Last week I had a telephone conversation with Liz Azyan about the progress that Devon has made around social media etc since we spoke last on this topic late 2009.
One of the great things conversations like that do is make your reflect on how far you and your organisation has come in that time.
One thing I haven’t been doing very well lately is looking back through my own blog and seeing how my thinking has evolved, how ideas developed and changed as well as how my approach has changed…This is actually very empowering and liberating to see first hand that I have made progress individually, my thinking in some areas has come to light and made practical difference to people working for the council.
It also shows me where I have left behind some ideas in favour of news ones, but I haven’t clearly articulated to myself that I’ve changed direction and that is something I find important as my mind is full of “stuff” and I need to make practical steps to make sense of that in ways that not only I can understand but others.
I thought I’d take a look at my blogs footprint through a wordle and get a sense of the topics I blog about using my blogs RSS feed. (
When I looked back at the content I posted on my blog during January of 2010 – a whole 2 years ago now – I was in a different mindset, a different world almost…I was in fact in a completely different job, one focused more on strategy first than practical application….whereas now I have to think about both of those in equal measure.
I blogged a total of five times and the majority were about risk and governance and of course there was the now compulsory UKGovCamp blog post (January is the UKGovCamp Rock Fest Month)
However one post, which was more of a link to previous thinking and external blogging content was the Facebookisation of the Enterprise post – essentially suggesting and proposing what could happen if the IT department behaved more like facebook and created a platform for stuff to be built upon.
I’ve taken aspects of the thinking around that and have taken this into the Content Strategy I am writing. It is interesting to see how little ideas last and evolve into other aspects of my thinking.
So in looking at all of this, I’ve decided to be more reflective overall and to first look back at my own thinking before I write something on the blog, or use that challenge of my own thinking as the basis of a blog post itself.
Do you reflect on your own blog posts? How has your thinking evolved over the months and years you’ve been blogging?
A journey through life - Carl's Notepad 
Reflective practice is something I’ve become more aware of through doing my Masters, where you are ‘forced’ to relflect on the things you mention – evolution of your thinking, your ideas and your learning. It’s something I’d done in a small way before my course but the MA gave me more structure and awareness of what I’m doing.
I find it really useful to think about what I’ve learnt and this can be as enlightening as what I’ve learnt about a given topic (if that makes sense). I might take a look back at January 2010 on my blog and see how my thinking has evolved as well.
Great post, really interesting and an often overlooked or little understood topic I think.
I agree Sarah,
I’m generally a reflective person, but not in a structured way…I need to develop my skills and discipline in this area more so I can gain more value from the process.