Interviews - talking about myself in the OPEN

I've had four interviews now, one video, two audio and one text. I have to admit my favourite was the text one, but it took the longest. I wrote and rewrote my responses to Doug Peterson's questions to make sure it read the way I'd want it said. I was thinking out loud without really talking out loud. Here are the links to these four interviews:

• 101 Open Stories with Jenni Hayman
• Getting Air with Terry Greene
• Que Sera Sarah? with Sarah Lalonde
• An Interview with ... by Doug Peterson

I blogged [What's Your Story?] before I did the interview with Jenni. As I was talking with Jenni, I was referencing the blog post to make sure I'd mention those key points I'd written about. So, in a fashion, I was writing this interview as well as doing the video recording. Writing and thinking go hand in hand for me. Drawing and thinking also works to tease out what's really being said.

Now, I'm returning to the audio and video interviews and getting a transcribed version, as part of my ethnographic study into my open educational practices - how I teach, what I teach and why I teach they way I do. Some insights will occur, I'm sure.

After reading Ethnography in the Digital Internet Era: From fields to flows, descriptions to interventions by Annette N. Markham, there will be some deeper inner dialogues about this work I'm doing. The frameworks described are already tinkling through my brain:

• internet as tool, medium, or network of connectivity; ethnographies of networked sociality
• internet as place or world; ethnographies of immersive environments
• internet as a way of being; ethnographies of the contemporary social world in a digital age

Concepts like 'boundary marking' and 'iterative oscillation' are bringing forward some issues I need to consider in this particular circumstance. More to come.

Voices in the Air

Yesterday, the podcast that I had recorded with Sarah Lalonde last Friday, went on the air. The conversation was tweeted out to my students and several took time to listen. Some connected conversation happened in class today as a followup. Episode 35: Digital and Media Literacies

Today, as part of my class time, some students who wanted to try podcasting, were given the opportunity to do so. During this time, one student made the decision to also participate - confirming my believe that, given a safe and supportive environment, students will engage in using technologies and media that they may not have tried otherwise. I'm modelling and my students are engaging, moving into the open.

Voices Echoing in the Open

Yesterday, there were many interconnecting waves (sound waves, twitter streams) where voices echoed outward into the open. The 'tens of listeners' who may have heard the echo, may have gained insight or had an idea resonate for them. These voices certainly were opportunities to share my work, teaching, learning and experiences in the OPEN. Now I'll take a critical look and listen to see what I'm saying.

The Getting Air radio podcast that I had recorded with Terry Greene was published and shared on VoiceEd.ca while on the same day, I had agreed to be interviewed by Sarah Lalonde for her VoiceEd podcast show Que Sera Sarah? When networks and PLNs overlap, I thought to myself.

The podcast was mentioned in the OEORangers (#OEORangers) online meeting (using Zoom) right after Terry sent out some tweets about the episode. Sarah saw this tweet and made a connection. This enriched our conversation about the courses I teach at the Faculty of Education.

Love listening to this podcast as I get ready to speak with @hj_dewaard on #QueSeraSarah tonight ! Thanks for sharing Terry. https://t.co/I3TnmysEQW

— Sarah Anne Lalonde (@sarahlalondee) January 12, 2018

So, my next step is to transcribe these two conversations to see and hear what I really did say and how I said it..... as part of my action research. The hope is that I can reflect deeper by listening deeply. I've done this in reverse where I've written a blog post (Why I Listen, Your Voice is Compelling), then recorded it in order to think more deeply and write more accurately, as a reflective practice.

In terms of critical digital literacy, this falls into many categories:

• code breaking - figuring out how audio recording tools and devices create podcasts (Zencastr, Audacity, file formats, microphone inputs, settings on computer and software, editing options
• meaning making - relating, interpersonal, tone, voice, context, expressing, multi-authored, modes of communication, translate
• use & understand - creating, artefacts, confidence, explore, networks, audience, applying tools
• analyzing - deconstructing messages, analyzing authorship, questioning impact
• persona - building identity, multiple facets, participating asynchronous and synchronous, managing reputation, community (within open eduators), language and content