Today is the “official” 1-year anniversary for Better Living through New Media. There have been 535 postings spread over 35 categories! I must have been enjoying myself…that’s still a lot even if you subtract all the cat pictures.

So what did I get in exchange for all that typing?

• I got used to writing everyday, and it seems like my writing has also loosened up. I am not sure exactly how it’s changed…maybe I’m using longer sentences and more pause-controlling punctuation.

• I found patterns in my interests! The blog categories stablized after many months of just writing what struck my fancy, and rearranging them after I hit a critical mass of topics. It’s interesting to see how they are almost all introspective, observational, qualitative, or process-oriented.

• I reconnected with old friends and made new ones too. My buddies can experience a sort of “virtual Dave”, and as a result I feel closer to them. That’s just awesome.

• Additionally, I’ve been able to use the blog as a conversation starter with people I’ve just met. I’m not sure how this works or why it’s effective…maybe it’s because I write the way I talk with people, and people feel that they “know me” a little better? Or maybe they just see that there is a lot of text, and in the context of today’s information society I have the aura of one wealthy with original IP :-)

• I had expected to have more professional work-related content online by now. I got as far as putting up a few portfolio pages, which I promptly took down when I realized that they were “the old Dave” and didn’t reflect what I wanted to do. Now I have to remake all that material…gah. At least I am loving InDesign 2 for laying out new collateral…

• I experienced the thrill of publishing software through [Lazy Image Layout][lzil, my WordPress thumbnail image popup plugin. Some people liked it and told me so. That feels good.

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p>Perhaps the most surprising discovery is this: I had started this website to support my practice as a New Media Developer–you know, a place to hang my shingle so people could look at my portfolio and read my “list of services”. Instead, the website become a source of persistent, personal continuity, and it is this that drives me now. My MFA advisors would be pleased to hear that.

In terms of the upcoming site redesign, it will be driven by three things I learned:

• That finding talented collaborators is of the utmost importance to my sense of well-being…
• That putting together personal networks is a lot easier than I thought…
• That I need to really clarify and communicate the value of what I’m doing to my peers and collaborators. That is, I need to make my activities a lot more concrete, instead of just commenting on the factors that surround them. Like I’m doing right now, in fact…

Let 2006 be the Year of Concrete Thinking!