The Blogging Mindset

It was Thanksgiving this week, and one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is getting together with my extended family.  This year is especially important because my paternal grandmother has been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease.  It's incurrable, and her condition will only worsen with time.  So being with her and my grandfather, who is caring for her, was a big deal this year, since I don't know how much longer I'm going to have her in this life.

As usual, at the end of the feast we went around and everyone said what they're thankful for.  The younger kids said, "Family," "Ditto," and "Mom."  I said something that I wish was a little deeper, and then the parents got teary-eyed as they talked about their children and spouses.  And then it got to Grandma and Grandpa.  She said she's grateful for Grandpa.  Grandpa, in turn, said that he's grateful to still have Grandma around, and that he's glad he's still healthy so he can care for her in their home and not at a clinic.  And then he said that after she's gone there will be no reason for him to stick around any longer.


That's right, I'm related to them.

That might sound a little depressing, but my grandparents have a love story that inspires me.  You see, my grandpa is a convert to the LDS church, and it was my grandmother that initially introduced him to it, and helped him throughout his conversion process.  He told me that in his youth he'd searched for the true church, and when he couldn't find it, he turned to a more scientific approach to life.  Then he met Grandma, and he found the truth as well.  I'm probably getting that wrong, but that's what I understand.  When I looked at them holding hands at the table, I thought that perhaps Grandpa loves Grandma so deeply because she is one of the reasons he now has an eternal family.  So when he said after she goes he won't have a reason to stay, I wasn't really upset.  He knows where they're going, and to be apart from his wife for very long would be worse than leaving this mortal life.

As I sat at the table, watching my grandparents hold hands, I thought of how strong their family is.  Every one of their descendents over age 8 has been baptised, two grandkids have served missions with another currently serving, and two others have been married in the temple.  We have strong testimonies of the gospel and of Jesus Christ, and we are a tightly-knit group.  I think that we devote our well-being to our grandparents.  Not only did they teach our parents, who then taught us, but they continually set an example for us.  Their stalwart faith has given our family a rock to stand on.  Their love has taught me what a normal relationship looks like.

I thought all this at dinner, and then I thought, "I want to blog about this."  Why?  Because I like talking.  I like giving my opinions and telling stories.  And I feel like my grandparents are inspiring.  But blogging is kind of a new outlet for me.  It suits me well.  I feel like I've always had the blogging mindset.  I like getting my thoughts down on paper, and I also like sharing those thoughts.  Combine those together and you get a blog.

It's possible our generation has more of a blogging mindset because blogs are available.  Or maybe humans always had that write/share mindset and now we just have a better means of enacting it.  Anyway, it's something I've noticed lately.  I like telling my story, and I like the idea that others can benefit from it, even if I don't know them.  Blogging has been a great outlet for me for that reason.

My grandparents inspire me, and I'm grateful for both of them this Thanksgiving season.  And I'm glad I could share some thoughts about them with you.

Ideas For Our Case Study

As we come to the end of the semester, we're trying to think of a case study group we could talk to about our collaborative novel.  Here are some of my ideas:

We could present the idea to creative writing professors on campus.  We could discuss how they could use this idea in their classes.  Collaborative writing is a challenge, and online collaboration could be a good way for students to practice this form.  Also, it might help students develop characters and plot.  For example, one student must write an outline and a character bio that is complete enough that another student could write a short story/chapter about that character.  Students realize how their characters need to be developed more.  Finally, using this format, students recognize tone and style.  They realize that they do have their own voice in writing and it is different from their classmates.  It is a challenge to write like each other and try to keep the voice the same.

Another group to whom we could present our idea are creative writing clubs.  In this case, the purpose is not so much teaching, but trying out a new form.  It could be an activity for the group to try out.  We can also explain that in this format, one author doesn't have to do so much.  They can write a novel faster by crowd sourcing it.

Also, we could take this to a creative writing conference.  We could talk about crowd sourcing and online creative writing projects going on right now, and then discuss our format.  This might be a TedX style talk, where we show what we did and invite others to try it out.  While this would be the best case study group as it would reach further, it might be hard to find a conference going on right now.

If I could do it again

Project CCC is moving forward, but there are a few things I've noticed that might have helped make this go smoother.  If anyone else attempts to write a collaborative novel, or if I could go back in time and give myself some advice when we first started, this is what I would say.

