The Ed. Tech Dominance of the Edublogosphere
Justin Bathon on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 1:19PM Scott McLeod (an education technology theorist - is time for your own wikipedia page Scott?) over at Dangerously Irrelevant (a godfather edublog) has put a list together of the Top 50 P-12 Edublogs ... at least as ranked by Technorati authority. It must have taken forever to put together the list and I applaud Scott's efforts. But, the list is dominated by Education Technology blogs, as Jon Becker noted in the comments, which I agreed with. This has triggered Jon, who is also an ed. tech. blogger although he occasionally writes on legal issues, to write a post on his blog about the Ed. Tech. Echo Chamber. As a friend to Scott and Jon, I want to share some thoughts from a non-education technology blogger's perspective.
First, I 100% agree with Jon on his assessment of the education technology blogosphere as an echo chamber. The education technology field online has become so large with so many bloggers that it has become somewhat of a self-contained community, at least to an outside observer like myself. As a generalization (and with knowledge that there are many exceptions) an Ed. Tech. person will write something which gets commented on by ed. tech. folks, gets referenced by other ed. tech. people in their own blogs, and then there may be a Twitter conversation on it and finally it may even be the topic of conversation at an education technology specific conference, of which there are many but NECC is next. All of this is perfectly acceptable behavior and education technology is a healthy, functioning, twenty-first century social network. Something to be proud of, actually, and I can only dream of the day when educational law will look the same.
But, here are the rubs:
First, as far as I can tell, the ed. tech. field sees as Goal #1 the spreading of education technology knowledge to all k-12 educators which will help students learn. Well, when you are twittering, it is hard to bring in non-education tech. folks. It is a struggle just to get K-12 educators to visit blogs. If it were not for Google, I am not even sure how well we would be exceeding at that. To expect them to participate in Twitter conversations is unreasonable - so those conversations are 100% insulated conversations.
Second, largely the ed. tech. field seems to be expecting new bloggers to come to them. Why? Isn't that the opposite of Goal #1 above? When you see the blogosphere as a competitive marketplace for ideas, other bloggers on different topics (who will probably not be giving you Technorati bumps) are competitors, no? Why promote another's blog, especially a non-ed. tech. blog who is not going to reference you back? To me, that is the exact wrong way to visualize the education blogosphere if your goal is to nurture new edubloggers so that they can in turn help their students.
Third, the dominating ed. tech. social network is scary to outsiders. 
If you are an insider, this is probably hard to understand, but you scare people. New non-ed. tech. bloggers are wide eyed and enthusiastic and think they are on the cutting edge of technology and get to share their ideas about X subject with the world! Yeah! They got themselves a new .blogspot web address and are using a standard template and then they see something like Scott's post yesterday. 50 blogs all with Technorati ratings over 100. Or they visit a page and see something like the visitor location tracker of Students 2.0 (pictured). Or the visit the professionally designed techLEARNING blog. Or they see that Education Week is now picking up bloggers. Or, yes, they see your new Voki, Jon. Then they learn of this thing called widgets and aggregators and podcasting and this and that and the other and it starts to get a bit scary. I don't blame ed. tech. folks for always pushing the envelop and wanting to try new things, that's their job really, but it makes for a pretty scary learning curve that I am sure is discouraging to new bloggers.
Now, again, I am just making (over)generalized observations as an outsider with a Technorati rating of 20 (So, according to the edublogosphere, I have little authority anyway). I have learned a lot personally from the ed. tech. blogosphere and I pass along these constructively critical comments as a friend. But, I do not think the Ed. Tech. Dominance of the edublogosphere is a necessarily healthy thing. It is concerning to me that we are primarily using Web 2.0 devices to ... talk about Web 2.0 devices.
Reader Comments (17)
You nailed it right there.
A. Why wouldn't you expect educational technologists to be the first group of educators to dive into the use of social media and other digital technologies? Why wouldn't you expect early adopters to be early adopters and later adopters to be, well, later adopters?
B. What's the difference between a 'community' and an 'echo chamber?' Do you consider Manchester United fans or Lionel Trains enthusiasts or Trekkies to be 'echo chambers?'
C. Why wouldn't you expect entry into any new environment to be intimidating?
D. Why wouldn't you expect any large, complex, self-organizing network - including the edublogosphere - to have a classic long-tail distribution, where a few have the majority of the attention and the many have less of the attention (although still valuable things to contribute)?
