One of the ways that a blog can be a gift is to give others the option to go on journeys with you to locations far away. In 2023 our family took a trip to Switzerland & Italy, and we spent four wonderful days in Florence (day 14, 15, 16, and 17). It was a great (if not hot!) …
Keep reading · 2 minutes: Florence with Barry HessThese days we mostly interact with maps in a singular, digital manner. However, if you want to have a guaranteed way to get a conversation going in a group put a map in front of everyone and shortly the stories will start coming. “I remember when we were here and this thing …
Keep reading · 3 minutes: Telling Stories with MapsEngagement is the powerful drug of social platforms. Sometimes it is blatant and in your face, such as a notice that your post is trending. More often it is wrapped as a feature, such as analytics as addiction letting you know how many views, likes, and other such engagement your …
Keep reading · 2 minutes: Blogging as a GiftWhen I signed up to host this IndieWeb Carnival it was several months in the future and I thought it would be simple to put a theme together and run the carnival. As it approached I started to feel like the theme I had in mind wasn’t a theme but more a topic and wasn’t going to …
Keep reading · 2 minutes: Renewal — IndieWeb CarnivalI signed up to run a session at Minnebar 19! I’m going to host How to Newsletter: Lessons from 300 issues of the Weekly Thing. I had originally planned do this at Minnebar 17 but had to cancel. I’m looking forward to going deep and broad on how I do all this! Come if you are in Minneapolis!
I’m super excited to see Ben Edwards @alttext now on micro.blog! Ben has a done a bunch but in my mind he’s always one of the folks that got minnestar off the ground. He was emailing me over the weekend about blogging stuff — I think you’re gonna like it Ben! Picture from Minnebar 2009. 🙌
Months ago when I signed up to host the April IndieWeb Carnival I thought it was a great idea and now I’m finding myself atypically anxious about choosing a good topic! 😬
While doing my blog gardening today I noticed that it was 16 years ago today that I was a guest on MPR’s Midmorning show talking about Twitter! I decided to give it a listen, and while I was at it I ran the audio through Whisper Transcription and added a transcript to the post. …
Keep reading · 1 minute: Twitter Interview from 16 Years AgoMy post on Using AI in the Weekly Thing was highlighted in Josh Spector’s For the Interested 456 this week! Thanks to CJ Chilvers for the heads up. 👋
I’ve been working with AI for a while now, and as I feel with all new technologies, the best way to learn them is to play with them. I’ve started to bring AI into my workflow for the Weekly Thing and thought it would be good to share specifically where and how I’m using it. …
Keep reading · 9 minutes: How I Use AI in the Weekly Thing