Festival2011/Cyberrhetoric: The Power of Online Discussion: Difference between revisions

My background is in teaching challenging classes of teenagers and that’s clearly one of the reasons I feel so comfortable in chaotic and confrontational forums.  It takes time to become comfortable in situations where people are being strongly opinionated and aggressive towards you.  Be kind to yourself and accept that it may take you a long time to adjust to this environment.  In the early days kids and communities behave as if you won’t be around for long and my deliberately test you out to see if you can hack it.  Just sticking around long enough for them get to know you is often important.  When you start to get some successes – some people suddenly shifting from being abusive to being brilliantly insightful – you get an energy from it which inspires you to carry on.   

== A couple of discussions you may like to look at: ==

It’s inspired me because it took a long time to make it productive but it has become extremely informative place to be.  It also makes me believe that the days when owning the media gave individuals tremendous power regarding what would be believed are nearly over.  The thread does not, of course, show the substantial number of personal messages which passed between participants in the thread.

This example from John Redwood’s blog shows how I interacted with both him and the commentators on his blog to shape a discussion which far more deeply informed his original post on the day he made that post.  My interaction (as Rebecca Hanson) starts just over half way down the page.  [http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2011/10/21/popular-and-unpopular-greenery/]

== Next steps for me: ==