all about.
The plethora of information creates demands on our time and it is quite often hard to keep up with the streams of information coming in and hence harder to read fully, ponder and comment as we perhaps should. I tend to get the gist of an article or blog post and Diigo it for future reference if I think I may like to revisit at a later date. A good blog post needs to grab our attention and want us to comment or participate in an ongoing conversation. This blog post did just that, initially with its title, and then with its content.
I like the potential of scoop.it for curation but I do not read other people’s scoops much because a lot of the content is stuff I am already seeing on twitter and some of the more prominent blogs that I follow. I am starting to get bogged down in information overload. Perhaps I could just follow twitter and read Scoop.it emails sent to me but then I am just reading what others thinks is important. I also find the black and whiteness of Scoop.it annoying.
I absolutely agree with you Liz. There is so much information to read and digest, that it often seems overwhelming and near impossible to keep up with!
I also used to bookmark all manner of interesting posts and websites into Diigo. When my count there hit 300+ after just a few months, I slowed down wondering if I’d ever look again at the growing mountain of websites. I’m still getting round to finding time to learn how to use Diigo more efficiently than I am present! .
When I discovered Scoop.it! a few months ago, I gingerly started using it. I think it’s a great tool for being able to gather info on a topic that you know will be of personal value. Like you, I rarely look at the Scoop.its! of others. Simply no time. I also often find, that even though a Scoop.it! may have a given title, they are often a potpourri of sites lumped under the one banner.
I think each of us has to make decisions on what’s of value. I’ve heard many people say that they’ve pared down their RSS feeds to a number that is manageable. Similarly others have talked about the noise of twitter and have ended up cutting back on the number they follow so that overall Twitter becomes more valuable.
I just hope that as we explore how best to spend our time, we don’t cut down the few minutes it takes to leave a comment on a blog post, such as you have, so as to feed into that collective pool of thought that we generate. And hey – just look how much we’ve shared with each other in the few minutes it’s taken each of us to write our thoughts.
Thanks for your comment. Thanks for taking the time.
Ditto! Bev
Such a great topic Bev. Like so many people, I was taken with Scoop.it to begin with and followed many. At the same time as this I also started to use Google+.
I like both of these sites but that was the end of my reading for a while as I couldn’t face the rapidly growing list of must reads and replies to make.
I also realised that many times I came across the same article on FB, Scoop.it, Twitter and in Google+. It felt like everyone is sharing everywhere.
So, now I use Feedly to follow about 8 blogs, Twitter and FB for links, sharing, apps, networking etc and have left G+ alone for a while. I’ve just started using Diigo for bookmarks and use Evernote heaps as a central storage place. 2012 is going to be the year of “knowing more about less” for me. I know about heaps of tools, programs etc, but don’t know how to use many to their full potential. My other goal is to really get the hang of using my ipad as a tool for content creation…to learn more about efficient work flow with the best apps for what I’m doing. Is anyone else drowning in a sea of apps too?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Penny.
It seems that many of us are drowning in the avalanche of information that is out there. I envy the fact that you seem to have sorted out how and which programs and tools to use for specific functions. I am far from that.
A couple of weeks ago, I started to ‘play’ with G+ more than I had and was quite impressed with its power. Unfortunately, time has gotten in the way and I’ve not gone back to it. But G+, Diigo, Twitter and FB are on my agenda to try and further develop my skills and understanding of over the summer break. No doubt I will be calling on you and others for assistance!
I feel honoured that my blog is one of the eight that have hit your Feedly feed. Thank you for your constant support.
A really great post with ideas I too have thought about and then some. Thank you!
I started using scoop.it as a tool to explore curation further, firstly as an experiment in creating a digital textbook for my class and then for ideas I find interesting for Social Sciences (to share with my faculty). It is quite a personal thing, curated to my needs and serves a different purpose to my Diigo and Symbaloo (which I use for listing and class dashboards but not making notes on links).
I really like the tool but I have blogged less….because I tend to make notes for myself on my Scoop.it! pages, notes that would sometimes (not always) serve my own reflections better if fully developed in a blog post. You are also spot on that the conversations and contributions of others are what’s important for growth and enrichment.
I have probably had less of them because of this. Thank you for sharing and giving me more food for thought as I continue my journey in discovering the tools that best suit my different needs.
