Twitter vs blogging

There's going to be another fight. It's not the VLE vs the PLE. This time it's whether Twitter is killing blogging. Strewth, it's like waiting for a bus. You stand around for ages and then suddenly two big debates come along at once. I was only on the periphery of the Twitter vs blogging debate when I chaired a F-ALT (Fringe ALT-C) session late at night over at the Contact Theatre in Manchester last week. The antagonists were Josie Fraser, who argued for the merits of Twitter, and Graham Attwell, who claimed that Twitter was quite simply not as deep and meaningful as blogging. The handbags were out. There were no fisticuffs, but lots of finger pointing and gesticulating was witnessed as like two sumo wrestlers, they circled each other in the sawdust (stop mixing your metaphors - Ed). The final vote was a resounding victory for .... the abstainers. Now, sitting on the fence is not a normal occupation for regular F-ALTers - they are normally quite opinionated. But this debate obviously divided them. And, lo and behold, a similar debate was also emerging online when I arrived home. Grainne Conole, Matt Lingard and others were weighing in on Cloudworks to debate whether edubloggers were being sidetracked into using Twitter and beginning to neglect their blogging. One of the questions is: Now you are using Twitter, is your blogging activity tailing off? Do check out the Cloudworks site - it's a fascinating discussion.

My answer of course, is no, in my experience, the two can live side by side. My blog output if anything is increasing, and Twitter is a useful tool to make the community aware of those new posts, and it encourages me to write more when I see Twitter driving larger numbers of readers to my blog. So try RSS, I hear someone say. Well, RSS is a great tool but difficult to set up sometimes, and not everyone understands it. However, more and more people are turning to Twitter as a means of short messaging, because it's relatively simple to use. And the community is growing, with new tools such as TweepML, useful lists of people to follow can be created and communities quickly grow around themes of interest.

I believe that there is a synergy between blogging and Twitter. They are in my own personal web at least, becoming interdependent. My Twitter stream is incorporated into this blog (in the right hand column) and Twitter can be used to link to this blog. Take one away, and the other would be somewhat diminished. The debate will continue, and we shall see whether Twitter kills blogging, or whether the two can live comfortably together. So is Twitter killing blogging? Is Twitter killing RSS? Will there be a murder trial?

Related posts:

Is Twitter killing the blog? No. (Terry Wassall)

Is Twitter killing blog comments? (Danny Brown)

Is Twitter killing blogs and blogging? (Mark Evans)

Is Twitter killing blogging? (Chris Eden)

Is Twitter killing RSS? (Jeff Nolan)

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Retro ALT-C

For those who attended ALT-C 2008, and for those who didn't but wished they had, a report on the conference has just been published, nicely capturing the mood, highlights and reflections of the event. Thanks go to Matt Lingard and his team, Athina Chatzigavriil and Kris Roger, who have done a great job conveying the atmosphere and ambience of a very diverse and enjoyable conference. The report is a good read, and comes complete with photos from several sources, including one from our very own Helen Keegan. Look out for the Learning Technologist of the year award presentation - Josie Fraser - and then tell me whether she looks bemused, triumphant, or .... something else. There is also a nice section on the ALT Fringe (F-ALT) events that punctuated ALT this year for the very first time, and some reflections on that astoundingly good Gala dinner at Headingly Cricket Ground. Enjoy reading the report, and then get ready for ALT-C 2009, to be held at the University of Manchester, in September.

Sessions, slams and serious fun

It's been an interesting and varied day here at ALT-C Day two, at the University of Leeds. A somewhat controversial keynote, and several morning papers and workshops kept us all busy. The Digital Divide web slam event was engaging, fun and jam packed full of ideas about how we are all using technologies to either bridge the digital divides (yes there are several) or to perpetuate them. Several slams were performed, including one by myself, James Clay and Joss Winn (collectively known as the Slam Virgins - don't ask). We actually received the most votes from those present, surprisingly, so we were the winners on the day. The video of our slam 'It's not for Girls!' can be viewed here on Youtube. (Picture by Helen Keegan).

