social media classmates...

Collaboration is such a good way to learn as we each ask different questions and want to investigate avenues of our interests. This could be stimulating and add more to our thinking than working from our own perspective as we do most of the time. My title has to do with my research on the creative process through the voices and experiences of women artists and creativity as a catalyst, if so, in resilience after major illness. This blog has developed around my growing interest and fascination with social media that is constantly in the news as it has entered so many aspects of life today. Possible uses of Internet tools for research are being explored.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Susan: Oct. 6th: journal

It is hard to find time to keep up with myself much less all that I do! I was glad to see Gene and Lisa last week at Lesley and feel the comfort of having help at hand instead of feeling the angst of trying to figure “it” out over and over again and bumping into road blocks. Time does not mean much when you try to keep up with endless emails that have not multiplied as I am trying to keep up with a number of professional, various schools, art galleries and museums info and psychotherapy organizations I belong to and perhaps a personal note that gets buried in all else. In this economy, I am seeing that people are really getting resourceful and doing tons of workshops to try and earn some income. Therapists are finding patients cutting back or gone and they are fretting over paying for offices. Office rentals and shares are more frequent that ever. It is hard to say if people are just all figuring out how to send out info through their list serves and those are posting for each other. New York has always been known as a busy city, but now more than ever, or so it seems, professionals are speaking and charging. Also in the last few years, arts organizations have developed programs and classes for families, young professionals, educators, and art followers. Nights and weekends are packed with intellectual as well as cultural opportunities. Instant, constant, and frequent notifications flood emails and take several hours a day to keep up and clear off and flag. Does anyone know how to unflagg?? It is not by just clicking the flag?? The other thing I have noticed and find frustrating is remembering all the various usernames and passwords as they interact in ways that demand twicks. My list of them is getting longer and longer and now needs categories.

Seriously, since our class this summer I have spent whole days fooling around getting familiar with various tools at least several times and it feels like the first time when I go back to refresh myself. I have set up two blogs, which Gene and I figured out was one too many, so, I will stick to one for now. The desire to go on and on is great as the excitement at the possibilities is great that I go ahead and think that I can get back there and continue and find out that I can’t get my way back there. I have a twitter account, a facebook account, a Linkedin (?) professional account, and Plaxo account, and, many other health care or art therapy lists that I follow. The problem is that I cannot keep up with all of them and feel like I must or else. And there are all of our Lesley Class announcements, discussions, posts ect. to follow and be sure to get things in the right place. I wonder what advise we could give each other, except. Get used to it or you might miss something important. In a focusing workshop on Monday after a guided imagery that was called “clearing a space” by meditating on putting aside one thing after the next that was worrisome and sensing that feeling in the body, the leader asked what was needed? I said that I needed more time... ? to attend to these things? To not attend to these things? I am reminded how important it is to find a balance so that renewal of energies can take place while “being” somewhere else. It seems we operate on so many levels and are tapping into many all the time. For me, now I feel as if the time I devote is never enough to really see progress or feel ahead. So, that is today and now it is late and bedtime. Sweet dreams...

I want to remember to write about conversations over last weekend:

1. with a friend who is a lawyer and involved in politics on how to use social media with her professional consulting firm in Baltimore

2. with someone who writes the blog for CNN for young audiences as he is 27 called Political Ticker

3. follow up on info about designing advertising, search engines to serve clients, so that their names and info appear first when searched by the public, who is the public that is searching, and what words or language are they most likely to use to search... I would like to interview her.

I was amazed how social media and networking was a real topic of conversation on a family weekend at a fishing lodge which barely had phones and not heat.

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