A Rant and More Writings

Gordian Knot. Shared by Assia Alexandrova

I ride my bike to work, 5km, most days. It gives me time to get the blood pumping through the veins and writing blog posts in my head. I watched the #DigCiz hangout recording (#DigCiz on Hospitality - Kate and Maha) yesterday but a mornings mullings couldn't quite work it out. This post may be 'rambling and unrenovated, filled with someone else’s .... childhood furniture' (2) but it might get part of the Gordian Knot unravelled.
Warning: Rant ahead via Wendy-logue from the Hangout. The vialogue is embedded below.

2:30min 'Struggling with the ideas about what it means to have a conversation in the open'
2:38min 'Who is invited and who is not....'

Well don't do it! Keep it between yourselves. Otherwise, brace yourself for each wave on the sand. It's in the open ffs, everyone is invited. I didn't see the invite list so here I am.

2:50min ' it's complex...some folks are simplifying it '

My immediate reaction was WTF! Excuse me for participating and simplifying things!
When I asked Autumm about this, she was able to partly explain that just talking about 'being nice' does not really cut it and thinking more deeply about hospitality in the online environment is needed.

Rant over! (Well nearly)

Recent writings in the Digital Pedagogy Lab (10) suggests 'We must make intellectual work accessible, and accessible work intellectual', with a call to simplify complex challenges. We have informal presentations at work from PhD candidates at different stages of their thinking and writings. It is invaluable to me, to be able to peek into these sessions and get an insight into how years and years of work can culminate in a course of writing that could be explained in less than one hour.

Simon (3) writes, 'feeling offended is a privilege I can't afford' and 'we need to go beyond conflict, to discover the stories, the wider contexts of other people'. That was the second part of the Hangout. A wider context of people, starting with memories chosen to highlight hospitality.

At this point I want to look inwards. My reply to Terry's comment on my blog (11) was probably a bit harsh (suggesting that this conversation was for postcolonial privileged white dudesses) but I was squarely pointing the finger at myself. How much does our understanding of one culture come from the partnership with another? My husband is from another culture. Sometimes I tell people that his birth country is my second home but miss out the rest of the story: in reality that it will never be home, it will always be a much loved, second home. Our understanding of privacy, language, food and hospitality junctures come from the close proximity of another culture. Yet all we have is us, the way we are, the way we project our values outward and our 'sureness' of what is right at any point in time. I never underestimate the things I learn from travelling, living and learning in different contexts (including the digital). It could be a whole waste of time or it could help me be more open in my thinking and 'sureness'.

Sundi wrote 'being the guest comes with its challenges and responsibilities' (4) and I've felt like a guest at #DigCiz. Maybe this blog is breaking the guest-rules but the challenge is not to stay silent, don't let it pass if it's important to me. In another place Alan said 'kith maybe can be found in places other than our start point' (a comment on (2)) and I think this is important for the digital. We can move across platforms or 'own' the domain or change tools as we see fit. Perhaps this week's look at data security might clarify that.

My DigCiz reading list:
1. DigCiz Week 4 http://digciz.org/uncategorized/digciz-week-4-institutional-it-digital-citizenship/
2. Kate on Kith http://musicfordeckchairs.com/blog/2017/06/10/kith/
3. Simon on For Giving https://tachesdesens.blogspot.com.au/for-giving.html
5. Alan on Names for Other People http://cogdogblog.com/2017/06/names-for-other-people/
6. Sundi on Guests and Strangers http://sundirichard.com/digciz/guests-and-strangers/
7. Maha on Lines Not Drawn and Invitations of Sailors https://blog.mahabali.me/citizenship-2/lines-not-drawn-and-invitations-of-sailors-digciz/
8. Amy on Hidden Immigrants http://redpincushion.us/blog/teaching-and-learning/hidden-migrants-belonging/
9. Donna on People Places and Things http://www.donnalanclos.com/people-places-and-things-why-do-visitors-and-residents-workshops/
10. Ian on Wakefulness and Digitally Engaged Publics http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/wakefulness-digitally-engaged-publics/
11. Wendy on How to get cooking http://wentalearn.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/how-to-get-cooking-digciz.html

12. Sheri on What is Digital Citizenship? https://askwhatelse.wordpress.com/2017/06/18/digital-me/

13. Sarah on Who owns a hashtag. http://www.nomadwarmachine.co.uk/2017/06/17/who-owns-a-hashtag/