cooled down and more objective

Well, this is posting number two. After yesterday's experience with this blog, I have had time to cool down and I have spent time crusing blogline feeds where I looked at news sites, LIS related feeds as well as some feeds regarding technology. But not without some difficulty.

I have remarked to colleagues that technology is only good when it works. I live in a farming community not serviced by cable. My internet connection is by satellite. As the cloud cover thickened with an approaching storm, my ability to surf my RSS feeds got slower and slower until Windows informed me it could not connect to server. Lights blinked a couple of times during the storm confusing the modem which had to be restarted before I could use the internet this morning. As of the moment, everything is working but another storm is approaching so I am hoping I can continue to work without interruption.

I noticed as I logged in to continue my blog that I have two postings. The original that I worked so long to make right must be located somewhere but I still don't know where.

I called this blog settlements, communities and old dawgs because as I began my original blog, I had read a paper where a researcher was trying to determine empirically if blogs qualified as a virtual community. I borrowed the terms settlement and community because they speak to me of a concept I have come to understand regarding computer moderated communications.

Because technology offers so many options for communication and interaction, it is possible to conduct business, collaborate, and partner in projects over time and distance without the inconvenience of attending meetings. As an old dawg (baby boomer) growing up with minimal communications technology (four party land line, a radio and the USPS (that delivered twice a day)) I socialized at school and church face to face. While I am able to work well with people, I have been inclined all my life to be a loner. I have labored in projects many times under the idea that if I wanted it done "right" I should do it my self, and did.

Several experiences have made me realize the benefits of working with a partner or a team. While I have not found internet communications necessary, I have found it often convenient but not something I could not do without. So this is what I have learned. Though a loner and lurker I maybe (lurker sounds so perverted!), I understand that two together are better than one. I understand that I have to make a conscious effort to be available for helping others if not reaching out for help myself. I thought in starting a blog even as an experiment, that I might in a candid discussion of the things that irritate an frustrate me with technology, find others that had worked through their issues and found their comfort zone and useful application of these technologies.

So a settlement is a place where a few people congregate for whatever reason. Pioneer settlements of old began with a few families and often grew to thriving communities as more and more people joined and settled down with each life contributing to the lives of others. As I see it, such is the opportunity afforded by these technologies and services.

And the journey continues until next time.