Initial blog encounters

When I first came across blogs mid 2004, I didn't know what to blog. Started one on Computer Mediated Communication, which was my then research interest, as a reflective place to write down my ideas and what I'd read. Found that I didn't really have the motivation to sustain it - possibly due to a lack of audience.

A workshop on how to blog at Unitec with Alan Levine (visiting from the States) was perfectly timed, as I was just about to go overseas for a month's trip over Christmas to Thailand and India, and this afforded a real opportunity for blogging. It was so easy to suggest that people went to my blog (Trip 2004) rather than constantly repeating myself in emails - and I was pleasantly surprised at the comments I got about the blog from my family and friends, which of course fuelled my urge to keep journalling about the trip.

Suggested to Emily, my colleague, who was going to Chile for work, that she blog her trip there as well, and I enjoyed reading her comments on her visit (Emily's trip), while I was travelling in India. Came home and talked with Emily about blog possibilities for our students...