Thursday, January 25, 2007

To be anonymous, or not...

Well, it's been a while since I blogged, obviously! Partly this is because I recently accepted a very exciting part-time job. In theh past I have been able to talk about my consulting work without explicitly revealing the identify of myself or my clients, but my new job is too specific to really be genericized - if I blog about it in any detail whatsoever, anyone who lives in Seattle could figure out where I work, and thus who I am.

Now, I'm not fixated on anonymity. As if anyone out there on the Web really cares about me and my little life! Obviously I've posted pictures here, and it's mainly a few friends and family who read this anyway. It's been a matter of laziness, really. I want to be able to write about my life, and I'd prefer not to risk people who don't know me figuring out who my clients are, JUST IN CASE. Plus I link to my sister's blog, and she really wants to keep her blogging and professional identities separate. Since we have the same last name...how many people with that name could really be working for a small animal clinic in Nevada? I wouldn't want to expose her. My business partner, my friends, my family and our dead crazy Rutabega relatives - they deserve the option of privacy. But without them - what do I have to blog about, really? My dogs, I guess. And there's already probably too much of that.

So it seems I have to make a choice. I either make a practice of not blogging about work, or convert to a public identify and make a practice of not talking about family and friends whose business is their own. In general, the correct answer to that dilemma is: Never, ever blog about work, you fathead! But ironically, this is the kind of job where it would actually be good for people to stumble on information about what I do, and to know how to find me. It's a community organizing job, basically. A blog could be a great tool. Or, maybe my time for blogging has come to a close, or at least a pause.

So, some decisions to muse upon. Meanwhile, if there are fewer entries here - it's basically because I'm a terribly lazy self-censor. That, and I have to finish up four ginormous consulting gigs in order to start the new job properly.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Speaking as an avid consumer of your product, I'd vote for you to keep blogging on everything but the work end of things, for the amusement/information/benefit of your small but very discerning clientele (even beats phoning in some respects, like pictures and 24-hour access!); and either just don't take work into the blogosphere at all or else establish a new blog identity that deals with whatever work-related material you are comfortable with having out there for people to "stumble on" and benefit from -- which can also be very useful.