In my hollar, natives still use the expression “nary”. Only the way they pronounce it, it rhymes with “sorry”. And it’s clipped at the end so that it sounds like “Nar”. Here’s some dialogue to demonstrate.
Terry: Hey, Fred. Loved the worm post.
Fred: Thanks, Terry, but I’m puzzled.
Terry: What do you mean?
Fred: Nary a notice of it earlier.
Terry: Nar one?
Fred: Nar one.
Fred Mindlin is the very real correspondent above and his puzzlement is also concrete, too. I share his puzzlement over this particular post which is real universe of discourse and in my own lack of traction in my own work. I responded to him on the #CLMOOC Facebook page. Because that is a closed space (until the end of this six week MOOC at least) I carry over the response into this open space.
Here is my soliloquy from Facebook in response
I am not surprised. Blogs are easy to ignore, anything smacking of ‘long form’ reflections get short shrift in our nano aware, attention-centric social networks. I believe that “attention” is part of the commons and in order for networks to become communities, for us to become humans instead of nodes, we have to figure out a way to share that attention. It is a limited resource, what Nobel economist Elinor Ostrom called a “common pool resource”. She spent her whole life chronicling how we can manage that resource in other ways beside the fake invisible hand of the market. I am thinking more and more that we need rules to do this otherwise there is no room for Fred or me or newbies and damn sure no breathing space for the lurkers.
And this put me of a mind to bring together two of the greatest thinkers I know, Thomas Jefferson and Elinor Ostrom.
I am going to be thinking about this a lot as #CLMOOC shifts into creeper gear (farm tractor terminology) and even more as I rethink the classroom space as a commons, a shared attention space. Jefferson will remind me that it is the folk who know the territory and Ostrom will remind me that there is a lot of successful practice in the world that we can turn into useful theory including #CLMOOC.
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One way to think about the blog is to see it as public reflective space for personal writing. By that I mean it is like a journal which we write mainly to consolidate and focus our thoughts in written form. If “nar one” response occurs, it is par for the course. However, if what we have said strikes a chord someone significant on the short form like Twitter may launch a crowd into our reflective space. In that case, it makes sense to be sure we write with as much clarity and honesty as possible. Then, our consolidated thinking can have a chance to make an impact on others.
It may not happen, but that’s okay if we benefit when we’ve clarified our thinking for ourselves.
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I agree with:
blog as reflective space
a journal for our own process
Nar one is par for the course
someone may attend
duty to think clearly
we never know what adjacent door we open for others
What I want you to think about more:
public blog is not just a reflective space–it intends an audience that claps or boos but doesn’t just sit on its hands
attention is the coin of the realm else why make any writing public, I could just hide in my long disused Live Journal space
attention is a common pool resource and it is not infinite and it must be shared for the space to thrive
we need to make spaces where ‘nar one’ is not only unthinkable but it is not allowed ( yeah, that’s pretty incendiary isn’t it?)
we need to get something for the social and personal capital we spend and part of that is attention.
we need to devise spaces or find spaces where this happens and if it doesn’t then the space automatically flips the auto-destruct sequence and it is done.
I hope you have time to attend to this. There are spaces out there where this happens: google groups, forums, hobbyist sites, Ravelry, #clmooc sometimes when it strives. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished’ (http://genius.com/3298986)
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I am pretty intent on checking out everything #CLMOOC-ish on TWitter, FB and G+, but even with that I am not able to see everything that was posted. Not sure how I missed Fred Mindlin’s worm post. But as much effort as I make to see it all, I am sure many people do not have that time. And even with my effort, I can’t respond to everything I see. And I still miss posts like this one. It is a big frustration. So much good stuff and just not enough people interacting. Sometimes I feel like it’s the same 20 people who are doing most of the interaction. Then I feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of wanting everyone to know they are seen, heard and appreciated.
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You have done and gone way beyond any rule of reciprocation that any reasonable person could fashion. I hear your cry. And I fer damned sher ain’t calling you out although it might seem that this was a general condemnation. Everybody ought to get a certain number of pay attention to me cards that you earn via a karma network of good deeds done publicly and privately. I think Fred inadvertently played one of those cards and I reacted–yeah, give Fred some cred because he damned well deserves it. I think the greatest sin in any community that has the stones to call itself one is to be hidden in plain sight. Criminal. Hence my overreaction. I would do the same for you (have done) and you would do akin for me (have done). Keep on!