A couple of weeks ago I installed some new widgets in the sidebar of this site. They are adding the value I’d hoped for, but a conflict with this new version of WordPress killed my blogroll.
What surprised me is how saddened I was to no longer display links to my favorite resources. Jeff Jarvis says that in our new link economy, do what you do best and link to the rest. He expands on this idea in the exceptional book What Would Google Do
?
Hyper-aware of my limitations as a teacher, my blogroll became for me a strictly necessary appendage to this blog.
It has returned triumphant.
Much of my attempts at teaching boil down to this: Urging clients to get involved first-hand in Web 2.0 activities, such as blogging, reviewing (note the link to my review of What Would Google Do, in the social site Goodreads.com) and putting a well-customized RSS reader to the test on a regular basis. Only then will they “get it,” and know where our world is headed (at a pace that is accelerating).
… And only then will they appreciate the pain of a blogroll on the fritz.