Recently, Stephen Downes featured Scott McCloud’s critique of the edublogosphere but disagreed with his description of its structure. Scott was of the opinion that it revolved around “The hubs and superhubs are the essential connectors, the glue that holds the network together.” So if you remove a big name (Richardson, Warlick, Davis) from the edublogosphere, you’ll take a lot of the influence of bloggers linked to them. But Stephen describes a web that is more of a mesh with the end result being that because we all link to totally different parts of the blogosphere, across countries, across sectors the influence of the “big names” isn’t all that important. I tend to agree with Stephen’s analysis as it rings true for my experiences. After all, I reside quite a distance away from the North American numerical dominance of edublogging and the people who teach me, who let me “look over the shoulder” are less and less the big names (although it’s good to read themoccasionally to see what they’re up to) and more grassroots people like yourself, Mark Ahlness and Miss Profe or Chris Harbeck or yes, Dan Meyer. I find voices out of the mainstream to be also particularly inspiring – if you read my blog you will know of my admiration for bloggers like Artichoke, Doug Noon – who aren’t interested in the latest tool or School 2.0 buzzword, but want to push the boundaries out in their own unique way. What am I saying here? Not much, but the longer you blog, the more you find your place in the edublogosphere and the people you trust, who give you the time of day and push back on your ideas. Who wants to be comment no.42 on a major blogger’s post and be overlooked when you can comment on someone who means something to you and have real interaction and feedback. You don’t even have to blog very often either – a blogger like Konrad Glogowski is very infrequent but his readers know that when he does post, it’ll be worth the wait. The last thing I’m interested in is an edublogosphere that resembles the playground pecking order – I’m not in this to relive my school day failings. I want to build my learning for the future so I can be the best I can be at my job making connections for students to their futures.
Great post, Kelly.

I began blogging at the end of June. Like many educational bloggers, I harbored the secret desire to become a “voice”.

My expectations were fulfilled, but not quite as I expected.

I met, and had conversations with, many dynamic and creative people. I took part in the Four Slides competition. I made connections with teachers in other countries and hope to collaborate on projects with them once our school year begins.

My voice is a small one, but sufficient for my needs. I’ve found a congenial community of learners and have an outlet for reflection and a venue for interaction.

I’m not producing significant, culture-changing content, but I am helping to expand and implement the ideas of those who are – a satisfying and necessary job. It’s quite enough.

If you want to be a big name, you essentially have to innovate on the posts of “big name” bloggers. You have to take what they’ve written and push the envelope a bit…and you have to do it in your own particular way, time and again.

And, make your posts shorter.

There is an alternative to being a big name blogger…you can choose to blog for yourself, a place to reflect on what you do. It’s the kind of blogging that benefits you, even if no one reads it.

Hoping this is worthwhile,

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net

Continue to remember your value in your circle of influence. As a principal your perspective is critical to my learning.

My outside observations and watching your evolve as a contributor to learning is interesting to watch and I’d say your are finding your way.

Once the school year is underway I’m confident you’ll provide your readers with quality reflections.