Sarah did this challenge, and then challenged me to also do it. She also has searched back for the start of the challenge, which seems to be a post by …hi, this is ava.
Why did you start blogging in the first place?
It was quite a long time ago, and I can’t really remember why. I expect I wanted to share my thoughts about something, or maybe it just seemed like a cool thing to do.
What platform are you using to manage your blog and why do you use it?
I have just switched to WordPress, having used Google Blogger for many many years. I was getting a little bit frustrated with some of the limitations of Blogger, and WordPress seemed the obvious choice as I was already running an instance for Sarah. WordPress itself is maybe a bit of overkill for me, but some of the plug-ins are potentially very useful. In particular plug-ins for syntax highlighting, and importing markdown are likely to be things I use a lot in the future. I need to see if there are any plug-ins for working with LaTeX, as that is my main tool for serious writing these days.
Have you blogged on other platforms before?
Yes, as mentioned in my previous response, I used Google Blogger until a couple of weeks ago when I decided to switch platform.
How do you write your posts?
It varies. Sometimes they start of as a draft in my personal wiki, other times a draft within the blogging platform, but most often I use Nuance Dragon, and actually use DragonPad for (voice) typing, and then cut-and-paste into the blogging platform. That is what I’m doing on this occasion.
Do you normally publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit
A bit of both. Some posts simmer for quite a while, and get multiple revisions, whilst others get posted immediately, and invariably then need corrected for spelling and Dragon misunderstanding errors. I also have a few posts which are permanent drafts – I probably should just delete them.
What’s your favorite post on your blog?
I don’t think I really have a single favorite post, but a few that I like for different reasons are:
- “Some thoughts on lecture recording“, which was read a lot and led to some good discussion;
- “Making simple GIF animations“, which was fun to do.
- The pair of posts, “Office noise levels” and “Office noise levels part 2” which I think actually identified some quite interesting stuff about productive workplaces, though possibly not anything that most managers want to hear.
- I also really like “My Alternative CV“, which was actually a page on the Blogger blog, but I’ve just reverted to being a blog post when I made the switch to WordPress.
Any future plans for the blog?
There are a couple of plans I really need to get going with soon. One is to start blogging about my PhD project, maybe using the blog as a place to collect some of the more accessible snippets that will go into the thesis, and also a place to publicise my work to potential users. I also want to blog a lot more about Learning Technology, and in particular the future of learning technology, from the viewpoint of a person who worked with Learning Technology for almost 40 years, and keep seeing the same mistakes being made over and over again.
Who will participate next?
I’m not sure if I know anyone else who blogs, but has not already taken part – so anyone who reads this and has a blog, if you have not already done so, please take on the challenge your self, and post a link in the comments.