Week One, Thing Two : Lifelong Learning Habits

I'm not sure where to start with this one. I've gotten so used to going online to write about whatever it is that's preoccupying me at the moment, or, if I can't think of anything to say, but I feel like I need to say something, I search for something cool, then link to it, and hope that the coolness of the link will somehow rub off on me, in the sense that the people reading me will become confused and over-associate me with something I did not create, but only noticed.

Actually, while I'm being self-deprecating here, I'm also going to be a little self-aggrandizing, and say that merely noticing something is worthwhile in its own right. Through noticing this, and that, and the other thing, and posting briefly about it on one's blog, a profile of a person's overall tastes and worldview can emerge. One could argue that an accumulation of links and recommendations doesn't just demonstrate a person's tastes, but in fact forms their overall aesthetic in the first place. I'm pretty sure this has been written about elsewhere, much more extensively.

I think this is actually beginning to converge with the intended subject of Thing Two. In general, but specifically in regards to online personae, lifelong learning can constitute lifelong self-construction. I discover something I like online, lets say, I discover a song I enjoy on last.fm, and perhaps this leads me to begin listening to a whole new musical genre. Maybe I also discuss the song with other last.fm users. Discussions with some of these people lead me to discussions with them in other online places. For instance, I did meet a last.fm person (who I have not met in-person), and due in part to overlapping musical tastes, we also became "friends" on Twitter and on flickr. So, discovering "stuff" online, if one is also involved in social networks and blogs, seems to lead directly to discovering people online, and vica-versa.

Now, I don't think this is as revolutionary as some would have us believe. Some have actually noted that in a sense online social networking brings us back to earlier times, rather than to technological utopia. The written (typed?) word regains primacy. On the one hand, there's a degree of anonymity in non-face-to-face relationships, but on the other hand, some people overdo self-revelations and drop their natural inhibitions to an unwise degree, producing TMI. This can be merely annoying or amusing. On the other hand, it can also cost relationships and jobs.

I think I'm rambling away from the subject here. I'll try to conclude with something relevant; online lifelong learning is interesting, particularly when social networking comes into the mix. I find that Habit 7 1/2 (play) is ubiquitous in my own travels though, how they say in this country "teh internets." It's easy to accidentally do something unwise while playing, but it's wonderful when entirely new interests or opportunities spring out of a seemingly-random link or contact.