I’m (Kinda) Over It
Blog, blog, blog, blog, blog! People hate that word! If they’re not bloggers themselves, they’re like all “Whuh?” And you’re like all
I don’t really presume to know what you’re like all.
I was remembering an article recently I read on some blog, where the author vowed not to use the term ever again. Sorry I can’t find the article to link to it, but I know what he means when he encounters negative attitudes upon the mention of the term blog, or it’s extensions, blogger, blogging, blogroll, and so on.
The effect can be a real conversation-stopper. Those people for whom the computer is merely tolerable; who are able to get around a little to check their e-mail and do a little online bill-paying; and checking movie and TV listings; who are generally acquiescent to the demands of the Digital Age; but who either secretly, or even openly declare they hate computers, will stop short at the mention of the word blog. If your conversation had been going along with amenable subjects (weather, sports, music, etc.) and you mistakenly interjected something like: ” I was blogging the other day and…”
Suddenly they either go silent for a moment, or if they’re clever, they immediately have some comical comeback that twists the term into some sexual innuendo; and then your initial topic is shattered and you’re left to resolve that you’re never going to use that term again.
People just aren’t ready for it.
But look all over. Blogging means all sorts of things to all sorts of people. Look how many useful blogs there are when you load up the WordPress dashboard. Hypergene is a website which is all about participatory journalism. The CEO of SixApart, Mena Trott, recently did a CNN interview about this very topic.
And have a look at my blogroll over there. The names of programmers, developers, writers and artists - I’m collecting the ones I particularly like. (My previous theme allowed the categorization of those links, but this Neuron theme I’m dealing with now needs some tweaking to get that feature to work.)
That I might be known by the company I keep, I link to things that thoroughly interest me. As we all see here though, the trouble with this is that too many things interest me. Categorizing all the topics will require constant tweaking. (Of course an inital plan and blueprint would have been a good thing too!)
I’ve mentioned my purpose for “blogging” before. I’m accumulating content in order to witness this content management system in action. This way I can study the PHP/MySQL and phpMyAdmin that drive it, and learn to become a better web developer.
My real passion isn’t so much in web development though. I’m not really sure what I want to be when I grow up. So I keep reading material that may be just a little over my head, and soon it all starts seeping in and sticking. And soon I can idolize all my heroes (Newton, Gauss, Fermat…), by doing it all. ALL!
Wait a minute.
Hadn’t I just mentioned; “blogged”; recently, that I can’t do it all?
Now it’s time to pull out the big guns:
**(This is a note to myself)**
Read this article all the way through. Twice. Take what he says to heart. This is it!
It’s definitely what you need! Definitely read this one too!
