Sorry for taking so long to reply. I’ve been travelling. Yes, slow blogging means irregular posts, but I think there is also a sense that these will be deliberately rather than arbitrarily irregular.

Jenny

Hope you all are feeling better! I wonder if the idea that the volume/frequency of blog posts determines readership is a leftover vision/fear from the era of highly structured and linear media. The nice thing about RSS is that once I have tapped into a feed, I can effortlessly access and read someone’s posts, no matter whether they’re frequent or sporadic. (I’ve had to take a breather over the holidays, too ) So I’ll look forward to your next posts, whenever you get the chance. Have a fabulous time in your travels, and happy new year!
Carmen

Hope you’ve managed to cast off the flu and are enjoying your trip to India now. It sounds fantastic!

Regarding slow blogging and a fear of losing a reader base, in my view the core readers will stay with a blog no matter how long the period between posts. When I find a blogger I identify with – or better still, connect with – I’m happy to wait for the next post, so long as there is a next post.

I think this is particularly true in edu-blogging, since a core and critical aspect of the dialogue is on ensuring the content is as accurate and well-considered as possible. Sometimes building conceptual connections takes time, and I think we owe it to ourselves as learners to leave as much time as is necessary to maximise the learning experiences.

In terms of Connectivism I find too that bloggers can connect with one another through other means than just blogging – Twitter, forums, YouTube, commenting, and others – and these can do a great deal to maintain dialogue and interaction when not posting.

In fact I think it’s critical to diversify the nature of ways we maintain connections with others, because I think this can lead to more in-depth, quality connections and learning opportunities. In my case my blog is a critical component to my connections, but it’s not the only way I learn. YouTube, the blogs of others, news articles, face to face chats, Twitter, whitepapers and journals, etc – all contribute to my learning experiences.

This is why it’s so important, I think, that we look past the tools themselves and to recognise where they fit in our own personal learning networks or personal learning environments. The tools and tech helps us do a lot, certainly, but ultimately they’re facilitating mechanisms. In the case of my blog, it is just a vehicle to a wider purpose – in this case reflective writing, discussion, documentation, research and experimentation. So posts come as often as they need to.

I think that’s a sign of a good blog too in a way – the content is kept topical, relevant, and as in-depth as it needs to be to convey a point or concept at that moment.

Just my thoughts anyway – great topic

On a completely different note, Happy Holidays and best of luck in the New Year!

Cheers,

Mike

Viplav – Yes we will be in Delhi. We arrive there on 29th and will also be there for the night of the 30th, but move on to Agra on the 31st. So we are only in Delhi for a short time. If you are free (and of course you may not be) then maybe we could meet up on the evening of the 30th. We are staying at the Metropolitan Hotel – perhaps you could come and have a drink with us? It would be great to meet you.

My email is jenny.mackness@btopenworld.com. I couldn’t find your email address to send this message so hope you see it here. Hope we can meet up, but not to worry if you can’t make it.

Jenny

Coming to Delhi at all? Would love to meet up!

Viplav

See you in 2009.
John

Hope you have a great Christmas and wonderful new year.

George