Will Wright, gaming, and the impact on higher education

The New Yorker's John Seabrook has an interview with
Will Wright, creator of the The Sims franchise and Spore (still in development). In the interview, there is a debate on how a new generation of kids, raised on videogames, is impacting teaching and learning. Lara M. Brown, a professor of political science at California State University, Channel Islands has observed the following changes in her students, reports the New Yorker:

"Most of us are in agreement that this younger generation—raised on video games—has learned to be reactive, instead of active, and worse, they have lost their imaginative abilities and creativity because the games provide all of the images, sounds, and possible outcomes for them. Our students tend to not know how to initiate questions, formulate hypotheses, or lead off a debate because they like to wait to see what ‘comes at them.' They also have difficulty imagining worlds (places and/or historical times) unless you (as a professor) can provide them with a picture and a sound to go along with the words. . . . In essence, they seem to have lost the ability to visualize with their minds.”

This is how Wright reacted, according to the New
Yorker:

Wright, though, believes that video games teach you how to learn; what needs to change is the way children are taught. “The problem with our education system is we've taken this kind of narrow, reductionist, Aristotelian approach to what learning is,” he told me. “It's not designed for experimenting with complex systems and navigating your way through them in an intuitive way, which is what games teach. It's not really designed for failure, which is also something games teach. I mean, I think that failure is a better teacher than success. Trial and error, reverse-engineering stuff in your mind—all the ways that kids interact with games—that's the kind of thinking schools should be teaching. And I would argue that as the world becomes more complex, and as outcomes become less about success or failure, games are better at preparing you. The education system is going to realize this sooner or later. It's starting. Teachers are entering the system who grew up playing games. They're going to want to engage with the kids using games.”

I am inclined to agree with Wright. And it's not just because of his background (educated at a Montessori Schools) or success at making videogames that encourage creativity and experimentation (The article says that Sims players have gone on to become architects and urban architects, and Sims has attracted a huge legion of female fans). It's because of a few generalizations in Prof. Brown's argument, and a few observations of my own that contradict her conclusions.

Brown says the new generation has learned to be reactive, but doesn't quantify how reactive they are compared to previous generations. Also, how can she be sure that reactiveness is a result of videogames, and not television, twinkies, or some other factor? Many college students have grown up in households with cable or satellite television packages that have hundreds of channels, including specialty kids channels that are on 24 hours per day. Television encourages passivity to a far greater degree than videogames, which really do encourage exploration and testing -- even in the most mundane first-person shooter, players have to learn to use their equipment, and explore for secret passages or tricks to defeat their enemies. Certainly, Prof. Brown is entitled to her opinion, but to win people over she will need to present some quantitative research that isolates video games from other environmental factors in kids' lives.

This debate touches upon my professional interests in virtual reality and media, which you can read about here.

Plagiarism at The Crimson

I have great respect for the Harvard Crimson and many of its student writers -- at least most of the time.

But plagiarism is now rearing its ugly head at the newspaper, which is staffed by students of Harvard College. There have been two recent incidents, one involving a columnist who lifted passages from other sources without attribution, and the other an editorial cartoonist whose inspiration apparently came from Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index, a website which features some of the best editorial cartoons from around the country.

The Crimson, to its credit, has been transparent about the details; you can read about both incidents here.

But I have to ask: If these students can't find the inspiration to do original creative work for the newspaper, how do they handle difficult writing assignments for their Harvard College classes?

Thesis update: Chapter 1 draft complete

It took eight days to write the first draft of chapter 1 of my thesis, working about two or three hours every night and a few extra hours on weekend afternoons, when my two-year-old is asleep.

You can read the draft chapter here. It's 16 double-spaced pages long, including footnotes, but the formatting is not complete -- the ALM thesis guide explains a lot of formatting requirements which I frankly don't have time to fully incorporate right now, and I believe might prove distracting for my thesis director.

Next step: Start work on chapter 2 (methodology) while my thesis director goes over chapter 1.

Asian Encirclement Strategies, 1979 vs. 2006

A notable quote on p. 273 of Robert S. Ross' The Indochina Tangle: China’s Vietnam Policy 1975-1979 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988):

Attention to the role of the Soviet Union in China's Vietnam policy takes seriously Beijing's claim that it feared Soviet encirclement. Such fear is neither unusual in international politics nor unwarranted. Encirclement has long been a strategy of states seeking to undermine the security of their adversaries.

