December 29, 2005

A Year of Surfing Life

This was not the year I expected. This is a good thing. It was a year of personal and professional change, challenge, and growth. Sitting back and for a moment and looking at 2005 as it comes to a close I don't know that I could have ever planned this year. It could be the year I learned to surf life, in taking what is offered up and riding it to a place closer to one's dreams.

Personal Life Changes

It was a year that saw our extended family lose one member, which made life seem all that much more precious and every moment seem to be worth a lot more. It put a lot of things in perspective for me. I wanted more time quality time with my kid to watch him laugh, learn, and grow as well as be there for the tough times. I wanted home life to be more of a home, not just work away from the workplace. I wanted to finally get to put see the work I have been toiling at for the last four years come to life. At the end of this year I think I got to each of these or at least much closer.

Work Life Exposure

The press this year covering folksonomy and Personal InfoClouds was part of what enabled the change. Seeing folksonomy become something that made it into mainstream press was nice, but finding large businesses and cultural organization embrace the idea to improve their communication and information recovery has been even fantastic.

Seeing interest in folksonomy turn to look at the Model of Attraction and the InfoClouds was even more rewarding. This is the work I have been picking at for the last few years in my "spare time". I have been watching and working with organizations to adopt these models and frameworks to better build information resources that people could use more efficiently in their lives. Watching, talking to, and listening to people around me struggle to use information from the web in their own personal workflows has been one of the areas for opportunity for the work I have been doing.

From Dream to Making the Dream Work

Seeing the initial success that this work is having for those that are using it to frame their solutions and identify and solve the problems people have using information across devices and life's contexts has been rewarding. Now it is my job at InfoCloud Solutions, Inc. as the year comes to a close. The site for the company will get fleshed out in coming days and weeks. There are some interesting projects I am involved in through the company and have many more starting in the coming weeks and months.

Getting Around

This year was also one of travel, mostly for presentations, work, and work development. I have met some of the most wonderful people this year and I am looking forward to continuing the new friendships into the future. I have found a partial home for my ideas and work in many places around the United States and Europe and will be traveling again this coming year. The internet is a great connector for people of like minds as well as bringing those with problems and solutions together.

New Year Hopes

I am not one for the annual New Year's resolutions as I am one who likes to set out to make resolutions as they are needed, often every day, and not once a year. But I do hope that I continue to develop the relationships with those I have met this year as well as those whom I have known for longer. I am working to find time to update this site, Personal InfoCloud, and get InfoCloud Solutions site fully off the ground (those that said I should really focus on that early, were right as it is tough to get to when one's schedule is filling).

To each of you that stop by here and read, have a great New Year and please keep in touch.



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