This is my first attempt at speaking the text of my blog. I am using a headset with voice dictation software. The title of whole ramble of thoughts is somewhat appropriate seeing that I am going to try to speak about many things here.
First is the foray into voice dictation software. I have used this stuff before but have never been successful. This is proving to be a rather decent experience. I must admit it is a bit strange speaking and watching the words show up on the screen. So here is to the future of what I hope to be more frequent, interesting, and thought provoking entries.
Previously.
In my previous entry I spoke about modes of communication and since posting that I’ve given some more thought to the idea. It was brought to my attention by someone who read what I posted that there is real value in having a face-to-face meeting with people. I don’t deny the value in that experience. However, when looking at the larger picture of where I am spending my time and what value is derived from where I spend my time it seems logical to me to be a bit more stringent, hell just plain stingy, with how I spend my time. That’s not to say that I will never have a face-to-face meeting with the person again, I certainly will. I think what I’m getting at is assessing how important is it to meet with that specific person regarding that specific issue. It’s more about assessment of the meeting than anything else. Do you really need to spend that time doing that? Or is there something more constructive you could be doing with that time.
del.icio.us
Also since my last post I have been trying to clean up my del.icio.us bookmarks and have been experimenting with some new social media sites. One thing is for sure, the interface for editing and deleting book marks within del.icio.us is too damn time-consuming. You are only allowed to select one item at a time when it’s clearly possible to engineer the screen for me to see 25, 50, 100 bookmarks at a time and edit them simultaneously and then submit them. However, I have been pretty pleased with the experience of using the del.icio.us website as a way to manage my bookmarks. I primarily work on a Macintosh and I also use a Windows XP machine to get work done. Having the ability to access all my bookmarks from both machines at any time is pretty sweet.
Pro Bono.
Presently I have about three or four websites that are in the very final stages of completion. I should be publishing them within the next few weeks. It will feel great to have these projects done. I have some new work on the horizon and I need to clear the decks before I can get started. A couple of these websites are pro bono websites and I recently read a great article written by David C. Baker of ReCourses that spoke specifically to providing pro bono work for the public good. He smartly suggested the idea of creating criteria that each possible pro bono project would need to measure up to in order for you to work on it. He suggested gathering an advisory group that would review potential pro bono projects and objectively measure them against the criteria that you’ve established. Furthermore, he suggested posting a simple one-page application on your website and having that promoted in the local business community. This way you would receive applications for your pro bono services. These applications would be reviewed by your advisory group and they would select the most appropriate projects for you to work on. This is such a smart way to include pro bono work in your creative practice. Presently, my pro bono work arrives in my workflow somehow out of the ether. I really don’t know how it ends up there. What I do know is that I plan to employ this strategy for working on pro bono projects in the future.
Closing.
This may be as many words as I have posted in a single entry. This is largely due to the fact that I’m speaking these words and they are appearing on my screen. It’s pretty damn cool . But at the same timea bit disturbing to watch your words appear on screen. I find myself pausing at weird times and that causes the thought process not to flow as well. What I imagine happening is that I can eventually sit back and not look at the screen and the words will just come out of my head excuse me I need out of my mouth and into the microphone and onto the screen and here they are. Overall I’ve only had to edit about five or six words from this whole entry. The accuracy is amazing. Anyhow that’s it for now.
powered by performancing firefox
Over-thinking for me typically involves diving deep into the problem and getting narrow with my perspective. I sometimes get buried in the minutiae of what ever is at hand. The gears in my mind grind away to reveal smaller and smaller components of what I am thinking about. Eventually I get stuck either because I cannot break something down into a smaller piece, or I have two possibilities/directions that I can go and can’t figure out which is best.
