March 16, 2008 – Silence and Voice

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2008-03-16

@betsyweber On a Saturday evening?! #
Just printed a bunch of receipts for next year’s taxes. Getting organized from the beginning this time. #
Slow start to the day. Catching up with some writing. #
I had hoped to return to #BarCampNYC3 today, but there was an issue that arose that I have to address. #
I really liked #BarCampNYC3, and learned a lot as well as liveblogged about the sessions I attended. Now to begin processing them. #
Think I will need to attend some meetups here in New York. That is something I have not made time for . . . #
@injenuity Not wish I went, but glad I attended the last 2 Northern Voices all the way from New York. Well worth the time and expense. #
@pinoyboy Do not take them as a challenge . . . That has been my modus operandi too many times. #
@cogdog Yes, though you do Tweet your fair share . . . #
@hrheingold Do you do that for exercise or relaxation or both or other? #
@ChrisRicca Wish I could have attended today. Did you blog or otherwise communicate your thoughts about yesterday? #
@RobinYap I can imagine. #
@gsiemens Goodness, how did I get there then?! #
@brlamb How was the post-mortem Northern Voice lunch? #
@brlamb What is the background image you have on your Twitter page? It is rather engaging. #
@arjunsingh Travel safely! #
@brlamb Not sure if that is better or worse than if happening to your physical state! #
@hrheingold I think that shows your wisdom. I should follow your example. #

Blogging as Creative Expression

I was asked to consider this question:

Describe one of your own creative works and what you accomplished with it – then become your own critic and find out what you could have done better.

I looked at this question for some time, as I do not normally consider myself the most creative person. Knowing this is probably not the case, I am thinking about how I am often creative in my academic research, my professional work in instructional design and organizational consulting, my teaching, and here on my blog, the one public outlet for my creativity.

I suppose one creative work is this very blog, as it has been ongoing since my first post on December 7, 2006. Hundreds of posts later, with my daily Tweets captured here as well, I can say that I am still capturing my daily thoughts and feelings and interests and sharing them with anybody and everybody online, whether they are interested in them or not. This blog becomes fertile ground for my experiment in reflective practice.

What can (could) I (have) do (done) better? I can censor myself less by writing in a manner that more closely resembles my spoken voice. There is little that is not public, and maintaining a personal blog is one way to own my (virtual) identity. I should probably write in my own voice more, as others who do so are quite refreshing. I think Twitter is helping with this. Restated a positive way, I can be more authentic and self-identified. Perhaps that is exactly what I am attempting with all the writing about liveblogging I have been doing? Perhaps that is why liveblogging is my next area of formal research? Perhaps autoethnographically studying my liveblogging I will learn something about media-supported live expression and self-narrative?

And I thought this question would be difficult to answer!

Technorati Tags: autoethnography,liveblogging,reflective practice

Twitter Thoughts from BarCampNYC3

I started using Twitter a little over a year ago, when I first encountered it while at Northern Voice 2007, and am still active there at http://twitter.com/JeffreyKeefer. Since then, it has become more popular in the last year. I am still surprised with how many people use it for such a variety of purposes, yet there are no usage costs or advertisements on it or otherwise anything that seems questionable.

One of the BarCampNYC3 sessions yesterday speculated about several future revenue models that may or may not be in their business plan. What struck me is that Twitter allows, and even encourages, developers to use the Twitter data in other applications, which is interesting since all of the Twitter data and posts have been available and indexed on Google for some time. If it goes on Twitter, count on it being part of the public Web.

While I do not know Twitter’s business model and am not an investor in their technology, as a user I find their product the pinnacle of clarity and openness. Let’s hope as the technology begins to go mainstream, that they do not turn on their customers.

Come to think of it, does Twitter even have customers?

Technorati Tags: twitter barcampnyc3 nv07