Posts
Tim O'Reilly's "Work on stuff that matters" recently struck to heart. Been faffing much with thoughts and ideas and reading oh-so-much-and-then-some about the High tech Gift economy / Relationship Economy and online networking and how it all pertains to the current economic crisis and and... And much as all these things indeed seem to 'matter', I was left quite overwhelmed at what I, personally, really could possibly have to add to all of this. Feeling quite out of my depth really. Also, much beautiful as these conceptions of an alternate economy evolving in cyberspace, I couldn't quite get how this e-volved economy based on relationships, reciprocity and exchange of informational and technological gifts can translate into actual bread and butter issues essential for survival. Which, as social development researcher/ consultant down at the southern tip of Africa is the type of thing that seems to me would really matter.
A g-chat with my dear frien Foom, who suggested I look around on .ning for local inspiration proved most inspiring when my curson stumbed on the Community Exchange Network .ning group, and from there to the CES exchange site. This is not the first time I come across them. Joined the Facebook group awhile back, and been intermittently following and in principle agreement with the SANE philosophy and principles behind LETS systems for years. So why this didn't strike me before one might wonder... But never mind. Now it has and for the first time in awhile I feel a sense of deeper purpose awakening with this research focus I'm to be developing into a thesis in coming months.
For here it would seem is a system that can, just maybe, translate the benefits of a new economy facilitated through ICTs into real benefits for real people, for some of whom actual access to these technologies and the world they represent is (and could remain for some while to come) unfathomable. And yet through the help of others like the CTTE bankers/brokers in Khayelitsha, Cape Town they can benefit from a system made ever so much easier through such technology.
So, I've joined the .ning group, created an account with Cape Town's Talent Exchange, added some offerings on the site, checked out some wants - earned myself some talents and went to a community market in Delft on Saturday to spend some. More on that later. It's late - much to do before this week ends.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
EpsilonSD - how this blog got its name
"Epsilon" is a word/ idea I've always held great affinity for for its symbolic value. Derived from the formal proof of mathematical limits, based on:
"For all epsilon greater than zero" (epsilon is always positive), "as epsilon tends towards zero" (epsilon is veryvery small - the smallest value you can imagine, squeezing up the tangent to the axis) "|f(x) - L|" (the absolute (i.e. always positive) value of whatever the function of 'x' you're trying to prove minus the value you're trying to prove it can never surpass but will tend to with ever greater values of 'x') is less than epsilon (i.e. less than this very small, positive thing that's as small as you can possibly imagine it but still the difference between the function and limit is smaller so it must be darned near zero so it might as well be the same and hence the limit...)
OK that's a lot of words for what mathematicians put ever so much more gracefully in a few symbols, but just to roughly illustrate the mathematical relevance of 'epsilon' - something by definition as small as you can imagine, but positive, the founding concept on which a proof for 'limits' (quite a lofty concept really) is based. The touchy feely social development researcher/ anthropologist in me just loves that. It makes me think of the Grameen Bank of Professor Muhammad Yunus. A huge benefit from a relatively so small input.
The SD... when I created this blog in 2007 I was partly toying with the idea of opening a cc through which to run the freelance consulting I was doing at the time. Never got round to all the admin part and ended up joining Southern Hemisphere (SHC) which turned out as perfect solution to still do what I was doing plus a greater range and variety of interesting work and loads of learning and team support without losing the flexi-freelance lifestyle.
At the time I was playing with a possible name I might give such a cc. 'Epsilon' had to be in there somewhere as it's been with me for years (remaing as relic and reminder of the mathdegree I did a decade ago before moving into social development consulting careerwise flowing from the BA I also did at the time.) But I had to make it somewhat relevant to the work I thought to be promoting if indeed this blog was to serve as quasi-website for this up&comin cc of mine. So the SD would have stood for 'Social Development' in a way. I'm not so fond of the term 'social development' and whatever connotations it might have in many minds (including my own in many ways.) But it most accurately described the type of work I do. At the time it was mostly social impact assessments (SIAs) as part of environmental (EIAs) for various big developments - power stations, golf courses, mines etc. - Not exactly the most 'social development' oriented clients one could boast of but in a way I justified it (and still do when those projects come in though SHCs clients have generally been more 'goodly' NGO's and government/ donor funded projects geared to human upliftment ('development') in some way or other.)