A couple of other thoughts:
1. You say that "Goal #1" of educational technology advocates [is] "the spreading of education technology knowledge to all k-12 educators which will help students learn." That's probably fair, although I'd say it's preparing kids for the 21st century (rather than the 19th). But your wording works. But then you go on about Twittering and blogging, which are just a couple of tools in educational technologists' arsenals. There are numerous pathways to achieving the goal that you state and educational technologists are taking all of them. So don't stereotype unfairly. Yes, those tools are popular. No, they're neither the only path nor the end goal (and few would tell you otherwise).
2. I don't speak for the ed tech field. I don't want that burden and refuse that responsibility. I do recognize that it's a harsh world out there and, in the end, no one really cares about new entrants into the blogosphere unless they add value (as perceived by others, not the new entrant). That said, the educational blogger community is one of the most generous, embracing, welcoming groups I have experienced. Time and time again people volunteer their energy, expertise, and precious time to help each other. That holds true up and down the 'authority' spectrum. So it's not that we "expect new bloggers to come to [us]." It's just that in an attention economy we all only have so much time - to write, to help, to read. Don't fault people for not having enough time to serve the world at large. This is the way the online world works. Wishing otherwise isn't going to change that reality (and, of course, the physical world works the same way). And, just for the record, a number of us try very hard to find, recognize, and highlight new voices. To be fair you should acknowledge that too rather than claiming - without any large-scale (or any at all?) evidence - that there are edubloggers who are reluctant to promote others' blogs because they're worried that they'll be crowded out of the attention economy.
Methinks that you paint with too broad a brush, my friend...
A. I do expect them to be early adopters. I want them pushing technology forward. They would not be doing their job if they were not. But can't spend all your time pushing the envelope forward. Sometimes you have to stop and help others catch up.
B. This is a difficult question, but I would say there is a difference between those things you list and the Ed. Tech. Echo Chamber. Manchester U. fans are feeding off an outside entity. The on field activities largely drive their conversations. I know because I am a pretty rabid Cardinals fans and I enjoy games on mlb.tv with hundreds of other Cardinal fans at vivaelbirdos. In the Ed. Tech Blogosphere, a lot of the discussion centers around ... other discussion. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but at least to an outside observer some of the primary content of ed. tech. blogs ... are ed. tech. blogs. To me that is an echo. Obviously, this blog entry is an echo of your's and Jon's.
C. Again, a solid point which is hard to argue with. But, we talk about how the Information Revolution breaks down barriers to entry. Should we be content allowing barriers of entry into the blogosphere? Wasn't the point to get rid of those barriers to entry?
D. The Long Tail is on my reading list and I haven't got to it yet. But, I get your point. However, I am not totally sure how it was related to mine. I don't care if there is a long tail or if lots of blogs exist with only a few getting most of the attention. What concerned me more was the content of the few. Now you are 100% correct that in an information marketplace the most desired content should float to the top ... so it is not a problem of information movement, it is a problem of the definition of the marketplace. That so many of your top 50 are ed. tech. blogs is more a statement of the Web education marketplace ... which is clearly not reflective of the non-Web education marketplace. That is what needs to change and that transition should be the goal of ed. tech. folks. Obviously, it is easier to talk to people that are willing to listen and the thing about the Internet is that it really is no one individual's responsibility to expand the social network ... but that should make it everyone's responsibility.
Sorry to pick on Twittering. That is just a fascinatingly odd concept to me so I overuse it in examples. I could have and should have used others but I think the same concepts largely apply - Jon Becker's use of white boards in West Virginia as an example the other day is a good one too.
Obviously you know that I too benefit from the kindness of the ed. tech community. You in particular have been and will continue to be an enormous help and inspiration to me. But, is it not contradictory to claim on one hand this "attention economy" implying a marketplace and competition and then on the other claim that everyone wants to help each other? Perhaps it is not ... but trying to figure out that line between competing with others ideas and supporting others ideas is a difficult task.
Too broad a brush ... guilty. I knew I was painting like that. Sorry.
B1. Maybe you need to read more ed tech blogs more often? The content I see relates to digital technologies and educators and students and classrooms and schools and administrators and global workforce changes and research and, yes, sometimes they talk about other ed tech blogs and/or the act of blogging too (because blogs are creating opportunities for people to become global publishers and that's important).
B2. So baseball fans talking about baseball - or Trekkies talking about Star Trek - are a community? But ed tech advocates talking about ed tech are an echo chamber? I don't see the difference.
