There’s two books I read regularly. Both of those books are by authors who evidently love the written word but treat it quite differently.

The first is The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian, a 17th century Spanish Jesuit. I read his short, pithy maxims every single day on repeat. When I get to number 300, I flick back and start at number one again.

The second, which I’ve read many times is Michel de Montaigne‘s Essays. This rambling, inconsistent and charming tome is by a 16th century landowner and reluctant public servant. I (and others who have read him) feel like I know him personally.*

Both works make me want to write not just about the kinds of things I write about on this blog, but just for myself. Not necessarily for an audience, and about anything I want.

Ideally, I’d write in the series of journals I’ve kept since turning 18. Realistically, I write in there sporadically, and usually when I’m feeling down. I want more regular outpourings and means typing instead of physically writing.

I’m a fairly fast touch-typist. I used to be up to the heady heights of around 100 words per minute (wpm), but nowadays I’m happy with 60-70 wpm. That’s obviously way more than I’d get if I was scrawling: I’d be lucky to hit 30 wpm, and even that would be illegible.

Thankfully, and you’ll be delighted to know there’s a point to this post, I’ve re-discovered a place that embodies this ‘private, unfiltered, spontaneous, daily’ element for which I’ve been grasping.

Not only is 750words.com extremely well-designed, but it’s got semantic analysis of what you write, co-operative style values and badges!** The image at the top of this post shows some of the analysis the site does. There’s more than the limited amount I’m sharing there.

Read this for Buster’s (the site owner) reason for creating – and continuing to run – the site:

750 Words exists because of mutual good will between myself and the people who use it. The site wouldn’t exist without the generosity, patience, and humor of everyone involved. Rather than charge for the site, I want to keep the site free, and simply offer an opportunity for people who have the means and the desire to help keep things going. I don’t want to make a ton of money, I just want to have enough to justify the time, energy, and money it takes to build, maintain, and enjoy, while also keeping the spirit of it fun and friendly.

That’s my kind of site.

*I’m also greatly enjoying Sarah Bakewell’s How to Live: A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer.

**Although not, sadly, of the ‘Open Badges’ variety.

The e-book is going to be called The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies and I shall be employing the OpenBeta publishing model I pioneered a couple of years ago with #uppingyourgame: a practical guide to personal productivity.

 

Invest now for £1 and get each chapter as it is completed FREE!

Can’t see anything above? Click here!

What are ‘digital literacies’? Why are they important? How can I develop them both personally and in other people? These are some of the questions that ‘The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies by Doug Belshaw seeks to address. Informed by his doctoral thesis and experience as an educator, ‘The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies’ Doug is producing a timely resource for those who are interested in both the theory and the practice of digital literacies!

FAQ:

When are you going to finish this?

It depends on many things, but here’s my proposed timescale:

• v0.2 – April 2012
• v0.4 – June 2012
• v0.6 – August 2012
• v0.8 – October 2012
• v1.0 – December 2012

I’m erring on the conservative side here. I’d rather under-promise and over-deliver!

In what formats will the book be available?

The OpenBeta version will be available in iPad-friendly (and reasonably Kindle-friendly) PDF format. The finished version will be available in the following forms:

• PDF
• Kindle
• ePub
• (Paperback/Hardback depending on demand)

How much will the final version be?

£10 – around $15/16 at the current exchange rate

(this is subject to change without notice)

I still don’t understand the OpenBeta process?

More here, but this should help:

How long will the book be altogether?

I’m envisaging each chapter being about 1,000 words, so about 11,000 in total. This is subject to change when I start writing but it will be at least 10,000 words.

Are there any refunds? How do I know you will complete it?

No refunds, but I have managed to write several e-books before and have much more free time now I have completed my thesis! You can always wait until it’s finished, but that will cost more…

Image in book cover CC BY { pranav }

Got a different question? Ask it in the comments below!

Spurred by several things including our most recent JISC infoNet planning meeting and Will Richardson’s decision to quit long-form blogging at Weblogg-ed and move to Tumblr, I’ve set up a work blog at http://dajbelshaw.tumblr.com

The theme hopefully reflects how I want to use it – as a visual snapshot of my research. Rest assured that, unlike Will, I’ll still be blogging here as well. I love writing. My work blog is more for clipping and quickly commenting on stuff relating to Open Educational Resources, Mobile Learning and Digital Literacies (my 3 main research areas).