Going with the 'mathematical' theme helped me get over 'development' connotations... I thought a possible business card would have the ESD all in Greek capitals. With S = 'Sigma' which mathematically signifies "the sum of" (unity, coming together, adding, joining etc.), and D - 'Delta' - the symbol for "change". So EpsilonSigmaDelta would really, as my personal 'mission statement' refer to a 'very small, positive thing', 'unity', and 'change'. (The nitpicker in me wasn't entirely happy with the order of these symbols - SE=D might make a more powerful (well, more 'mathematically correct' anyway) statement: "the sum of very small positive actions resulting in change" - but I kinda made peace with the compromise - "very small positive actions, joined together, result in change". And since I hadn't actually done any math since 1999 and don't move in circles where the position of 'Sigma' makes any difference whatsoever, I figured it could work.
Never did start the cc so never needed the name. Or the 'website' for that matter. In retrospect I could probably have started using it as a blog before but... got caught up in other things I guess... Now that it's revived and I suddenly see the purpose of such a space, guess the name remains as relevant as ever to encaptulate what I'm about - well... try to be about... we all have our moments and the ideals we strive towards. Guess this is mine. (Along with my motto's for daily living: "observe; be aware; don't judge"; "do to others as you'd have them do to you"; "from each according to abilities, to each according to needs" and the Serenity Prayer ("God grant me the serenity; to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. ")
"For all epsilon greater than zero" (epsilon is always positive), "as epsilon tends towards zero" (epsilon is veryvery small - the smallest value you can imagine, squeezing up the tangent to the axis) "|f(x) - L|" (the absolute (i.e. always positive) value of whatever the function of 'x' you're trying to prove minus the value you're trying to prove it can never surpass but will tend to with ever greater values of 'x') is less than epsilon (i.e. less than this very small, positive thing that's as small as you can possibly imagine it but still the difference between the function and limit is smaller so it must be darned near zero so it might as well be the same and hence the limit...)
OK that's a lot of words for what mathematicians put ever so much more gracefully in a few symbols, but just to roughly illustrate the mathematical relevance of 'epsilon' - something by definition as small as you can imagine, but positive, the founding concept on which a proof for 'limits' (quite a lofty concept really) is based. The touchy feely social development researcher/ anthropologist in me just loves that. It makes me think of the Grameen Bank of Professor Muhammad Yunus. A huge benefit from a relatively so small input.
The SD... when I created this blog in 2007 I was partly toying with the idea of opening a cc through which to run the freelance consulting I was doing at the time. Never got round to all the admin part and ended up joining Southern Hemisphere (SHC) which turned out as perfect solution to still do what I was doing plus a greater range and variety of interesting work and loads of learning and team support without losing the flexi-freelance lifestyle.
At the time I was playing with a possible name I might give such a cc. 'Epsilon' had to be in there somewhere as it's been with me for years (remaing as relic and reminder of the mathdegree I did a decade ago before moving into social development consulting careerwise flowing from the BA I also did at the time.) But I had to make it somewhat relevant to the work I thought to be promoting if indeed this blog was to serve as quasi-website for this up&comin cc of mine. So the SD would have stood for 'Social Development' in a way. I'm not so fond of the term 'social development' and whatever connotations it might have in many minds (including my own in many ways.) But it most accurately described the type of work I do. At the time it was mostly social impact assessments (SIAs) as part of environmental (EIAs) for various big developments - power stations, golf courses, mines etc. - Not exactly the most 'social development' oriented clients one could boast of but in a way I justified it (and still do when those projects come in though SHCs clients have generally been more 'goodly' NGO's and government/ donor funded projects geared to human upliftment ('development') in some way or other.)
