I think that having a blog is a great learning tool. It really helps you pull together your thoughts and ideas on a particular topic. Once your blog has an audience, you then start to learn from your audience. I personally get very little feedback on this blog, but yet it has really helped me understand a lot about engaging in a conversation that is distributed over the Internet.
If you are interested in improving your knowledge and understanding on any topic, start a blog and start writing about that topic. Where to start? Try Blogger.
The other great benefit is being able to go back and look at your ideas and thoughts at that time. I just went back through and cleaned up some of my posts from the last three years. It was great to see all the topics and ideas that I was interested in during that time.
This is exactly why I am in the process of doing the same thing Lee - i recently became highly intereted in the intersection of technology and education/learning and want to blog about my curiosities and what I learn. I just need to figure out what to write about first!
ReplyDeleteThat's great Andre. I struggle to think of things to write about, but then it usually comes. I error on the side of writing about anything versus not writing anything.
ReplyDeleteI learn a ton from posting thoughts/questions on my site. I used to be concerned with how many comments I got, but anymore, I do it for myself. I really enjoy writing, and like you said, Lee, I enjoy going back later on to see what I was thinking. Plus, a lot of my posts are for intentional reference - like the Firefox extensions post from a while ago. Anyway, not everyone is quick to publish to the world, but they're quick to read it. If those people didn't publish, there wouldn't be anything for the others to read and learn from. The more the merrier.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great how companies are beginning to have blogs and stuff. Makes them appear more personal and responsive to users.
Andre: As far as topics go, I think overcoming the fact of caring what you say is huge. I usually don't sit down and think of posts, but when they occur to me, I might jot them down in a writeboard for later. I recommend drafting posts first, and give it a day or two. Quality posts contribute that much more, since it's there for the world to refer to.