So i’ve created a website. The question is why? In this day and age of social media and whatnot, why would I chain myself to the internet fossil that is a website. And just about all the information that is currently on this site can be found in various places on the web already e.g., linkedin, google scholar, ORCID, researchgate etc. So what’s the point?
Well the first answer is to put everything in one place. That’s as much to save me jumping around various sites to find what I’m looking for as anything else But I would like it to be complete. So, if there’s something you’d like to know, and it’s not here, let me know and i’ll add it in.
The second answer is that i’m currently looking for future employment. If someone googles me, they can come here and find info about me and what I do. And maybe someone will see what’s here and think ‘give that man a job!’ Unlikely I know, but worth a try (i’ll try anything).
The third answer is to host this blog. A blog is only mildly less geriatric than a website, but the platform seems to have persisted and like a gastrointestinal tract, ‘everyone’s got one’ . I’ve resisted the trend in the past because of the perceived need to provide new content on a regular basis and because i’ve never felt driven to espouse my opinions to an anonymous audience (an identified audience is a different story). I don’t plan to resolve the former, and will likely post infrequently. Neither have I changed my feelings on the latter. But i’ve come to appreciate that writing things down helps to better structure my ideas and progress them beyond the formative stage. So expect what’s posted here to comprise a random collection of nebulous thoughts and rants with minimal coherency (i’m really selling it aren’t I). I will still write for an external audience but am indifferent if that audience exists.
One thing I will not be including is a ‘comments’ section for my posts. Internet comments boards are the bane of civilisation, where opinions are allowed to run wild and free, unfettered by society’s norms. Whilst they may go closer to capturing the true nature of humanity (that’s probably a future post right there), I feel they’re incapable of consistently generating constructive dialogue. I’m very much open to conversation but would prefer to do so via a medium that puts a name to the comment, rather than a handle (oh, i’m so naive). So if you feel strongly enough to want to discuss anything I post, contact me via email (lukestrotz@gmail.com), on facebook or twitter (links will be at the bottom of every post).
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming….
Luke Strotz 