I’m always interested in new ways to keep blogging and recently I had the opportunity to try a new approach, which we might call ‘braided’ blogging.
This came about through a coaching conversation with Mark Corbett Wilson, whose blog, Talking with Machines, is definitely worth a visit. With a rich background in making art, storytelling and digital technologies, Mark is always up for trying new ways of collaborating on the open web and for this experiment we wrote a short blog post about collaboration and then remixed individual paragraphs into a new version, resulting in our individual contributions being woven or braided together.
At the start, this collaboration was asynchronous, each of us contributing via a Google doc, and the final process was completed in real time, with each of us editing the document in turns during a video call.
Reflecting on the process, here is what I came away with:
To start with, I really enjoyed the playful aspect of this method, and the opportunity to try something new. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the final version, and it opened my eyes to new perspectives on what we wrote in the original post.
Also, the collaboration shifted the emphasis from producing a finished post to blogging as a practice, the process in itself being valuable regardless of the eventual output.
What you don’t see in the finished text below is the conversation that happened between the lines. The collaboration in itself was both fun and creative, and gave us each the space to try something new and learn along the way.
A big thank you to Mark for letting me be the first collaborator to try this approach! I am really looking forward to seeing where you take it next. Read Mark’s post on Networked Narratives.
Read the braided version
Learning and teaching are continuous and iterative. Reflection leads to insight and the repetition helps integrate your learning into memory. Applying your knowledge and experience to new situations is improvisation and leads to new discoveries.
I try to keep a sense of playful experimentation in my work. It’s less important to get it right, let alone perfect, than it is for me to do it in the first place.
I struggle with reducing ideas to simple linear text. I’m working out how hypertexts, graphing, microblogging, and mixed media posts can express and share my discoveries, learning and reflections. I use the internets, complexity and connectivist theories to inform my improvisations and grow my personal networks
I trained as a sculptor before working in education. Similar to you, I started out making things before I turned to writing.
Whatever I do, a primary concern is with the quality of my work. Glassblowing and writing both have long traditions. How do we honor these traditions and continue to explore new possibilities while producing quality work as we transition from makers to writers?
I think of everything I do in terms of practice. For me, it’s helpful to conceptualise what I do as a continuous process of learning, reflecting and sharing.
Cover photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
