Send me a few notes on your background: name, age, where you`re from, etc....


When did you start blogging?

Technically, my first post was on December 14th of 2006, but I did not really "go public" until some time between Chrismas and New Years. So almost three months, really.


Would you like to share your first post with us ?

Here is the URL for my first post: http://gregladen.com/wordpress/?p=30   And here's the text:

Ivan’s Coffee Shop Published by Greg December 14th, 2006 in Commentary It occurs to me that I have known, even been close to, people whom I’ve never met in the flesh, that I know in a virtual world only. Only one or two, but it is really true and when I think about that, I’m astounded. More common are the people whom I know as well or best from virtual space but I also know or have met in person. Most (maybe all) are colleagues. It’s like knowing someone only from conferences. You see the guy every year at a conference and when you get together again each year or two an unmaintained friendship turns back on and runs from that Thursday to that Sunday. My point is that part of my world has been virtual for a long time. I wish to live near a spot frequented by my loved ones. They are all too polite to stop randomly in my house (but they would be welcome).
Not everyone loved by me knows they are. Some I wish to see sometimes but not necessarily care for that much. Some I simply need (you know who you are!). This is the coffee shop model of society. I want to be writing and thinking intensely and be interrupted by one I’m glad to see, rather than by an intrusive email or thoughts I don’t want to have. But there are reasons why this cannot happen, including the unfortunate fact that not everyone I love or like or need lives within walking distance of any place. I’m sure when I was young I thought of the Internet. So many people must have. I’m sure when I was about 13, I read Ivan Illich’s “Deschooling Society” and that was the first time I ever heard of a coffee shop. He wanted everyone to hang out in coffee shops instead of having universities. I remember thinking it would be easier to do this by computer than to invent the coffee shop. At the time, this meant to “finger” someone. Having an identity crisis? Just type “whoami” at the terminal. Today, virtual communities use the exact same technology (… really, the exact – same – technology …) but wrapped in layers allowing human readability. I have the strange feeling that I have been ignoring the Internet all along even though I am constantly connected to it. -----end------------ The original included a picture of Ivan Illich's book. You might note the irony that I am very regularly berated by home schooling supporters who believe I am evil, but who have not noticed that my first post referenced (in a positive way) "deschooling society" and I personally never went to high school or college....


Where did you get your daily inspiration to blog from?

That's easy. I get my daily inspiration from the readers. If nobody was reading this I would not ever be inspired. I get the same exact motivation for writing on this web site as I do teaching. With teaching, the students are pretty regularly there, attending class. With the blog, I am never quite sure who is out there. But now that there is enough "traffic" I am starting to believe that someone other than my wife and two or three of my more loyal and probably insane students read it. That provides the inspiration.


What´s the goal of your blog?

The goal of my blog is to organize the last ten years of thinking on about 12 different topics into a few books. That may seem like an indirect route but it is working better than anything I've done before.


Are there any posts you are excited to offer?

I'm very interested to see how my upcoming "blogging the bible" series will come out. I already posted the intro post: http://gregladen.com/wordpress/?p=451 (The bible as ethnography).And the next few are written and in place with posting dates every few days over the next few days. Very shortly I'll start a series on Race and Racism that I'm very excited about as well. I don't know if my readers are as excited by these topics as I am. Clearly, the most comments are on the home schooling posts, which to me is the least interesting and most annoying.


Your most commented post? URL?

So yes, right, here is that: http://gregladen.com/wordpress/?p=360 I think it is just over 140 posts, which is not a lot for some blogs, but a lot for mine. How much time do you spend on blogging? I have no idea. I do a lot of writing, about 8 to 10 hours a day on good days, 4 - 6 on bad days, and a certain amount of that gets blogged. The blogging just sort of happens. I no longer communicate directly with people. If someone asks me a question via email, and the answer is interesting and extensive, it becomes a blog and I send them the URL. My family is now required to submit their concerns and questions as comments on my blog, in code. For example, a guy named Dave ranting about creationists, that means my daugther wants Macaroni and Cheese for dinner.


The top 3 blogs you read?

Pharyngula is the best for politics and entertainment. Sandwalk has the best science, and still qualifies as a blog. (John Hawks has a nice blog but he does not allow comments, and for some reason that keeps me less interested in what is otherwise a nice piece of work). There is, therefore, no third place. The thinking blog, political grind, jonnathan swift, are entertaining non-evolutionary biology blogs. Blog around the clock is outstanding... that may be in my top three. I really don't like blogs very much, though, overall.


From which blogger did you learn the most? What?

About blogging? Directly? I did read several days worth of Pro Blogger. I got some good suggestions from Coturnix at A Blog Around the
Clock (http://scienceblogs.com/clock/ ) ... he turned me on to carnivals ... I had never heard of them before. I've learned the most, though, from watching PZ Myers at Pharyngula (http://www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/) . PZ and I have not communicated about blogging, but I can see what he does and how he makes it work.


How do you generate traffic?

I do something that makes PZ Myers point to my site. That's good for a five fold increase in traffic for 24 hours. I spread out my posts so they don't come all at once, so when I sit down to write a few posts, I time stamp them into the future. I try to have regular posting daily except weekends. Oh, and I go around to computer kiosks all over town and visit my site, and I pay some kids down the block to go to the library and visit my site. I think their parents are getting suspicious.


What tools do you use for statistics? And how do they help you improve your blog?

AWSTAT is my main stats tool, but I look at mybloglog's free stats as well. This info helps a little, but mainly is just fun to look at. I stumbled on the fact that I get stumbled on every few days (that's like getting dug but not as big). So I joined stumble upon and it's actually kind of fun ... you mindlessly click this one button it puts on your toolbar and sites of interest keep popping up. Until a site that requires some kind of funky interaction with Flash and your video subsystem, then the whole thing crashes. So don't play with stumbleupon when you have anything important open on your computer.


Is there anything you want to say at least?

Nope.


Your  URL: www.gregladen.com

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