I just received a post from Ron E. who created this nifty logo in support of Kathy Sierra who posted about her threats in her blog, Creating Passionate Users. I think this is a good step toward soldarity. If we do not take a stand in the blogosphere, it will become just like our F2F world. 

PodCamp NYC has changed its venue. It is still scheduled for Saturday, Aoril 6, but it will now be at the New Yorker Hotel, at 34th St. and 8th Ave. I have never been in this hotel (that was recently renovated, I understand), so this will be a great experience. While I did live nearer the New School (the former location and a more interesting area), I am still planning to attend and soak up everything about podcasting. To register for free, follow this link.

I have done a podcast with a colleague of mine at Phronetic International, so I am looking forward to learning more to do an even better job with more of them!

The current Chronicle Review has an interesting article by Cathy Davidson entitled "We Can't Ignore the Influence of Digital Technologies" (that is unfortunately not available, even with a direct permalink, without logging onto their site with an account). While it discusses the Middlebury College History Department banning Wikipedia, her article begins with a very interesting critical analysis of the language used l, so I am quoting the very first paragraph:

When I read the other day that the history department at Middlebury College had "banned Wikipedia," I immediately wrote to the college's president, Ronald D. Kibitz, to express my concern that such a decision would lead to a national trend, one that would not be good for higher education. "Banning" has connotations of evil or heresy. Is Wikipedia really that bad?

I think that is quite interesting — the use of the term "banning" as being equivalent with being "evil." How that sounds like the common approach to anything new, even ironically for an institute of higher education. It is often easier to suppress ideas rather than allow them to challenge us. As I am slowly becoming more liberal in my thinking, I still know that having my ideas challenged tends to make me defensive. What can challenge ideas more than an encyclopedia for and by the masses? I wonder if (when?) Wikipedia itself will eventually become more conservative in protecting its own way of approaching knowledge.

I wonder if what goes around, comes around as liberal and openness lead to power and the desire to conserve it?

I tried to send a direct message to a friend on Twitter, and received the following page error message. I thought it was odd, since I did not know there was some connection between Google and Twitter (not to mention that Google is not my homepage and I do not work for Google). 

Notice the error and url? Any ideas as to why this appeared like this? Click the image to see it full-size.

Thank you, Robin, for pointing out that Google indexes Twitter posts, or at least will lead to our Twitter posts. Very intersting implications, especially given the recent explosive surge in all things Twitter! I suppose we constantly need to remember that everything that happens electronically can eventually be connected.

 I tried my hand at this just now, and here are the results. Click to see it full-size.

I am amazed with Google's speed. Just tonight, I posted what was expected to be my final post of the day, after which I decided to look at the remainder of my newsfeeds that I follow with FeedDemon (though not by using Lee Lefever's method tonight), and what did I find in my Google keyword search that FeedDemon tracks for me?

Yes, my own post. I posted about my changing interest in what I post, and made reference to a qualitative methodology of which I am particularly interested, autoethnography.

Movable Type, which I use, pings Google with my new post when it is published. Google then indexed it and my own Google keyword search with my newsreader found it. All within 2 minutes. Yes, 2 minutes. Do the calulations since the time is captured in both places. I am wondering if we have our own keyword searches, perhaps with our own names or our organization's names or anything else we want to track, then within a very short time of posting, Google can tell us what has happened. Google keyword searches that can be followed with FeedDemon makes a powerful eyes and ears on the processing and indexing of information. Hmmm, so who is watching the watcher?

I am not sure if this is always so fast, but it certainly was on a snowy March night here in NYC.

Kathy Sierra really captured and expressed a nagging feeling I have been having about why my experience at Northern Voice was so important for me. While online tools and a Very Real Virtual Community (VRVC) are important for me, I feel completely energized when I meet live those who I read and correspond with online. I really like meeting people whose work I have read for years, as then it gives a new dimension to the community and sense of relationship. Rather than my just repeating what she said, take a look at her post. Thank you, Beth, for pointing it out!

Perhaps this explains why many online degree programs require some F2F time and why blended learning is considered a better learning solution than simple e-learning alone?

I have been using MyBlogLog since before I attended Northern Voice, and it always worked fine until last week. Suddenly, the pictures of my site's visitors stopped appearing in the little box on the left of my homepage. I have tried to contact their support numerous times with emails, but no response. I am not sure if perhaps they do not have the staff to reply to their increasing customer base, and I am disappointed by this since I think their product is a great community-builder. I am considering canceling my account with them since I do not like having something that is broken on my blog, especially when its fixing it beyond what I can do.

So, it seems there is a lot of discussion about Twitter. I blogged about it a few days ago, and even mused about John Edwards who appears to be using it. Beth Kanter, one of my favorite bloggers within the education and training spaces, summarized it nicely yesterday, especially in light of all the Twitter chat that seems to be spinning around SXSW (which I am missing having to, yes, work).

While I have not yet been daring enough to try Twitter on my cell due to my 1000 texts/month and how not everybody has the energy and unlimited tech budget of Robert Scoble (another of my favorites to read!), I am still intrigued by this application. Somehow, I like knowing, a la 6 Degrees, that even now as I write this after midnight in NYC with a list of to-dos still clogging my Outlook, I can look at Twitter and see what Beth or Nancy or Betsy or Robin or Kristie or Lee have been up to, all without their knowing I am thinking about them now. This is not at all lonely; rather, I find it rather empowering to know that I am closer than ever to colleagues around the world in real-time without disturbing or interrupting their own loves. What a way to give voice to one another.

By the way, I just noticed the nifty RSS feed on the Twitter blog (and found Cole's blog in the process). No end to the discoveries, which is good for those of us who are restless . . .