Going with the 'mathematical' theme helped me get over 'development' connotations... I thought a possible business card would have the ESD all in Greek capitals. With S = 'Sigma' which mathematically signifies "the sum of" (unity, coming together, adding, joining etc.), and D - 'Delta' - the symbol for "change". So EpsilonSigmaDelta would really, as my personal 'mission statement' refer to a 'very small, positive thing', 'unity', and 'change'. (The nitpicker in me wasn't entirely happy with the order of these symbols - SE=D might make a more powerful (well, more 'mathematically correct' anyway) statement: "the sum of very small positive actions resulting in change" - but I kinda made peace with the compromise - "very small positive actions, joined together, result in change". And since I hadn't actually done any math since 1999 and don't move in circles where the position of 'Sigma' makes any difference whatsoever, I figured it could work.
Never did start the cc so never needed the name. Or the 'website' for that matter. In retrospect I could probably have started using it as a blog before but... got caught up in other things I guess... Now that it's revived and I suddenly see the purpose of such a space, guess the name remains as relevant as ever to encaptulate what I'm about - well... try to be about... we all have our moments and the ideals we strive towards. Guess this is mine. (Along with my motto's for daily living: "observe; be aware; don't judge"; "do to others as you'd have them do to you"; "from each according to abilities, to each according to needs" and the Serenity Prayer ("God grant me the serenity; to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. ")
Sunday, January 18, 2009
hope?
On finally (somewhat reluctantly) waking this morning, I fumbled my way to laptop, logged into email. Nothing too urgent on this Sunday am, so skimmed through some newspaper headlines. Which, I'm happy to say (for this day) suddenly seem unusually filled with possible positivity:
"Gaza skies calm as Israel halts offensive"
"Optimism over DRC peace deal"
"Washington gears up for dawning of Obama era"
I'm not as naive as to think the world's problems are over, that peace will reign into the future or that all is well in any way, but, just for today anyway, it's quite nice to, for once, scan through headlines that actually bring a glimmer of hope rather than despair. (Reading a bit further into said articles for yet another glimpse of the extent of carnage wrecked in Gaza in recent weeks, and onto some others e.g. "Hungry Zimbabweans see even leaner times ahead" quickly reminds that all is still far from rosy in this world we live in.)
But for a personal perspective on this day think I'll try cling to the glimmer of hope (elusive though it may seem) for the moment.
"Gaza skies calm as Israel halts offensive"
"Optimism over DRC peace deal"
"Washington gears up for dawning of Obama era"
I'm not as naive as to think the world's problems are over, that peace will reign into the future or that all is well in any way, but, just for today anyway, it's quite nice to, for once, scan through headlines that actually bring a glimmer of hope rather than despair. (Reading a bit further into said articles for yet another glimpse of the extent of carnage wrecked in Gaza in recent weeks, and onto some others e.g. "Hungry Zimbabweans see even leaner times ahead" quickly reminds that all is still far from rosy in this world we live in.)
But for a personal perspective on this day think I'll try cling to the glimmer of hope (elusive though it may seem) for the moment.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Reciprocal relations between role players in social networking
What I've been thinking much about lately is how 'reciprocity' (you give something you gain something or, conversely, you get something you gotta give something) works in the online networking world. Facebook in particular.
Who all contribute to Facebook? What do they get in return?
Who gains from the service? What do they give in exchange?
So, looking at the various role-players involved.
I'll be exploring these ideas further in months ahead.
Who all contribute to Facebook? What do they get in return?
Who gains from the service? What do they give in exchange?
So, looking at the various role-players involved.
- There are the founders and ongoing creators of the site. Mark Zuckerberg and those who work with him.
- Then there's 'civil society' - the users. All ~150mil of them - can imagine there are quite a range of motivations and uses there.
- And business - advertisers, partners (notably Microsoft), those investing in the service for future profit motives.
- And when we have civil society and business, the natural flow of thought leads to the state sector. One can pretty much guess what government agencies could gain from a massive and growing database of identity information willingly submitted by users. What are they prepared to (/ do they) give in exchange?
I'll be exploring these ideas further in months ahead.
random ramblings to overcome the blogofear
Having started this blog I suddenly find myself quite fearful to do anything with it. What to do, what to say? What if people see? (Wait... they're supposed to see it) What if they dont? What if what's on here drives them away? What if, what if? All quite ridiculous really. So... to just get over this damned phobia to say anything I'm going ahead and just blabbering out what comes to mind in this awkward moment. What got me to this place and where I am now. Beyond which will see how this space can be best used into the future.
