Over the last eight weeks I have been experimenting with Posterous - so now I am reflecting on the experience. Posterous can be used for blogging, but I already have a blog, so I wanted it for something different. I was attracted to it because it is so easy to use - as easy as an email.
Midway between private and public
My first entry said "I think it [Posterous] might help me with those emails that are "half private half public". I mean the ones where I start to write the email then realise that I need to add a chunk of background information that is not yet on my blog." So - is that how it has worked out in practice? Well certainly most, though not all, of my posts are copies of emails, but there is something more to it than that.
Dadamac's Posterous is proving useful for me in filling a gap between the public space of my Dadamac.net blog and the private space of emails. I don't usually do much explaining around the emails that I publish on dadamac posterous. I write them to the people I need to write them to, and send a copy to Posterous. I tend to do it with emails that are the start of a conversation, so that other people, who are not really involved at that point, can know of an new initiative, or idea, or introduction if they want to. It is much easier than deciding who should be copied in right at ther start. Anyone can see what is on Posterous, and I can eaily refer people there if the post becomes relevant to them - but I am not cluttering up people's in-boxes.
I also use Posterous to quickly copy things I have written elsewhere - like a comment on someone else's blog - things which otherwise would not easily be visible back at Dadamac. If I have published something on Posterous then it is very easy to inlcude the link during our weekly UK-Nigeria meetings.
An open diary
I am also recognisiag that Posterous is serving as a kind of open diary. The information is visible to anyone who wants to see it. I drop a copy into Posterous more or less as it happens, without the effort of reflecting or reporting. It helps me to share some details of how I am spending my time without having to spend much extra time on the explaining. I write something where I know who I am talking to and why - and then I simply made a copy to Posterous for my own convenience (in case I want to point other people to the content in future)
In some ways posting to Posterous is a bit like letting someone shadow me. I don't need to explain what I do all the time, but they can gradually get a feeling for what it going on, what kind of information is flowing through Dadamac, who i am networking with and so on. It is by no means a complete record, just a sample. There is nothing yet on last week's Topic Thursday, or on the people I've been meeting at SHINE over the last few days, but there will be follow up emails, and some of them will appear on Posterous.
The posts
So, here, in reverse date order are some of the things that have been passing thourgh my laptop in the last eight weeks:
[teaching in the rurals] internet connectivity get more popular
African Open Source Technology and ICT4D Differences
May 6th First Thursday - India, Africa, Europe and USA
Tobias - Kabissa - hopes to join us May 6th First Thursday
NING thoughts for John, Kelechi and Andy
ml4d workshop in Nairobi: May 24th-Connie,David,Ken,Yishay.
May 6th First Thursday
[nafsiafrikasaana] Re: ml4d workshop in Nairobi: May 24th
Oops - missed a bit: ml4d workshop in Nairobi: May 24th
[Transition Culture] 3 Minutes on Leadership That Made Me Smile
ml4d workshop in Nairobi: May 24th
Why+Happy+Child+is+such+an+important+charity+to+me
Next Generation Telecentres
More on the need for educational transmission in p2p
ml4d workshop in Nairobi: May 24th
on the need for educational transmission in p2p (PeerToPeer)
Twitter, Twitter, Tweet, Tweet! Introduction to Twitter and Kabissa's Twitter Lists
Oops - belated April 8th twitter report
Topic Thursday - bucket stoves (with chat archive)
[teaching in the rurals] My baby
First Thursday continuation session - April 29th
Links for Marcus
The micro and macro approaches of ICTs in Education and Dadamac
www.davidajao.com and dadamac.net
[globalvillages] why NING after all?
Ning eliminates free networks
21century network, webinars and learning
Dadamac tweeters session
Third Thursday - April 15th - twitter in the chat room (again)
Thinking ahead for team meeting
Collaboration opportunity - Mobile phones in rural Africa - ICT4D or ICT4Ed
Academic papers and articles from practitioners
[p2p-research] Fwd: CALL FOR PAPERS on networked learning, thanks for spreading this, and considering your contribution
Second Thursday - twitter in the chat room
Some thoughts on Research as an Element in Telecentre/Community Informatics Practice
ICT and positive effects on learning
Appropedia & Ekopedia exploding on the content front
Green technologies in Kenya
Open Enterprise Solutions to Poverty Request for Proposals
April First Thursday Follow-up
Today's First Thursday
First Thursday - you were interested in the details - hope you can make it.
BAF at Linked In
PhD update and sharing
Blu-tack blogging and ICTD 2010
We met at British Africa Foundation
Introducing Loy Okenzie and David Smith
BAF. Mozzi-Mort. Fresh Fruit and Juice Suppliers
Jos Violence
Dadamac exploring posterous
Now I realise that Posterous does serve as a kind of journal I may experiment with trying to write a regular blog about what happens in the UK, based on my Posterous posts - a bit like Nikki does her weekly blog based on the UK-Nigeria meetings. I don't know if mine would be every week. I'll see what feels right.