Part of the adventure in blogging is discovering or choosing my voice. Who do I want to be known as? Steve Rosenbaum asks, "Who am I going to be today?" Via social media we have multiple platforms on which to stand, multiple soap boxes from which we can pontificate.
The question I am left with is, when we mix our voices in the context of social media, do we diminish the efficacy and credibility of our viewpoints?
I am a mother, wife, teacher, gardener, keeper of chickens and bees. I am passionate about technology in education, run the Durham Farmers' Market and am an advocate for saving our pollinators. I also love to laugh - I follow George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) and Jenny Lawson (@TheBloggess) on Twitter. (If you don't follow them, you should because they are hi-larious.)
My Facebook profile, Twitter feed and Blog posts all reflect this 'multiple personality' and I'm trying to figure out a way to cultivate it and make it work. I had the good fortune of having my TPACK blog post retweeted by researcher Matthew Koehler a couple of weeks ago. I felt like my professional voice was being shared and validated. I thought, "Wow, I worked hard on that and someone thought it was valuable enough to retweet. He has 693 followers! They might actually see or even - maybe it's a stretch - read my work!" Does it completely invalidate my intellect and ability and interest in educational technology if I then retweeted Jenny Lawson's tweet depicting the taxidermied racoon wearing a vintage woman's hat and eating a box of Nilla Wafers that appeared in her Post Office box that afternoon? Some may say yes.
I will continue to ask these questions - and more - as I continue to cultivate my online identity. I want to be credible, respected, and seen as a curator of information. Do I choose one self? One identity? Or is it possible to embrace and share multiple identities and interests and still be taken seriously?
The question I am left with is, when we mix our voices in the context of social media, do we diminish the efficacy and credibility of our viewpoints?
I am a mother, wife, teacher, gardener, keeper of chickens and bees. I am passionate about technology in education, run the Durham Farmers' Market and am an advocate for saving our pollinators. I also love to laugh - I follow George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) and Jenny Lawson (@TheBloggess) on Twitter. (If you don't follow them, you should because they are hi-larious.)
My Facebook profile, Twitter feed and Blog posts all reflect this 'multiple personality' and I'm trying to figure out a way to cultivate it and make it work. I had the good fortune of having my TPACK blog post retweeted by researcher Matthew Koehler a couple of weeks ago. I felt like my professional voice was being shared and validated. I thought, "Wow, I worked hard on that and someone thought it was valuable enough to retweet. He has 693 followers! They might actually see or even - maybe it's a stretch - read my work!" Does it completely invalidate my intellect and ability and interest in educational technology if I then retweeted Jenny Lawson's tweet depicting the taxidermied racoon wearing a vintage woman's hat and eating a box of Nilla Wafers that appeared in her Post Office box that afternoon? Some may say yes.
I will continue to ask these questions - and more - as I continue to cultivate my online identity. I want to be credible, respected, and seen as a curator of information. Do I choose one self? One identity? Or is it possible to embrace and share multiple identities and interests and still be taken seriously?