A slight shift: from theory to practice

So a couple days ago I started this blog to try to encapsulate some of what I'm researching in hopes of gathering input from the world wide web of blog-surfers and browsers. But, its seems rather difficult to generate any sort of interest by sticking to theoretical musings...(not that I won't drift back into them from time to time)...So, after wondering whether I should ditch this blog idea, I've decided to stick with it, but to take a slightly different approach.

I'm going to use it to catalog my research experience. At the very least, I'm hoping that will help other researchers (since we're too often isolated in the midst of our own work) and entertain those who stop by for a browse (believe me, some of what goes on IS actually very funny...or at least odd enough to qualify as funny).

As always, comments are not only welcome, but invited. I'm finding the blog experience to be much too one-sided--so far, it seems like the premise is: I sit here, write out whatever self-indulgent business comes into my head, and then publish it. End of story. (Like a public diary. Yuck! Believe me, NO ONE wants to see the mass of gunk I've piled up over the years in diaries.) Perhaps one or two people make a comment (and for those, I am sincerely grateful), but it's not exactly the sort of grand open forum I'm hoping to encourage.

People talk about the internet as a way of shaping our public conversation (and even our political participation) and I think that, in a way, that is true. It is shaping it by providing another outlet for some sort of communication which is public in the sense that it is no longer reserved for some intimate, personal sphere. Now, instead of calling my Mom to tell her I passed a class or calling my best friend to tell her that I finally tried that 'thing' she was recommending, I can just post it on Facebook...or Twitter...or my blog. In that way, I'm looking at public and private in terms of 'where'. But, some talk about public and private in terms of 'what'--in terms of their contents. There seems no limit to the content of what people will broadcast on the internet, discussing the most intimate of sexual acts up to proclamations for or against world leaders, but if it's broadcast, if it's placed somewhere for all to access, then it's public--it's available to people beyond those the broadcaster may choose and for a length of time no longer in his or her control. Perhaps, then, a key difference between public and private is control?

Well, obviously, this isn't going to be solved during the length of my blog today, nor even over the next two years of my project. Next up: I'm translating my theoretical suppositions into interview questions. That's right! It's time to actually go talk to people to see what they have to say and to see if their words support what I've been writing about in the isolation of my thoughts, my mentors and the academics who've come before me. As always, I'd appreciate interjections, musings and/or arguments from anyone reading. See you soon!