Once upon a life I was very shy and fearful of people. Did some travelling, met fellow travellers who seemed less scary for the brevity of contact, exchanged addresses, sent and received the odd postcard. One of them contained (my mother's at the time) email address. About 7 months later a travelfriend met in a desert oasis, also back in home territory, responded via (her mother's at the time) email. Over the next 10 years (a few email and many physical addresses later) we had exchanged about 2000 pages (she printed it all at one point) of our most intimate thoughts, feelings, experiences, hopes, fears, desires, joys and woes. In a way it felt like the first 'friend' I ever had. Growing more comfortable to share of myself in the relatively 'safe' space of email started to make actual 'talking to people' back in the real world a lot easier. Learnt much about general 'girlie chitchat', something I'd always felt quite inadept at, in this manner. It also paved the way for numerous other friendships created and strengthened through cyber communication.
When blogs became a craze I briefly considered the idea. Some initial inhibiting factors were slow and irregular netconnections, though could certainly have gotten around that. More truthfully, I was sharing my life in diarylike detail through email every day. Couldn't imagine sharing with 'the world' the things I did in this private space. Shyness surfaced again. How much and what to expose to whom in what way? And so the years went by.
My daily diarystyle email relationship since faded as, about 12 years down the line, I guess both our lives just became too full of other things and people, and sharing every detail with one other across the world somehow less of a priority. By this time there were a number of others I emailed reasonably regularly, occasionally going in depth on certain issues but more and more intermittently. Having grown more comfortable with face-to-face interaction, the urgency to communicate through the computer had diminished as nurturing RL friendships became a priority.
Along came Facebook. There were other networks before it, but none of them had had particular impact in South Africa, hence they never really crossed my path. When FB initially did I avoided it. Feeling mostly that I'm in touch with enough people in RL (where, in addition to a much more active than it once was social life, I work as a social development consultant - talking and listening to people (and writing reports about it) is what I do for a living) and through cyberspace (email based). The supposed selling point of getting in touch with old classmates... hmmm... alas can't say highschool sparked any great nostalgic desires to reconnect with people whom I'm pretty sure wouldn't have called me 'friend' then.
[First a little aside: I'd taken up studying (verymuch part-time) again in 2006 after a ~6 year break. MPhil Anthropology requiring completion of number of coursework modules and a thesis. Browsing Anthro journals for a suitable topic for assignment 1 I stumbled on an article referencing William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. I love those guys. The Anthro prospect suddenly brightened from something most likely related to some third world development issue (which, don't get me wrong, I'd been happily engaged with academically and professionally for about a decade), to something... different... What exactly it would be was unclear at the time (still is a bit I must confess), but that it would somehow relate to human 'E-volution' using Internet technologies in the information age. Used this as a guideline for all subsequent modules, integrating issues of identity, relationships inequality (the digital divide), power dynamics (ala Foucault), public spheres (Habermas), and reciprocity (notably Mauss) covered in the modules with elements of cyberspace. Hoping to eventually integrate it into something coherent for a thesis (which is where I'm sitting now...) Along the line I submitted one of the assignments (looking at potential for Public Access facilities in city libraries to cross the digital divide, which, at the time, I'd thought to look at in more detail for the thesis) for a Communities & Technologies conference in Michigan. It was accepted and seemed a perfect opportunity to try get myself a US visa. For all the travelling of years back had never been very far off the African continent, and if indeed I was going to be studying issues around ICTs' impacts on humans getting a glimpse of life in a place where these technologies are more pervasive than here on the southern tip of Africa seemed appropriate. Got the visa and a fortunate wellpaid social plan for a diamond company along with some assistance from the anthro department helped pay for the ticket.]
So there I was, heading to a conference on 'Communities and Technologies', when another FB invite popped into my inbox. Sensing (rightly) that better understanding of such social networking platforms would likely increase my appreciation of the conference, I signed up. Within weeks the dreaded nightmare of old school acquaintances who found me via the one link I didn't mind remembering, now listed as 'friends', along with the 2-3 line message or 3 with each - 'hi, how are you, what've you been up to' etc., then nothing more had materialized. Initially with some rather disconcerting flashbacks of teenage angst. Seemed a good way to just come to terms with and get over it all. Have subsequently slowly collected more friends, some i know in RL, others I don't. Have sent and accepted some requests from strangers who have seemed potentially interesting. Some of those I've now met face to face, some I've conversed with upon occasion online, others are just 'there'. Have added and experimented with applications, removed some, some I still check, others are just there.
