Joining Vox

I did it. I joined the masses and started a blog today. After looking at Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, and Live Journal, I finally selected VOX. I think the easy interface, no need for my cc number, and opportunity to select who can read my posts, rather than live to the world were the features that won me over. In that order.

First a note on my blog, I’ve decided to take an INTRODUCTION course to online communities, which means that I’m not exactly sure I want to commit to a blog, or to being held accountable 30 years from now for what I write on this public/private space. Nor am I sure what I have to add to the subject of online communities.

So, I’m hoping to make this as non-identifiable as possible, at least as I work to find my voice in this space and understand discussions better. Perhaps it’s the Girl Scout in me working from the motto, “Leave no trace” a common phrase used for camping in wilderness where you want to leave a space just as you found it rather than strewn about with you waste. Or perhaps my desire to blog more anonymously stems deeper, from my desire not to fail – a trait that has always made me a horrible gamer. Or perhaps I’m just gathering my sea legs, and will find that I take to this like a fish to water and dive in deeper. Really, anything is possible – and I’m open to those possibilities.

Now that I’ve committed to try this, I’d like to post a few goals by which I will measure my success in this class.

1. I have a list of questions (that I’ll blog shortly) and by the end of this class, I’d like to have some of these questions answered. I may add questions as I go, but this is a jumping off point for all things online. I will answer AT least one question each week of the class.  I expect this list to grow as I go.
2. I commit to blog five times a week. The goal here is to make blogging a daily activity for a while as a way to immerse myself in the culture. I studied German for 9 months, but didn’t even START to understand the language until I lived in Austria for a while. And while I never became fluent, I did reach conversation level. I’m hoping to reach a conversational level in online communities. I will work to post this blog before I start my day to build this pattern into my weekly routine. I make no guarantees that any posts will actually be good, just that they will be there.
3. I will spend my morning commutes (don’t worry I take the train) reading other blogs and popular websites on technology. Part of fluency is literacy.