Mindstructures » Blogging

The 7 Links Challenge

Annemieke — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:09:20 +0000

Last week on Problogger there was a great challenge.

It was a 7 link challenge, to write a post with links to 7 posts that fit into 7 themes.

I thought that was a perfect way to go over my posts again to see which ones I could bring together in one post.

1. Your first post – The reason for my first post Creating my own webspace, was to write a post that I could use as my about page. In that post I wanted to write about why I blog. But the post got much to long and so I decided to write several posts that I could edit into an about page later. Until now I did not do much editing yet, but just copied those posts in a static page.

2. A post you enjoyed writing the most – The post I enjoyed writing the most was Creative Development. Mainly because of the connection I made with blogging as a certain step in creative development. The rest of the post was relatively easy to write, but I could not think of a good example of the combination of creativity with interaction. I thought about it very long, and suddenly it became clear, it just had to be blogging.

3. A post which had a great discussion – Not so much a discussion on that post itself, but a comment on the post The Meaning of Values was the beginning of a discussion about logic and language that spread out over other posts and pages.

4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written – I read that post last week and it reflected very much my thoughts about reciprocity in a relationship. The title is Warning: Compromising in your marriage may ruin it. Although the title seems to says that you should not compromise, I think what he means is a little more subtle, although very important in my opinion.

5. A post with a title that you are proud of – That is the title of the post Patterns of Meaning that Develop over Time. Not that I came up with that line myself, but I distilled it from an interview with the writer David Foster Wallace. When he said those words, I almost felt the excitement, as that was exactly how I see things. The context was the following:

There is something musical about reading because it has to do with the patterns of meaning that develop over time. It isn’t like looking at a piece of art, because there I choose how long I look and what I look at. In a piece of music or in a movie that flow is directed for me. I got no choice but to follow. With books I am trapped in time but I have more mobility within that time, going back and reading again the paragraph I like.

6. A post that you wish more people had read – A post that I think was really good was Critical about Criticism. In that post I often wondered if I meant exactly what I wrote, but when I read it again, I indeed do. The reason why I doubt it every time, is because of the meaning of the words criticism, feedback and judging. I think the meaning of those words is close, but at the same time very different.

7. Your most visited post – The post that gets the most hits from Google search is The difference between Integrity and Honesty. I wrote it after a discussion about that difference on a forum.

12 Phases of Blogging

Annemieke — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:42:53 +0000

These are 12 phases a blogger might go through. It is a cycle for all development, so I thought why not for blogging.

It is a cycle that can take a whole (blogging) lifetime, but it can also be something that you go through very fast, or only partly.

For some the focus is very much on one part and you might get stuck there. Or you might skip some phases and add them later with a new blog.

But above all it is a very abstract cycle. Just a way of differentiating one phase from another. With no other purpose then to categorise and to bring order. Very phase 6 actually.

But lets start with the beginning. The beginning of taking action, the birth of a new process. That of blogging.

1. Action
This is the phase of starting with a blog. For the first time you heard there is something like an online way to say what you want. Or the first time you hear there is a way you can make money online. Or the first time you hear you can have some space of your own, online for the world to see. You hear about WordPress and you just start a new blog without even knowing anything about HTML or CSS. You just sign up for an account and the next thing you know is that you are writing without any structure or purpose as just the fun of it.

2. Manifestation
Here the first action gets a form. You think about the form it should get. The colours the design, the widgets, style and so on. Very focused and practical. It is also the phase of value. Maybe a way is found to materialise it into money. There is no exchange, no interaction it is just about taking a form, growing and becoming massive.

3. Interaction
Time to interact with others. Not so much about personal stuff, but circulating news, share the latest gossip. It is about networking, getting to know others, about making connections. Seeking novelty and being easily bored. But also about learning. Not so much improving your own qualities (that comes later) but just learn as much as you can about others, about the world around you and about blogging in general. Just trying things out and go to the next interesting subject.

