All Shall Be Well

The Three Desires of Julian of Norwich

Sometimes I do a bit a research just for the fun of it. This morning, a tweet from Liz Burns sent me on my merry way:

I discovered that this quote is attributed to Julian of Norwich, a 14th-15th century Christian mystic. Her visions while seriously ill led her to write Revelations of Divine Love (ca. 1393), purportedly the first book composed in the English language by a woman. Despite living in a time of turmoil, punctuated by peasant revolts and outbreaks of the Black Death, Julian believed in a merciful and loving deity. She claimed that her famous "All will be well..." was spoken directly to her by God.


The lines were incorporated into T. S. Eliot's Little Gidding (1941-42):

"Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us—a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching."

In more recent times, Julian's words appear in an amazing variety of song lyrics:

Pete Townshend (from The Iron Man: The Musical, 1989)


Anderson Peterson (from The Far Country, 2005)


A more traditional rendition by OHRWURM Folk Orchestra (c. 2012)


And for Easter, from the Oremus Hymnal (1984)
All shall be well! Lift every voice on high;"Death has no more dominion but shall die."

Poetry, song lyrics, even the title of a murder mystery...Julian of Norwich's words live on. Tracking down the source of this quote, and its modern manifestations, was a lovely little task for a Monday morning.

Thanks for the inspiration, Liz!

"ALL SHALL BE WELL" By Leo Reynolds

A Troubling Non-Conversation

 Graphic from http://bannedbooksweek.org/

On Friday, a *new follower on Twitter wrote:
 *I have blacked out this person's user name because I don't have - and have no way to obtain - permission to quote him/her.

Mindful that September 30 is the first day of Banned Books Week, I saw this contact as an opportunity to seize a teachable moment. My responses were intended to be as tactful as possible:

The "conversation" did not go quite as I had hoped. The questioner had also contacted librarian Patrick Sweeney (I have no idea why we were chosen), who was happy to have me include some of his remarks:

*Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz

When Patrick mentioned that Huckleberry Finn and the Bible are more frequently challenged than Scary Stories, our questioner not only bailed from the discussion but blocked both of us from following his/her Tweets.

I'm sorry that this person took offense at our responses. Challenging a book that is being used in a classroom or library is serious business. By limiting access to literature and information sources, we are limiting personal rights. The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom provides a general overview of the issue. As I pointed out, individual school districts should have challenge policies in place and available to parents.

The fact that someone asked these questions is good. The problem lies in the refusal to engage in any type of meaningful dialog. You can't understand what you choose to condemn out of hand.


"Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage." -Winston Churchill

"Every burned book enlightens the world." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

#Eddies11

My first Tweet:

"blogging, browsing my Google Reader, trying to figure out twitter!" 04:50 PM September 29, 2007

From such a modest beginning, my network has expanded and so have my horizons. I value the connections and the conversations. Just being part of such a diverse group makes me feel like a winner!

If you would like to vote in the 2011 Edublog Awards, please visit the official site.

Pieces of the Puzzle

As the new year begins, many of us have started, or continued, participation in 365 (photo a day) groups. A Twitter friend was lamenting the fact that she couldn't use Flickr for this activity - she doesn't have a Yahoo I.D. and therefore was unable to create a Flickr account.

Her comment triggered a vague memory, so I did a bit of searching. It gave me great pleasure to to inform her that new Flickr users can now sign up - and sign in - with Google OpenID.

This little interaction highlighted for me one of the huge benefits of a PLN (personal learning network): it allows you to tap into the collective wisdom of your colleagues. In our information age, no one can be an expert in everything...but everyone can contribute something to the conversation, frequently more than they realize.

That trick or tool that's been in your repertoire for months may be a revelation to some in your network. A frustrating technical problem could be a quick fix when you crowd-source the issue.

It's nice to know that the answer to your quandary may only be a click away.




"Puzzle pieces" by liza31337

The Prevailing Common Sense of the Field

Tweckle - to heckle on a Twitter backchannel
Harshtag - a hashtag that has been given over to tweckling -broadstuff

This tweet caught my eye today:

librarybeth Conference Humiliation: They're Tweeting Behind Your Backs (Chronicle) http://bit.ly/RmPWE

and led me to Marc Parry's posting about "twecklers."

At the recent AASL Conference, Rev Up Learning, participants tweeted non-stop during the keynotes and sessions. Most of us were too busy recording salient points to engage in idle chit chat. I know that I used these streams of tagged comments as a virtual notebook, a way to capture key concepts for later evaluation.

But what if...the presentation were more of a Death by PowerPoint...say, in a mandated professional development workshop or a faculty meeting? Is engaging in backchannel exchanges rude, inappropriate, counterproductive?

