Blogging as an academic practice

Posted on 11th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Percolating ideas
Percolating ideas flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

I’ve been enjoying dipping in and out of the “On Writing” series that Jim Groom’s been hosting on Reclaim TV, although I’ve not been able to watch them live as they usually stream at 5pm on a Friday, by which time I am off line and off to the pub to meet friends. However, luckily they are also recorded, so I can catch up at my leisure, and this week I finally got around to watching the episode with Lee Skallerup Bessette, or ReadyWriting, as she’s known on ALL the socials.

Lee and Jim talk about many of the facets of Lee’s life – such as her growing up in Quebec but not being a francophone (watch the episode to hear why she asserts this), but – of course – it’s what Lee says about blogging that really resonates with me. Like Lee I’ve always been a voracious reader and a prolific writer, though I don’t write nearly as much as Lee, I don’t think. And, also like Lee, I do find it pretty easy nowadays. So when I heard Lee saying (at about 53 mins into the video) that her habit of blogging has helped her to be able to consistently push out a lot of decent quality words quickly, as long as the subject is one that’s familiar to her, I was nodding vigorously at the screen. And then she connects this type of writing to learning a musical instrument:

you don’t have to be great at it right but you just keep practicing it because it makes sense and it brings you joy and it helps you make sense of your life and it connects you to other people (at about 54:44 mins in)

Yes, absolutely yes. I’ve had a pretty shit week this week, for one reason and another, but I’ve still managed to churn out lots of words – because I can.  Well, when Lacey lets me!  Thanks Lee, and thanks Jim, for a great episode.

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Academic Book Chapters

Posted on 9th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Every time I have an academic book chapter published I promise myself that I will never do it again, because it takes so long from first submitting an expression of interest to finally seeing it published. But then I forget, and see a call for chapters that interests me, and before I realise what I am doing I’ve committed myself to the process again.

But, on the other hand, there’s something really fulfilling about seeing the final publication and reading over what I wrote again  – not least because it’s been so long that I have actually forgotten what I wrote. So recently I was really pleased to find that I had chapters in two books published.

The first was a book about similarities and differences between disciplinary research and SoTL:

Honeychurch, S. (2025). SoTL and Disciplinary Research in Education Sciences: Collaboration, Bricolage and Remix. In: Bohndick, C., Kordts, R., Leschke, J., Vöing, N. (eds) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning und disziplinäre Forschung: Eine komplexe Beziehung. Doing Higher Education. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-47908-4_14

The second was, on the face of it, on the very different topic of Hope:

Honeychurch, S. (2025). 3. Serious fun: Reimagining Higher Education from a humane perspective. In S. Abegglen, T. Burns, R. F. Heller, R. Madhok, F. Neuhaus, J. Sandars, S. Sinfield, & U. Gitanjali Singh (Eds.), Stories of Hope (1st ed., pp. 41–48). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0462.03

As I read both chapters over I realised that both owe a lot to my remix communities in different ways. The title of the first explicitly talks about bricolage and remix, though the chapter itself discusses it in the context of an academic group who are not themselves bricoleurs. The second doesn’t mention remix in the title, but the chapter itself uses DS106 as an example of how to infuse HE with hope and fun.

When I talk to newer academics about starting out in publishing I advise them to find a golden thread – a theme that they see recurring in their work, or would like to develop. I guess it’s no surprise that I’ve found mine.

Posted in HE, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

HOMAGO

Posted on 6th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Today’s Daily Create asks us to reflect on what make a community. That’s quite a big question for an an activity that typically takes 15-20 minutes to complete. I didn’t check before replying to it today, but last time this challenge was set I put together a quick video and shared it to the playlist.

This time I looked up at my notice board and took a picture of an image that’s been there since I was writing my PhD and learning about affinity spaces.

Homago
Homago flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

The concept of HOMAGO – Hanging Around, Messing About, Geeking Out – comes from the work of Mimi Ito, and was fundamental to my understanding of connected learning and affinity spaces. It describes the practices that I enjoy when I complete the daily create and see what others have created. When I was thinking about all of this and trying to understand what makes a successful community, network or affinity group I remembered the work of Emile Durkheim that I has learnt way back as an undergraduate, and his theory of society as being composed of Community, Cultus and Creed (who we are, what we do and what we believe).

