Seb's Open Research turns one.

Well, believe it or not, today is this weblog's first anniversary. Over that year I've written nearly a thousand posts. I've put a lot of effort into this, but I've gotten even more out of my involvement in this growing place we like to call the blogosphere. A year ago today I wrote,

Now the Web, and tools such as weblogs in particular, is making the feedback loops shorter, so that increasingly we are perceiving first-hand that the value of what we are expressing can reach beyond a restricted circle of acquaintances. In effect, we are collaborating with people that we don't know (yet). The long now is contracting and we are becoming conscious of a "wider here". I think in time this will drive many people to try and do their best in terms of making their output usable by a wider audience.

Indeed, in the months that followed, the process I had described began happening to me. Serendipity brought a lot of strangers to pass by and read some of the words I'd put here. Many of them became collaborators, co-conspirators, friends even. And the best thing is I didn't even have to try and pretend to be someone else! And while a lot of things have been moving in my life recently, the little corner of the blogosphere that I know provided a kind of stable mental anchoring point.

So, my deepest thanks to you all for listening and/or caring. If it hadn't been for your attention and generosity with your own thoughts, for your words of encouragement, and for the patience you obviously showed when the outpour was reduced - I wouldn't still be out here thinking out loud, trying to connect whatever small pieces I can put my hands on in ways that are meaningful to me. And I wouldn't put nearly as much trust in people I don't know (yet) as I do now.

I'd certainly be missing out on a lot.

[Seb's Open Research] 
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AOL Journals: Blogs Made Even Easier. Well, I've made my first posting on my new blog, Dan Gillmor's AOL Journal, a test of AOL's weblog application.... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] 
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