Thursday, February 26, 2009

My grandpa is a blogger and doesn't even know it

When I talk about social media I often mention the fact that my grandpa has a blog. Well, actually two blogs: one for his local mycological society and the other for his local pensioner organisation. It all started when his mycological society wanted a website where they could post news and announcements. I told him I would set up a website where he could post his own news. And that was it. I also created a short manual with a few annotated screenshots of the Blogger interface, so that it would be easier for him to start. And now he rarely needs my help with his two blogs; he writes and tags his posts, adds pictures from various events, and even gets an occasional comment from his peers.

Why am I writing about this? I think this is a good example of how sometimes there is no need for getting too involved with the specifics of a technology we want to adopt (or convince others to adopt). My grandpa doesn't need to know what social media or blogging is and he doesn't even need to understand how hyperlinks work because he mainly writes about real life events nobody else is blogging about. He had a need and I helped him to find the right tool for the job and provided what he needed to start. And that's where we should all start when thinking about new technologies: with the need they can help us fulfill. The tools are usually not the problem anymore. So don't be tempted to make web 2.0 (or any other shiny new technology) about buzzwords or about technical specifications. Web 2.0 is a web that enables people to share experiences easily and more effectively, and Web 2.0 is for me a web where my grandpa is a blogger.

Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.


Monday, February 23, 2009

In case you've been wondering...

Yes, it certainly has been a while since I last posted on this blog. I can easily think of several reasons for this: finding micro blogging easier for sharing quick ideas and cool content, having the feeling that what I have to say has already been written more eloquently somewhere else, not finishing drafts, spending more time writing a newsletter for my company, dealing with health problems, struggling with finding the right direction and voice for this blog... and probably much more. But that's not really what I want to talk about today.

I started this blog as a personal exploration of this new medium and perhaps it's best to keep it this way. It's just one of the many channels I use to communicate with the world and right now I have no desire to have this blog as my main channel. That's why I'm not writing this post to promise to blog more regularly or to keep this blog in a certain direction. And neither am I giving up on this blog completely. I might post again tomorrow, next month or even next year; the thing is that I just don't want to worry about that anymore. I never considered myself a blogger anyway; right now I'm just somebody who enjoys writing blog posts once in a while, and I think I do a better job at sharing interesting content through my Google Reader shared items or on my recently revived tumblelog.

So, I guess I just wanted to make an announcement that this blog isn't quite dead yet, but at the same time admit that I really have no idea of what you can expect here. All I can do is to invite you to keep watching this space and watch its journey with me. Who knows, we might find something interesting along the way :)

Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.