I’ve now been blogging for one year. With encouragement from Wendy and Clare, I tentatively began with 3 entries using Blogger, then switched to the current Movable Type (MT) platform, where I’ve written 53 notes (47 published, 6 draft) and accumulated 12 comments.
My original intention in keeping a weblog was to procrastinate from thesis writing by playing with technology make more regular entries in my research journal. I hoped that making my evolving thoughts public online would motivate me to write more. While I still keep a private, paper-based journal to record my research thoughts on a daily (or near daily) basis that I might not want to share with others, I think the practice of keeping a weblog has been worth the effort.
First, I can readily see (MT generates a list of entries) that I keep returning to some ideas repeatedly over time, and that these ideas are sometimes related to ideas that some of my colleagues blogs about. Second, I’ve also learned how to prioritize my time better with regard to my research, project research, and teaching. It may not be apparent from reading my blog entries, but some entries remind me of how easy it is to be distracted by projects that can be completed faster than my thesis and by teaching where I want to make sure I’m doing it well because my field is education. Finally, through reading other blogs, I see that my experiences bear many similarities with the experiences of other academics. The doctoral process can be unnerving. Sometimes, I wonder why I’m researching my thesis topic, enforcing a tight schedule towards completion, and beating myself up for not doing this better and faster. Reading about others experiencing similar doubts is strangely reassuring, like I am not alone.
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