As a reminder, you can also find other posts by me at:

• Doug’s Conference Blog
• Doug’s FAQ
• Doug’s Ideas Garden
• Literaci.es
• Synechism Amplog
• Synechism Ltd.

I’ve collated the RSS feeds for my research and original writing in two separate über-feeds (which you can also subscribe to via email if you click through):

Doug’s Writing Feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougsWritingFeed)

Doug’s Research Feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougsResearchFeed)

I’ve updated the sidebar at dougbelshaw.com/blog to make these quick and easy to find. For those people wanting to do something similar, RSSmix seemed to be lot easier and hassle-free than fiddling with Yahoo! Pipes…

One thing that you can’t see in this text (but should be able to see in the attached screenshots) is the difference between Normal mode and ‘FocusMode’. The latter dims all but the most recently-entered text to focus on writing.

I think that, given the ability to work offline and sync with Dropbox, it could be a really useful tool to get down some thoughts on a topic. Indeed, when coupled with something that requires discipline like 750words.com, it could become an app that allows and encourages me to write in a whole new way!

Writing

Well, typing, but we tend to look at the future through the rearview mirror (to slightly misquote Marshall McLuhan). I’m almost finished the draft of my JISC Mobile & Wireless Technologies Review. I’ll share it, of course, when it’s finished! (16,500 words and counting…)

Spending time with my Dad

He goes back to the UAE today, but it’s been good to have my Dad around for a week due to Second Eid.

Buying a Sony Vaio P Series

You know that stuff I sold via #twebay? I used it to fund an 8″ Sony Vaio P Series ultraportable. I found one for £350 on eBay with the extended battery and in immaculate condition. I love the fact that it’s got 3G and it’s lighter than an iPad yet has a keyboard that’s almost full-size. Tip: when deleting things ready for sale, remember to remove your media player history. :-p

Starting some consultancy work

Those who have read my blog for a while – certainly when I was working in schools – will know how I’ve railed against consultants in the past. The trouble was that I’d only come across the shiny-suited types, those that are parachuted in, say nothing much and then you never see again.

Working with consultants on JISC projects couldn’t be more different. They’re often the most dedicated, hard-working and passionate people you’ll ever meet. Which is why I’ve started doing some consulting for a consultant. If you think I might be able to help you in #uppingyourgame (in a productivity-related way or otherwise) click on the Work with Doug link.

Top 10 links I’ve shared this week

The following links were those most clicked on (according to bit.ly Pro‘s stats) when I shared them via   Twitter this week. I don’t include links back to this blog and the numbers this week show that I haven’t been as active on there as usual due to writing #jiscmobilereview!

Links given with number of clicks given in brackets:

1. Daddy O (187 Lockdown Club Mix) [Spotify] (22)
2. Interesting North – Doug’s Conference Blog (22)
3. Skype Education (19)
4. Justice with Michael Sandel (13)
5. WordPress theme – Typograph (13)
6. Pontydysgu – Research on Mobile Learning (10)
7. Rypple (9)
8. Telegraph: Fix the workplace, not the workers (9)
9. New York Times: Building a Better Teacher (7)
10. J Biebz – U Smile (800% slower) (5)

Still, the great thing about it is that I’m studying for this doctorate and wrestling with this thesis because I’m actually interested in the subject and want to contribute towards the debate. I’m learning lots about all manner of things as I go. This is about personal development more than anything else.

I have to be careful what I say here as I haven’t handed in my thesis, passed my viva and graduated. Those who follow the traditional PhD methods tend to virtually ‘tut’ and shake their head in disbelief when I say I’m writing without a firm structure in mind of how the whole thing is going to come together. But that’s how I’ve worked on (admittedly, smaller) projects and it’s turned out just fine. It might mean more work in the long run, but at least I’m getting my money’s worth… :-p

As of about 30 minutes ago, my thesis will have the following structure:

1. Introduction (why study ‘digital literacy’?)
2. What is ‘literacy’? (including: literacy & knowledge, literacy as a social process, unitary & pluralist views of literacy)
3. Minimal criteria for digital literacy to constitute a ‘literacy’.
4. Discussion of digital literacy
5. Introduction of Pragmatism (methodology section)
6. Literature review (is digital literacy ‘good in the way of belief’?)
7. New Literacies – introduction & history
8. Is this literacy? (consideration of ‘Flow’, fluency, etc.)
9. Future of literac(ies)
10. Analysis of relevant policy documents (UK, Norway, USA, Singapore)
11. Conclusion

I’ve written about 30,000 words so far – half the 60,000 words required for an Ed.D. thesis (I’ve previously had to submit lengthy essays in support of modules studied at this level). At this rate, it’s not looking like I’m going to hit my target of the 1st January 2011, which is the earliest I’m allowed to submit. I’d wanted to have it finished before I turn 30 in December – and before my wife gives birth to our second child.

Oh well. Taking more time will enable me to give those policy documents more than just a cursory glance!

I’ve been wanting to do more video stuff for a while. That’s why I’ve decided to begin two new projects, the first of which is a series called Doug on Productivity which I’ll try to get out every Monday morning (GMT).

In this first episode I answer three productivity-related questions about email, motivation and “writer’s block”.

Got some questions for Episode 2? Add them to the comments either here (below) or over at the YouTube page.

I don’t like using other people’s methods for doing stuff.

I don’t like storing files offline.

But I’ve made an exception. I’ve just bought Scrivener after using it for less than 24 hours. And that’s despite it having a 30 (non-consecutive) day trial. It’s going to revolutionise my writing of longer texts – like that Ed.D. thesis I’m almost half-way through…

So give it a try. But make sure you watch the introductory video first so you can do it some justice.

This week I have been mostly…

Ill

I wasn’t very well at the start of the week – just a bug but it made me feel awful. I took a couple of days off work.

Camping

With my parents away on holiday and Hannah at work I’d booked Wednesday off to look after Ben. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to go camping, just us two, for the first time.

Ben was really well-behaved, but the rain was absolutely torrential on Tuesday night! I thought he’d slept reasonably well, but he asked to go to bed when we got home and slept for another 3 hours…

Preparing

I’ve got some important stuff coming up:

• Tomorrow it’s my first ever running race – the BUPA Great North 10k in Sunderland. I’m aiming to do it in under 50 minutes. I’m running for UNICEF.
• Next Friday it’s the JISC OER International Symposium in London. I’ll be demoing the OER infoKit.
• On Thursday 29th July it’s Google Teacher Academy (#GTAUK) in London. I’m a Lead Learner running the sessions on Google Earth. I’ve started putting together a wiki and ebook to accompany my session which will be of use to more than just those attending. You can access it (and help build it!) at http://sites.google.com/site/gtaukge.

Writing

I’m continuing the JISC Mobile & Wireless Technologies review I started last month, having some really interesting conversations with some extremely innovative people. There’s so much to learn and synthesize!

My thesis is starting to slightly concern me. Although I’ve announced that I’m no longer blogging here every day I’ve got so much left to do. The trouble isn’t the writing of the thing, it’s the keeping up with such a fast-moving field! I undertook my Ed.D. mainly because I love researching but I have to say I’ll be glad when it’s all over.

An idea went through my head earlier this week about a short, free ebook that would serve as a productivity kickstarter. I couldn’t stop thinking about what to include, how to format it, etc. so ended up spending a few hours writing #onfire: ignite your productivity. Do let me know what you think!

I’ve been using the excellent What Would Seth Godin Do? plugin for WordPress (which powers this blog) for a while now. It’s a great way to get a message across to readers, differentiated for new and return visitors. New visitors to this blog get a message giving them information on how to subscribe and/or get in contact with me.

Return visitors, on the other hand, get a different message. Recently, I’ve been asking for feedback on the question posed in the title of this post, namely: If I wrote a book, would you buy it? The answers are in the above graph. Interestingly, no-one responded that the price was an issue, nor did anyone state that they would buy anything that I wrote.

Good. That’s as it should be.

There’s enough people, I reckon, interested in buying something that I write that’s education-related for it to be a worthwhile proposition. I’ve got an interesting publishing model and pricing structure in mind. Subscribe so you don’t miss a post – I’ll be revealing more soon!

PS For those interested in what those ‘other’ answers were, they mainly wanted to know more about the subject before they would decide either way!