It’s so interesting to hear how others are using Scoop.it! I’ve not really thought of the value of adding my own notes to it as I’ve scooped, but now that you mention it – this does sound like a great idea. Curating for the purposes you mention – for yourself and for collecting info to share with faculty members – is a really good way to use Scoop.it!
Thanks for visiting and contributing to this valuable discussion. May it be an impetus for us all to spend more time on each other’s blogs!
Great post Bev. There seems to be a real shift from people creating to just curating, with tools like Scoop.It, Paper.li and a range of social media apps allowing for instant sharing and reposting. Doubtless there are some people who use these tools just to keep track of their own reading, but increasingly it seems these tools have become an ‘echo chamber’ with everyone sharing exactly the same links.
Even a comment on a blog is a form of creating, so you’ve inspired me to comment instead of just simply retweeting your own tweet linking to this post. Continuing these conversations is the least we can do for people like you, who spend so much time thinking about and composing your fantastic blog entries. Thanks for starting a great conversation.
Thanks so much for your kind words about my blogging Cam. So appreciated.
I like your reference to creating vs curating. The term ‘echo chamber’ is an excellent way to describe what seems to be happening amongst us all. I also hadn’t thought about the fact that our habit of retweeting great links we come across often replaces us taking the time to comment on the post that another has put time into creating. You’re right. Most often when I retweet a post, I’ve not stopped to comment on the great post just read. While retweeting is a really quick way to ‘deal’ with a great post and is a great way to acknowledge the efforts of the blogger, it is a shallow response and does detract from blogging and hence the Blogosphere.
Thinking about this whole issue is forcing me to reconsider my online behaviour. Timely too ….. this is one to add to the ever growing list of New Year resolutions!
Hey Bev, I’ve been thinking about this a little more too. When I see a link to your blog posts in the FacingIT group on Facebook, I am more likely to comment there rather than here. Do you think that sending your link to FB is reducing the comments here. Twitter is different, can’t really continue an in-depth conversation there.
Must admit I wonder about this myself. Have started a routine of publicizing my posts on Twitter, FacingIT on FB and also on Google+. As I put this publicity out, I wonder about the duplication and if in fact it is a good idea. But then I quickly justify it to myself as I know some people only look at one of these SN tools rather than all of them. To be honest, I’ve hesitated – not really sure where or how to publicize the fact that I’ve put up a new post. An interesting conundrum!
On occasion I’ve had people comment on the SN platform rather than leaving a comment on the post. When this has happened, I have, a few times, asked the person to re-post their comment onto the blog so all can see it.
Any advice to offer here Penny?
Hi, As the Marketing Director of Scoop.it, I don’t see Scoop.it as a threat for the blogosphere. but exactly the opposite. Scoop.it could be a great way to complete your blogging activity. A blogger is in general a great curator, and a curator can be a blogger. Curation is more topic oriented for me than blogging. I follow some bloggers’ topics on Scoop.it because some fits with my interests. Thanks for your interesting blog post. Very interesting read 😉
What a surprise to read a response from the Marketing Director of Scoop.it!
While I’m pleased you’ve taken the time to have a read of my post as well as add your thoughts to this conversation, I fear you may have missed the point of my post.
Underlining my concern that many of us are getting side tracked curating interesting and valuable posts – almost probably stashing them away for reading later when time is less pressing – is the fact that nine out of ten comments left on a couple of my recent blog posts were ‘Scoop.it’ alerts. Despite this, I’ve opted to maintain my routine of acknowledging comments left on my blog posts even though I’m acutely aware that acknowledgement of a Scoop.it alert is nothing more than talking to a blank wall!
Don’t get me wrong though. Curating is great and Scoop.it is a very valuable tool, but, like others, I feel that relentless curating defeats the purpose of blogging!
Comment first, I say, then curate!!
Hi Bev,
A very interesting topic for your blog and you must be pleased with the response. I have used scoop.it to collate info on curriculum subject areas so have an English, Maths, Geography, Economics and Science scoop.its. these are not intended for my professional learning.
However I follow plenty of scoop.its for PL and yes like you it gets put aside – however when I start at Preshil I have to sort out what to do with the IPads so will be straight to those scoop.its for some uptodate research
cheers Michael
Thanks so much for your comment Michael. It’s so interesting to see the varying ways in which we are all using Scoop.it! A great idea to utilize this tool for purposes of curating curriculum subjects. A most valuable tool for our students!
And … YES! It’s wonderful to see discussion here! 🙂