Almost a year ago I thought to change the thesis focus from public access issues to look at social networking, particularly FB, since it's the one I've been using most frequently (though curiosity had me joining a number of others to see what they're all about.)
[When I way this studything has been happening verymuch parttime I really mean it. Social development is a booming field here in southern Africa, and it seems not too very many people are doing it, so, most of the time, I'm pretty fulltime tied to consulting assignments. All the more so in early years as independent consultant and now with a small company on a commission structure where basically, when there's work (which there always seems to be a lot of) you do it. Also been moving around quite a bit, establishing new reallife social networks and ties in new places, which in itself can be quite time-consuming. So really, must confess, the online networking research has been very much on hold for most of the past year.]
New year, new motivation, drive, etc. Now it's really gotto be done. So I've spent the past weeks googling and quite obsessively reading articles and, mostly, blogposts on issues related to FB, social networks and networking in general, and a range of most fascinating, inspiring, and somewhat overwhelming, related issues. Feeling all the more insecure while doing so on the one hand, thinking 'What am I getting myself into? I don't know much (anything really) about all this.' While on the other hand growing ever more inspired as ideas filter and digest and spark thoughts leading to new ideas and possibilities to explore and... I'm sure any researcher knows the story. And really when I look over the past ~10 years of my life as consultant there are very few (if any) projects I've known much about when starting out. (Much as I've been plodding away at this M for years, guess in many ways I really am only just starting out now, with some pretty serious motivation to get it done.) But that's the whole exciting thing about doing research - delving into the unknown to illuminate unfamiliar territories.
So... in a nutshell (which this whole random rambling post so hasn't been so excuse the irony) I realized that if I'm to have any understanding of social media and networking at all I must have a blog. That it could be a platform for sharing ideas (once I start formulating them.) More relevantly perhaps it could be a place for such formulation to take place. Also to link to the so very many so very fascinating blogs of others that have kept me up days and nights over the past weeks to get up to date on what's going on in the field right now. Most importantly to gain more in-depth understanding of the online networking universe.
Having created this blog now (technically signed up in 2007 but never been back), I was suddenly seized with panic as to 'what to put on it'. For all the emailed communication and the FB world I'd grown so comfortable in, this really is a 'whole new world' of sorts. One with its own etiquette and uses and what to say/ not and so forth to get into. And so... to break the ice... I've rambled on here to somehow make sense of how I've come to this and what's causing this underlying fear. Knowing a pretty personal mini-dissertation like this most likely won't be read. Somewhat embarrassed at the thought that it might, feeling ever-so-self-aware about pressing publish to expose my drivel to the world. Yet feeling perhaps that's really just the way to treat this space for now - to let out stream-of-consciousness whatever comes to the mind, put it out there for the world to see (if it wants). And take it from there.
Guess the hesitance is all around the 'popularity' issue. The fact that all this social media, profiling, publishing of whatever comes to mind is all so geared around following and followers and how one appears to others. The fear that people will actually read what I had to say. The fear that they won't. The fear that it will matter, one way or another. Having come this far (still unsure whether to click the 'publish' link) I wonder whether it does? How much? and to whom?
Nuff for now. Perhaps something more specifically topical/ relevant/ concise when I do this again.
Once upon a life I was very shy and fearful of people. Did some travelling, met fellow travellers who seemed less scary for the brevity of contact, exchanged addresses, sent and received the odd postcard. One of them contained (my mother's at the time) email address. About 7 months later a travelfriend met in a desert oasis, also back in home territory, responded via (her mother's at the time) email. Over the next 10 years (a few email and many physical addresses later) we had exchanged about 2000 pages (she printed it all at one point) of our most intimate thoughts, feelings, experiences, hopes, fears, desires, joys and woes. In a way it felt like the first 'friend' I ever had. Growing more comfortable to share of myself in the relatively 'safe' space of email started to make actual 'talking to people' back in the real world a lot easier. Learnt much about general 'girlie chitchat', something I'd always felt quite inadept at, in this manner. It also paved the way for numerous other friendships created and strengthened through cyber communication.