1. Allow adequate time.  When we began this project, we assumed it wouldn't be too hard to find people to write for us, and since the segments would be so short, everyone could write their section in only a few hours.  In reality, we had to keep pushing our deadlines back so we'd have time to find writers to fill up all the sections. 

If I were to do this again, and if we didn't have the time constraints a semester imposes, I would have allowed more time to find authors, and for authors to find us.  Ideally, I'd give it a month from the time we started accepting submissions to the time we closed it to the public.  Then I'd give us another month to revise and publish.  As it is, we're going to be pushing things to properly edit this novella.

2. Don't overestimate your number of collaborators, and recognize personal connections.  As I mentioned, it was harder than we thought it would be to find people.  Personally, I imagined opening this website to the public and getting tons of volunteers from across the country due to digital media.  Our blog got around 400 hits that first month, so why wouldn't we have lots of authors from that alone?  And then there was the Facebook group, and I assumed those members would tell their friends, who would tell their friends, and etc until we had to start saying, "Sorry, people, all the sections are filled."  In the end, the people we got to sign up were mostly personal contacts.  I texted a friend I know loves writing, and he got several people involved.  We also went to clubs and classes on campus, and a few people from Engl 195 signed up.  When we made personal or physical contact, that's when people started committing.

In a way, digital culture failed us here.  While we may have gotten a couple of people to participate because they simply found our website or blog, our best contributors were actually people we already knew, or people we talked to face-to-face.  Again, perhaps time was against us here.  It's possible my dream of collaborators stumbling across our blog and volunteering their time would work if we left this open for several months.  But if you need something done quick, think of your friends and family who already enjoy writing, go to them, and ask them to participate.  Don't rely on unknown masses when time is of the essence.

3. Make a clear, clean website.  This was something we heard again and again.  We started off with a blog, which many found confusing.  We then created a Google Site, hoping it would be more straightforward.  While our content was finally in one place, and it explained more about how to contribute, we still had a problem with grabbing newcomers.  It took too long to get into the plot line, the characters, and the novel in general. 

We're working on these problems, but it's a little late in the game.  Again, the timing thing got in our way.  We needed an inviting, clear website that would introduce newcomers to the novel quickly (as in summarizing the plot and characters), but also explain in a clear way how to contribute to those who wanted to help write.  This is perhaps one of the greatest things I've learned from this class: content must be accessible and understandable, and the format must be clean and easy to follow.  There's no one way to do this, of course, and it requires lots of social proof to find out the best way to present your content.  So if someone were to try our idea out for themselves, I would suggest they get feedback early about the website/blog/whatever digital media they use, and update it accordingly.  Don't be afraid of beta, but try to get this part done early so your potential contributors don't get frustrated.


We've enjoyed Project CCC.  Honestly, I loved collaborating with my team members about plot, characters, the website, and getting contributors, and I really liked writing my segment.  If you haven't, you should check out our site at https://sites.google.com/site/collaborationfornovels/home and do a little collaborative writing.  It's fun!  You feel like you're part of something bigger than yourself.  And I think this idea of online collaboration can work for a novel.  It's still working for us.  I just wish we'd done a few things differently.

Nostalgia

Thursday's class was very nostalgic.  We talked about how video and computer games teach us skills.  As we listed games such as Roller Coaster Tycoon, Sim City, and Civilization, which build civic and economic talents, I remembered playing these games as a kid.  And I think I really did learn how to manage money and resources thanks to these games.  They taught me that sometimes it's worth it to sacrifice a little now in order to get ahead later, but also that the big, shiny things aren't always the most useful.

This week, I traveled to Texas, and I remembered another important game from my childhood: Flight Simulator.  I played it in a technology class in Junior High.  No, really, it was assigned.  I had to successfully take off, fly, and land a plane using some basic equipment like a joystick, brakes and gas pedals, and a computer.  It was pretty awesome.  I never really landed very well, but this week when I was sitting on my plane, waiting to take off, I remembered playing that game. 

Flight Simulator panel

And I remembered you wait until you've reached a certain speed before lifting off the ground.  I remembered you have to watch your instruments, but once you're in the air, you can basically relax.  I remembered trying to land is like the hardest thing ever, and I usually ended up off the runway.  Now, my future career has nothing to do with flying planes, but I have a greater appreciation for what my pilot is doing, and I understand what's happening and why when I fly.

