The course Introduction to research is drawing to a close. It has been an enlightening journey for me. In the past two months, I have been exposed to the world of copyright and open access to research and introduced to different scholarly communities associated with learning, research and technology, to name only a few.
Furthermore, I have been challenged to think critically about my own position on cultures of inquiry, theoretical frameworks and research methodologies. I have been asked to investigate an issue from a variety of cultures of inquiry, to reflect critically on the works of others, authors with significantly more experience than I. I have shared some of my thoughts through this blog. I have been inspired by my colleagues, through our group assignments and I have gone beyond my own comfort zone on many occasions. In short, I have discovered a fascinating world through this course.
What I realize is that although much ground was covered in a very short period of time, there is still so much more out there to explore. This course has opened up so many new doors, raised more questions than answers and motivated me on this journey of discovery. I will continue happily down this path.
For that I have Loni to thank and my cohort colleagues. Good luck with what comes next. See you on the other side.
Mindful scenery
August 14, 2015
August 9, 2015
Good blog, bad blog
I have been reflecting on the topic of blogs: what they bring to their audience, how they work to transform popular mindset about whatever subject at hand. The subject at hand is infinite. Anything goes, in a blog. And therein lies my problem with blogging. I have started and stopped blogs many times in my life, to document and share my travels, as a private journal when I struggle with an issue and lately, to discuss with peers, topics related to learning, research, technology. The list goes on.
I have read some very insightful blogs, presenting interesting information, points of views or debatable topics which provide food for thought. Blogs provide a new, innovative way of creating communities of practice, bringing like-minded individuals together to ponder critical questions on subjects of common interest. But I have also read seemingly scholarly blogs, which are rather tantamount to the proverbial soap box, where the author expounds endlessly on a topic, in a disorganized manner, with, to boot, sentences fraught with spelling mistakes and bad grammar. Blogs provide these folk with a forum, where they might not be afforded this in a better framed environment, say, a scholarly journal. Truly painful to read.
With the open access of the digital age, it seems that everyone is an expert. It is truly challenging to find, in the blogging world, what is truly credible and worth the read. Unfortunately, the good blogs get diluted with the bad. Blogs are not moderated, they are not peer-reviewed, as are reputed journal articles and there are no hard and fast rules or guidelines by which to publish a blog. This certainly adds to the challenge of establishing the credibility of blog content.
What got me started down this path, I can admit, which is a bit of a rant "à la Rick Mercer", was one of the blog articles for assignment 5: "Giving up Control in the Era of Open Business" by one Luis Suarez. Maybe I completely missed the point of his post. That was not really hard to do: the text was not well structured, I could hardly follow the train of thought and it left me puzzled. Maybe I am a stickler for a well written piece, that must be due to my upbringing. My mother was a newspaper editor. Maybe it was the content. Regardless, the debate about the use of blogs in the academic world needs to be further developed, studied and discussed.
I will now get off the soapbox...
Suarez, L. (2013, September 3). Giving up control in the era of open business [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.elsua.net/2013/09/03/giving-up-control-in-the-era-of-open-business/
I have read some very insightful blogs, presenting interesting information, points of views or debatable topics which provide food for thought. Blogs provide a new, innovative way of creating communities of practice, bringing like-minded individuals together to ponder critical questions on subjects of common interest. But I have also read seemingly scholarly blogs, which are rather tantamount to the proverbial soap box, where the author expounds endlessly on a topic, in a disorganized manner, with, to boot, sentences fraught with spelling mistakes and bad grammar. Blogs provide these folk with a forum, where they might not be afforded this in a better framed environment, say, a scholarly journal. Truly painful to read.
With the open access of the digital age, it seems that everyone is an expert. It is truly challenging to find, in the blogging world, what is truly credible and worth the read. Unfortunately, the good blogs get diluted with the bad. Blogs are not moderated, they are not peer-reviewed, as are reputed journal articles and there are no hard and fast rules or guidelines by which to publish a blog. This certainly adds to the challenge of establishing the credibility of blog content.
What got me started down this path, I can admit, which is a bit of a rant "à la Rick Mercer", was one of the blog articles for assignment 5: "Giving up Control in the Era of Open Business" by one Luis Suarez. Maybe I completely missed the point of his post. That was not really hard to do: the text was not well structured, I could hardly follow the train of thought and it left me puzzled. Maybe I am a stickler for a well written piece, that must be due to my upbringing. My mother was a newspaper editor. Maybe it was the content. Regardless, the debate about the use of blogs in the academic world needs to be further developed, studied and discussed.
I will now get off the soapbox...
Suarez, L. (2013, September 3). Giving up control in the era of open business [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.elsua.net/2013/09/03/giving-up-control-in-the-era-of-open-business/
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