How do the active bloggers do it? How do they fit the time to shape their words and post their entries in between all of the other things that life demands. While I'm delighted and intrigued by this medium, and filled with ideas about the research potential lurking within the communities and communication channels of bloggers and blogs, it's hard to find the time to think clearly enough to articulate those thoughts in a way that I'd want the rest of the world to read.
The best of the blogs seem to be very plugged into the feedback loop--referencing each other, building on each other's post. So it's not just the writing that consumes time (that may be the easy part, actually). It's the reading, the linking, the responding, the connection-building.
For me, at least, there's also a sense of vulnerability in posting my words to a public place. The very thing that makes this process so interesting--the interlinking and cross-reading--also makes it feel risky. You have to strike a balance between the immediacy of stream-of-consciousness writing, and the careful phrasing of public words that can come back to haunt you.
Books I want to read (or re-read) seem to be popping up everywhere. PopTech probably spurred some of this...I came home with a signed copy of True Names with related essays, and with a hankering for Small Pieces Loosely Joined and Smart Mobs, both of which were also for sale there. I want to read the AAUW report Tech Savvy, the book on CMUs attempt to improve the number of women in its CS fields--Unlocking the Clubhouse, and reread Turkle's The Second Self. When, o when, will I find the time?
A colleague (Andy Phelps) turned me onto The Everyday Happenings of Weebl and Bob. Fabulous site. Hours of mindless fun.
Also funny are the shockwave videos at RatherGood. The two I like best are Independent Woman (aka "if destiny's child were kittens from northern england this is what they would sound like") and Pavarotti Loves Elephants.
It's time to put the computer away, and spend some time with my son. After reading Tony Woodlief's blog post about his daughter Caroline's death, and then the story of her life, I realize I'm wasting precious time in front of the computer.
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