I still think that’s right.

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Silent Sunday

Posted on 6th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Swan
Swan flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

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Dogs of war – or peace?

Posted on 2nd July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Today’s Daily Create asks us to

Try this site that gives you a bit of control over world maps. It allows you to re-orientate the world map to specific countries (so you change the common perspective found in so many maps).

You have a few different map types to play with, too. Maybe you make a political statement? Or maybe you just make some art!

I clicked on the UK, and the resulting map reminded me of two big, friendly dogs saying hello to each other. so I loaded up SmoothDraw and did a tiny bit of doodling:

Dogs of war - or peace?
Dogs of war – or peace? flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Dogs of war, or dogs or peace? Who decides?

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Six months of photos

Posted on 30th June 2025 by NomadWarMachine

One photo a day, every day. Six months of the year gone already.

Photo of the Day 2025

Posted in Photos, Scotland | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Silent Sunday

Posted on 29th June 2025 by NomadWarMachine

UofG across the Kelvin
UofG across the Kelvin flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

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Three in the Wild

Posted on 28th June 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Out in the garden after breakfast today – losing the cats under the long grass, marveling at all of the fruit on our apple and plum trees. It was hard to find a place to take a photo of only three apples in one frame, but I managed to zoom in on these three for today’s Daily Create. HT to Alan for the Monty Python reference in today’s challenge.

Three in the Wild - Bramley Apples
Three in the Wild – Bramley Apples flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

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UofG Chapel

Posted on 26th June 2025 by NomadWarMachine

I was feeling pretty low yesterday, but it was a lovely day and I was glad to travel up to uni for a couple of meetings. As I got off the bus I stopped to look over the Kelvin at the UofG Tower

UofG across the Kelvin
UofG across the Kelvin flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Then walked up the path, past the caged  flowers 😉

Caged Campion
Caged Campion flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

At the top of the hill I made a diversion to look at the Lion and the Unicorn

Lion and Unicorn
Lion and Unicorn flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

And then, as I still had a few minutes before my meeting, I stopped at the Chapel to reflect for a few minutes

UofG Chapel
UofG Chapel flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

I’m not religious, far from it, but I remember bringing my parents here many years ago, and it helped to feel close to them yesterday.

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JOMO – The Joy of Missing Out

Posted on 24th June 2025 by NomadWarMachine

As a bricoleur I have cultivated a habit of saying “yes”, and “yes, and …”, and this has opened me up to many wonderful experiences. Saying yes has helped me to:

  • learn new skills
  • meet interesting people – including a community to base my PhD on
  • discover things I didn’t know that I wanted to know
  • and more …

Of course, sometimes I still say no – and there’s a fine line to be trodden between accepting everything because one never knows what might come of it and saving some spare time in case an unexpected opportunity arises, but this is my spare time and I can use it pretty much as I like. However, this ‘just say yes’ attitude can lead me to be very stressed and overworked when I allow it to spill over into my working life, as it inevitably does.  I’ve written before about my institution’s obsession with meetings, so I won’t repeat that rant.

Today I want share with you the relief that I have been experiencing since realising that I do have the right to say “no” sometimes, and the joy that I have been feeling when practicing that right. We’re all familiar, I think with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), so maybe you’ve heard of its counterpart JOMO (Joy of Missing Out). In the same way as a smile is a frown upside down, these are often the flip sides of each other. So here’s some times recently that I’ve turned my FOMO into JOMO:

  • Instead of being upset because a submission to a conference or journal has been rejected, rejoiced that I have the time free to do something more enjoyable
  • Instead of worrying that I forgot to complete a Doodle for a meeting, happy danced that it was organised for a time that I couldn’t attend – thus letting me off the hook for further work
  • Instead of feeling FOMO for a workshop on a ‘hot topic’ that I didn’t sign up for, notice that I have space in my working day to eat lunch

So here’s to more FOMO.

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