4. Emotion
This is the phase of listening to your own feelings. Maybe blogging about your personal life, about your children or about how difficult it is to cope with life. Or maybe the whole blogging thing is not turning out to be what you wanted. Or life is just getting in the way. Or life is getting in the way and you realise what really is important. And as a result start blogging about that.

5. Expression
Here a whole new phase is starting. A phase of self expression. Working with the whole blogging thing has given you all kind of possibilities to express your own self. You have found a way to really be you. But it is also the phase where you have to separate yourself from your background. It can be the start of taking your own domain. Finding your own voice that you want to use further. It can be a very selfish phase, but at the same time it is a very important one. Discovering what you really want, what makes you unique and stand out from the rest of the world.

6. Function
What you were doing so far is all a bit unorganised. Many ideas, many posts, many reactions of others but not yet a clear structure. The phase of making categories, lists, unclutter and so on. Cleaning the place up. But also the phase of improving yourself, learning more skills, getting more techniques, learn and help others. Learning how to overcome problems. Analyse what has happend, and do it again and better next time. Being efficient and functional.

7. Reflection
Now that all is better organised it is time to interact with others in a more personal way. So not just interact about the world but more reflective about your own work. Giving it all a more attractive look so that others tend to like it. It is also the home of art and design and the home of those who blog about relationships. And also about fashion and beauty. It is all about presentation of your self.

8. Integration
This is the phase of looking at your own reaction on other bloggers. Why do you admire some and dislike others. So doing some soulsearch. But it is also the home of research bloggers, or those who blog about psychology. Of those who want to deeply investigate one part of life. Or who want to know all about one subject very deeply. About obsession and fascination. About psychology and deep inner turmoil. Or maybe the death of a blog because of many outside attacks. It is the phase of potential transformation. About integrating all parts of your self.

9. Vision
Again a whole new phase. Very tempting here is to get your own ideas into the world. Let everyone hear what you think and try to convince others of your ideas. Or try to sell what you made or what you find important. But it is possible that when the previous phase is not integrated well, or when there is no real knowledge of yourself, you get carried away. It is also the home of bloggers about religion or philosophy. Or who blog about travelling or other cultures. Or everything that goes beyond your own individual self.

10. Construction
Here the blog becomes an institute. A place where facts and authority are important. No more bleu sky ideas, but the theory has to become reality. Here you know the rules and play the game. It is the home of political blogs. About companies but also about building. The construction of societies. And in the process of the blogging cycle it is the blog that has the practical role in society with a certain authority.

11. Invention
This can be a phase of total destruction. Where all the rules from the previous phase are to strict and there is no more growth possible. But it can also be the phase of freedom and collaboration between other individuals. Important is that others are seen as equals, recognising their individual character. It is about focusing the mind to formulate new and unusual ways of dealing with people, groups, society and the world.

12. Compassion
This is the end of this cycle and maybe a new one is starting soon on another level. But maybe it is just the phase of giving to others without wanting something back. Some might come into this phase to early and feel very easy drained by all the demands of others. Or feel overwhelmed by hackers or other bloggers. It can be blogs about mysticism or charity. But also about fairytails or myths. About what is outside of society.

This is the phase of forming seeds for another cycle. Because next is the start of a new one. Maybe that of another blog, now about a whole new subject. Or just another cycle of the same blog on another level.

Learning to Write

Annemieke — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:53:32 +0000

When we got back from our travel through Europe, I knew one thing for sure. I wanted to keep on blogging.

I wanted to blog about a subject that I found out was the core of all my interests, but was difficult to write about, human development.

That was the subject that came back every time, with each blog. But it was (and still is) very difficult to write about how I see that. There is a similarity in the periodic table as well there is a similarity with astrology, with Integral theory and with the music of Camel. And I desperately wanted to write about that, but just did not know how.

I wanted to use the graphics from my website in my blog, so that I could make it better clear. But that was a huge problem as the website was not compatible with WordPress blogs.

