| Hi blueridge, Seriously interesting article. This point here struck me: > Regarding being offline, I don’t see a point in writing a blog that is public, but that no one reads, and it being writing I have to edit and filter for online publication. Like, why not go back to writing in private files on my computer/phone or by hand on paper? And I think the answer to that, the point for many people, is the sense that you are "done", finished, and you can move onto the next thing. > Being online feels like being a brand sometimes. This does bug me too. In preparation for re-starting my own blog (such as it is) I did an expansive review of a lot of blogs, and there were a lot of headshot-photo then a "waving emoji" followed by "Hi I'm John Smith, I help companies with X do Y, and I'm a passionate Z." These are "personal branding statements" and maybe they have some value in certain fields (including, perhaps, landing a job or next contract) but they really started to (a) make everything look the same and (b) felt pretentious and superficial, especially in a sense of instead of demonstrating that you do 'X' you're simply telling me that you do (in such a way that feels aspirational, that it's what you want to be doing instead of what you've actually done). It's funny, I kind of want to read more from that blogger. Reading the experiences of a woman of colour, especially in a tech field, that would be really interesting (and probably sad -- the note about microaggressions and some of the titles suggests she's struggling with things). And I'm stealing a tiny, tiny little detail from her blog for my own one, that solves a problem I've been wrestling with. Thank you. |