A decision. An opportunity.
After years of . . . ‘thinking about’ . . . ‘going to’ . . . and ‘working on’ . . . I have decided to take the development of this website seriously and am going to invest my time with the hope of inspiring & helping others.
It feels good to have made this decision.
It feels right.
Liz Strauss:
I took my brave and my vulnerable out of their separate jars.
They’re not broken anymore. In that way, neither am I
For a long time I deliberately didn’t have an online presence. This decision, to be an online ’spectator’ was mainly because I felt vulnerable exposing myself to the online community.
I have been able to ‘take my vulnerable’ out of its separate jar thanks to the encouragement that I have received from friends and colleagues in continuing with my blog. It is funny, while I have been working in training & eLearning as well as studying related areas for many years – it wasn’t until I started using Twitter that I developed a true understanding of what it meant to be part of an online community.
If you are interested in finding like minded professionals in twitter make sure you check out the Directory of Learning Professionals and Just Tweet It’s Education Directory.
One of the hardest decisions to make at this point is answering the question:
“What will you actually be doing on your website?”
This question has many answers, yet none of them capture the essence of what my new website www.matthewbibby.com will be about.
Some of the possible responses include:
- Showcasing eLearning development skills & resources
- Providing technological advice on the use of web 2.0 applications in business
- Discussing the use of new technology in eLearning development
- Developing eLearning material showcasing how to use web 2.0 applications to increase productivity
- Gathering material for use in online course creation
- A platform from which to offer informational products and my freelance services
I don’t know where this project will take us . . . so as an early visitor to my blog I would like to give you the opportunity to play a part in shaping the future of this website. All you need to do is complete a 30 second, anonymous survey.
Don’t worry, no registration is required, just click here and the survey will open in a new window.
There will be many exciting developments on this site over the next few months so make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed so you don’t miss anything!
Thanks!
Hi Matthew. I have a similar story to tell. I am a little behind you in “taking my vulnerable” out of its jar and developing an online presence. I will be starting a professional blog in the next few days as a result of the WorkLiteracy.ning.com course we are taking. I have only just recently begun to build a website, like yours, showcasing eLearning development skills and resources, etc. I answered your survey. I am interested in the path you are taking.
I recently left the work-a-day corporate world to become an independent eLearning developer. When I say recently, I mean in the last month. It’s great to find other learning professionals who are headed in the same direction. I look forward to your new website and your new journey.
I have a question you might be able to address. I have delved into several Web2.0 tools, but I can’t seem to wrap my brain around the benefits of Twitter. Everyone is agog about Twitter, so I stick my toe in the water from time-to-time and follow a Twitter link. I must confess it seems like a fast and furious stream of personal (and often just plain silly) instant messages. When I think about information overload and handling vast amounts of knowledge, I am finding it difficult to justify jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. When I see how excited everyone is about it, I find myself doubting the wisdom of my decision to stay away. What are you thoughts?
Hi David, great to hear that you are about to start your own professional blog, that is wonderful!
I am very inspired by you becoming an independent eLearning developer, good luck and if you get stuck and need a hand just let me know. Being a freelance eLearning developer is something that I hope to do one day, so I guess you could say that I am also interested in the path that you are taking!
Everyone is agog about Twitter and for a very good reason! I would love to share my thoughts on this however I won’t do it in the comments section, that response deserves a new post so stay tuned.
Perhaps in the meantime other readers might drop by and share their thoughts on the benefits of Twitter.
LOL… as i’m up at 3:03 am and watching my twitter wiz by. i realize that i had it on EVERYONE instead FRIENDS i want to follow. That might be the issue David. I find a huge difference between the two. I follow who i think might be useful, interesting, or just plain fun. And their twitters are the only ones that come into my twitterific box.
I don’t use it so much FOR work. But i do use it to keep up with what is going on in my industry. And that means both, personal and professional. Though at times that does blurr nowadays working from home.
for you to see any benefit you need to install a twitter mini app on your hardrive. I did twitterific. But there are lots more.
And thanks matt. I like your twittering. and your blog.
jojo
Thanks jojo for commenting at 3am and thanks for the feedback.
David, jojo’s comment came as a result of me tweeting:
“Agog about twitter? David wants to know the benefits for him he can’t ‘justify’ Twitter – http://snipr.com/4cbyu”
jojo is spot on about knowing who to follow. I have only watched the ‘global’ tweets a couple of times and found it confusing and irrelevant. The idea is to follow people who inspire you and who have similar interests. There are lots of different directories of educators using twitter, the best two that I have seen so far are:
Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter
JustTweetIt’s Education Directory
As an avid “Twitterer”, all I can say is I learn something new and interesting every day, often taking me in directions I hadn’t considered. Yes, it can be a distraction, yes, it does need a bit of discipline, but once you’ve got a network up and running you’ll be amazed at the diversity of opinion you can plug in to.
I’m hgjohn on Twitter, by the way.
Okay, Matthew, on the strength of your endorsement and jojo’s advice, I will take the twitter plunge…perhaps I’ll wait till the weekend.
That brings a twitter question to mind. (Sorry to be using your comments section for twitter questions! Just take this as fodder for your future post(s).) In your twitter experience, do you notice “traffic patterns”? That is, do you see more twittering during the day, during the week, on the weekend? And does more twittering translate to better content or simply more stuff to filter through to find the gems?
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Development has begun! « An eLearning Experience said this on October 15, 2008 at 2:55 am
Thanks John.
David congrats on taking the twitter plunge!
Jojo mentioned installing a Twitter application on your PC to get the most benefit from your Twitter use.
There are heaps of them around but I personally use and recommend TweetDeck. The best thing about this program is that you can set it up to separate your tweets based on topic or sender into separate ‘decks’ or columns.
Regarding ‘traffic patterns’: it varies a lot especially given that you will probably end up following people from all over the world.
You don’t have to read everything on twitter, if there is a particular person or group of people who you find always post good content then give them their own ‘deck’ in Tweetdeck so you can easily check those tweets when it is convenient for you to do so.
Thanks for the twitter tips, Matthew. Your explanation of ‘decks’ and methods of monitoring is making the decision a little easier.