Todd sent me these (among other) questions awhile ago. I think the timing is good to answer them now because I basically threw down the gauntlet to my blogmates from DRP.
1. Do you remember the first time you thought, "hey I want to create a blog!" That is my "!" You might not have had a "!" when you thought of it.
When I learned about blogs, my "!" was the ability to combine two things: group dynamics (including discourse) and publicity (like Peter Wiggins of Ender's Game). Not that I identify with him in terms of personality or scale of ambition!
3. Do you think your "voice" or "identity" as changed since you started your blog?
My "voice", perhaps, but not my "identity." I think of voice more like representation, and I've tried to spice things up a bit. Early reviews found my writing dry, dull, and deadly. :-) I always wonder if people experience my writing as pedantic. (Do you?) As for my identity - in terms of my presentation or performance of self, I think I'm pretty consistent, but again, I don't know if others agree...?
1. (extended answer) The moment of "!" was in Leda's Information and Technology class. I was getting ready to drop. Couldn't find anything that turned me on enough to write about for a paper. We read about blogs and I immediately started one for the class. It received sporadic attention from my peers (mostly cohortmates) but generated enough "data" (!) that my attention was hooked.
2. How long have you been blogging? Two full years! I used to miss days pretty often in the beginning, now hardly ever.
3. (extended answer) I think teaching online before I started to blog helped me develop my online style. I do envision a "group audience". Depending upon what I'm blogging, the group-in-my-imagination is composed of various individuals. Some categories in my blog are specific to particular groups, so I write to that configuration. I am usually cognizant that others' might also read - but I don't write to them; I try to add enough information so there's a chance what I'm writing is clear to those not immediately involved or addressed (so that it - hopefully! - makes some sense if they do choose to read it).
With some posts my orientation to audience is very general - vaguely including some specific individuals up to and including non-specific or anonymous persons. All the posts I've amde in the "Oh, just me" category for the last several months are from "duty" or a sense of "mission" to keeping the intellectual commitment to see how the blog functions as a means of recording subjectivity and subjective development over time. I don't think subjectivity can be compartmentalized by cordoning off the "private" and "public", or picking and choosing which parts of my life count for the record and which don't. I certainly don't "tell all", but the integrity of the task requires me to tell something when I'm aware that its relevant.
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