Academic

Last month we launched our new blog design, which included a couple of sidebar experiments. Having used Twitter since then, I have learned a few things.

First, on a surface level, my life isn't very interesting. Answering the question "What are you doing?" can get pretty dull when you do basically the same thing day after day. How many times can someone read (or write), "preparing for class" or whatever? But if you dig down a bit, it can get more interesting. Attempting to write something brief and insightful on cases or articles or news stories that I am reading, for example, sounds like a nice way to extract some learning from all of this activity.

Second, this sort of writing is why Twitter is called "micro-blogging," and that seems a lot more interesting than most of what I have been writing. Rather than going through the somewhat clunky Typepad interface to blog something really brief (have you noticed we don't have many short posts on this site?), I can type something into Twitter and post within a few seconds. That's pretty cool.

Third, Twitter doesn't have a convenient way to link, and most Twitter users embed links with tinyurl. But, of course, we also have our del.icio.us linkroll, which I use not only as a means of publicizing internet content, but as a repository of stories that I might want to access later.

So I am starting to get into a routine. When I open my Firefox browser, it brings up ten tabs (it takes a long time to load on a slow connection!), including Typepad and Twitter. The browser also has the del.icio.us Firefox add-on, which makes linking super-easy. So I am ready to blog from the word "Go!" And all of these services are on my desktop all day, so when I run across something interesting, I can just link it or tweet it ... or, if it really grabs me, I can blog it.

Now, before you run to the streets in a spontaneous outpouring of enthusiasm over my newfound routine, remember that this blog is ultimately about thinking by writing. It seems to me that's an idea worth spreading. (With a nod to one of my favorite websites, TED.)