And that had nothing to do with the WordPress blog, as it had to do with the website I had built. That website was also a stranger on my own computer, I could never save or find a file outside the webdesign program itself.

So I wanted a new program to make graphics that I could use on my blog. And I found PaintNet to be exactly what I was looking for, although it took a while before I could use it a bit easy.

In te meantime I had started a challenge, NaBloPoMo, to write one blogpost each day, because I wanted to force myself to learn writing a bit easier. So I posted each day but most of the time did not get done what I wanted to do. Which was to compare those theories.

But it did learn me to write a whole lot easier. Not that I ever will become a real writer, as my writing is more a collections of words for each concept I want to cover. And will never be a flowing river (if only) but the challenge did learn me to loosen up, to write anyway, even if it was not exactly how I intended it. I could always adjust, change and alter what I had posted and write new and better posts.

And when the challenge was almost over I started another blog, this one, because I really wanted to get my own domain.

Travelling through Europe

Annemieke — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:47:11 +0000

While I was still working a lot on my CamelLive blog, the day came in April that we left home for a few months.

My husband wanted to participate in a footrace through Europe, from the south of Italy to the north of Norway, with a group of 66 other runners from over the whole world.

And I was coming along with the group to help with the checkpoints that they had every 10 km. And as the distances each day had an average of 70 km, that meant they needed a lot of people to help.

The start was on April 19, but we left about a week earlier. So from that moment on there was no time anymore to work on my blog. But I did have internet connection and was planning to keep Twitter updates from the Footrace. I also wanted to keep a blog, at least for some photos and some updates or so. And was hoping I would have a bit of a good internet connection.

Well, that turned out the be a very good one. Just a few places where I had no connection, but most of the time it was perfect. Well, not as fast as I was used to, but not bad at all. It was at times so much harder to have electricity and a place to sit, as we most of the time had to sleep in sport halls or schools and with so many people there was not much room most of the time.

But right from the start I was writing about what happend with the group. And I really enjoyed doing that. It was more of an extended version of Twitter. I used it to upload photos and those were a starting point to write about what was happening.

And it was amazing to have a connection with people at home. There was even a friend who used Twitter to post weather updates of the places we were going to. And that support was also very welcome when my husband got an injury and was not able to run for a while. They were very supportive in telling that we just should go on with the final goal of the Northcape.

I really liked this kind of blogging. It was so much easier to do, then I did with my CamelLive blog. The writing almost went by its own and the searching and uploading of pictures took so much more time than the actual writing.

And I really only wanted to write what had happened that day, or better still, what was happening at that moment. To me that was the best part of it, that and the immediate reaction of those who read the posts.

Back home we both had a rather hard time to get into the day rhythm again, but once we were, I started another weblog. One where I wanted to continue with my interest in human development, but now more focused on Integral theory, which I got really interested in, in the time at Gaia and just before my interest in music and the interference of the Europe travel.

But again this blog went a bit different than I was planning it to be.

Blogging with Discussion

Annemieke — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:43:59 +0000

The next step was my Gaia blog. I had been blogging for a few months and had gone through about 70 elements of the periodic table. It was still a lot fun to do, but I also would like more interaction. And at best on several subjects that had my interest especially philosophy.

I had been on several forums, but my real interest at that time was on Gaia. It is a community with lots of really interesting people and the discussions where very lively, controversial but at the same time respectful.

And you could make a profile and a blog as a sort of centre on that site. In the beginning I did not blog because I had my own WordPress blog, but after a while I found out how easy it was to upload a video from Youtube. So I started searching for my favourite music, which was mainly classical at that point. And I got a great collection on my blog there and an interesting interaction with other bloggers.

That was the beauty of that community, you could discuss easy on the different forums but also often got a very interesting discussion on the blogs, with many linking to other interesting blogs.

