Who will bring the ham?

It has been almost two months since my last post.   Before I return to my personal learning network and exploring how parents can use web tools to connect with education, I need to write about why I’ve been quiet for so long. 

Some time ago I wrote about curiosity and being an only child who read a lot of books and newspapers.  That early love of current events, exploring opinion, and getting the facts was spurred by my father.  He taught me many things and he shaped my personality in many ways.  

And now he is gone. The loss came too soon. In less than six months a very active man with so much to give and so much to teach became very ill.  The person who could fix anything finally had to put down his tools.

While much of what happened in early May is a blur, I do know that we could not have gotten through it without the help of our friends, neighbours, and close relatives. So many acts of kindness came our way - so many brought food - enough food to feed us for days, complete meals, no fewer than four full meals centered around beautiful baked hams.   

Life does move on and so must I.  In the last few weeks I’ve been able to catch up with piles of posts in my feedreader, peak into Twitter, update my Facebook page and listen to some great podcasts that I missed while I was unplugged. But most importantly, I’ve spent time connecting with family and friends face to face. 

As much as I believe that technology can help us form new communities - groups of people who will help us learn, give us guidance and support, open our eyes to new ideas - our online network simply cannot replace our friends and neighbours.  During a time of profound grief, when you need someone to sit in a hospital room with you all night long, or you need a shoulder to cry on,  or you need a hot meal, it is those people who are close to you that will get you through.

So for all of us who are working hard to use technology to create and support online relationships - we must also remember to nurture our offline relationships.  We have to be sure to take care of and connect with those people who will be good enough to bring the ham.  

My journey from consumer to producer

Curious: marked by a desire to investigate and learn.

I’ve always been a curious person. Perhaps it stems from being an only child who found companionship in books; perhaps it stems from having parents who valued post-secondary education enough to help me earn two degrees in very different fields; perhaps it is just a matter of my genes imparting me with a high curiosity quotient.

My curious nature has led me to be a “news junkie” and the easily consumable news offered by the internet led me to spend more and more time online.  A few years ago my time online morphed into reading (and occasionally commenting on) political blogs.  

About 18 monts ago I came across a newspaper article that struck a deep cord. It was by a technology mentor (Jeff Whipple) who was so enthusiastic about the potential of 1:1 learning environments that he was driven to let the world (okay New Brunswick) know about their potential.  I began reading his blog and eventually I contacted him to learn more. Jeff made sure I was invited to the 21C Learning conference held here last August where David Warlick was the keynote speaker. After hearing David I was hooked.

My time as a pure consumer lasted about 8 months. I had accumulated so much inspiration, information, stimulation and frustration,  I needed a place to put it all together and make sense of it. Hence Tools of Engagement, my personal learning environment, was born.

Final Note to this reflection blog - this post was originally inspired by Jeff Utecht’s post of March 12 “Moving from Consumer to Producer of Information“, but it has come full-circle this evening. After reading Will Richardson’s post ”On Infovores and Infofighters” I now understand I’m an “infovore” (an information junkie) just looking to create a little love!