Games like Flight Simulator actually are used in job training.  Sometimes they aren't referred to as games, but they allow a person to practice a useful skill before they do it in real life.  For instance, surgeons can practice various procedures using virtual reality simulators before they perform them on an actual patient. 

When I was a kid, I never thought the games I was playing might be important to my personal development or career.  Well, maybe those Jumpstart games.  The school openly admitted they were trying to prepare you for the next year.  But besides that, I was just having fun.  Looking back, though, those games did change me.  Even Flight Simulator, which didn't directly influence my future career, has given me more confidence while flying, and a greater appreciation for what's going on in the cockpit.

See, Parents?  It wasn't all wasted time.

A Theme?

While I was planning out my Pinterest post (see previous), I came to a sudden and startling realization: my blog has a theme.

I didn't really have an introductory post.  I just dove right into some self-directed learning.  So I never really explained what this blog is about.  I'm mostly doing this for my Digital Culture class.  I came up with the name Culture in Progress because the course is about culture in the modern day being influenced by digital media and how culture then influences that media.  I added the "in Progress" part because I figured it went along with the idea of things being in beta, and everything I write on this blog will be in beta, so it's all in progress.  I thought it was witty.

Some people progress faster than others...

As I went along, I was mostly just writing about whatever it was that came to mind.  Hactivism, television ratings, relating Hard Times to time and measurement, and stuff relating to our collaborative project.  What I didn't realize is that I have actually been talking about culture in progress the whole time.  That is, how cultured I'm becoming, and how our culture is changing.

When I talked about television ratings, I was discussing how our ratings system needs to change due to our culture of watching TV online.  When I talked about the value of beta, I showed how I have altered my way of thinking and embraced the learning that comes from projects in the beginning stages.  When I compared Hard Times and industrialization to digitalization, I was trying to show how we need to draw on the past in order to cope with our rapidly changing world.  We have to think differently but also remember inherent morals.  All this time, I have been talking about culture in progress.

With my latest switch to Pinterest, I have become more digitally cultured.  And I'm about to get an ebook reader, something I never thought I would do.  If anyone was an advocate of "real" books, it was me.  Now I'm seeing how helpful ebooks can be.  I've learned to use other online resources as well.  I haven't gotten a Twitter yet, but I've used Twitter Search a few times, and I've discovered many Google tools (docs, spreadsheets, sites) and used them this semester.  Perhaps you'll laugh because I'm so obviously behind, but this is a big deal to me.  I'm becoming more cultured digitally.

I'll see what I can do to keep up this theme.  I know it hasn't always been obvious, nor has it been a central focus, but if you look it's there.  I'm just amazed that it fit so perfectly with my title.

How I got a Pinterest account

My roommate has been asking me to get a Pinterest for a while.  I told her no because I get addicted to stuff really easily, especially online.  I updated my Facebook status once or twice a day when I first got one.  Now it's down to maybe once every three days...  Anyway, I said I didn't need a Pinterest and it would just distract me.

The other day, however, I was online and I saw a Dr. Who picture that I thought was really funny.  I saved it to my hard drive.  My roommate, who was sitting next to me, said, "Did you just save that picture on your computer?"

"Yeah," I said.  "I have a whole file in My Documents devoted to Dr. Who pictures.  See?"

She stared at the screen a second, then said, "How is that different from getting a Pinterest and pinning photos to a board?"

I paused, then realized she was totally right.  I still held off, though, until yesterday when I saw this YouTube video:

 

There's probably a way to save videos to your hard drive, but I haven't done much of it.  I looked up at said roommate and asked, "Can you post videos to your Pinterest?"  She told me yes.

So, I got myself a Pinterest today.  I have two boards, one with future wedding stuff, since my dear roommate wanted to me to make that one specifically, and one with Dr. Who.  Perhaps it was a silly reason to finally cross over, but I did it.

My reason for joining Pinterest was probably not the reason most people do it.  Most people seem to have cute, practical stuff like recipes or landscapes or dresses; I'm planning on a Portal board and maybe a Yu-Gi-Oh one, too.  But it works for me.  I have a place for my pictures and to find more pictures of stuff I like.  Granted, the stuff I like is kind of nerdy.  But once again, digital culture has proven to me it actually has exactly what I need.