Ringing in the New Year

Ringing in the New Year

I’ll be honest. I tried to think of a witty first post, something that would let you know exactly what to expect from this website. Something that would entertain you and make you want to come back for more.

But I couldn’t come up with anything because the fact is that I don’t know exactly what this will be yet. Somewhere to put thoughts too big for Twitter? A site to unify all my online identities? A place to put links to things that will amuse you?

I looked at the humble beginnings of sites I visit regularly to try and figure out how to start. My natural inclination is to make promises. This site is the go to place for the latest about interactive art. Or the latest about the intersection between art and science. Or it will be the completely awesome story of my life.

When John Gruber started Daring Fireball he gave a promise. This is a site with Macintosh news. And starting there in the first post he kept to that promise and talked about the latest new release from Apple.

While Jason Kottke on the other hand made no promises about content. All he said was that he was going to write; he needed to write and this is how he was going to do it.

I can’t even make that promise. There is no guarantee that I can keep this up. It may be that I don’t find my voice. Or perhaps that I just don’t have anything to say.

But there was something that I realized John Gruber and Jason Kottke and a host of others had in common when they began. They were honest. They are even honest enough to leave their messy beginnings out in the open where you can still read them.

And this is something I can promise, too. I will be honest. I may not post very often. I may not have anything interesting to say or to link to (although I’ll certainly try). Since I don’t know what this site is or what it will become I will start humbly and suppress my urge to try and define it. This is what it is and no more.