I did something I haven’t done in a while, I actually posted images to Flickr I took within a few hours and write titles and descriptions, and even tagged them. I know, crazy, right?
In many ways this seemingly moribund practice was resurrected by this discussion with Jon Udell on Mastodon. Jon was generously responding to my post about comparing Web 2.0 and Web3 for a presentation at OER23 this week, and his contributions were insightful (no surprise there) and started me thinking about the way many folks used to blog before the centralized social media sites. It was often for more often, a mix of long and short form, and not nearly as much psychological overhead at the idea of “writing a post.” You were just posting, it could be an image, a quick thought, or an essay, but long and short forms of writing lived together more comfortably, a practice Udell points to mico.blog as helping to preserve. More fodder for the presentation, thanks Jon!
Now, pair this with my recent post remembering the magic of the  blogging conference NorthernVoice, and you might think I am heading for a web nostalgia tailspin. Fair enough, it might be the case, but one thing that was so cool about my looking back on NorthernVoice was the tags in Flickr that allowed me to see and remember the people, spaces, and general sense of that important moment. Many people caught it, and looking back visually was magic. I was like, damn, that’s a cool way to remember.
Scott Beale’s “Northern Voice 2007”
In fact, the founder of Laughing Squid, Scott Beale, wrote a post that included the mage above (forgive the Laughing Squid ads if you click through), providing a textbook example of just this kind of short-form blogging back in the day. He threw up some links to Flickr, quickly let folks know he was in Vancouver at a groovy blog conference hobnobbing with Anil Dash in less than a full paragraph. Not bad for a few minutes work 🙂
So, in that spirit, just wanted to let everyone know I arrived in Inverness, Scotland for the OER23 conference that will kick off with workshops and pre-conference events tomorrow, and then get going Wednesday and Thursday for two full days of re-connecting with some amazing people. I’m not sure what it is, but I am in the conference spirit right now and I am blogging like it is 2007! I will be uploading my pictures from the conference to Flickr with the tag OER23 and will also be posting here on the regular. I might event try and live blog a session or two, can you imagine that! What did Faulkner say? The past isn’t dead, it’s not even the past! Or something like that, that crazy southener!
Inverness was pretty glorious this afternoon.
So far Inverness kicks butt in every concievable way a conference location like Inverness possibly could. YEAH!~ Thankyou for Blogging. I’m not there. But it feels like I could be there.
Have a great time Jim. Inverness is a swell place to do laundry and have a curry in my experience but I know you will do MORE.
I remember ’07 for sure where we were looking to ‘tracings’ and as Jon notes you didn’t comment but it was actual trackback. As a cataloging librarian (and ever since they Alan, Chris and Brian didn’t quite finish the conversation ‘a few years back’ https://cogdogblog.com/2010/05/bring-out-your-blogs/) I bave been sitting on my hands waiting for more easy breezy genre-fication of the blogging publishing point. I could always count on you of course. But we will see about the others. We get to everything. In time.
That looks amazing, post more! I heard mention of the allure of Leaky’s Bookstore but to see it is near divine.
Welcome to Scotland! I had to come back specially just to make sure you behaved yourself.
Hoping for a little wander around the city tomorrow if my legs don’t fail me, and definitely looking forward to seeing your good self soon. And that bookstore is going to get me into all the best kinds of trouble…
I’m so interested in this idea of the psychological overhead of Writing A Thing, as opposed to brief journaling as a way of remembering a place and time. That’s very helpful. Have a lovely Spring time among all those long shadows.
That cemetery looks like a good place for Asa Vajda. Just needs some fog and spider webs.
Great pix, Rev, and good ruminations. I was last in Inverness in 1992, but really enjoyed it. Don’t forget to visit Culloden and pour some out for my ancestors.
Lovely photos! I’m disappointed I can’t be at #OER23 with all of you, so make sure you pack in some extra fun for me. I haven’t been there in many years, but I had to drop in the comments to share that the town of Dingwall is just down the road from where you all are right now. Have fun and I look forward to reading about all things OER23.
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