David's World

December 27, 2005

365 days, 101 diary entries. What for?

In mid-December 2004, about a year ago, I started David's World. I wasn't quite sure where it was heading - I just knew I wanted to write up some things that were on my mind. Writing is a means of channelling information through the filter of reason. When you write up something, you'll reflect on your thoughts, and you get a chance to run a simple check: are my ideas actually coherent?

So what have I been up to this year? Early on, I exposed myself with an experiment: what's my prettyness rating on Hotornot, a site where you put up your picture and people give you marks for your face. How does the rating change with different haircuts? On another occasion, I explained why I don't like Christmas. I complained about people in jail for no reason and a TV series condoning torture. And in January, things got a bit more serious with an obituary on my former employer, MIT Media Lab Europe. Since it appeared on Slashdot, an über-blog read by millions, many people stopped by to read the story and fiercly discuss the demise of MLE.

Other entries in my digital diary were about security. I explained how to encrypt and sign e-mails these days, an important topic that's probably way too geeky for most of my readers. I reviewed some books, and in one case a best-seller, where the author got back back to me. About a hundred entries, so far!

The bottom-line: this is very much a patchwork publication. It's lacking what media people call a format: a precise and narrow definition of what kinds of topics are addressed, and how they are presented. Radio stations have this since the 80's, TV programs and news magazines have formats. In a way, blogs don't, and that's charming. It's a blog precisely because it's not a mass media publication.

i agree. well put. i use my blog for tips and codes that I often forget. i got tired with those teenagers blog that I came across... they're just full of themselves. your blog is very informative. i'll add you to my links. i came across your page when I was reading the aquamacs emacs. so thank you for the information :)