C. What barriers of entry are there to the blogosphere other than natural ones such as personal reluctance to enter and the fact that people have too little time to read everyone else? The tools are free ... many current bloggers go out of their way to encourage and help newbies ... what more do you want? ... what are you looking for that doesn't currently exist? See my chart. Students 2.0 and Angela Maiers and Eduwonkette just wrote about stuff that others wanted to read and their readership grew. Oh, and isn't this all EASIER than trying to get published and recognized in print or non-Internet channels? What's your beef?
D. It sounds like you're wishing that Rogers' stages of innovation adoption didn't exist. That somehow later adopters would be earlier adopters, even in areas in which they're less knowledgeable. That's not going to happen. There's absolutely no reason to expect that non-tech-oriented people would be more likely to dive into a technology-driven arena compared to those who are tech-inclined. Again, as I noted up in part A of this comment, most ed tech folks I know DESPERATELY WANT more non-tech people to be participating and using these 21st century communication and learning tools. Many of them are dedicating their lives, professions, and personal time toward this very transition that you're desiring.
E2. There's a difference between 1) the competition that occurs in YOUR OWN BRAIN for what to pay attention to, and 2) competition BY OTHERS for your limited attention. #1 is a fact of life. #2 has to do with intent. I see a lot of overt #2 by advertisers / marketers and have yet to see any of #2 by ed tech bloggers (exception: me. I have a personal and explicit desire to capture any and all eyeballs 'cause I'm arrogant enough to think that I have good ideas for school leaders and want them to listen!).
I guess the ed. tech blogosphere looks different to me as an outsider than it probably looks to an insider (and, admittedly, I do need to become more familiar with it). I just see a good number of posts that have the ed. tech. blogosphere as the intended audience instead of the larger education community (which I realize ed. tech. is part of).
I think the problem is that a pre-existing ed. tech audience already exists and people like to write for that audience. This post for example is probably going to wind up the most commented on post I have ever written - and that annoys me. Is it the best post I have ever written? Nope. And that is the problem to me. Everyone wants to be read and linked to and included on lists like yours ... and the easiest way to do that in the education blogosphere is to talk about Ed. Tech. issues, because just like this post that is the most sure fire way to get hits and comments and discussions and all the other cool stuff about blogging happening on your site. Thus, there is an incentive to write ed. tech. oriented posts for the ed. tech community. And I think that built in incentive is what is creating the echo to me and all that bouncing off each other is what is creating these high Technorati ratings for Ed. Tech blogs over other highly worthy blogs such as the ones Jon pointed out in his post.
I certainly do not want to insult the ed. tech. blogosphere. The ed. tech. blogosphere is leading the way here and blazing a trail that non ed. tech. bloggers like myself can follow in. All bloggers are in their debt.
That said, I also think Justin B is way off track as well. It seems to me that the whole drive of the edubloggosphere is not so much a push to get teachers to adopt new technologies but rather to push the pedagogical envelope. Technology does not improve learning. It is how technology is used that gives it it's power. In the case of education, the new technology tools are excellent at steering their teacher users toward a more progressive and constructivist approach to teaching and learning. It is just as likely that the majority of Scott's list are edtech bloggers because edtech is currently the strongest force in our profession changing how teachers teach and how learners learn. When we are talking about this cool tool or that new thing we are subsequently talking about how we are going to engage students. We are talking about how we are going to empower them and give them opportunities that were not available to prior generations of learners. At a certain point talking tools is talking pedagogy. Those not on board with the new tools will soon not be on board with the new pedagogy.
However, I do think it is a stretch to correlate ed. tech's dominance of the edublogosphere with their real life influence.
"It is just as likely that the majority of Scott's list are edtech bloggers because edtech is currently the strongest force in our profession changing how teachers teach and how learners learn."
Possible, but I would think standardize tests would have a fairly decent claim at that mantle and yet there is not a substantial standardized testing social network in the blogosphere (at least that I am aware of ... I think my blogosphere ignorance is becoming more apparent with each reply).
And why aren't ed tech bloggers allowed to blog about ed tech? You blog about school law. No one's complaining that you're not blogging about homeschooling or early childhood education or dyslexia. If you want more non-ed-tech people participating in these kinds of discussion, do what many of us are doing which is working our rears off to help them learn how and why to do so.
Blogging has been around what, 6-7 years now and prevalent for 4 or 5? At what point to we begin to get concerned that your list is still dominated by ed. tech. folks?
