As I continue with the comment challenge, I’m not just learning about other’s people ideas, I’m learning a fair bit about some of the collaborative software that’s available… I’ve been comfortable with my RSS feeds and not really been strategic in getting the word out about my blog, so this whole exercise has been a learning one that has at times made me uncomfortable. I’ve heard it said that if you move out of your ‘comfort zone’, you move into a ‘learning zone’.
What I’ve found interesting is that it’s been more difficult configuring, accessing, and connecting into some of it than I thought it might be. A new account with Technorati was fairly straight forward but as I haven’t used it before (and haven’t made space for ‘how it might work for me’) I’m not sure what to expect, but we’ll see how it goes. Joining the coComment community was a bit trickier (and the irritating flash ads don’t endear me) and then having to work out how to get the ‘tags’ working in my blog so that they can be found by the ‘system’, and then ‘claiming blogs‘ so they are recognised. Maybe be on a different platform (Mac) and using a different browser (Safari) complicated things a little.
I must confess that I’ve only skimmed the advice on the Comment Challenge wiki that explains how to make do all the things to activate full participation in the challenge. So, maybe I should read a little more closely on how these bits connect to each other. I’m thinking there may be a parallel here with my aging brain and the fixed pathways and configurations of it’s neural networks. It’s getting harder to change/renovate them and rebuild them incorporating the new models/technologies of interaction and collaboration into what I know.
It’s still all about learning, and it won’t happen unless I have the desire to make the investment… What’s nice is seeing that others are along for the ride and we struggle together – supported all the while by passionate people willing to pass on their knowledge and enthusiasm.
I don’t think it’s your “aging brain” – there are a lot of steps involved. A few of them are standard blogging practice that some people might have already done before starting the challenge (which would make less steps for them to participate in the challenge).
For me, the part that’s driving me crazy is “sharing” my comments in coComment with the Comment Challenge group. I’m wishing for a little check box next to each set of comments so that I can select all the conversations I want to share at once. I think I need to give this feedback to coComment directly 🙂
Amazingly, I just figured out how to share this comment just as I was about to hit submit (using the coComment toolbar that appears under the comment box when you have the coComment extension installed) – I still think it’s a pain in the neck to use the embedded tools in the coComment add-on, but it’s certainly easier to do it while you’re writing the comment than after the fact.
So glad you’re participating and learning – that’s what this is all about!
Thanks for the encouragement Kim, the comment challenge has been harder to keep up with than I thought. I’m determined to be more disciplined and make a little more time available to participate. Hopefully this will develop my habit…
I agree that it is about participating, and if you do that, you are going to learn something.
Thanks for the tip on sharing the comments too – simple when you know how…
@Kim I didnt even know we were needed to share our comments with the group – I thought it was automatic. *sigh* I guess I better go and try and do them all manually, huh? Thanks for the heads up.
@Colin No problem!
@Suzanne Yes, the sharing is kind of a pain in the neck. I think Sue is “in talks” with coComment to get the conversations to aggregate using a common tag instead of having to share, but for right now, this is the way it is 🙁