Blogging - Take One

Hello on a rainy Saturday morning. Not that I'm complaining. It's much easier to sit at a computer on the weekend when the sun isn't trying to pull you outside.

Well, I finally made it to Blogger. How did I end up here as opposed to WordPress or some other service? It looked like the easiest one to do, and I thought that "the easiest" would be challenging enough. Also, a lot of the blogs that I checked out were on blogger; so, I thought that I'd join the ranks. I don't know if reading the comparisons and checking out their tutorials really helped me decide, but they did help me get an idea about what I might be able to do once I started blogging.
Here are a couple of the comparisons that I read: (I guess it's no coincidence that #1 seemed to favor Blogger - since it is a Blogger Blog. Lol!)
comparison 1
comparison 2

I am actually very excited about blogging. I've been wanting to do this for a long time. However, I never thought that it would be for a class. I always thought that I'd just try it for fun. I love reading blogs. The only problem is that once I get started, I can't stop. I go from one to the other. I'm finding that with all of this new technology that I am learning about, I'm back to the days when I was a kid and the rare occasions that we'd go out and eat at a restaurant. My eyes were always bigger than my stomach. There's so much I want to try, I just can't fit it all in. At least not right away.

I guess that getting this blog up was as easy as I'd hoped it would be. It will be very nice if by the time I publish this post, the little tools next to my "gadgets" will have disappeared. I can't figure how to get rid of them. I like being able to include a list of blogs that I check out every now and then. That feature on other blogs has been a great way for me to find new blogs that I like to read. Also, being able to have the videos that are posted to the IBEW YouTube channel is great. It's a perfect way to share what's going on within our organization.

What would I like to do with a blog? My number one goal would be to use it as a collaborative workspace for my peers and me. Will Richardson briefly mentions using a blog for "Knowledge Management and Articulation" on page 25. We know that this technology enables teachers and students to share ideas when separated by distance, but I like the fact that it also allows teachers and colleagues to be separated by distance and still work together collaboratively.

In addition to working with the field trainers in my department, I really liked Richardson's description of an online filing cabinet. When working with students (labor leaders, organizers, etc.), the blog can be a great way to archive projects and learning experiences that have taken place that may be of use to others as a "searchable and shareable" resource sometime in the future.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I might be able to do with my new ElectricalOutlet.
Guess what? The sun is now pulling at me.