On 19 February 2004, I went down the rabbit hole and started this blog:
This is where I post my thoughts and comments on ideas, events or other writings that are of a professional interest to me. Current areas of interest include social networking applications, like blogs, wikis and the use of RSS feeds, which is one reason why I have this blog; to practise what I preach. I’m also interested in the use of open source software platforms for learning. The development and nurturing of communities of practice online is another area of applied research that interests me.
And so I began blogging in earnest, having set up a few others previously, but this time with my own domain and a bit of a plan. My personal knowledge base is now over 1,400 blog posts with +3,000 comments. Mostly, I write for myself, though I know that others read what I’ve posted and a smaller fraction make comments. Many of these people have become friends and even business colleagues. That’s been the best part, meeting people who share some of my passions.
I’m writing fewer posts than when I started out, with a peak of 58 in May 2004. I can’t imagine doing that many now. I have settled on an average of 15 per month which seems to be enough for personal knowledge management (implicit => explicit) and I don’t feel under pressure to publish. I’ve found a daily commitment a bit much, such as when I helped fill in for Stephen on OLDaily.
I’ve also taken up micro-blogging on Twitter this past year and that is enabling different kinds of conversations. What might have been a few comments here are now many 140-character tweets. This blog is still central to my Web presence but I have other windows on the world now.
Thank you for coming by here during the past five years and helping me make sense of my place in the world.
Congratulations, Harold! Seems we share an anniversary year AND a love of bicycles.
Keep it up!
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog even though I disagree with several of your postings on informal learning. Good luck in another five years of blogging. 🙂
Thanks, Jeff and thank you Bill – I’m glad that we can disagree yet continue our online conversations and learn from them.
Harold,
I am a recent subscriber, but I have already benefited from a number of your posts in so many ways. I am also a relatively new blogger, so I am in awe of your more than 1,400 posts. Keep up the great work!
JZ
Happy anniversary. This blog was where I found you, and I’m very glad of that – you’re a distinct asset to my online network!
John, welcome to the conversation and thanks for dropping by and commenting.
Karyn, it’s been a pleasure meeting you from a distance and perhaps some day our paths with cross.
Thanks, Harold, for your openness, your honest, your integrity, and your good humor.
Harold, I can’t believe it’s been 5 years! We must be getting old or something. It’s had an interesting learning curve; from our initial investigation of open-source content-management systems in 2003, choosing Drupal and then finally switching to WordPress.
Congratulations from the entire team at Tantramar Interactive!
Happy, Birthday, Harold-on-the-web !
Well, I would say: “Thank you HAROLD for BLOGGING during the past five years and helping me make sense of my place in the world.”
Looking forward to the next 5 years!
Thanks for the positive reinforcement, folks. Now it’s time to focus on the next five years.