One of the commenters on Parry's posting defends Tweeters, suggesting that

"The speaker did not respect the experience/knowledge of his audience (or, arguably, the prevailing common sense of the field itself), and thus the audience did not respect the speaker's time or message."

Another, sees tweckling as a positive force:

"The pressure is on conference organizers and keynote speakers - choose the speakers wisely and the speakers had better be prepared (and engaging as well). This is part of a quality improvement movement, and I'm all for it."

There were those who disagreed:

"I read the transcript of the back-channel talk. Sure the presentation may have been dated and generally awful, but I can't see that all the twittering added anything constructive. It was childish. Another thing that twitterers might want to consider is that when you defame someone via twitter you are doing so publicly, and could be opening yourself up to a lawsuit."

A study done by the University of Leicester, Twittering the student experience, highlights some of the positive educational uses of Twitter. No mention is made, however, of tweeting in the lecture hall.

In our connected world, we're frequently making things up as we go, trying to reconcile new tools and old protocol. What are the rights and responsibilities of attendees at workshops, conferences, lectures, and meetings who choose to engage in backchannel discussions?

Are there "rules" - should there be?






"Megafon" by Matti Kolu

Very Current Events

Picture Date: March 23, 2009 19:55:58

Image Creator: Webcam, Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey

This time it was Plurk that tipped me off - last night Ted Sakshaug (tsakshaug) and John Martin (EdVentures) both mentioned an erupting volcano in Alaska and provided some very useful links.

By the time I arrived at school this morning, I had already constructed a lesson plan that included:

• a CNN article describing the event and its significance to Alaskans
  
• data from the Alaska Volcano Observatory
• US Geological Survey tips on dealing with volcanic ash
• the link to AVO's Redoubt Hut webcam

Our local newspaper included a small article about the volcanic activity at Mount Redoubt, but there were none of the valuable resources that my PLN (Personal/Professional Learning Network) shared. When I thanked Ted and John, someone else saw my message and was grateful when I passed along the links.

I've had similar experiences on Twitter, learning about earthquakes, fires, and extreme weather in all parts of the world via my web of friends and virtual colleagues.

Plurk, Twitter, and other social networking sites are just beginning to demonstrate their value as educational tools. Though some users choose to focus on trifles and trivialities, that's only one aspect of the endless stream of messages. There is gold among the dross.

A Pair of Twitter Tools

After seeing them mentioned a few times on Twitter, I decided to explore two new visualization tools.

Ever wonder, "Who do you talk to most often on Twitter? Who are your closest friends? What does your social network look like?" Then give Top Twitter Friends a try. Once you share your Twitter name, the site starts to construct a web of relationships (for various reasons, this process might take a while; I took a picture after my own "graph" was 88% complete). One sidebar lists the people with whom you have the most interactive relationships, the other suggests those you might want to begin following.




Portwiture "grabs photography from Flickr that matches the content of your most recent Twitter updates. The result is a serendipitous visual representation of your Twitter profile." Options include changing the number of most commonly-used words, sorting by relevance or other restrictions, and limiting photos to a specific Flickr account.

Although at least half of my Tweets are education- or technology-related, I have been dreaming out loud about vacations and the ocean lately. Portwiture highlighted the words, "sea, work, photo, wish, break" in my collage. The resulting mashup may not be too useful, but it is striking indeed.



And despite my repetition of the word, there is room in my life for much more than work.

Helping Hand

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." -Dr. Loretta Scott

Ben Rigby shared some thoughts about "Information Age Volunteerism" in a recent post, suggesting that more people don't offer their time and services because "today's volunteer opportunities aren't suited to our lifestyles."

It occurred to me that online social networks, particularly Plurk and Twitter, offer numerous opportunities for helping others that easily fit into a busy schedule.

Over the past year, requests for everything from website addresses to conference information to proof reading have shown up in my timelines. Chances are, if you lost a link or need help troubleshooting hardware or software problems, someone will respond and offer assistance.

Sometimes there are more serious issues to deal with. I've recently seen appeals on Twitter calling for donations to assist victims of the horrific bush fires devastating southern regions of Australia. Frequently, virtual friends who are experiencing illness or loss, ask for and receive comfort and prayers from their online networks.

Our busy lives don't always permit volunteerism on a grand scale. But microblogging provides the opportunity for doing what we can in the time available to us.

Many people become volunteers upon retiring, but there's no need to wait. Micro-volunteering can be a quick and rewarding way to add some sharing to your life.

Kevin Honeycutt (shared via Plurk): “You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others – something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.” –Albert Schweitzer



"helping hand" by Paul J Everett

My Twitter Followers

Here are 592 of my nearest and dearest friends. They challenge, comfort and energize me.

To generate a Twitter Followers mosaic, go to this site. If someone knows of a similar application for Plurk, please leave the information as a comment.

I love all of my PLN!