But while searching for music on Youtube I found many live videos of Camel, a progressive rockgroup that I had been listening to a lot before I got interested in classical music. I always loved their music, had many of their albums and saw them live twice, but lost track at some point when I got into classical music.

But now I saw many of their live performances and was completely blown away by it. Spellbound and really taken over by music at that point. And I started a new blog, well two actually, one with videos and one where I try to find out what it is about music.

Entering the World of Blogging

Annemieke — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:27:16 +0000

While I was still working on my website, one day I suddenly started blogging. It was at the beginning of 2008 and I was following some bloggers who were discussing homeopathy with critics on their blogs. It was very heated at times, but also really very interesting.

I did not have any intention in discussing it at the time, because my thinking was not that mainstream and it was difficult enough to get it straight in my own head, let alone defending my viewpoints.

But while working on my website, I did get a better insight in my own thinking and suddenly I had the need to expand a bit into a less static medium. As I liked the dynamics between bloggers and as it was so very easy to start a blog I just signed up. I called it Homeopathicelements Weblog.

Those bloggers were mainly on WordPress blogs, so that is where I started. My approach was to start very small, without linking to others or any blogroll. Not that I did not want to, but homeopathy is so very controversial, the debates where so heated at times and my own thinking was not exactly clear to myself yet.

I knew myself good enough that if I would get into the discussions, it would take far to much energy to be able to get my own thinking clear. I would get drawn into it and that was not my intention at the time.

My thinking was mainly based on a part of the homeopathy world that was controversial enough on its own. It was an approach that conscidered all elements of the periodic table as equally important, while homeopathy as a healing art is mostly based on wellknown remedies, the so called polychrests.

In the Netherlands there is a homeopath, Jan Scholten, who wrote several books about that subject. From the start of my homeopathy study I was completely fascinated by those writings and it influenced my thinking largely.

After a while I got interested in astrology and it struck me how much similarities there where between the theories. Especially the development of the zodiac and the development of the remedies in the periodic table where very similar.

That was what I was trying to visualise on my website but what was miles away from the discussions that were going on between homeopaths and critics. Those discussions were mainly about the scientific relevance of homepathy. There where more and more studies done with very interesting, but, at the same time, controversial result.

So I stayed out of the discussion for the most part and focussed on my own blog. And I loved it. As difficult as it was, and as much as I struggled at times to get a post done, I totally loved it.

And it was perfect to link to my website, each word I used on my blog could lead to a webpage that gave a visual overview. And on my website I linked back again to each element I was describing. Perfect!

But as perfect as it was, as soon as I wanted to upload an image to my blog I got into trouble. I found out that the program of my website, Studio Webdesign, was not compatible with my blog. Also on my own computer the program did not interfere good. In the beginning I thought it was just me and my inexperience to work with things that where actually way over my head.

But as I would find out later, it mainly had to do with the program, that appearently has another ‘language’ than programs like WordPress. And, as I would also find out later, other programs like Paintnet, work perfect together with WordPress.

But at that time I was mainly linking and that was brilliant of its own. Also the linking on my blogroll, that was growing as I found interesting and relevant websites, blogs, forums and online journals.

And integrating pictures and graphics was something that would come after a period of being totally into videos, Youtube and how to integrate those into blogging. That was on my next blog, my Gaiablog.

Designing my Website

Annemieke — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:12:35 +0000

The first step I took to start creating my own webspace was by making a website, Homeopathicelements. Before that I was more of a reader on the web. Not just on the web, also of many books.

But it was not always like that. When I was young I hardly ever read a book. And if I did, it needed a lot of pictures to be of any interest for me. I hated school and never was interested in learning.

Until I got to a design school for fashion. From that moment on I loved learning. I loved all the classes, but especially those of art history. And after a while, when fashion did not interest me much anymore, arthistory still had very much my interest.

That interest lead me to many other interests and suddenly one day I found myself reading every spare minute. If you could not find me I was most likely in the library, and bringing as much books home as I could carry.

