I’ve been sucked into an online vortex over the past few weeks, researching a project for school [I am taking 4 classes, Online Research, Pedagogy and Curriculum, Conceptual Web Design and Legan & Ethical]. All four classes are at the point where they are bleeding into each other and my individual projects are becoming entwined. For example, I’ve been researching the current state of feminism in the academy, using all my newly fine tuned online research skills and putting it together in a web site that will be constructed following fairly rigorous guidelines [but right now is just my sandbox]. I’ve been paying particular attention to Creative Commons licenses, because you can use the information in keeping with the intent of the copyright provisions orgininally intended by our fine ancestors, as well as open source software. The one thing I haven’t been able to melt in, but keeps claiming some of my attention is the sudden explosion of Carnivals on the web. Carnivals are essentially collections of “best” posts on a particular subject from the blogosphere. Historians are doing a fantastic job of bringing their writting to the edge of the ivy tower, letting others peak in on their experiences and thoughts and generating tremendous debate. Carnivals don’t have to be strictly academic, as The Feminist Carnival shows us - or, surprise, surprise Knitting. There will be another knitting carnival in the next few weeks, so if you see an exceptional post, send The Knitting Fiend a link and nominate the blogger.

Second, if you blog, you might want to consider adding your site to the ecosystem. The ecosystem rates the blogsphere by links, and there has been some criticism that the big guns [men political blogs] get linked to by everyone, leaving a lot of bloggers by the wayside. We can stand on the outside and hold protest signs or we can join in and have our collective [womens] voice included.

“Where are the women bloggers?” someone asked at a recent conference. My answer is that we’re already here, and you are welcome to join us, we just like to mix our politics up with some fiber.