A Sideline In Timelines

I’ve recently started a new blog elsewhere to indulge my penchant for trying out different web based tools. I’d usually happily contain those ideas here but WordPress.com is understandably a little choosy about the type of html code it allows on its blogging platform therefore embedded flash and java script based technologies are currently not permitted unless via a small number of limited partners.

Timelines

So for anyone that’s interested I now have a companion blog called Timelines that is mostly about exploiting various visual ways of presenting information in an interactive way with audio visual and linked elements. I welcome submissions and collaborations. It’s primarily a light hearted playground & scratchpad for ideas & I may link there for various posts that I think could be presented differently.

For example I have presented the many blog posts here in one timeline and the various tape archive posts are able to be explored via another whilst a history of electronic music (ongoing) was started here.

Heres’ to diversification.

Timelines

Safer Internet Day

Today is the 5th annual Safer Internet Day in which we highlight the dangers of sharing personal information on-line for both children and adults.The UK specific site can be found here.

Let’s be careful out there…

 

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UK”>here.

A Year Of Stuffem

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A Year old Today
This ‘umble blog set sail on blogging seas a year ago today. Maybe it tells you more about how I spend Xmas or maybe that time presented me with an ideal opportunity to start something new. I’ve blogged in other places but this has been the first blog that’s had an intentionally loose remit which is probably why I haven’t abandoned it like some others in the past.

Thankyou
I’d like to thank all of the other passing ships that have stopped off for a while to sample some of the content especially those that leave comments, and suggestions.I’ve got a shallow kind of buzz from the times when some of my comments on current affairs have been linked to by some old media websites including Le Monde (I nearly fainted), Channel 4 news (I know) and more recently CNN Europe (say wha…). It just goes to show how much the old media reaches out into the blogosphere for comment and complimentary content.

Tape Archive
I’ve been especially pleased to find an outlet for the ongoing digitisation of a legacy tape archive though I didn’t really make a dent in that area until June and hope to get back to adding to it over this Xmas period (It’s amazing that analogue tapes that are over 25 years old play perfectly when I can’t even play DVD’s burned a few months ago.Progress?)

Evolution
No doubt blogs and blogging will continue to evolve, diversify and mutate and while I can still find things do get enthused, annoyed or passionate about then I’ll probably pursue an outlet to record my thoughts in one way or another.It’s always an added bonus if others stop by and appreciate any public content.

Learning Curve Continues
Looking back over what I’ve posted over the last 12 months has reminded me of the large amount of content subject that I wanted to write about but didn’t so note to self: must do better. It’s been a good learning curve and I’m still learning, revising and refining.

Here’s to year two.

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I’ve made a PDF of some of the things I feel I’ve learned in here blogging over the past 12 months together with the tools I’ve used so please feel free to download from here.

 

 

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Blogger Commenting Changes Again

Commenting on blogs outside of your chosen host can sometimes be a frustrating business. Blogger has certainly been testing my patience lately. I used to be able, where the blog owner had allowed, to leave comments linked back to my WordPress blog and then it changed again and I could only comment anonymously or via my Google login which linked back to a previous defunct blog hosted on Blogger that I used to post to. Now finally (again only where the blog owner has allowed) I can comment on Blogger from a narrow clutch of different blog or other Internet identities including WordPress with the ability to use my openID login if required. Thanks Blogger, it’s good too see you realise that many of us want to comment on and receive comments from blogs hosted on platforms other than our own chosen blog host though this is more restrictive than an option that had been in place previously.

I hope other blogging and social networking sites continue to allow a greater degree of comment transparency.

Where to get an OpenID

 

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Weblog 10 Today

The word Weblog is apparently 10 years old today.Originally coined to describe a web site that logged other web sites it would eventually morph into the word blog and was used by one Jorn Barger to describe what he was doing with his Robot Wisdom web page.

Today the on-line journal has evolved and is complimented by other online services that incorporate or compliment blogging and these days can still be as simple (or even annoying) as a site that links or crawls other blogs and website content through to containing a diverse range of original magazine-esque (in a student magazine niche way) content with photos, audio, video and interactivity.

Happy Anniversary Weblog.

Source

 

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Why Do You Blog?

 

Prompted by the same question asked By (another) Em over at Mirror Shards I thought I’d take a moment to contemplate my blogging navel.

It’s Full Of Stuff
I read blogs long before I started to write one myself. Previous blog attempts had petered out because their remit and subject target was too narrow (only music, only technical stuff (boring!!), only stuff in the news etc). This one is a bit more eclectic and that keeps me interested. It’s just full of stuff, useless stuff, quirky stuff, old stuff new stuff. I also have a few niche interests and it helps connect to others who may share that interest which I find beneficial (and I hope they do too).

The Digital Doodle
For me blogging is like a digital scrapbook, a place to doodle and also a place to etch your initials on the digital wall (a kind of “I was ‘ere“). I write because I like writing and I like using the medium of the Internet which lets me use writing , audio, video and link to like minded and unlike minded people in the process.I have a fairly non linear mindset so the kind of cut and paste, no particular order, type of eclectic media writing appeals to me and combines many areas of media that I’ve been involved in. It’s not a diary (that’s a deeply personal thing and I’ve rarely been a diary writer anyway) though I do write some guarded personal content and I’m certainly not looking for a vehicle to make money (I hope it’s more honest than that).

The Shallow End
I guess there are some shallower elements that appeal too. In today’s world it’s easy to feel insignificant, an unheard voice amongst the millions and blogging is like publishing your own book of short scribblings for free and getting a degree of direct feedback. It’s a place to externalise internal thoughts. It doesn’t matter if nobody reads my words though it’s great when somebody does leave a comment as it feels less like I’m just talking to myself in the dark.

Cathartic?
It’s also cathartic (some might say there’s an element of talking therapy about it) in that I can express an opinion about my world and the world outside that I may otherwise feel powerless to have much of a say in (though the established media now seems to want to hear many bloggers voices so in some ways blogging is part of a democratisation of some aspects of the media ,indeed from time to time members of the older established media may even leave a comment- how democratic is that?).

Professional Dabbler ?
I have to hold my hand up and admit to having to guard against my own tendency to be a dilettante at times when it comes to on-line tools. I like what you can do with computers and love to try new things and see if they let me be creative in a new way. I get something back from it. It’s probably hard for me to define fully what without sounding like I’m over examining the whole thing (what me?)

 

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WordPress.com Adds Tags At Last

WordPress.com add tagging at last whilst retaining categories which many of us (me included) were already using as tags (this would restrict our choice of template due to the size of our category list-it will be laborious if all previous posts can now be tagged!!). This may take a little bit of rethinking by some but I have to say I welcome the late introduction of true tagging. an official explanation on the difference between categories and tagging is here.

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