New WordPress blog on the way

I started blogging about language learning many years ago (about seven I think), at the time using a service like Blogger was the path of least resistance, I was working on publishing platforms for online Journals and magazines and didn't at work, at home I wanted to learn languages not more of the same.

Now I feel a need to have an online presence that represents me centrally on the web and I want to control that rather than being enslaved to an online service. I have had (although my name is Christopher David Hall I always associate the full 'Christopher' as being in trouble as that is the only time anyone calls me that) for some time now but put nothing there.

Moving some posts in here

I recently started posting some random thoughts, comments etc, mostly about techie stuff else where. i think they are better posted here so I will drag those four articles into this blog shortly

Again the purpose of this blog is mainly just to collect together things I might want to come back to, being online it is accessible anywhere, and although nobody else reads it, it helps me to focus by knowing that in theory they can.

Fractured Identities

I am back again, I think this blog is going to be updated much more frequently, I have a building pressure of thoughts to offload in this private (mostly) space. I re-read some of the material I posted a long time again and it is a very useful review process, so time to start dumping more half-baked thoughts and seeing what happens in my head.

Something that has bothered me for a long time and something I am going to think about in more detail for a while is on-line presence of the individual. A couple of weeks ago I went back to the place where I went to school and met up again with some guys I originally knew from over two decades ago. We meet up approximately once a year or so and have one or two shared interests in common even though we have all lead very different lives. Careers, interests, lifestyles, philosophy, outlook, are all very different. Every time we meet up we have a great time, but between times we communicate very little and know very little about each other. I am sure that the person we present to each other is relevant to the situation and that this is in part what makes it such a pleasure to meet again. We have little connection on-line (apart from the occasional email to make arrangements). The people we are when we meet are in many ways shaped by and relevant to the situation and the history we share.

I have multiple twitter accounts including twitter like accounts in Chinese etc. I struggle with Facebook, the concept that there is a single me that can be represented, distilled and relevant to all the real people I know. How can the various circles in which I move, the various persona's and interests, the professional links converge on one spot in a meaningful way? If I am interested in someone on a language learning basis, I want to read a blog or follow a twitter feed that is mostly relevant to this aspect, not filter through the chuff that is the rest of their lives or get asked if I want to connect with friends of theirs that they go diving with. Perhaps I will meet them and connect more fully (and then be interested in more aspect) but perhaps they will lose interest (even if only online) in languages and the feed will dry up (effectively vanishing from my radar).

I don't want to connect with my teenage sons on Facebook, I should be connecting with them in real life, I am pretty sure that connecting with them on Facebook would dilute the experience on both sides.

Ex-coworkers have largely nothing to do with people I meet to learn foreign languages, my messages to them, links for them, information I share with them (hey I might want to work with them again some time) should not mix. In fact it would seem that in a lot of cases the only reason to mix is to say to one group "hey look how well rounded I am" by exposing them to the edited highlights of the rest of my life. Regardless of tagging etc. I don't have many good ways to separate the life-streams without spending too much time organising (organising something that works better if spontaneous) or expecting people following me to somehow organise theirs. So we are polluting each others lives with spam. No better than inviting someone around in the 1970's to watch the 4 hour sideshow of your holiday (unless there is special interest after the first 10 mins they don't really care).

If I follow the public, social feed of some guy who is known for developing a cool programming platform, anything not related to that platform is spam to me, time wasting spam, we are not related, we are not friends, I don't have a reason to be interested.

Maybe this seems a little harsh, maybe a little extreme, and there are some focused feeds out there, and people who are not afraid to set-up multiple focused on-line presences. Perhaps I could be accused of not being interested in people? Nothing is further from the truth, I enjoy finding out about people, I just find that face to face, with all the feedback mechanisms we have evolved to gauge interest the experience is order of magnitude better.

Facebook of course is a harder place to fracture, or even linkedin (which is admittedly more focused on fabricating an image for yourself that may make you more employable). Maybe I am over reacting, a lot of the information requires some action to pull it out, but it seems to me that there is still too much I have to actively ignore or too many distractions.

Why Blog?

Introduction

I have been writing posts on various blogs since 2006, most of the more popular ones were related to language learning. Blogging sucks up quite a lot of time and in many cases I am talking to noone in particular. This does beg the question why blog? There isn't a single answer to that question there are many reasons for blogging. I have consistently blogged over a number of subjects and accounts for many years now, there are a variety of reasons for each one and some fall by the wayside (some get picked up again) but why do I do it?

Not for profit

I don't blog for profit (yet, maybe one day). Quite some time ago I experimented with Google ads and found that with little effort I could make maybe £20 per month. I work in internet technologies sometimes helping drive traffic to sites. With some effort there was potential there I guess and a bit more thought should come up with better ways to make money off of the back of blog posts. Just thinking about these things changed the nature of what I posted, made me start thinking about sensational blog titles that may drive traffic, reciprocal links with other sites (just for the sake of links). Two things made me remove the ads, one was that I didn't want to write just to drive traffic, the other simply that making significant amounts of money would be hard work doing things that I didn't want to do in my spare time. I also have a problem in that I am not driven by money, I am rubbish at making money, once I have enough to get by (+ for anybody dependent on me, I find it hard to care too much about money) these days that is considered a character flaw.

Not for the sake of literature

I have said it before and I will doubtless write it again, most of my blog-posts in any area are wrote fast, spare time is precious, I speed-type, I think something and at some point I may write it. Spelling and grammar, checking, I leave for other areas where I have to apply fingers to keyboard. I understand the motivation for more literary blogs but that is not what I am about so far. Each post is a reference to a thought to come back to, somewhere I have a little traffic is an invite to discuss and learn from other opinions.

On occaision I will go back to recent posts and edit them, especially if I think that there is the remote possibility that someone else may read one

Not for the sake of fame

Whilst there is often an element of "look at me" in many things that people do publicly that is not a strong driver for me. I wrote many posts on this blog even after finding out that virtually nobody but me ever reads them. There are useful to me though, putting the thoughts down sometimes crystallizes them. Some rough posts become the basis of more formal writing for work etc.

For conversation

Sometimes (with my language learning blogs for example) I just want to attract a few comments, start a small conversation. Generally in more crowded spaces like technology I don't have the talent, dedication or time to attract a significant audience.

For reflection

Writing things down helps the thought process, making them public acts as a bit of a focus. Sometimes stating something in public provides enough of an impetus to actually do it.

For career

In places it may just help a little for employment, increasingly some kind of online presence is expected.

Summary

So I guess that there is some reflection, some "look at me" and sometimes need for conversation. Up until now that is why I blog.