How, then, does one view the U.S. military deployments in western Asia? By stationing large numbers of troops and equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has nearly encircled Iran with hostile forces. Moreover, if one considers our close relations with India and Israel, Pakistan and Syria are also partially encircled by the nuclear-equipped forces of multiple adversaries. Surely this must impact the strategic considerations in the region, not to mention the behavior of all of the states involved. Yet we seldom hear this discussed in our press outlets.

Harvard Extended Interview Series: An ALM management concentrator

The second person featured in the Harvard Extended Interview Series is a student who wishes to remain anonymous. This student already has an undergraduate degree from Columbia, but is taking graduate-level Extension School classes with the purpose of entering the ALM in Management program. I've never met him in person, but he left a very interesting comment on an earlier post ("The New York Times' front page Extension School article"), discussing the value of a degree from the Harvard Extension School:

... Although I am concerned in how a potential employer may view my HES degree, a Harvard degree is a Harvard degree. HES offers graduate studies not found in other Harvard “non-open enrollment” schools. Or many other schools as well.

I am here because I choose to be, regardless of the open enrollment policy. Although HES students are stigmatized, the education is superior.

I was able to follow up with him by email and phone. In his first message, he noted that despite the fact that an HES degree is not considered a "real" degree in some quarters, he chose the ALM in Management program over high-profile MBA programs at Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania:

... Although I had in inkling the HES Diploma would not be considered a real Ivy League education, I did not care since I already have an Ivy League degree. In addition, I had already gone through the rigorous graduate school application process with both Columbia and Wharton, so open enrollment posed little concern for me. Why I selected HES, and how can I compare Harvard's ALM in Management against both CU and UPenn? I have two reasons.

First it's simple economics - cost of education. Tuition for both MBA degrees hover over the $105,000 mark. I do not work for a company that will sponsor my education, so all educational expenses must come from an already strained household budget. I made the last payment in my CU undergraduate tuition several months ago, so the prospect of having to pay a new educational loan gives me nightmares. In contrast, HES classes are around $1500 per graduate class. An ALM in Management degree will cost me approximately $21,000. For the cost of one class at CU or UPenn, I can take five classes at HES.

Second reason is the curriculum. As stated previously in the blog comment, HES has a ridiculous number of classes available for the ALM in Management -- over 70 classes!! I've done comparisons of both CU and UPenn MBA curriculums, and have found the same classes available at HES -- for the most part. I can "mimic" the MBA curriculum at HES. I know the quality of teaching at CU and UPenn cannot be compared with HES's. CU and UPenn MBA programs are highly rated, but HES is still Harvard.

I want a graduate degree to advance in my field. I have over 16 years of Information Technology experience, so I do not need an MBA to become a CIO. I can well do that with an HES degree. I do feel having both an undergraduate and graduate degree from HES can be a detriment. An already heavily stigmatized degree must be validated with a degree from another top notch institution. An HSE undergraduate degree coupled with a Cornell graduate education solidifies a resume -- for example. Here HES can be used as a launching platform.

HES is a great option and opportunity. But as with any viable solution, we must first know what problem we are trying to solve. As for the stigma from others, only time will prove how great an education HES is.

I asked several follow-up questions, which he graciously answered. Here are his replies:

Ian Lamont/Harvard Extended: How many classes have you taken so far, and when do you hope to complete the degree?

This is my first semester. I am taking two classes.

You suggest that you are interested in becoming a CIO. My understanding of IT career paths is that many CIOs rise to that position by virtue of their management and technology skills learned over many years of real-world experience. Some have advanced degrees, but not always MBAs -- I've seen presentations by CIOs who have [computer science] or liberal arts graduate degrees. There is no "CIO school" that I am aware of, but I have noticed Northeastern has created an MBA in IT program that targets people interested in IT management careers.

That may be true in smaller companies, but an advance degree is required in larger companies. My interest and need for a graduate degree is to learn the financial language. I have a BS in Comp. Sci. And although I have over 16 years of IT experience, I still lack the financial side of business .

My questions are: Why bother with a graduate degree at all? Is it to speed up the process, or make your resume more marketable? Are there specific classes or exercises at HES (e.g., team tasks) that you think will be useful, that you can't duplicate with on-the-job experience?

