The past couple of years
have been an experiment for me as I slowly and timidly entered the vast waters
of the social media world. I have oscillated between passive and active
engagement on a variety of social media platforms but have, however, consciously
and deliberately avoided signing up for a Facebook account. From the first time
I became aware of Facebook through its mammoth explosion in terms of popularity
several years ago, and to its seeming current plateau, I really have not ever
been entirely sure of the merits and benefits of being hyper-connected in a
Facebook context.
The upsides or downsides of
my decision could be debated almost infinitely, and trust me, they have been
debated almost infinitely between a couple of my heavy FB-using friends and
myself. Recently, in fact, I've perhaps started to see some of the first cracks
in the walls of my FB avoidance since starting my own architectural firm.
The point here is that I was
definitely hesitant in the first place to make my foray into the
hyper-connected world of social media, sharing, public availability &
accessibility, and even to some extent curation. I’ve never been one to shy
away from a conversation with a stranger, but the adjustment to having these
conversations in a digital medium has been tricky. Like so many, I am a busy
person – I work hard and play hard (and apparently love clichés) and find it
difficult to dedicate time for the sole purpose of engaging in discussions or
detailing my escapades in digital forums. Although I am amassing some
quantities of work in music, photography, writing, and other pursuits, I have
been historically poor at promoting the work.
Let’s face it. I know people
are busy and don’t necessarily need to be bombarded continually with noise.
Trust me – I’m bombarded with enough noise as it is and it can definitely be
overwhelming. Also, I have no desire to compromise quality in favour of
quantity, the challenge of course being that it takes time to create great
work. Therein lies the rub – I’d rather spend my time working in pursuit of
great work rather than expending the required effort to participate in the
digital mediums promoting the work, connecting with people, and engaging in
conversations. Which, frankly, is why my social media presence is, well,
non-existent.
I don’t necessarily want to
be an advocate of ‘balance’ here – I always advocate for balance and in all
honesty, it can be a cop-out. However, an imbalance means that I have a
collection of what I consider to be decent work and no infrastructure to
promote it. And, I do understand that the best work in the world won’t find
legs by itself – it needs mechanisms and mediums to live and breathe in.
As I mentioned at the start
of this, my foray into the realm of social, yet publicly visible displays of
communication has been an experiment of sorts over the past couple of years.
The benefit, despite my inconsistency, is that I’ve learned quite a bit. I
think I have an idea of the lessons I’ve learned and the directions I need to
move in. In my mind, this is a time of new beginnings, and after over a year of
not posting to this blog, I think it can play an important part in the
collection and promotion of material. It will be a repository, a central place
where I can keep track of all of my crazy endeavours and the work I’m creating.
It will link to other more focused collections, but it should offer a home-base
of sorts that will hopefully allow me to eventually cross-pollinate different
works together.
I hope that something here
will provoke, inspire, or at the very least entertain you. Whether you’re here
just as one-time thing or wanting to follow me on my new beginnings, thanks for
visiting.
_jh
