Engaging ethics through blogging has been interesting for me
in these last nine weeks. I have enjoyed the project much more than I initially
anticipated and have learned a great deal in the process. In an effort to pause
and consider what I have learned, I create a top ten list of the things I
learned while blogging about ethics over the last nine weeks:
10. I found the
technology much easier to use than I anticipated. I have to admit that I am not entirely new to
blogging, but this go-round made an attempt to use more of the features
available through ‘blogger’ and other links to technology. I have a love-hate
relationship with technology in general and have found that sometimes the
simplest things are the most difficult for me. I was overjoyed this wasn’t the
case during this term and hope this confidence and experience can help me
continue to learn and try more!
9. I found it fairly
interesting to write about things that are interesting to me – but there is no
way I’d want to be a professional blogger! I enjoyed this opportunity to
blog about ethics because in some way the sky was the limit in regards to what I
wrote about. As long as the topic related to ethics in public administration in
some way, it was fair game. This freedom meant it was easy for me to find a
topic that I could engage and enjoy writing about. With that said – I do not
understand how professional bloggers do it! Unless you’re writing about
personal experiences and you have an extraordinarily interesting family, I do
not know how people have the time to have a life/job/hobby/whatever AND then
also blog about it.
8. I enjoyed being
able to add interest to my posts with photos. Since google has been “a
thing,” I have found it fascinating that you can type anything or any name into
the search bar and google (or any other search engine) will attempt to find a
photo related to your search. Searching for photos related to this blog was fun
and entertaining and lead to many sites on the internet and information I might
not have found otherwise. I enjoyed finding everything from school projects to
silly pictures and memes to serious political cartoons and info graphics.
7. Being able to link
to articles and other sites is a huge benefit. Yes, the same information I covered
in this blog could have been presented (in a more formal matter) in a research
paper but one of the things that is so cool/helpful/obvious about the internet
is how everything is connected. Because of the ease of using the technology, I could
easily connect links on this blog to related content elsewhere on the internet.
I think this adds interest and validity for readers.
6. Blogging made me
want to read other blogs. It was nice to be able to read other blogs of
students taking advantage of the same opportunity this term and compare writing
styles, blog design, and content. So yes, I wanted to read more about ethics in
public administration - but I also found
myself wanting to read other blogs about things I care about including foster
care, adoption, non-profit work, social work in general, same-sex parenting,
and other combinations of these! I found professional and non-professional
blogs to be interesting and helpful in a variety of ways.
5. At the beginning of
this term I realized I really needed to spend some time and energy deciding
what kind of blog I wanted to write. As a result of the “skies the limit”
freedom, I could have done a variety of things with this blog. I am glad I spent
time on the front end thinking about formatting, style, and content so that I had
a sort of road-map through the experience. I decided variety would be important
to me in this experience and chose to write about a variety of topics from a
variety of readings, movies, sites, and discussions.
4. Blogging helped me
consider many aspects of public administration. I actually learned a lot
about a variety of aspects of public administration and ethics as a result of
this experience. I am sure that is the objective – but it happened!
3. Don’t be offended
when no one reads the blog…So it was a strange feeling to write something
that I was sure no one would actually read. There were some opportunities for
me to share with friends, family, or colleagues that I was blogging about
ethics, but for the most part I recognized no one was sitting at home anxiously
waiting for my next post.
2…but assume they
will. It was nice to have comments from students and others on several of
my posts. It was an engaging conversation that helped me regain some energy
about writing. I also learned a lesson about writing things and putting them on
the internet that you’re not quite ready to be public information. Specifically,
in one of my posts I mentioned my partner and I were planning to be married
soon. That is something that people generally knew but no one knew we were planning
a sort of elopement/destination wedding with just a few close friends and family.
That ceremony took place not long after I wrote about it on the blog. Because of
the connections between this blog and my gmail account, people who know my
email account could easily see and read my blog. I hadn’t thought about that! I
know that nothing is private – especially posted on the internet – and now know
to never assume no one is reading it!
And the number one thing I learned through this experience
of engaging ethics and public administration through blogging is…
1. I enjoyed blogging
through this process much more than I would have enjoyed a research paper!