Given that I have a set of web pages that I use for work, and given that I need to be a little careful about what I might place in a public blog (or indeed in my own work web pages), I’m left wondering why I’m writing this blog at all. Now, yes, I can write about non-work activities (like Porgy & Bess), but then, there’s lots of newspapers (and they’re all on the web as well) that write reviews, and I’m not at all sure that mine adds anything new. I could tweet on twitter about my every move, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want to read them. Or indeed, read this either.
Meanwhile: I note that Andy Murray has won the tennis at Valencia (hurrah!), that it’s getting pretty cold here (first proper frost of the autumn last night). Do I write about the trivia of my own life? A trip to a fortieth birthday last night, or a trip to buy a mattress today and a wander round IKEA, or the really boring matters, like putting out the recycling on a Sunday night? Surely not. Perhaps I should simply wait till something more interesting happens, though that might take some time. Or perhaps I should use my rich inner life to dramatise the ordinary? Maybe that’s it: meanwhile, the rest of the family are watching Casualty on i-player (that sounds pretty dramatic). I think that perhaps if I have nothing to say, I should say nothing. So back to reading my student’s thesis.
Lestheprof's Blog 
My problem with blogs
January 17, 2010I started this blog thinking it would be a bit like a diary. Not that I’ve ever successfully kept a diary for more than about a week, but I thought that the technology might encourage me. But the difference is that I can ensure that only the people I want to read a diary – or even that no-one else at all reads it. But a blog? A blog is a public document. Worse, it’s a copiable public document that takes on a life of its own: it’s indelible. Even if I delete the blog – even in WordPress closes permanently, there will still be a record of whatever I write, readable by those who want to. So I can’t write anything I don’t want to make public. And that’s a problem, because all the interesting things that I might want to write are things that I don’t want all and sundry to be able to read. Yes, I know that my name and identity are not directly visible, but I’m quite sure that anyone who really wanted to know who I was would have few problems in tracing me. And there are a few people who already know who I am.
I’m told that on facebook, security can be set on a friend by friend, post by post basis (as is the case on some other portal-based repositories that I work on). And, of course, on facebook, most users hide more or less everything from the casual non-friend visitor. So perhaps I should give up the blog and go on to facebook. But then I’d have to manage my friends, and manage my posts: and that’s even more work.
So? I’ll settle for making bland entries, and attempting a little humour (see: English spelling, implies UK educated).
It was a dark, dark night, and three men were sitting on a log. One of the turned to one of the others, and began:
It was a dark, dark night, and three men were sitting on a log. One of the turned to one of the others, and began:
It was a dark, dark night, and three men were sitting on a log. One of the turned to one of the others, and began:
It was a dark, dark night, and three men were sitting on a log. One of the turned to one of the others, and began:
and so on. Surely I can do better than this?
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