BLOG-A-THON live capture by Visual Thinkery

It’s a BLOG-A-THON…

What is a blog-a-thon? And can we make sense of it on one page?

That was the challenge that presented itself at this week’s ReclaimOpen online conference. I hadn’t quite appreciated the format until it started to unfold before my eyes – but essentially, a blog post was syndicated via the conference site every hour, with a chat available for people to comment alongside the post. This was interesting for a number of reasons. As it was an online conference, people were in all the timezones. This meant that I could come back the following morning and have a look at the posts that I missed. I could take my time, skim over some, re-read others, jump down a rabbit hole… This felt like the web that was when speeds were slow and we weren’t in the rush to make or consume content like we are today.

The blogs were all on a loose theme of rewilding the open web and I’d already created artwork for the conference having absorbed some dialogue from the organising team. I tried to capture a landscape of the blogs as they appeared, attempting to take each title, and from the blog post get a steer on what I should draw.

This was a different sense-making challenge – like making a patchwork quilt of meaning from random squares of written thought…

Combobulating the Wild by Visual Thinkery for Combobulating in the #WildDS106 by Sarah Honeychurch et al.

Montaigne and the open web by Visual Thinkery for Things change (or, Montaigne and the Open Web) by Doug Belshaw

My website is a junk drawer by Visual Thinkery for My website is a junk drawer by Laura Hilliger

Blogging as a superpower by Visual Thinkery for Blogging as a professional practice superpower by Maren Deepwell

Bozos on the bus by Visual Thinkery for  I Think We’re All Bozos on This Bus by Mark Corbett Wilson

Designing student build teams by Visual Thinkery for Designing student build teams by Pete Rorabaugh

Lessons from rewilding landscapes by Visual Thinkery for Lessons from Rewilding Landscapes… in the Wild by Alan Levine

We’re not computers, Sebastian by Visual Thinkery for We’re not computers, Sebastian, we’re physical by Jim Groom

Open web zines by Visual Thinkery for Open Web Zines by Pilot Irwin

A backwoods CMS adventure by Visual Thinkery for A backwoods CMS adventure by Taylor Jadin

Take back your privacy by Visual Thinkery for Take Back Your Privacy by Chris Blankenship