I’ve been updating my website – which lives at www.perfect440.com – it’s amazing how just a text or colour scheme marks something as ‘old’ – and some minor issues like typing something ever so slightly wrong can result in shouting ‘Oh No, I’ve Broken the Internet’ followed by a determined burst of what I like to call “google, cut’n’paste” pseudo-coding. No matter, I’ve somewhat knocked it into shape, and it’s not bad. OK the typeface isn’t my first choice, but when I get the inclination to go a second round in the WWE (WordPress Wrestling Exercise) I’ll give it a go.
You know how it is, something stops working – so, first up, search for the error message in quote marks in a search engine, and then try to not only copy the answer to the query that seems the most logical and trustworthy, but actually try out the fix in a safe and measured way. Now, I’m not about to recommend that anyone bricks their computer by copying and running code off the internet – but (with generous helpings of common sense of course) it seems that our access to an incredible resource online – learning pretty much anything off the internet – from inspirational advice to how to solder – is unbelievably cool.
It’s taken me this long to realise something fundamental about the connected society that hadn’t occurred to me until now.
All the learning of all the world’s experts is a click or two away from my screen – and in a few short minutes, I benefit from the wisdom and experience of others in a tiny fraction of the time it has taken for them to learn their craft, just by following their electronic lead.
See, I’ve had this hunger to learn for as long as I can remember, and up until recently I’ve been pretty good at keeping that part of my personality under wraps – for many (stupid) reasons. But the realisation that I can learn how to do stuff online has awakened in me an unapologetic and glorious need to absorb all I can about the world and all its contents.
I drew inspiration from those I met in the maker community (an incredible group of inquisitive and adept self-starters) to see whether I, too, could join the ranks of ‘people who can’ – hence the TV feature I created for BBC Click recently.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0154nx8
(Can’t see the link? Click here)
I loved making this feature – partly because the people involved are all incredibly passionate about what they do – like Raspberry Pi’s Eben and Liz Upton, Ben from Phenoptix and the wonderful people at the London and Nottingham Hackspaces. That remarkable optimism and ‘can do’ attitude that permeated the feel of this piece was infectious enough to inspire me to share my music more widely. Scary but I’m guessing worth it.
Observant subscribers will notice I’ve also changed the name of my blog after many years away from Geek Chic. Now that’s a whole other post, which I’m in the process of writing – but in the interim, I’d just like to say hello to you, new subscribers, how lovely to meet you and thanks for wandering by and subscribing.
Meantime, if you would like to pop by my new site, feel free. And do tell me what you like about it, though please remember I am most emphatically NOT a web designer, just an amateur with an enthusiastic joy of learning, a penchant for searching error messages, and a recently renewed sense of optimism. I might even get around to fixing that typeface.
LJ Rich 