I try to get the most I can out of a network and that often includes social aspects beyond more pragmatic concerns. Am I only responsible to the members of my network when I engage them sociably instead of or in addition to whatever professional interaction we have? I think not.

I take far more learning and resources from my network on Twitter than I contribute so I am maximizing my participation, but I also feel the obligation and need to contribute what I can when I can. I resent my followers who contribute nothing but benefit from following me.

It is not guilt that propels me to contribute to my network, but rather then understanding that if everyone is only taking, the network cannot exist. If I am getting more from the network than I put into it, it is in my interest to maintain the continued existence of the network and to do that I have to participate and contribute.

Oddly, that’s precisely how I think of my community.

Our second phase it to put together tips from teachers, which we are doing as part of a contest at http://contest.thewritingteacher.org. And, we have plans to expand from there. All resources will be free.

If you have thoughts for an article, please let us know.

Mirch Weisburghs last blog post..A Few Principles of Writing Instruction by Michael Hebert

One example: during the election, I was really discouraged with all the negative and (frankly) off-putting comments and blog posts I read by educators from whom I expected more. In a blog post, I noted that, in a community that is supposedly helping to move schools into learning communities, many educators were acting like children who couldn’t agree to disagree in a civil manner. To that extent, I think we do have a responsibility, especially for young people, to show how we help each other along through sharing and respecting each other, even when we disagree- not starting flame wars in Twitter and blogs.

Michelle Baldwins last blog post..Classroom Blogging with a Purpose

As westerners we have an ingrained need to push ourselves and fulfill our needs, but as our world becomes more and more connected the eastern thoughts of the community must come into play and find a place in our networks, where our cross continent connections are the strongest.

And a combining of the two, a need to take care of the individual and the community, creates Bud’s “Selfish Selflessness.”

Not sure where the dichotomy is… to talk about two things and deconstruct where they don’t intersect is not to say that they are the only two members of a given set. Plus… can you elaborate what you mean by ‘western’ – my guess is that you mean something like ‘modernist’ as the ‘eastern’ that would be the other half of the ‘western/eastern’ dichotomy that you’ve constructed is now very much more ‘western’ than the west is…

dave cormiers last blog post..Community Responsibility vol 1 – OMG is this a community?

For what it’s worth, networks are about pushback, and if we are too afraid of violating rules of those communities at the expense of moving our thinking forward, than I believe that is a mistake.

From the few times that you and I have been in the same discussions, either synchronously or asynchronously, your contrarian viewpoints always serve to move conversation in challenging directions. For a good deal of us, this is our main source of professional development, and if it is grounded in solid thinking that challenges our status quo, but still is bound by civility, I think we are all the better for it.

Patricks last blog post..Daily Diigo Links 11/15/2008

Assuming that I buy into the dichotomy given (responsibility to community from within and to oneself in a network), the troublesome questions remain regarding productive activity when in both simultaneously.

But I don’t think that dichotomy is particularly accurate. A healthy community will provide rewards for being part of that community the presumably outweigh the costs of taking the community into account– otherwise, why belong? But a healthy community can only exist when people also act for their own “selfish” ends– otherwise, again, there’s no value in being part of it.

And let’s not forget the problem that in any particular instance and with any particular utterance you might be working in your network but in my community, or vice-versa.

Finally, I imagine I could rustle up as many that feel as I do– that the most valuable contributions we make come when we forget ourselves in the heat of enthusiasm and passion– but in your model here we can’t both be right. That seems a bit Western and limited.

Chris Lotts last blog post..Linklog: 2008-11-12

In my network relationships or environments, it’s not useful for me to act as others would prefer I act; it’s preferable to act in a way that maximizes the value I receive from those networks. I find that there’s great value, both to me and to others, when I act in such a way.

Your words:

the older I get, the more I notice that the truly interesting bits of the world and of myself are the contradictory ones.

I enjoy and gain value from following folks who are doing interested things, and who find beauty and passion and anger and whatever from the world in which they regularly engage. I’m quite content to follow along behind someone blazing a trail of their own understanding. I think others are, too.

Remind me of the final words of On The Road by Jack Kerouac:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

These are the types of people I want to see in my Twitter feed! Thanks for, unbeknownst to you, becoming a mentor of sorts for me.

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