Big Picture

The Internet feels old hat for those who use it regularly, but it's not actually that old. We may not have collectively worked out how we will be using it in the long term. We do know that using it as a human communication technology is something of an accident, since it was originally only for the purpose of file or processing sharing between machines. As for now, we are using it to create and curate content for human consumption. It will probably be that for most of us since that is what purpose it needs to have until we find a way to serve that purpose more efficiently. It is being referred to as "Social Media" because it bypasses the control of traditional forms of journalism. It has the wonderful potential of providing common people with the means to express themselves and be heard by large audiences. It is not about how connected we are to the right people, but rather about whether or not we have anything interesting to say. We are slowly waking up from the way we have been conditioned to think by Big Media; it is taking some time because that conditioning is deep. But rather than talking much about who owns and controls the Big Media that has been controlling us, we should simply concentrate on producing the kind of content that would be useful for us to consume. And learning too much about who does own and operate Big Media will likely only make us paranoid, or at least make us sound like we are, and it really doesn't matter anyway.

I have used Social Media for some time, but that means different things to different people, as there are many different platforms to use. And honestly, most of those platforms are used in fairly passive ways. Keeping a blog has gone out of style, but I think it's probably the best way to coordinate your content creation efforts in one place. So I anticipate as citizen journalism is taken more seriously, it will probably make a resurgence. And another thing, the purpose of keeping a blog is primarily for your own use, in organizing what it is you have been learning and how you are reacting to events in the world around you. But our perspectives change over time, which should be expected, else maybe you're not really learning so much after all, just re-arranging our biases.

I would like this blog to serve the function of keeping track of my learning not just about life in general, or current events and the like, but also the specific skills necessary to use Social Media to our maximum advantage.  It is a journal designed for the public to read over my shoulder. It should be something by which I can set goals for myself, and work through my confusions and frustrations. And it should be interactive, since we are not alone in this world, and others have already learned things that we find ourselves currently engaged with. So feedback is a welcome thing.