Evolving my web persona and tools 0
Over the past few months, you may have noticed some changes in this Coevolving Innovations blog, or the Distractions, Reflections blog. It’s been two years since I wrote “the why and how of establish your web persona“, and “installing and customizing WordPress on your own domain“. Those reflected the state-of-the-art in 2007, which is a long time in technology. To explain these changes, I’ll relate my thinking in three parts:
- 1. What do I want with my web persona?
- 2. How has the technology changed (in ways that I didn’t foresee)?
- 3. What have I done with my web activity?
These topics are described from the viewpoint of an “advanced blogger”. New technologies emerge continuously, and I try many of them out. I use some tools that novices find cumbersome, but that’s the way that I continue to learn.
1. What do I want with my web persona?
My first blog entries date back to October 2005, and they’re still available on the web. In December 2006, I split my professional persona (mostly serious writing) from my photoblogging (easier on the eyes and brain), particularly for readers who subscribe via e-mail rather than using an RSS reader. During this period, my perspective on my web persona has been constant in three ways:
(a) I want people to find appropriate information about me
In the test of “googling myself”, I’m pretty satisfied that people can find me. Actually, a searcher will find me in multiple places, and should be able to navigate to his or her specific interest.
(b) I want to post durable content that reflects my personality and style
A major complaint of people who don’t read blogs is that it seems that people blog about their cats, or what they had for lunch. I try to minimize that.
I do use Twitter and Friendfeed for short commentary, Google Reader Shared Items for popular news, and Diigo and Delicious for social bookmarking. Since I travel a lot, I use Brightkite to give people some sense of which city I’m in, and Dopplr for which cities where I have travel planned.
On my professional blog, I post content that isn’t appropriate for publishing in journals or ideas that I’m working out. On my photoblog, I take care to crop and edit each photograph, rather than just uploading snapshots.