I later spoke at a F-ALT fringe meeting in the middle of the dining room at 3pm, on the subject of Edupunk. There was fertile and passioned debate about whether edupunk exists or is just a fad, and whether the name actually does the concept justice. Thanks to all those who took part - it was another enjoyable and captivating session. (Picture here)

The cream on the cake, literally, was our evening ALT-C Gala Dinner, which was held this year in the executive rooms of Headingly Cricket ground - the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the scene of many fascinating Test matches between England and the tourists. The turf was being dug up as we arrived, which was a disappointment, as I wanted to see the ground in it's full glory. Never mind. It was still pretty spectaculr, as was the food, brought to us by two local catering colleges.

Highlight of the night was watching Josie Fraser receive the prestigious award of Learning Technologist of the Year, and a substantial cash prize, presented by in-coming ALT president Steve Draper (London School of Economics). A splendid time was had by all. Look out tomorrow... last day, here we come.

Edupunk rides again

I just loaded my PowerPoint presentation entitled: 'How Edupunk can save the world' into Slideshare and linked it to the F-ALT wiki, so that people can follow it on their laptops, or make comments about it before we do the session on Wednesday, at 15.00. I'm not sure how many are going to be there, but for Steven Warburton's Fringe session today on Massively Online Courses, there were over 40. A good turn out.

The evening pre-conference buffet was a cut above average, with Morrocan style lamb and cous-cous, goats cheese, and a variety of other very palatable choices on offer. Met a few new and interesting people, and enjoyed some tangential conversations...

Earlier several of us got together for a few drinks and a chat to catch up. The old gang (it's an inside joke) included James Clay, Graham Attwell, Steven Warburton, Josie Fraser, Helen Keegan, Cristina Costa, Dai Griffiths and Scott Wilson. It's good to meet up again and spend some time with these guys, as they are all, in their own ways, pushing the boundaries of learning technology forward, and contributing significantly to the future of digital learning methods.

Looking forward.... to ALT-C

So many things to look forward to next week at ALT-C 2008 at the University of Leeds, although I don't relish the long drive up from Plymouth. The conference promises to be the best yet, if the pre-mailed abstracts and research proceedings books are anything to go by. I'm looking forward to the workshops in particular, including the sessions on Web 2.0 - 'It's a Web 2.0 world out there' (James Clay) and 'Learning about the Digital Divide' (Frances Bell, Helen Keegan, Josie Fraser et al). From such presentations come a host of new ideas, and better still, an energising to go off and try out some new things you hadn't considered before.

There are already success stories before ALT-C has started. Take a look at the Crowdvine site the ALT team set up and you will see that there are already over 340 members (well over half of the 600 plus delegates who are booked into the event). I have already made contact with a number of people I am intending to meet, including one of the keynote speakers, Itiel Dror (Southampton University) and Mark van Harmelen (ALT Director of Operations).

Then of course, there is the Fringe ALT-C event - or F-ALT, as it is being called. There are a limited edition F-ALT badges designed by Josie Fraser that are being given away to the first 50 people who sign up to the F-ALT Wetpaint wiki site. When I looked just now there were already 36 people registered, so be quick if you want a badge! Yes, there is plenty to look forward to....

It's your F-ALT

The preparations for ALT-C are nearly complete and we will all gather once again for our annual edu-knees-up in Leeds in a few weeks time. But running parallel with ALT-C this year is the Fringe ALT (or F-ALT). F-ALT will be serious fun, that is, fun with a serious undercurrent. We have been allocated space just off the main venue at the University of Leeds to conduct a number of events including WTF sessions on Microblogging, Second Life, Learning Objects, shoes, beer and all the other pressing concerns that reside in the tortured mind of the contemporary learning technologist. I hope to pitch my hat into the ring with an outrageous rant on the merits of EduPunk. (Well, Jim Groom is following me on Twitter, so I think I have something to say...)

F-ALT will also feature its own awards (The F-ALTies) where prizes will be awarded in a number of areas of activity, including: an award for the worst acronym for an e-learning project, the 'Not a Learning Object' prize and an award for the most pretentious blog post of the year (I am in the running for this one I think).

It will be a gathering of the clans for those learning technologists and academics who can stand the pace, and who don't mind laughing at themselves and poking fun at the establishment. I hope to see you there...