Vanity file and Creative Commons

I had nearly forgotten that at the bottom of each page of this blog rest these words:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

 The implications of putting such a statement there came home to me when I looked at today's snail mail. The "winter SOLSTICE 2005" E-Zine from Ms Elaine Harger from out in Snoqualmie, WA, appeared. Tightly bound with Scotch tape, it's a wonderful creation - seven 8 1/2" x 11" photocopied sheets, folded in half, becoming a small booklet of a marvelously illustrated personal information, all making sort of,  well, a big Christmas letter. And I received it because Ms Harger reprinted my blog bit about Bullshit Literacy. She was very sweet and included a handwritten note (great handwriting!) stating  her "rule is that, whoever's name appears gets a copy." I could not be more proud of being "published."

My basement office holds several large plastic tubs I call my vanity files. These hold the physical copy of every magazine, journal or book in which my writing has appeared. Why I started collecting these materials and why I continue to do so, I haven't quite figured out. Perhaps it is to simply annoy my children who will need to dispose of them when I shuffle off this mortal coil. Or that deep down I don't trust computers keep my words of wisdom into perpetuity - that only paper and ink can be counted on not to crash. Anyway, I am proudly adding Ms Harger's E-Zine to the files.

A person has to wonder how many places one's writing will appear in print under the Creative Common's license. I would guess Ms Harger is uncommonly polite in sending me a copy of her publication - and that I can never hope to know about most printings. Is this how sperm donors feel?

I'd just never thought anyone would actually take advantage of the Creative Commons license!

 Anyway, I wish Ms Harger all the very best and thank her for her newsletter. I was genuinely touched by her bittersweet request to newsletter readers to "share a beer and have a chat" with her estranged friend Charles still in NYC. Would that anyone who once loved me, think of me even half as kindly as Ms Harger thinks of Charles.

Antidote

As an antidote to my Doubting Thomas last entry, be sure to read Jacquie Henry's great "I Will Blog Because..." on her Wanderings site. It'll restore your faith in blogging.

A little learning - redux

In yesterday's post, I admitted having grave doubts about the value of blogging as both a reader and a writer. Will Richardson asked why. Here are a few reasons (none, which for now, will stop me from blogging):

1. Might time spend reading others' blogs be better spent reading longer, edited, researched, whatever, materials such as a book or professional magazine? A few months ago, I asked the same question and concluded the answer was "no." I was finding information reading blogs that seemed more valuable than that I found reading books.Now that the bloom is off the blog rose , I am less sure.  I am deleting blogs more rapidly than I add them and skim most of those still in my aggregator. I share David Jakes’ “One Big Taffy Pull" observation that all this talk doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere. (But then I've been reading pretty much the same editorial content in the Kappan for the past 20 years and don't know how much that august publication has actually changed education either. I DO know my book reading seems to have fallen from about three titles a month to one since I started reading blogs.
2. Might my time spent writing in a blog be better spend writing more thoughtful articles, crafting intriging columns, or revising one of my very dated books? While this is really fun (writing without an editor is like dating without a chaperone sorta), is there much value to anyone in slapping up one's every random thought? Or worse, am I writing even when I have nothing to say, but simply for the joy of the process? I have every right, I guess, to waste my own time, but should I be wasting the time of those who might be reading? This simply does not feel like hard enough work for this Scandihoovian not to feel a little guilty.
   
3. As Laura suggested in a reply to yesterday's blog entry, might my time be better spent building F2F relationships? Getting to get know the neighbors, volunteering at the soup kitchen, or, for heaven forbid, talking to the LWW? Am I even neglecting other virtual relationships with friends and relatives?
   
4. Will blogs really replace the good old newsletter? Blogging, despite RSS feeds, is not truly a push technology like e-mail (or a delivered newpaper). One still has to go somewhere (an RSS aggregator) to see if there is new content. It took a very long time for our district to build a critical mass of e-mail readers. How long will it be before enough teachers have feed aggregators that they check on a daily basis before I can stop sending the e-mails that say "hey, I updated the tech dept blog!"? A blog that complements, rather than replaces, a school library or technology newsletter seems more prudent at this point - increasing one's work load to what real benefit?
   

I must admit that I share many, if not most of the same concerns from librarians that Debbie listed in her KQ editorial. Does this mean you can take the boy out of the library but you can't take the librarian out of the boy?

Off to read a book. Right after I check my e-mail and Bloglines...