You loyal few RSS subscribers know that I’ve failed to post for quite a while. (I have no visitors.) Since taking my job at Belkin I’ve been struggling a bit for time and against the urge to post things that might be too Belkin-specific. So I’m toying with a few overlapping ideas; I want to know what you think of them.
- Make posting easier. Take advantage of microblogging techniques and mobile software to make quick posts possible from anywhere.
- Make my “read-later” list public. Things I find interesting enough to mark for later perusal might be of interest to others. Tagging might be useful in this data set.
- Do some sprints. Choose a topic and make short daily posts about that topic for a specified period of time, maybe 30 days or 90 days. Possibilities include “Today’s UX winner and loser,” “Would be better if…,” “GenX grows up,” etc. These topics could have different visual designs, although I’ve done a lot of visual design wheel-spinning in the past.
- Open up the topics. Hinted at above. It doesn’t have to be 100% design or user experience.
- Loosen the filter. Even half-formed thoughts are fair game, if reasonably presented in an effort to engage.
My goal is to reinvigorate my blog by allowing shorter posts and a broader range of posts. My wish is that this will foster discussion, get some things out of my head where I can refer to them later, and help me be a better observer of my surroundings and influences. What do you think? Does this seem like a good approach? Any tips or ideas?
Wednesday 8/27/2008
8:50 am
I like the approaches you’ve mentioned. Specifically I think opening the topics would probably allow you to focus on non-work related and get the writing process as a routine.
Take the following as my own personal weaknesses and with a dose of salt from a non-writer, I would probably lean on the read-later list too much, and although I would probably be interested in your read-later list, I might be more interested in your opinions on your ‘recently-read’ list.
Any method that exposes some of your insight (on design, UX or the world in general) would be more than well received.
So yeah - no help from me :)
Thursday 9/18/2008
11:10 am
For my tastes go mobile and loosen the filter.
To go mobile - check out the wordpress app (by Automattic) for the iPhone.
Also, the sprint idea or serial posts on a single topic is appealing and may allow for more interaction with readers.
Sunday 10/4/2009
2:02 am
The internet is a big swimming pool of information, ideas, etc. So regardless of your format, dedicated readers of all things design will find what they are looking for. Don’t aim to please everyone, aim to express yourself in the way that you know how. The ones who aren’t interested, won’t dip their toes, but the ones who are interested will venture in. Personally, I love your site. I teach web design and usability at a university and find that there are many opinions regarding content or rather, information overload. I say, continue as you began and your followers will follow. Continue success to you.