When blogs became a craze I briefly considered the idea. Some initial inhibiting factors were slow and irregular netconnections, though could certainly have gotten around that. More truthfully, I was sharing my life in diarylike detail through email every day. Couldn't imagine sharing with 'the world' the things I did in this private space. Shyness surfaced again. How much and what to expose to whom in what way? And so the years went by.
My daily diarystyle email relationship since faded as, about 12 years down the line, I guess both our lives just became too full of other things and people, and sharing every detail with one other across the world somehow less of a priority. By this time there were a number of others I emailed reasonably regularly, occasionally going in depth on certain issues but more and more intermittently. Having grown more comfortable with face-to-face interaction, the urgency to communicate through the computer had diminished as nurturing RL friendships became a priority.
Along came Facebook. There were other networks before it, but none of them had had particular impact in South Africa, hence they never really crossed my path. When FB initially did I avoided it. Feeling mostly that I'm in touch with enough people in RL (where, in addition to a much more active than it once was social life, I work as a social development consultant - talking and listening to people (and writing reports about it) is what I do for a living) and through cyberspace (email based). The supposed selling point of getting in touch with old classmates... hmmm... alas can't say highschool sparked any great nostalgic desires to reconnect with people whom I'm pretty sure wouldn't have called me 'friend' then.
[First a little aside: I'd taken up studying (verymuch part-time) again in 2006 after a ~6 year break. MPhil Anthropology requiring completion of number of coursework modules and a thesis. Browsing Anthro journals for a suitable topic for assignment 1 I stumbled on an article referencing William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. I love those guys. The Anthro prospect suddenly brightened from something most likely related to some third world development issue (which, don't get me wrong, I'd been happily engaged with academically and professionally for about a decade), to something... different... What exactly it would be was unclear at the time (still is a bit I must confess), but that it would somehow relate to human 'E-volution' using Internet technologies in the information age. Used this as a guideline for all subsequent modules, integrating issues of identity, relationships inequality (the digital divide), power dynamics (ala Foucault), public spheres (Habermas), and reciprocity (notably Mauss) covered in the modules with elements of cyberspace. Hoping to eventually integrate it into something coherent for a thesis (which is where I'm sitting now...) Along the line I submitted one of the assignments (looking at potential for Public Access facilities in city libraries to cross the digital divide, which, at the time, I'd thought to look at in more detail for the thesis) for a Communities & Technologies conference in Michigan. It was accepted and seemed a perfect opportunity to try get myself a US visa. For all the travelling of years back had never been very far off the African continent, and if indeed I was going to be studying issues around ICTs' impacts on humans getting a glimpse of life in a place where these technologies are more pervasive than here on the southern tip of Africa seemed appropriate. Got the visa and a fortunate wellpaid social plan for a diamond company along with some assistance from the anthro department helped pay for the ticket.]
So there I was, heading to a conference on 'Communities and Technologies', when another FB invite popped into my inbox. Sensing (rightly) that better understanding of such social networking platforms would likely increase my appreciation of the conference, I signed up. Within weeks the dreaded nightmare of old school acquaintances who found me via the one link I didn't mind remembering, now listed as 'friends', along with the 2-3 line message or 3 with each - 'hi, how are you, what've you been up to' etc., then nothing more had materialized. Initially with some rather disconcerting flashbacks of teenage angst. Seemed a good way to just come to terms with and get over it all. Have subsequently slowly collected more friends, some i know in RL, others I don't. Have sent and accepted some requests from strangers who have seemed potentially interesting. Some of those I've now met face to face, some I've conversed with upon occasion online, others are just 'there'. Have added and experimented with applications, removed some, some I still check, others are just there.
Almost a year ago I thought to change the thesis focus from public access issues to look at social networking, particularly FB, since it's the one I've been using most frequently (though curiosity had me joining a number of others to see what they're all about.)
