Say What?

So, what's it about? What do I expect to be writing about? There are any number of topics that I could discuss, but I expect to focus exclusively on five within this blog:

• Poetry
• Technology
• Information Architecture
• Video Games
  
• Knowledge Management

Why those five? Well, I have spent the last 25 years in large computer companies, writing about technology, studying its uses and adoption. 10 years as a technical writer, 5 as an information architect and strategist, and most recently 10 more years as an information architect focused on Knowledge Management. In all cases, I came at my profession aslant -- like a stranger in a foreign country. There are many traditions and assumptions in the technology industry and KM that are neither obvious or even logical from my perspective. So I have a backlog of theories and practices worked out and tested over the last 25 years that I hope to discuss. These fall into the three main topics: technology, information architecture and knowledge management.

So, why the other two? I have been an avid fan of video games for 20-some years. Both as a player and as an observer and student of how video games are constructed. They combine two of my favorite topics: technology and persuasive communication.

Finally, I have been reading modern poetry for more than 30 years. It is where I first experienced the persuasive and intoxicating power of language. It gave me a deep respect for words -- their meaning and their implications -- and it gave me a lifelong desire to master them myself. I am still working at it. And I still marvel at those who do achieve it, even if only momentarily. Poetry remains for me the quintessential expression of that mystery.