I need a graduate degree for several reasons. First and foremost I am doing it for my kids. Research has shown that parents with higher degrees have a better chance of their sons and daugthers graduating from college.

I too, of course, will be more markatable. IT as an industry has changed dramatically over the years - at least since the late 80's. Products have become more complex. IT has become too ubiquitous, and as such it is no longer a competitive advantage. On the other hand, a company without IT will not survive for long. IT is an enabler of business. I have project management experience. I know how to take a product from inception to deployment, with planning and coding along the way, but as a CIO the task is different. It is about IT and operational effectiveness.

What types of interactions have you had with other people in your ALM program?

As an HES student, I have had Zero interaction with other students. It seems the students in my Information System Management class are just like me - programers and project managers.

A few other things to note: He is commuting from New Jersey every Monday to take classes, and goes with his brother, who is in the ALB program. I would like to thank him for taking the time to share his thoughts on this blog. Any other readers of this blog -- especially students in the ALM in Management program, or the ALM in IT program -- are welcome to comment below. Additionally, if you are a student or former student interested in being interviewed about your Harvard Extension School experiences and having the transcript posted on this blog, please email Ian Lamont.

The first interview in the series, with ALM in Government candidate Cynthia Iris, can be read here.

Thesis update: Starting chapter 1

Today was an important day in my thesis journey: I actually started writing it.

I have to admit there was a bit of apprehension -- I've been worrying about various aspects almost every day for the past 18 months, as I conducted research, tried out software tools, gathered data, wrote a thesis proposal (which went through 22 iterations) and conferred with my research advisor and thesis director.

But writing the first page and a half was easy. I didn't have writer's block. I didn't agonize about the first paragraph. I just started writing, and after two hours, had what I think is a very good start to the thesis (see below). It will surely go through many revisions between now and the end of the year (by which time I should have a complete draft) but getting past this milestone in quick fashion sets the stage for confident writing for the other sections that will follow.

Why was the first page so easy? Part of the reason was planning. Thanks to all of the preparations, which included writing an outline for my TD, I know exactly what I need to present, and the order that I need to present it in. I have already completed 99% of my research, and have my notes, datasets, and various precis organized on my computer. I have a few writing tactics that help me maintain momentum across multiple writing sessions; they include leaving rough memos in pointy brackets for footnotes and other text that can be easily added later, as well as leaving a note to myself at the end of every session, reminding me what I should do when I resume writing.

I'm copying tonight's efforts below. It's short, but gives an idea of the focus of my research, and also shows my writing approach:

Chapter 1

Technology has transformed the study of modern Chinese history and government affairs. Rare is the academic who doesn’t use computers to write a paper or communicate with colleagues, or browse the Internet for scholarly articles and other references.

But while the field has embraced 21st century communications and publication technologies, scholarly methodologies are not much different than they were in the early 20th century. Our understanding of Chinese official views and policies is largely defined by qualitative research, based on statements of Chinese and foreign diplomats, military deployments, bureaucratic actions, events, treaties, official documents, accounts of witnesses, and individual news articles.

Qualitative research has been instrumental in understanding the inner workings of the Chinese government, but it has limitations: Nobody is capable of reading all of the journal articles, books, and news accounts relating to individual issues, so we selectively and often haphazardly incorporate sources into new research. Not only is it impossible to cite sources that we have never seen, but also it is very easy to subjectively dismiss those which do not agree with our hypotheses, or do not match our ideological or theoretical perspectives. Another limitation: The inability (in some cases) of researchers to effectively gauge the relative importance of various factors upon a specific issue. The reasons may relate to the issues noted above (such as a lack of sources), or conflicting accounts of an event.

It should therefore come as no surprise that academics are sometimes in disagreement about what makes China react to external stimuli, why senior cadres change an important policy, or how China views key foreign relationships.

Consider Vietnam. During the Deng Xiaoping era (roughly 1978 to 1993), China had a complex relationship with its southern neighbor that was very early on marred by war and a refugee crisis, but by the early 1990s resolved to a state of détente. On these points, the qualitative evidence is overwhelming and experts are largely in agreement. However, when Western academics have looked at Beijing’s underlying views of Vietnam during this period, there is disagreement as to whether China was more concerned about Hanoi’s close relationship with Moscow, or Vietnam’s regional ambitions.

