Fig. 1. George Siemens on how he manages information on the internet
From the University of Athabasca blog ‘The Landing’.
I’d express it differently. I’d visualise concentric circles, a whirlpool or spiral. Perhaps a Catherine-Wheel? I have kept a diary since 1975 and a blog since 1999. These serve multiple purposes – by default I am the family archivist. My own interest is in the ‘Digital Brain’ – how to enhance memory recall, idea creation, problem solving and knowledge sharing. I think each person needs to find their own behaviour. Just as my desk is tidy, with things in drawers, a shelf or in the bin, my wife’s study is (from my perspective) akin to the bin – nothing ever comes out that goes in. We dare not mess with each other’s spaces.
I blog the lot. I use the blogs as e-portfolios – tagged and titled the stuff is there. As soon as possible I blogify this content into a thought, or flesh out and credit any notes. I aim to avoid copyright by holding such content locked, citing stuff I do use and writing a good deal of fresh content myself.
I never believed in the chronology of the blog. Even in 2001 my blog was sorted by theme, not year or month or day. Once I got to 500 entries I added an ‘Enter@Random’ button and expected each entry, even if written daily, to stand alone. I’d learn from keeping a diary what a bore those can be unless you can find the juicy bits i.e. titles, tags and themes.
I’m currently on a journey of reflection through 33 months of studying with the Open University – some 2000 blog posts maintained as an e-portfolio, student’s diary, activity-collator, assignment preparation, shared reflection, community-chat, journal, student socialising mind-dump.
A self-constructed resource that like the Livingstone Daisy opens its petals when I shine a light on it – I thought I could pick through key educators, authors and influencers from this in an hour or so, I find it is taking days. Then again, picking through 500,000 – 1 million words (wild estimate based on my blogging habits of the last decade).
I rarely look at my diaries and never reread for at least 15 years. The process of uploading to a blog sounds like a retirement activity – but I’ll never retire. A tin box and bury them in the garden then?
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