Pulling back and the concept of Slow Blogging
I had been thinking for a few weeks now about the concept of immediacy on Twitter, given my lightning speed and my hummingbird-like approach to things. It seems to me as though Twitter has somehow contributed to the deterioration of careful, slow reading and reflection. While I might be (erroneously) perceived as one contributor to this deterioration (because of how often I tweet and publish content on my blog), I’d argue that a vast majority of my writing is well thought out. However, yes, I am guilty of writing a lot, and I can understand if some of my readers could have a helplessness feeling of trying to drink water from a fire hose with a straw.
Northern Voice provided me with a great opportunity to reconnect with Todd Sieling, whose Slow Blogging manifesto is a gem to read and who actually has also written on whether Twitter can co-exist with a desire for reflection and creation of deeper meaning. At around the same time, Kate Trgovac made a reference to Todd’s writing, as did Darren with his reflections on “where is the profound“. So, when several bright minds I admire are all talking about the same concept, I can’t help but stop, pause for a minute, and think about my own ideas on this topic.
I am amazed and also worried about the immediacy of Twitter and how people respond to the whole “fast, fast, let’s tweet, speak, write content” paradigm. In the process of self-examination, I came to realize that I have, for the longest time, promised myself and others that I’ll slow down (in all realms, including how often I blog and how many events I attend) and take better care of myself and not say yes to every-single-tech-event-in-Vancouver (very timely, Colleen just wrote about picking and choosing the events you attend – I give her and everyone else who has learned to take time off and just say “sorry, can’t make it to this particular event, next time”). But I still do it. I still behave in a hummingbird-like way. It doesn’t mean that I don’t sit down and reflect, but at the same time, I don’t seem to put as much emphasis into writing and then letting drafts sit and evolve through time.
First of all, let me make all the admissions and disclosures. I *know* I am very responsive, interactive and chatty on Twitter. For me, it is an instrument to connect me with my friends, not a tool “to add value”. Those who read my blog and follow me on Twitter and have be-friended me know (or should know) this. I also know that I am a fast writer and that I try to get all my ideas out as though I’m vomiting thoughts. I admit it. It’s something I’ve always done. I didn’t get to publish 43 journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and other publications by writing slowly. That is one of the reasons why I am nicknamed ‘the hummingbird’. I also admit that I’m an extrovert and love hanging out with people. At the same time, as David Drucker has mentioned, maybe I’m also somewhat of an introvert and need my down time.
But I have also been reflecting on the idea of Slow Blogging (read Todd’s manifesto here), and I’m coming to the point where I think I need to start slowing down my blogging and my tweeting. I think I am capable of slowing the pace and creating content that is more reflective, more insightful, more processed. At the same time, I also believe in the power of throwing my ideas out there and having people read them over, critique them and respond back. Is fast, back-and-forth reading and writing the *right* way of doing things in this new era where online content creation seems to have an urgent sense of immediacy? I’m not exactly sure it is, at this point in my life.
I am going to begin an experiment and try to devote at least ONE DAY a week to slow blogging. That is, one day a week, come hell or high water, there will be no “ultra-fast-hummingbirdie” content production. I’ll just write a draft post that will be evolving (the same blog post) through the weeks. I will keep that post “Sticky” thanks to the magic of WordPress and will maintain it there so that the conversation with my readers can help me re-shape it and re-write it. This will be actually my draft post.
I am trying to produce content that has meaning to others, but more importantly, I want to make sure that my content has meaning to me. If increasing the meaning means that I’ll have to slow down and reflect more (something I always do anyways with my academic research), so be it. Thanks Todd for bringing back those reflections I’ve been mulling over through the months, and thanks to Darren and Kate for redirecting me to Todd’s writing (I already had come across it but it was good to revisit it).
The first reflection I want to throw out in an interactive way is – if you are a regular reader of my blog, do you actually sit down and read my posts or just skim them and “off I go to my next blog because I have 45 other RSS feeds to read“? Trust me, I won’t be offended if you say you’re only skimming them. I appreciate all thoughts and feedback.
Related posts:
I read your posts, every word. The fast paced immediacy of twitter is one reason why I do not follow as many people as others do. I am not very good at ignoring “noise” so therefore have to implement my own techniques to reduce noise. I do this by having days when I do not tweet as much as others. I go with my mood with this. If I feel chatty , I tweet. If I need to reflect on my own, I withdraw. I must say that Twitter, Facebook and blogs have enriched my life and I have learned so much that I would never want to remove them. I do not blog as much as I would like to and realize I have to set aside some slow time to sit down, reflect and write.
out of everything i’ve seen so far on this blog, this is my favorite post.. you really rock, hbird. festina lente. and don’t stop.
Agreed. I skim and I also go deep into a post. It’s hard to dedicate all the time I would like to everyone I like. Some days I’m a hummingbird, some days I’m more bovine in my approach.
Well… I some times skim and I some times read it carefully. It really depends on the subject matter. I’ve been on Twitter now for a few months – just one post (feeling shy), but I am an avid listener and follower. I appreciate your sense of humour, insight, and hummingbird-like twittering style. It makes for fun reading!
I will usually read the first paragraph of any post to see if I’m interested in where it’s going (titles don’t always give a real feel for what the post is going to be about) … by the end of that paragraph I’ll skim the rest and make the decision whether to move on or finish reading. But I do this with pretty much all blogs I subscribe to … not just yours
[...] to recover, the peripatetic Raul is committing to one day a week of slow blogging. Raul, you MUST read Barbara Ganley’s [...]
I read a lot of blogs, and I have to admit, I frequently skim through them.
I do skim through yours sometimes but I also go back and re-read them because your ideas are so diverse.
TStrump’s last blog post..Jargon and Platitudes