Archives
February 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Welcome to 2007. Yes, I realize that it's almost the end of February and this is the first post of the year. In the new world of technology, an absence of two months means I might as well be dead.
Of course, in that time, a lot has happened here at the Zoo. We've had some well publicized organizational changes. We've had a number of great product and technology announcements, and there's been a lot of activity. A lot of that, especially in the past couple of weeks, has been around our support of Open ID, which I'll also touch on in a separate post.
But at the moment, I want to do so something I told myself I wasn't going to do here, and that's blog about blogging (metablogging). And I'm going to let you all in on a little secret (I can do that because I don't have the tens of thousands of readers that some tech blogs do). I don't really like blogging.
Of course, that's likely to be about as popular a statement in the blogosphere as a famous sports figure saying he's homophobic. And I'm not saying that I don't like blogs. I just don't like the act of blogging. For me, it takes too long. I know people who can whip out an interesting blog post in a few minutes. And it's true that many of the speakers - and participants - at the Future of Web Apps conference where I spoke yesterday are devoted bloggers that post several times a day. But I can't. It takes me a good hour or more to churn out a blog post. Maybe that's because I'm such a perfectionist that I agonize over every word I write. Or perhaps it's a reflection of some of other latent insecurity.
Or it could just be that I'm never really sure if I have anything interesting to say. I'm not that brilliant. I don't have huge pronouncements on People and Stuff. I don't even actually "build" anything at AOL. All of that hard, honest work is done by folks far more skilled in their craft than I am now. And so what I could talk about is either broad strategy statements, silly observations, or shout outs to great things that other people are doing. I can also talk about some of the challenges that we face, both technical and organizational, but in many of those cases, I'd much rather fix the issue than to write about it.
I recognize that sometimes just talking about the problem can be valuable and educational. And that also there are cases where talking about it can lead to a great solution from a reader. But somehow, it's not natural for me to do, and blogging isn't yet part of my daily (or weekly) routine. Perhaps it's like flossing, which became a habit only after I'd made myself do it day after day even when I didn't feel like it.
For the more prolific bloggers out there, how did you start?
eaokiatwork at 11:24:00 AM PST Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
Blogging is Like Flossing?
Of course, in that time, a lot has happened here at the Zoo. We've had some well publicized organizational changes. We've had a number of great product and technology announcements, and there's been a lot of activity. A lot of that, especially in the past couple of weeks, has been around our support of Open ID, which I'll also touch on in a separate post.
But at the moment, I want to do so something I told myself I wasn't going to do here, and that's blog about blogging (metablogging). And I'm going to let you all in on a little secret (I can do that because I don't have the tens of thousands of readers that some tech blogs do). I don't really like blogging.
Of course, that's likely to be about as popular a statement in the blogosphere as a famous sports figure saying he's homophobic. And I'm not saying that I don't like blogs. I just don't like the act of blogging. For me, it takes too long. I know people who can whip out an interesting blog post in a few minutes. And it's true that many of the speakers - and participants - at the Future of Web Apps conference where I spoke yesterday are devoted bloggers that post several times a day. But I can't. It takes me a good hour or more to churn out a blog post. Maybe that's because I'm such a perfectionist that I agonize over every word I write. Or perhaps it's a reflection of some of other latent insecurity.
Or it could just be that I'm never really sure if I have anything interesting to say. I'm not that brilliant. I don't have huge pronouncements on People and Stuff. I don't even actually "build" anything at AOL. All of that hard, honest work is done by folks far more skilled in their craft than I am now. And so what I could talk about is either broad strategy statements, silly observations, or shout outs to great things that other people are doing. I can also talk about some of the challenges that we face, both technical and organizational, but in many of those cases, I'd much rather fix the issue than to write about it.
I recognize that sometimes just talking about the problem can be valuable and educational. And that also there are cases where talking about it can lead to a great solution from a reader. But somehow, it's not natural for me to do, and blogging isn't yet part of my daily (or weekly) routine. Perhaps it's like flossing, which became a habit only after I'd made myself do it day after day even when I didn't feel like it.
For the more prolific bloggers out there, how did you start?
eaokiatwork at 11:24:00 AM PST Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
This entry has 2 comments: (Add your own)
-
Hi Edwin,
I've been blogging for almost 5 years now, and the thing that got me started is that I was discovering Web standards, and I wanted to to two things:
1 - take notes that I could refer to later
2 - share my thoughts and enthusiasm around this exciting 'new' thing (new for me, that is).
I was concerned that I would not be able to post on a daily basis, but I was wrong, as I tend to post almost daily.
I agree that blogging takes usually too long, but don't sweat it. Don't try to write the best article ever. Just write like you think, and with time, your blogging speed will improve greatly, I'm sure...
Oh, and I thought you would like to see this picture: http://standblog.org/blog/post/2007/02/21/Dinner-in-London- after-the-1st-day-of-FOWA-2007
--Tristan
7/16/07 9:33 AM
I manage to finally press the POST button by thinking someone, somewhere will log on & be disappointed if I don't.
Hate to disappoint more than hate to blog.
Am novice, but find it helps to think about what you're going to write on drive to &/or from Dulles. Plenty of time there;)
Yell if I can help ...
- R
www.reginalewis.com