My 100th blog!

This is my 100th blog, so please join me in celebrating this fantastic milestone in my blogging pilgrimage. I published my first blog on March 31st 2009. I have covered many topics during that period including technology, social media, vegetarianism, atheism, current affairs, politics, science and some personal topics too.

Having a blog is a wonderful way of expressing yourself and giving your opinions a platform from which they can be read by others. I also welcome the opinions and feedback from those reading my blog. Unlike some people, I am happy to be challenged on a topic, and will happily change my opinion if I read a persuasive argument that I may not have considered previously. This is the ideal of the scientific mind - to be able to change it when presented with opposing evidence.

I welcome disagreement as much as I welcome agreement, as long as the view is expressed in a constructive manner.

I have used my blog as a learning tool, where I have written blogs about subjects on which I was previously unfamiliar. When you force yourself to write a blog on that subject, you are forced to study and research the subject in order to write about it. I have used this technique to learn many new topics, and will continue to do so.

I have used my blog to express my opinions and views on things I believe, including giving in-depth explanations for why I am a vegetarian and an atheist. When asked why I hold these views, I cannot always elegantly express my reasons in 5 minutes flat. I want to be able to give a full and considered explanation. When I made these choices for myself, I gave them full consideration, and I want to be able to do the same when someone else is interested enough to ask me about these views. With a blog, I have the time to write down in detail what my reasons are, and give those reasons the consideration they deserve.

I have used my blog to champion causes and campaigns I believe in, such as my support for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). I make no apologies for this. If I wish to support a charity, cause or campaign then I shall use my blog as a legitimate platform for doing so.

I have learnt the benefits that come with writing with a co-author. I co-authored two blogs with Vicky Perry recently, and found the experience to be both productive and positive. It was a great experience to be able to discuss blog topics and bounce ideas around with another author. We worked jointly on everything from generating the topic of the blog itself to the writing of the blog. In fact, the process of working with Vicky was so successful, that we have now since created our own joint blog called Green Eyes.

I have really enjoyed writing these blogs, and hope you have enjoyed reading them. I hope I will be writing a similar blog when I reach my 200th blog!

Creating a blog with another writer

Regular readers of my blog cannot have failed to have noticed that my last two blogs were co-written with my good friend Vicky Perry. The idea for writing a blog together was Vicky’s idea, and I didn’t need to be asked twice. I thought it was a great idea. It would be good to work on something with another writer, to inject some fresh ideas and look at things from another angle. Vicky would also come up with different topics to write about that I may not have thought about on my own.

For our first blog Sensory compensation: Re-train your brain the subject was one that I was unfamiliar with. So Vicky offered to undertake all the research and get me all the relevant information. Which she did admirably. I also let Vicky have the responsibility for proof reading the blog before it went live. The joint partnership of creating a blog with another writer was a success, especially when we received a positive comment from the very same professor as we had quoted in the blog. When Vicky first told me he had left a comment, I wasn’t sure if she was being serious at first.

We wrote another blog Hiring and firing with social media together. Vicky did all the hard work of researching the subject. We had a good idea of what the topic should be about, and how it should be constructed. We discussed the topic during several telephone conversations. Once again, I delegated the proof reading to Vicky and gave her the responsibility for giving the blog the go ahead for going live. We also came up with several other topics for future blogs.

It‘s great to be able to tap into another writer’s creativity, and bounce ideas off them and just see where an idea might land. Sometimes I would have a raw idea, and after a discussion with Vicky, it would eventually become a fully fledged topic. Or sometimes it would be the other way around. The most important thing was that we were generating new ideas by discussing them with each other. This was a process I had never tried before on my blog, and was more than pleased to give them a go. It goes without saying that I was more than happy with the results, as both blogs have now been published.

Without giving too much away, the idea of working on joint blogs is now something we are working on together in a slightly different capacity. So watch this space!

My first year as a blogger

On 31 March 2009 I posted my first blog. Throughout that time, I have posted regularly on many subjects including technology, social media, atheism, politics, current affairs and animal welfare to name a few.

Before setting up my own blog I used to write and comment on forums, web sites and other people's blogs, but never thought of actually setting up my own blog where I could write in more detail on specific subjects that interested me. After some encouragement from a friend, I came to the conclusion that setting up my own blog was a good idea.

I didn't want to spend time and expense setting up my own blog, but wanted to use one of the freely available blogging tools. After some research, I decided to use Blogger.

Why I chose Blogger as my blogging tool

• It is a very popular blogging tool, so must be doing something right
• Developed by Google it would have good search capability
• Easy to use, configure and maintain
• Free with no running costs

Once I had set up my blog, it was then a matter of thinking of what to write. Thankfully, this is rarely a problem. I get ideas for my blog from all matter of different sources.

Inspiration for my blogs

• Traditional news media including newspapers and the TV
• IT media including forums and magazines
• Blogs, forums, social media and various web sites
• Conversations with people

Basically, an idea for a blog can come from almost anywhere. I don't have any need to go looking for ideas, as they usually come to me. What I will do though is write an idea down. I keep a list of blog ideas saved on my computer, so that a good idea does not get forgotten about.

My reasons for blogging

• Using my blog as a learning aid to force me to learn something
• Expressing my opinions on issues that I care about
• To connect with people and share different opinions and ideas
• I love the democratic principle that having a blog gives you - a blog gives you a voice!

I enjoy it when someone has read one of my blogs and leaves a comment, either agreeing or disagreeing with what I have written. I enjoy being challenged over an opinion I have expressed in a blog, as I see this as an opportunity for me to have a discussion over the subject.

I hope to continue blogging, as it is something that gives me pleasure and I enjoy. Hopefully, it gives my readers pleasure when they read my posts!

Using blogging as a learning tool

When deciding what to write my next blog about, I often take a topic that I'm not very familiar with, but want to investigate and explore in more detail. This can be anything from a technology, to a debate, to a trending topic.

In order to write an article about these sorts of subjects, I am forced to undertake the necessary research to understand the topic in sufficient detail. This is a great way of really getting to understand a topic. Sometimes I may spend several days researching a topic before I feel confident enough to write about it.

When I want to understand a new or emerging technology, I will write a blog about it. So while I may not fully understand the subject matter when I begin, by the time I have investigated it, and wrote a blog about it, my understanding will have progressed enormously.

Writing about a subject, any subject, is a great way to learn about it and understand it, and is one of the key ways by which I develop my knowledge on a huge variety of subjects. I would recommend it to anyone who is keen to extend their knowledge, and has the motivation to do so.