TITLE: Why I Blog, Ten Years On
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: July 09, 2014 12:35 PM
DESC: 
-----
BODY:
A blog can be many things.

It can
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2014-06.html#e2014-06-26T11_12_48.htm">
   an essay</A>,
a place to work out what I think, in the act of writing.

It can be
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-02.html#e2007-02-06T22_31_26.htm">
   a lecture</A>,
a place to teach something, however big or small, in my own way.

It can be
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-09.html#e2011-09-08T20_19_25.htm">
   memoir</A>,
a place to tell stories about my life, maybe with a connection
to someone else's story.

It can be
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-11.html#e2004-11-20T13_19_56.htm">
   a book review</A>
or
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2013-09.html#e2013-09-22T10_27_50.htm">
   a conference review</A>,
a place to tell others about something I've read or seen that
they might like, too.  Or not.

It can be
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-04.html#e2011-04-30T10_05_29.htm">
   an open letter</A>,
a place to share news, good or bad, in a broadcast that reaches
many.

It can be
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2013-11.html#e2013-11-24T10_54_19.htm">
   a call for help</A>,
a request for help from anyone who receives the message and has
the time and energy to respond.

It can be
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2013-11.html#e2013-11-19T16_49_40.htm">
   a riff on someone else's post</A>.
I'm not a jazz musician, but I like to quote the melodies in
other people's writing.  Some blog posts are my solos.

It can be
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-04.html#e2011-04-10T21_23_53.htm">
   a place to make connections</A>,
to think about how things are similar and different, and
maybe learn something in the process.

A blog is all of these, and more.

A blog can also be a <B>time machine</B>.  In this mode, I am
the reader.  My blog reminds me who I was at another time.

This effect often begins with a practical question.  When I
taught agile software development
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2014-05.html#e2014-05-12T17_01_11.htm">
   this summer</A>,
I looked back to when
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-06.html#e2010-06-04T16_38_14.htm">
   I taught it last</A>.
What had I learned then but forgotten since?  How might I do
a better job this time around?

When I visit blog posts from the past, though, something else
can happen.  I sometimes find myself reading on.  The words
mesmerize me and pull me forward on the page, but back in time.
It is not that the words are so good that I can't stop reading.
It's that they remind me who I was back then.  A different
person wrote those words.  A different person, yet me.  It's
quite a feeling.

A blog can combine any number of writing forms.  I am not equally
good writing in all of these forms, or even passably good in any
of them.  But they are me.  Dave Winer has
<A HREF="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/whatmakesaweblogaweblog.html">
   long said</A>
that a blog is <EM>the unedited voice of a person</EM>.  This
blog is the unedited voice of me.

When I wrote my first blog post
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-07.html#e2004-07-09T12_37_46.htm">
   ten years ago today</A>,
I wasn't sure if anyone wanted to hear my voice.  Over the
years, I've had the good fortune to interact with many readers,
so I know someone is listening.  That still amazes me.  I'm
glad that something you read here is worth the visit.

Back in those early days, I wondered if it even mattered whether
anyone else would read.  The blog as essay and as time machine
are valuable enough on their own to make writing worth the
effort to me.  But I'll be honest: it helps a lot knowing that
other people are reading.  Even when you don't send comments by
e-mail, I know you are there.  Thank you for your time.

I don't write as often as I did in the beginning.  But I still
have things to say, so I'll keep writing.
-----