Torill ‘thinking with my fingers’ Mortensen @ Seton Hill UniversityLiteracy Weblog)
For the past few days, I have been showing Torill’s “thinking with my fingers” blog to my new media journalism students. Around the time that our own “New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University” blog was lagging, Torill posted about the lack of personal touch in group blogs. And since many of my students reported, in their midterm blog portfolios, how disappointed they felt when the blog entries they worked hardest on didn’t attract comments, I called my student’s attention to Torill’s position on blog comments (on MGK she has written, “While I can see the value of them, I don’t want the hazzle of maintaining and editing a blog where I need to check to see what others may have written into it. I treasure my peaceful little slot on the net.”).
It took a bit of effort, but I managed to get some students a little worked up about the things that this Dr. Mortensen was saying. When some students on Monday offered to send her nasty e-mails, I sort of choked for a moment — I hadn’t expected a response that strong. This morning, one student apologized for forgetting to write an e-mail.
At any rate, because Torill and I had agreed to keep her visit a secret, we imagined that she could make a dramatic entrance, so I left her in a computer lab on the floor below, and started class for a few minutes before sending a student to get her.
When I flashed her bio on the screen, Jen recognized her — “I think I just saw her in the lab downstairs!” Jen knew something was up… maybe Torill Mortensen isn’t really a Norwegian blogger — maybe this exotic foreigner is just imaginary, or maybe I have asked a friend to come into the class and pose as “Dr. Mortensen” in order to make some obscure pedagogical point.
“Would I do that to you?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
I’ll blog some more about Torill’s presentation later… in one class, she spoke of the technology panic in the Norwegian media, and in the other she gave an excellent, well-paced introduction to hypertext theory.
She’s downstaris in the comptuer room, probably blogging away. It’s so encouraging to find out that I’m not the only person who’s so addicted to the Internet! Anyway, we’re going to meet up with my family and have an enjoyable evening (if the kids aren’t too rambunctious). Then tomorrow I’ll take her to the airport, where she will continue on her US lecture tour.
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BTW, here are links to blog entries on Torill's two talks: Media Panics and Hypertext Theory
I apologize for any misinterpretation of my thoughts; the comments regarding commenting were only tied with Professor Mortensen via sentence and paragraph structure. My visit to the site was inspiring--thus the bookmark in lieu of commenting directly to her posts and letting her know that. I did, of course, copy down her e-mail to request permission to place her link on my own log. All this confirms your comments that the quick and easy method which blogging allows does not replace more thorough essays, but should demand a certain measure of thought and consideration just as well.
I've never in the slightest felt that Torill is unresponsive or unwilling to listen. In fact, she is one of the more generous bloggers I have seen, in that she spends a lot of time linking to what other people are doing on their blogs.
There are several loyal readers of 'Jerz's Literacy Weblog' who don't keep their own blogs, and I feel that comments are a good platform for letting them drop in with a quick thought whenever the mood strikes them.
As a continuing fevered victim of the blogbug, I am getting more and more interested in the psychological and technical aspects of web communication, and both read others and write in my own as often as time allows. I see no place for comments in “thinking with my fingers” but have bookmarked the spot and corresponding links for the future.
While I see blogging as an excellent spot for both getting out and temporarily saving those inner thoughts both personal and those we wish to parade before an audience, I do think that comments are exciting and inspiring to the writer. Basically, while most bloggers do not care who reads their blog, I feel it is rude to read and not respond upon occasion—the personal touch of conversation is what will ensure the success of this otherwise impersonal form of communication. What also comes to mind is Dr. Frasier Crane’s “I’m listening...”