Non of them, or hardly any, was a novel. It where only books about ‘life’ especially philosophy, psychology, art, music and science. I loved those writers who could write about a subject, like gravity, in a way that I more or less could understand it.

After that I got interested in homeopathy and astrology. I studied both very deeply and came to see them as similar on a very deep level. Homeopathy had my interest at the level of the basic elements in nature, the periodic table, and astrology was mainly interesting to me on an archetypical level.

I had been thinking about it for years to get it a bit more understandable for myself, but it was not before I could work with a simple webdesign program that I could get it visual clear.

It was the development of the periodic table compared with the development of the zodiac and both with the development of the human individual.

Later on I recognised it also in the theories of Integral theory, but that was after starting the website and the first blog.

From then on I worked on my website every day. Every spare minute and until deep at night I was designing it. The colours, the navigation, figuring out webhosting, uploading and so on. Very exciting!

Later on I found out that the program I used, Studio Webdesign, was perfect for what I wanted to do, but it was not suitable for using on other sites and blogs. That I found out when I made the next step in creating my webspace, starting a blog.

Creating my own Webspace

Annemieke — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:36:05 +0000

I thought about making my first post in a way that it can serve at the same time as my about page. Being an overview of my blogging life until now, and at the same time I can play around with making screenshots of my previous blogs.

Fact is I love all my blogs. I started blogging about a year and a half ago and really love doing that. No idea why, but I just do. I started my first blog in January of 2008 and this one is my 6th WordPress blog.

Most of them are not self hosted, but this is the second one that I do.

Besides that, I have one website, a blog at the Gaia community and one webpage at Blogger. Because I want this to become my about page and because I love structure and overview I will try to make it chronological.

And it will give myself more insight in where my focus was at what time in my life. And at the same time it might become more clear what exactly I want to do with this blog. I already know what will be the focus (comparing theories by making graphics) but not exactly yet how to structure it.

Best seems to start with why I blog. Being online at first meant for me: reading. I was a member of many discussion forums, but it mainly was a very passive role. Not that I had no opinion or did not want to discuss. I have an opinion about almost everything and I really like discussions. And if it where discussion in real life, I would have participated all the time.

But it it was not. And in order to give your opinion or participate in any discussion online I would have to do one thing I really did not like: I would have to WRITE my opinion. And that made all the difference.

So actually I often wanted to say a lot, but ended up saying nothing.

Then at the end of 2007 I read many homeopathy blogs and other blogs that were critical of homeopathy. I often wanted to jump into the discussions but felt not capable of writing down my own thoughts on the subject.

But apart from that I really liked the blogs, the idea of having such a space myself. But what would I do with a blog if I could not write. Then suddenly I knew what to do.

In the time previous to that, I had been working hard on making a website. No writing skills needed as it was more a visual thing. And I decided to start a blog where I could better explain my thoughts of that website in many link exchanges between the two.

So that is where my online journey started, by making my own website.

1. Website (domain Homeopathicelements)

2. Homeopathicelements weblog (domain WordPress)

3. Gaia blog (domain Gaia)

4. CamelLive videos (domain WordPress)

5. CamelLive weblog (domain CamelLive)

6. Footrace weblog (domain WordPress)

7. Developmentals weblog (domain WordPress)

8. Webspace weblog (domain Blogger)

9. MindStructures weblog (domain Mindstructures)

Now that I see this list I think it is a better idea to divide this post into several posts, each one about one blog. Why I started it, the frequency of posting, the learning experience and so on. And also the timescale of which to posts were made.

Because if there has one thing become clear to me with this, it is that I totally focus on one blog at the time. Which absolutely does not mean I am not interested in my previous blogs anymore, I love them all the same, but I get totally drawn in the subject I am writing about. Spellbound by each subject or maybe even obsessed at times. But fascinated to say the least.

So of to write my next post about designing my website. And when I have done all those different posts, I think I will compress it into one page, my Aboutpage.