[When I way this studything has been happening verymuch parttime I really mean it. Social development is a booming field here in southern Africa, and it seems not too very many people are doing it, so, most of the time, I'm pretty fulltime tied to consulting assignments. All the more so in early years as independent consultant and now with a small company on a commission structure where basically, when there's work (which there always seems to be a lot of) you do it. Also been moving around quite a bit, establishing new reallife social networks and ties in new places, which in itself can be quite time-consuming. So really, must confess, the online networking research has been very much on hold for most of the past year.]
New year, new motivation, drive, etc. Now it's really gotto be done. So I've spent the past weeks googling and quite obsessively reading articles and, mostly, blogposts on issues related to FB, social networks and networking in general, and a range of most fascinating, inspiring, and somewhat overwhelming, related issues. Feeling all the more insecure while doing so on the one hand, thinking 'What am I getting myself into? I don't know much (anything really) about all this.' While on the other hand growing ever more inspired as ideas filter and digest and spark thoughts leading to new ideas and possibilities to explore and... I'm sure any researcher knows the story. And really when I look over the past ~10 years of my life as consultant there are very few (if any) projects I've known much about when starting out. (Much as I've been plodding away at this M for years, guess in many ways I really am only just starting out now, with some pretty serious motivation to get it done.) But that's the whole exciting thing about doing research - delving into the unknown to illuminate unfamiliar territories.
So... in a nutshell (which this whole random rambling post so hasn't been so excuse the irony) I realized that if I'm to have any understanding of social media and networking at all I must have a blog. That it could be a platform for sharing ideas (once I start formulating them.) More relevantly perhaps it could be a place for such formulation to take place. Also to link to the so very many so very fascinating blogs of others that have kept me up days and nights over the past weeks to get up to date on what's going on in the field right now. Most importantly to gain more in-depth understanding of the online networking universe.
Having created this blog now (technically signed up in 2007 but never been back), I was suddenly seized with panic as to 'what to put on it'. For all the emailed communication and the FB world I'd grown so comfortable in, this really is a 'whole new world' of sorts. One with its own etiquette and uses and what to say/ not and so forth to get into. And so... to break the ice... I've rambled on here to somehow make sense of how I've come to this and what's causing this underlying fear. Knowing a pretty personal mini-dissertation like this most likely won't be read. Somewhat embarrassed at the thought that it might, feeling ever-so-self-aware about pressing publish to expose my drivel to the world. Yet feeling perhaps that's really just the way to treat this space for now - to let out stream-of-consciousness whatever comes to the mind, put it out there for the world to see (if it wants). And take it from there.
Guess the hesitance is all around the 'popularity' issue. The fact that all this social media, profiling, publishing of whatever comes to mind is all so geared around following and followers and how one appears to others. The fear that people will actually read what I had to say. The fear that they won't. The fear that it will matter, one way or another. Having come this far (still unsure whether to click the 'publish' link) I wonder whether it does? How much? and to whom?
Nuff for now. Perhaps something more specifically topical/ relevant/ concise when I do this again.
Day 1
Created this blog (well, signed up)... quite a while ago. Never used it.
Never felt I had anything to share in such a space I suppose.
The time seems appropriate now. Supposedly doing a thesis on online social networking and doing so without first-hand experience of blogging suddenly seems quite impossible.
In all honesty said thesis has been bit on hold for the past... erm... while... Been busy(busybusy) with other things. Still am. But it must happen now. And so I must blog...
(Still not sure what it is I'm to say, but figure when it comes it be appropriate to have a place to do so. Meanwhile get brain, fingers and keyboard working together in some synch and trust the 'something' will manifest itself i guess.)
For now still figuring out the settings...
Never felt I had anything to share in such a space I suppose.
The time seems appropriate now. Supposedly doing a thesis on online social networking and doing so without first-hand experience of blogging suddenly seems quite impossible.
In all honesty said thesis has been bit on hold for the past... erm... while... Been busy(busybusy) with other things. Still am. But it must happen now. And so I must blog...
(Still not sure what it is I'm to say, but figure when it comes it be appropriate to have a place to do so. Meanwhile get brain, fingers and keyboard working together in some synch and trust the 'something' will manifest itself i guess.)
For now still figuring out the settings...
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