This paper will attempt to resolve this question by employing a computer content analysis (CCA) of the English-language wire service operated by the state-run New China News Agency. News-based CCA methodologies have been used for decades to study media, social trends, and politics, but their use in the study of modern Chinese history and government is rare. This is partially explained by …

CCAs cannot be used to analyze everything, or answer certain types of historical questions. And, as everyone who follows politics knows, statistical data can be “twisted” in line with a party platform or ideological agenda. Likewise, the data from academic CCAs can be selectively referenced, or interpreted to fit a hypothetical or theoretical

But there are benefits to using a well-designed CCA based on news content. Rigorous sampling methods and analysis can minimize researcher bias at the data collection stage. They can be used to confirm other qualititative and quantitative data. They can suggest conclusions that go against the prevailing academic discourse, and force a reconsideration of existing hypthoses. And, as we shall see later in this paper, longitudinal studies based on CCAs often reveal trends that are not apparent via traditional qualitatitve research.

I won't be copying and pasting my entire thesis into Harvard Extended, but will try to give writing updates over the next few months.

Harvard Extension School graduates and advanced Harvard degrees

Do Extension School graduates go on to get other advanced degrees from Harvard? Some do. Actually, many do, judging by old notices in the Harvard Extension School Alumni Bulletin, like this one from 1996:

Harvard Extension School alumni/ae who received graduate degrees or certificates at the June 1996 Harvard University Commencement Exercises include Anthony D. Baxter, ALB '88, ALM '93; Tamar Duke-Cohan, CSS '93; Jaleh P. Faruborz, ALB '95; Randy B. Hayward, ALB '94; and Steven A. Thurber, ALB '95, each of whom received an EdM in Education. In addition, Dorothy Abram, ALM '92, received a CAS from the Graduate School of Education; Curtis S. Signorino, ALM '93, received an AM in Government from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Elizabeth S. Home, CAS '94, an SM in Applied Sciences; Christine M. Millett, ALB '90, an AM in Regional Studies-East Asia; and Kamilla L. Denman, ALM '91, a PhD in English and American Literature and Language.

There is a similar list in the 1997 bulletin:

Among the Extension School alumni(ae) who received graduate degrees at the 1997 Harvard University Commencement Exercises were Marlene M. Ahmed, ALB '95, and Melanie Joe Tardella, also ALB '95, both of whom received an EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Sabrina K. Cleary, ALB '92, who received a Master of Theological Studies degree from the Harvard Divinity School; Aaron A. Afilalo, ALB '89, who received a Master of Laws degree from the Harvard Law School; Judith B. Manola, CAS '95, who received a Master of Science in Biostatistics degree from the Harvard School of Public Health; and Mariko N. Walter, ALM '89, who received a PhD in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The bulletin has since stopped publishing this information. Still, assuming this trend has held up in the intervening years, and perhaps even expanded owing to new graduate and certificate programs at HES, there's a solid base of HES grads who have not only proved that they've got what it takes to gain admission into highly selective graduate and PhD programs at Harvard, but also successfully complete their degrees.

Thesis update: My path is clear

I've reached an important thesis milestone. My thesis director has reviewed my data, queried me on a few points, and has not only agreed that my focus is worthwhile, but said that the data and methodology potentially have other applications as well. I have to change the format of the data output from percentages to ratios, and create one additional benchmark for the Yoshikoder data, but otherwise I'm ready to start writing.

My thesis director and I discussed a plan of attack for the chapters and review process. I am going to write up as an outline this week, and notify the Extension School of the revised title and schedule. But the sense of uncertainty that I have been carrying around for the last 18 months is gone. A very long but straightforward writing process will dominate my evenings and weekends for the next three or four months.

The end is not yet within sight, but my path is clear.

Fujian media challenges NCNA/Xinhua

Interesting local debate in Fujian Province regarding Xinhua/NCNA's (新華社) coverage of a recent typhoon, from the EastSouthWestNorth blog (東南西北). It says a lot about how Xinhua works to cover domestic news, and how local press outlets are increasingly willingly to challenge the authority of the state-run news organization.

