This is just sort of a half-assed update.
Expect changes (or maybe a slow gradual change) as my employer has seen fit to cut off almost all internet access (down to only a half-dozen sites I know of) and my information diet is affected — ie reduced to a fraction of what it was.
(I should mention that my job involves a lot of unpredictable and inconsistent downtime. Scrolling through Google Reader was actually the most effective way to stay sharp. Now I’m back to chatting with coworkers, reading books, pacing around, or simply falling asleep in my chair, making me less productive than I was with usable internet access… And it was already limited: Gmail, Facebook, YouTube, Meebo, Twitter and all the usual suspects were already blocked.)
Whatever.
Maybe I need a change anyways. It’s good to be back reading more from books again but I’m not going to be able to maintain anything close to the knowledge of current affairs I had before — not to mention my ability to comment on things.
Maybe that will turn out to be a blessing. After all, it isn’t like blogging was generating a lot of direct, measurable benefits. (Though I’m grateful for the few readers I have and the connections I’ve made, and I’ll continue to do what I can to keep posting things.)
It comes at a time I felt due for some adjustments anyways.
One is that I’m getting sick of preaching and proscribing all the time — sick of listening to myself talk, I mean. I’m really more of a bystander (in the same sense Peter Drucker perceived himself.) In most cases I’m more satisfied to learn from other people’s failure than by getting involved to prevent it. I’m just more curious than committed.
For example, I was going to come home and write about how municipalities could (and should) change their mindset about engaging with citizens and generating feedback and proposals: with the advent of social media there are new opportunities for interaction that greatly surpass the effectiveness of the stodgy old committee-mindset. Public sector organizations need to think more like private sector companies — like the ones “putting Twitter’s world to use” — and go to where the discussions are rather than expect busy people to come pay deference to process and formality at damn meetings…
But really, what do I care?
It would be nice if the municipality I live in did something admirable — or at least remarkable — but it isn’t worth my while to spend a lot of energy arguing and sticking out like a sore thumb. I’m not committed to London (or anything in itself) that doesn’t really affect me all that much.
What I’m really committed to is the principle that people ought to make an effort to contribute to the general good around them — wherever that may be.
So as long as I’m in London I’m all for making London better — likewise for Canada. But if a company in Toronto (one with internet access, perhaps) or anywhere offered me a job my bags would be packed tomorrow — in fact I think I still have bags I haven’t unpacked.
So, whatever.
Instead of promoting principles with reference to specific issues I’m turning back to working on them in a more general, creative, detached way — which was my preference to begin with.
I mean, maybe.
