Entry #11 | Blog Retrospect

Hello, once again! Here we are now, more than ten blog posts in to this somewhat experimental blogging process for me.  It seems like a good opportunity share some learned insights thus far and as well as a couple of retrospective musings. Starting off, I think the best advice I can give it to make use of the draft function. I definitely found myself creating drafts of topics to blog about, which provided a location to start accumulating ideas and various articles and/or research. This entails a process that is multi-day since the development of the topic rarely happened for me in one session at the computer. I preferred to think about what I wanted to say over the course of a few days. There were also topics that I ended up deleting for a variety of reasons such as lack of information or just finding a better topic. Not all things are meant to be, right?

Another item to consider is the use of images. There are a significant amount of images out there on the Internet and one of the things to remember is that many are protected by copyright. As a student, there are usually allowances for the use of images and/or material since it is for an educational purpose but any serious blogging will probably require more strict adherence. I have found freedigitalphotos.net to be a great source for images that are available for non-commercial use. Google can also be utilized but after you click on the Images link, you will then need to click on the Tools button, which will display another menu below the initial menu. On the Tools menu bar, click on Usage rights and select the appropriate category for which you are searching. Generally speaking, I think Labeled for reuse is acceptable for blogging.

 An interesting resource to keep in mind is your fellow bloggers; check out their blogs and see what they are discussing. There may be a conversation already in progress that you may want to join in order to try to include a different perspective for their consideration. This can lead to community development as well as provide people with ideas from which to further develop more ideas and/or discussions. This can provide ideas for different topics that you would like to discuss in addition to any discussions you may find. This process may be asymmetrical but it can provide a lot of benefit to everyone involved. You can definitely learn more about people from personal blogs and participating in discussions with either your own blogs or in their comments, just remember to keep it civil and don't be an Internet troll.

In retrospect though, this has been an interesting endeavor that has provided an opportunity to learn more about publishing content in a more personal styled voice. The personal styled voice is interesting to think about because I think that we do not really have much of that any longer in our public space. Any correspondence at work is expected to be professional and relatively impersonal. For anyone in college, most of the written work is academic with development focused on more academic and/or professional styled writing...which is again predominantly impersonal. Emailing can be more personal but how often do you use it for that purpose? It is rare that I send a personal email to anyone. Phone calls and texting is much more common for me as a means to communicate with family and friends. Texting is personal, but it is not usually a cohesively written response since it tends to be more acronyms and abbreviations to convey the message via a learned code that is understood between the two people.

Another thing to consider during this moment of retrospective wandering, is the opportunity to learn about what your fellow bloggers are writing about currently. There are so many topics to write about today. Many times there are situational obstacles that would prevent you from ever trying to learn enough about a topic to feel like you could write with some amount of authority on the topic. However, people have many different experiences and it can be exciting to find a topic or story that someone shares that excites your imagination and sparks a creative moment for you. Make some time to read what your peers find interesting to write about because if they are writing then there is a purpose to it.

With all that though, it is time to wrap this up once again. Writing a blog has provided some interesting opportunities to explore some different topics a bit more informally as well as learning more from, and about, some of my fellow bloggers. We will have to see what the future holds for blogs in 2018 but until that time...Happy Holidays! Take care and best wishes, everyone!

Entry #10 | Human Networking

Hello again! With all this discussion and pondering of media it occurred to me that one of the topics that I don't see among all the hustle and bustle of life, as it seems to have become, is that of human interactions. No, I am not talking about the courtesy "hi! and bye!" type scenarios. I mean like the "omg, I need someone that will listen and maybe offer some advice, or even not offer advice" type of scenarios. There is so much information flowing around us but it doesn't slow down for us as individuals. That is something we need to address among ourselves. The casual, or not so casual, perusal of social media with the likes, shares, follows, retweets and emoji-speak are great for keeping up with family and existing friends, but not really the best for meeting new people.

New people...now there's a novel concept, right? For the high school student who had lots of friends and is now in college, there can be quite a disconnect. Then there is leaving college and transitioning into the working world. I suppose one could argue that once a college student has acclimated to the change of college with such a diverse range of students and teachers that the transition to work isn't such a big leap. There will be changes though, like no more avoiding scheduling morning classes at eight o'clock (cuz' sleep) since odds are that their employer will expect them to be present before such a time. Transitioning between employers, or even industries, as a professional requires engaging a new group of people and rebuilding your credibility and/or reputation. None of it is exactly what I would term easy, but we all manage to get through it one way or another.

With all that, I would like to take this opportunity to suggest that you remain cognizant of the people around you. There are sites like LinkedIn that offer the capability to network with people online. As a site within the realm of social media, I would caution anyone to keep in mind that those connections can be just as fleeting as the casual greeting interactions. There is an article written by Mark Suster titled "Understanding the Power of Your Human Networks" which provides and interesting viewpoint on the topic, despite being written in 2014. Another interesting read on the topic is "How Human Networking Works," by Keith Ferrazzi.

I am not a fan of the "look for people that can give you something" since you immediately place yourself at the disadvantage. Admittedly though, human networking can be great for locating employment and it is considered one of the best methods, if not still the best. However, just meeting people to get to know other people and hear their stories as well as sharing yours is powerful, for everyone involved. We are all connected and despite all the nonsense we hear about how there are all these differences is not a reason to allow ourselves to become, or remain, isolated. We all learn and grow through interactions with people, regardless of any category by which people can be divided. Put in the face time, discuss ideas, share stories and just simply appreciate that which makes us all human. Of course, you need to keep your head about you and ensure safe environments. I shouldn't have to say that but it is probably a sign of the times. In the end however, there is so much out there in the big wide world and there are no pictures that can substitute for the experiences that are possible. Take care and best wishes, everyone!

Entry #9 | Spin Cycle

Hello again! Another busy week has gone by and I have been pondering how it seems that most of the news either lacks substance or doesn't seem to have some conservative slant. Granted there may be a story or two that is not too extremely conservative, but it certainly appears to be a concerted effort to push people's expectations further toward the conservative side of the spectrum. Sometimes, it's more about what isn't in the news than what is covered. Take the atrocious tax bill the Senate passed in the early morning hours. Looking at the different supposedly liberal news sites and rarely can I locate a front page item. Check the Wall Street Journal though and the news about the tax bill is at the top of the front page with five more articles linked.

As part of this apparent quandary I have found myself in, I have been searching for other sites over the course of months that are actually providing some more in depth information as well as alternative points of view. Two of the better sites I have found are evonomics.com and The Progressive, which actually discusses some of the inherent flaws in the assumptions of the predominate policies, how daily lives are impacted and differing economic theories as well as proposing more socially responsible alternatives. These are great sites in terms of discussions with people from across labor, business and academia. If you get time to check them out, I would recommend it. There are good discussions and analyses that will provoke some thought, and maybe even some discussions.

There are other smaller sites that are actually providing news and information, as opposed to more advertising space and shallow content. We still need to go out and search for this information though since it's still not going to be able to get any mention outside of the smaller grassroots type organizations. There's a lot of smart people out there resisting the status quo and even if we don't agree with everything they have to say, I would suggest that those very ideas provide an idea of scope and context to ensure that we all feel included as we continue our respective journeys. If you have some other suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below. Until next time though, take care!