Comments on: Going Live vs Doing Life

By: Has Social Networking become the New Society | Networked Learner News

Has Social Networking become the New Society | Networked Learner News — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:15:39 +0000

[...] light of my recent post about living the moment rather than being consumed with documenting it, I was interested to come [...]

By: technicolor

technicolor — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:28:13 +0000

I agree with you totally. Sometimes I get so caught up in a moment, that I forget to take a picture, and I am not a twitterholic. I joined twitter because I want to see whats going on in the world of technology. But I don’t really “do” twitter, because I try as much as I can to enjoy my days and bask in the moments….for me, technology is great, but secondary. The enjoyment of life is always first.

By: Steve H.

Steve H. — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:12:28 +0000

I think your coming at something that relates to teaching, but from another angle: we’re pressed to give more and more reporting of activities and students’ performance, via websites and on-line grade books, and so on. Doing so is clearly useful, but it also takes away from focusing on students’ work. Testing also asks us to report out from the classroom, but prepping for tests and taking them, while having a certain value, detracts from the best kind of learning.

What’s the trick to balancing such pushme-pullme conflicts?

By: Bill Genereux

Bill Genereux — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:25:20 +0000

Chris,

I completely identify with this, having experienced it many times myself. I’ve owned a Sony camcorder of one kind or another since 1987. I have to remind myself to break it out once in a while, or I would have no video memories at all. Years ago I realized that all of my video recording (and to a lesser extent still photography) was causing me to miss out on the actual event. So many times I don’t even bother, preferring to be involved as an actual spectator at the event rather than simply a recorder.

I still don’t have any footage of my 6 y/o daughter playing her first year of t-ball this summer. I’m going to have to try to make a video at least once. But you are so right. You miss out when you are recording.

The same is true of twitter. I saw the same thing at SXSW this spring. Everyone busily typing away, while I jotted a few notes in a notebook. I think I probably had the richer experience. I even recently referred back to a couple of audio podcasts, when reviewing my notes. I’m not good enough at twitter to know how to go back three months to see what I posted then.

As to your question of balance, I think you have to make a conscious effort to be balanced. In my case, I have to remember to make at least some archive, recording or other documentation since I much prefer to enjoy the event itself. On the other extreme, if you are missing everything, I think you need to realize when it is happening and just put the camera down. This is not a hard thing for me to do when I look at the hours of unedited video footage I have already recorded and the scores of unpublished photographs already living on my hard drive.

Great observations, Chris!

By: Jenny Luca

Jenny Luca — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:53:35 +0000

Nice food for thought here Chris. Just wrote a post referring to what you had to say -linked of course!
http://jennylu.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/necc-its-all-about-conversation-even-at-100am/ Thanks for making me think!
Jenny.

By: NECC - it’s all about conversation (even at 1.00am!) « Lucacept - intercepting the Web

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:41:00 +0000

[...] Chris Betcher (Betchaboy) tonight that has made me think – always a good thing! It’s called Going Live vs Doing Life and I find myself agreeing with Chris’ sentiments. The gist of what he is saying is that [...]

By: Nadine N

Nadine N — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:38:35 +0000

Chris, I’m not at NECC, (although I wish I was there). I’ve only attended NECC in person once, in 2001 when it was in Chicago. Every year however, I do my best to keep track of what happens at the conference by reading blogs, going the the NECC website and downloading presentations. After NECC, I can see the impact of the knowledge and the sharing by the articles and blog posts that are written by those who attended. Last year, it was all about Second Life. This year, Twitter has taken over. I follow the tweets and I feel like I’m there – but I am beginning to completely understand what you are saying. It’s difficult to really soak it all in, when there is so much digital conversation going on. Yesterday morning, I was trying to see what was going on at EDC, and Darren Draper made the most interesting tweet:
“ddraper One thing to remember, NECCers: You can either be a part of the experience or record the experience. It’s very difficult to do both well. 08:12 AM June 28, 2008 from twhirl”
Wow, I thought….it must be a real challenge for those who are there to keep us who are not there present (virtually) – although I’m sure that is not the only intent of all of the video streams, live blogging, and fervent tweeting (and/or plurking) – for us Non-NECCers. I look forward to trying to keep up as much as I can, and I appreciate so much the energy, passion and enthusiasm of those educators who have gathered at NECC this year. Have a great time! (Maybe you should all hope for whales and birds this week.)

By: Andrea H.

Andrea H. — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:08:07 +0000

sweet post. I am with you on this. I have had some guilty moments when I am the proud parent WITHOUT the video camera because that is just how I am. I am totally over the guilt now, though. I try to document what I can, when I want to. Will I miss and forget some things? Sure. But OH WELL. Everything, even videos on youtube (as good an option as that is for now, and it is a great one) is just stuff at some point. Will those who come after us know to find our videos on youtube? I have in my closet a box filled with some old, old home movies. I don’t even know what format they are. Someday I hope to have them digitized. Anyway, I digress.

About the NECC tweets….also know what you are saying here. It is great to be able to get a peek into the learning and sharing that is going on there. I am very grateful to people who are sharing since I can not be there. But, after watching a ustream of a group of folks having dinner the other night I was a bit disillusioned. My thoughts were the same as yours in this post…I felt like a voyeur, I felt silly watching them eat. I think that the idea (if I may try to imaging what they were thinking) was, hey, this is a tech conference…let’s digitize and share every bit of it, but I think that some parts of it (like dinner at a restaurant) are better being enjoyed among those (lucky ones) who are there. Notes from the sessions are what I would most like to see shared on twitter and blogs, as well as maybe a few choice photos, videos, etc.