In a nutshell, local press in Fujian roasted Xinhua for its allegedly insensitive and inaccurate coverage of the typhoon, as well as overstepping its mandate (when a Xinhua Zhejiang reporter crossed into Fujian), and the contents of a follow-up story in Xinhua's restricted Reference News about how Xinhua handled the typhoon coverage. Read the translation of the debate on ESWN.

Harvard Extended Interview Series: Cynthia Iris, ALM government concentrator

I'm very happy to present the first in a series of interviews with current and former Harvard Extension School students about their experiences at HES. The purpose of these interviews is to let others better understand Extension School programs and student life. I often get emails from people interested in coming here, and try to answer their questions to the best of my ability (see "Questions from a prospective Harvard Extension School student", "Acceptance rate for Harvard Extension School graduate programs?" and "ALM biology concentrator comments & building a Web community") but there are many gaps in my knowledge, not to mention different points of view among classmates in similar ALM programs. I hope these interviews will help fill in some of the gaps, and give a different perspective of Extension School programs.

Here's the first interview in the series, with Cynthia Iris, an ALM Government concentrator and fellow Extension School blogger. Cynthia has some very interesting opinions about how the ALM program could be improved. If you're in the ALM program, you may find yourself nodding in agreement -- or you may disagree. Whatever the case, she offers another perspective borne from experience attending HES classes.

Ian Lamont/Harvard Extended: Why did you choose the Extension School for your graduate studies?

Cynthia Iris: I was interested in studying international relations and foreign policy but not ready to commit to a graduate program. So I started taking a couple of classes in Extension. I had a master’s degree already but didn’t want to re-take the GRE so I chose the entrance route of Extension which means doing well in three classes and no testing.

What's been the most challenging academic experience you've had here?

Learning to write a strong academic paper again -- coming up with a thesis, learning how to argue your thesis, writing well in an academic style and doing a particular format (i.e., APA or MLA).

A second, important academic challenge is learning to structure your time to get the work done: reading, writing, analysis, and exam preparation. It takes some adjustments and time to get into a rhythm about this.

What types of interactions do you have with other members of the Extension School community?

Practically none. It’s very much a ‘commuter’ experience where students come to class and leave. Since there are no class cohorts (i.e., no “class of 2010”), it’s hard to even feel like you are connected to your fellow students in the concentration you’ve selected. I recommend creating an online community, all voluntary, by concentration. This would help students calibrate their experiences, find some other graduate students to connect with, get feedback from peers, and feel less they’re walking blind or alone through the experience.

How do you think the ALM program could be improved?

Make the academics more rigorous for ALMs, by several means:

a) High on my list: have most of the classes geared to specific degree types of students – courses only for ALBs, courses only for ALMs, much less mixing. Currently, the graduate students, undergraduates, and community members who are just auditing are mixed together in many of the classes, certainly the majority of the lectures. The lectures and their workloads are mostly geared to undergraduates. Also, auditors are allowed to actively participate in the class discussions, a practice which can preclude degree students from commenting (there’s only so much time for discussion). Another example -- in several lecture courses, all the ALMS had to do for graduate credit was to add two pages onto the final paper that was required of all students. Further, officially, Extension won’t allow Sections in a lecture class to be split by level either. Graduate students who want to be in a section together have to arrange such a thing on their own and Extension won’t provide a TA for that.

b) Have more faculty advisors per concentration and have them meet with students as they develop their program, not just at thesis proposal time.

c) The required proseminar I took was strong on content but fell somewhat short on process which is the opposite of what it’s supposed to do. It’s not to teach a subject such as the Cold War, rather it is to teach you how to go about the work of academic writing and research, using the subject to illustrate certain process issues and resources. The proseminar experience can vary quite a bit depending on who is teaching. There should be more standardization in this one class as it is the ‘gateway’ to the program and sets the foundation for your research and writing skills, especially for the thesis. My professor was great for teaching the subject matter which happened to be an important subject for my particular interests. It gave me a solid understanding of historical developments in western Europe. But I’m glad I coupled the proseminar with Analytical Reasoning.

d) Sequence of courses – doesn’t exist really but it should. When I took my first class, I asked about this and was assured it didn’t matter. Now, I can say I disagree.

