Doug is blogging..

Doug Belshaw is based in the North East of England working through We Are Open Co-op at the intersection of learning, technology, and community.

We've known each other longer than either of us want to admit - mainly through the power of blogging.

What is your blogs URL?
https://dougbelshaw.com/blog

When did you first start blogging? Do you remember your first post? Is it still online?

I used to be a History teacher and had a learner-focused website (https://web.archive.org/web/20041128110317/http://www.mrbelshaw.co.uk/). I was used to making websites, having had a Monty Python appreciation website back when I was about 16 years old! Between 2003 and about early 2007 (when I discovered Twitter) I used to contribute a lot to teaching-related forums, and ran a resource-sharing website based on a forum structure.

I feel like I started blogging around 2004 but the Internet Archive has only captured back to 2007 (https://web.archive.org/web/20070611151836/http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/). I had a 'microblog' even before Twitter, alongside my main posts. I was a bit of a publishing machine in my 20s (hello burnout!)

What platform did you start with?

WordPress, which I've now used for about 20 years! I love how modular and configurable it is. For a short period of time, I maintained a fork called 'EduPress' (https://www.downes.ca/post/35513) but it became a bit too much for my (lack of) tech skills. Recently, WordPress has become a bit bloated, I would say.

What do you use now?

Still WordPress for my main blog, but I've switched to Micro.blog for Thought Shrapnel (https://thoughtshrapnel.com). That's mainly for the Fediverse integration, and I see now that Ghost (https://ghost.org) is integrating too, so I may jump ship from WordPress entirely!

Do you remember the first blog/blogger you regularly followed?

I was inspired to start blogging by Will Richardson, who wrote Weblogg-ed (https://willrichardson.com/about-weblogg-ed/). He was, and still is, so honest and thought-provoking. I was also shocked and greatly inspired when he quit his teaching job to become a consultant and travel the world, sharing with others.

What is the biggest benefit you get from the practice of blogging?

I just love writing, so it's a release of pent-up words which seem to be ready to spill out of me. Like other people, I find out what I think about something through the process of writing. I think it helps that I've been able to touch-type since I was 12, when a copy of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing came free on the front of the issue of PC Magazine that my dad received every month as the Deputy Head of the local school.

o you have a writing routine for your blogging?

I write weeknotes, and have for years and years. It's so useful to reflect on what you've done and look to the week ahead. I've also done the 100 Days To Offload challenge (https://100daystooffload.com/) which was useful not in terms of writing a hundred blog posts in a year, but rather in terms of blogging every day. There are things that I might share on social media that actually could have been a blog post (and probably vice-versa!)

What advice would you give somebody who is thinking about starting blogging?

Just do it! It's easy to think that everyone is waiting on the sidelines to judge you, but they're really not. In my experience, it takes ages to build a following or get anyone to pay any attention to what you're doing. Given that a lot of traffic these days comes from social media, you can choose whether or not to share certain posts. That allows you to experiment. And just remember: you're writing for yourself! Other people being able to see it is a bonus :)