Aug '08 - Dec '10
When I started this blog (two years ago now) I as enthusiastic about my level of blogging activity. I've had blogs before (on all sorts of things- hiking, biking, train trips, motorcycling, canoeing) but sooner or later they all died off. On one hand blogging is amazing in that it provides a direct connection to someone with first-hand experience, but on the other hand, they can devolve into petty, melodramatic frivolities that I often see as narcissistic.
My plan with this blog was to stay focused on topic and actually look forward to writing in it. This would then be something regularly updated and accessed and would become a little more legit than some of my other blogs. Of course, looking at the archives, you can see that it hasn't really happened that way.
This is a shame, because last semester there were actually good things to write about- designing, fabricating and building an aquaponics system that went to the Science Barge in Yonkers, NY; my experience in the new C-BIP studio at school, working simultaneously on solo and group projects for the semester; the controversy that appeared over the exhibition for the China-Lab 2009 summer workshop about interpretation, authorship of gallery material and architectural travel (or tourism). I was just a little too busy I guess, and I don't like to make posts unless I know they are worth posting, so in the end I let things go by unsaid.
Why I think this needs to change is because over the past year several students asked me when I was going to be updating, or told me they read the blog when considering where to go to school, or prodded that something might be good to mention. I realized I was an idiot for not taking full advantage of the imbedded viewership here, much of which is local.
So my intention now is to make this blog a little more regular and a little more messy. This is my last year here and I always work more efficiently when I have more to do (read: horrible with free time) so I hope to generate one post per week or so. No promises though.
1 Comment
Greg,
I had the same sort of concern about my own blog last semester. I was beginning to fall off because all I was doing was chronicling my work in a diary of studio activities. I contacted a professor here at Pratt whose opinion I valued and had a conversation with him about the nature of blogs and their potential value to the architectural community. We spoke about a few things. Most importantly was that a blog can and should function as a resource. All of these blogs these students are writing and reading should be intertwined with each other. The discussion forum on the main page can be integrated into our work here on the blog as well. Another thing we talked about specifically pertaining to me and my own interest, is to look at a larger picture. These blogs are more than just a catalog or portfolio of our work. They ask higher questions. What is architecture? (Too general.) How is architecture changing in the universities versus the built world? (A little better.) There are always political and economical drivers behind the latest trends as well. Perhaps another question could be "What drives us this month?" There are so many possibilities to what your blog could be, but I might suggest to you finding something larger to work towards.
Kevin
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