The Analytical Reasoning class (Dr. Wideman) was a boon. I’m glad I took early on (it is not required). Even though the course topic didn’t apply to my main field (government), she was great and provided a strong learning curve so that everyone would be a better student with real tools to do the work (critical thinking, writing, research) throughout the program.

e) Faculty accessibility. Some faculty are better about this than others. One odd aspect about this: if you miss a class or two for whatever legitimate reason, you are on your own to find out what was covered. The unwritten policy is that the professor is not available in office hours to discuss what you missed, even for a brief overview. Yet students get mixed messages from faculty – in several courses I took, the professors lamented that students never attend office hours. But if you are seriously ill, they are unavailable to you, even to discuss the general idea of the class you missed. Therefore, Extension ought to have some resource available for students to connect with each other since absences do happen for good reasons; I suggest a listserv of all class members willing to be on it so they can contact each other.

Where are you in terms of planning your thesis topic, or conducting research? Did the proseminar help you decide?

I’m half-way through the program. I’ve had a thesis topic in mind for some time and began reading generally on it last year. I didn’t expect the proseminar to help me select the topic; further, the emphasis in that particular proseminar was on history and I’m a government concentrator with a thesis focus on present issues. My topic is very much embedded in current military circumstances so it wouldn’t have been likely to come up during the class anyway.

Is there any advice that you would like to give incoming students in the ALM Government program?

a) If you want courses in foreign policy, it’s a hard place to find them. There is no regular offering on this subject in Extension, an oversight in these geopolitical times,

b) The government degree is very broad. There should be some effort to narrow the scope and then provide courses and resources for that subspecialty,

c) Scour around to find resources you need. Not all resources are well-advertised. The Kennedy School and the Weatherhead Center have many fine events and programs that Extension students can attend but you have to dig around their websites to discover them.

d) “Special student status” is a benefit but apparently is somewhat randomly given and difficult to obtain due to competition.

That all said, indeed there are shortfalls and oversights but the program gives you access to Harvard faculty, learning opportunities, and resources that are highly valuable and well-regarded. If you are willing to take the initiative and the time to reach out, over and over, it can be a very good experience.

I would like to thank Cynthia for taking the time to respond to my questions, and share her experiences in this forum. You are welcome to comment on them below, or visit her blog to learn more about her academic interests.

Additional interviews will appear on this website as I conduct them, and may make their way into a book project (if I ever get it started -- I am still slogging away at my thesis!). If you're interested in being interviewed for this series, please email me at ilamont@fas.harvard.edu.

Related Posts:

Harvard Extended Interview Series: An ALM management concentrator

Harvard Extension School Interview Series

I'm interested in doing a series of interviews with current and former Extension School students about their academic experiences in the ALM, ALB, and certificate programs. The interviews would be brief (5 questions, over the phone or by email) and the results would be posted on the Harvard Extended blog and potentially be incorporated into a book.

If you're interested in participating, email Ian Lamont at ilamont@fas.harvard.edu. Thanks!

Blogging can help your academic career. Or harm it.

Fred, a Ph.D. student at UNC-Chapel Hill, discusses the positive aspects of having an academic blog: They help can help academics showcase accomplishments, improve their writing skills, and connect with like-minded people:

Traditionally, researchers "found" each other through academic publications. They would then meet up at a conference, pat each other on the back, talk about collaborating, etc. As a graduate student, I don't have a very strong publication record, nor do I have money to travel to conferences. I am essentially locked out of the traditional academic model. However, Google drives a ton of traffic to my blog; in that traffic are researchers who are conducting background and primary research. I can't tell you how many interesting researchers have contacted me, left comments, or tracked back to my blog; I've made many valuable contacts this way. I've also many many valuable international contacts this way - people I probably wouldn't have met otherwise.

I agree with Fred, and would add a few other benefits to academic blogging, such as being able to comment in casual, short-form entries on areas pertaining to research interests (for example, see "Watershed event: Amateur riot video circulates in China")

However, Fred points to a column from the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled "Bloggers need not apply", which describes several cases of academic job seekers being turned away because of information contained in their blogs. It's unfortunate that this happens, but the reality is blog entries, old websites, and news accounts mentioning you can come back to haunt you, if the information is indexed by Google or other search engines.

Do these issues outweigh the benefits of blogging? I don't think so, or I would stop doing it. But I am careful about what I post online. I stay focused, avoid hyperbole and flamefests, and try not to reveal details about my personal life and preferences beyond how they relate to my studies and blogging.