Clearly, Ed. tech folks should use these tools first. I have no disagreements with the diffusion of innovation theory whatsoever. I totally agree with you that's is what is happening. But how long does the diffusion take and at what point do we begin to get concerned about it not happening fast enough? Do we have a baselike like the time of diffusion of e-mail?
Does anyone have a responsibility for speeding up the diffusion of innovation? Is this just a natural process that cannot be affected by humans?
My feeling is that it should be a goal of the ed. tech. community (and me too) to speed the diffusion up as fast as possible. And your second paragraph leads me to believe that you sort of see that as the goal as well. And I think you and the community are doing a great job of it, actually. I mean, I am blogging, and without Dangerously Irrelevant and Did You Know 2.0 and other stuff ... I might not be. So, in my mind, you are speeding the diffusion of innovation process already and my post was only meant as suggestions for speeding it further from an outsider's perspective. Truly, I didn't mean any harm.
So, anyway, if that is the goal (to speed the diffusion, to bring new people on board, to encourage new blog-based social learning networks) doesn't that mean that at some point your top 50 list needs to look quite a bit different?
For ed. tech. bloggers to win ... don't they need to lose in some ways (not all, but some like being a top ranked Technorati blog). Don't we want a lot more eduwonkette's to take up those spots? But, how does that square with the attention economy and the marketplace of ideas? How does that square with Seth Godin's Brutal Fact #1: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2008/04/dear-jon-letter.html
There is an incompatibility in those 2 things that I cannot get over. I am sorry that I am having a difficult time articulating that incompatibility. I remember this time when I was a boy I saw an interview with a local humane shelter director who said on TV that her ultimate goal is to not have a job. It seems like that is what is happening here. The ultimate goal of ed. tech. bloggers should be to get their names off your Technorati list.
How long does change in K-12 schools take? A lot longer than 3 to 7 years. And in academia? Even longer than K-12. That's the problem. The tech changes faster than our current institutions. It's a disruptive innovation. Which is why many people (both bloggers and respected academics) think the current systems are going to break apart under the weight of irrelevance (e.g., do we honestly think that 20-30 years from now kids will be sitting in desks in rows, listening to teachers lecture, doing worksheets, with little to no technology?).
1. What would you like ed tech bloggers to be doing that they're not?
2. What can YOU do personally to help achieve the situation you desire?
3. In a digital, global world, don't we eventually want everyone to become an ed tech person?
4. In a digital, global world, why shouldn't the responsibility rest on the backs of the tech refusers rather than the tech advocates?
5. What are your specific 'suggestions for speeding [the diffusion process] further?'
6. I don't see as incompatible the notions that a) I want lots of readers, and b) I want other good writers to have lots of readers too. At some point we'll hit saturation (e.g., how many school law blogs do there need to be? more than a couple; less than a million), but we're not anywhere close to that point yet. There's lots of space for creative, innovative, interesting, valuable writing. I can work to increase my readership while simultaneously helping you increase yours, both of us recognizing along the way that we're competing with every other blogger / TV station / web site / podcast channel / print media outlet / family / friends / hobbies / etc. for people's limited attention.
Most of them members of the "edublogosphere" or whatever you want to call it are also members of local education communities somewhere. The online activities are only a part of the picture. The off-line conversations that they inspire aren't visible for analysis, but my personal experience would indicate that the ed tech community is far from an echo chamber.
But, my concern was exactly what you stated: "blogs themselves aren't likely to attract the majority of k-12 teachers." Why not? Is it a content problem? Is there not interesting enough content in English education to keep your normal, non-techy 35 year old English teacher engaged? And if not, don't the English teachers that are currently connected have some responsibility to help build that social network so that teachers can enter the conversation on whatever interests them?
As for the maps, who cares what maps Scholastic is pawning these days when there are tools like Google Earth, Google Maps with Street View, Virtual Earth, and the like. The same is true for textbooks. I for one am all for never spending money on textbooks ever again.
I suspect the answer to your last question here is the reason ed tech dominates their posts is ed tech is the one thing they have most in common with other educators using this medium. They talk tech on their blogs because when they talk tech they find conversation. If they talked geometry or emotional behavior disorders the chances are less that they will find engaging conversations (the readers have not come yet). The other possible reason there are so few posts that have to do with other topics is most educators I think feel limited in what control they have in their classrooms (at least under NCLB). We tend to accept what we cannot change and dwell on those we can. We can use technology to affect the changes we want and we can see immediate results with that technology, when it comes to other education issues our hands are more tied.