I am not dead.

This is a post to say that I am still alive and kicking...just not regularly posting...that doesn't mean I haven't got 400 draft posts tucked away...life just got busy...this blog didn't. So my major news is that I am now based in London...living the life of a Londoner working for the BBC. Will I return to blogging? Not sure...but I do miss you all.

The Liberty London Girl returns

It's weird the connection you have with the bloggers you follow. In 2006 I was an avid follower of Liberty London Girl...we shared the common bond of both being female and me reading her blog. Never met, never exchanged words, but for a few minutes a couple of times a week, I'd log on and check in.

What grabbed me most was the complete swap in circumstances (she a fabulous UK fashion girl come NY local and me, well me) and of course the weather with LLG in boots and covering up from the cold and me turning the fan up. Sadly though for personal reasons she decided to stop blogging a while ago, and fair enough too although I knew I'd miss her keenly...but now she is back!

I happened upon her blog again when my work laptop went kaput. Suddenly all my favourites and internet links were held up on a dead machine and it was back to a world of network server...and some old links....and there she was...a quick click and we were back in business. But so much time has past...will we ever catch up...what has happened? And why do I want to send her a big hug as a thank-you for continuing her journey and the fortuitous event that brought me back to the site? Either way, if you are after me, I'm catching up with LLG.

More from the wonderful world of new media + museums

Dear Diary,

Here's what I learnt about today...(ok here's what one great source taught me!)

Multitouch tables

where more than 1 user can interact with well, an interactive. Like the Museum of Sydney's photo interactives but amped up and er, more NCIS LA like...

Old reports, are still good reports

Here's some more stats about participation and the web...specially 'In the brief history of the internet, the cultural sector has followed two related paths: on the one hand, the digitisation of content and provision of information and, on the other, interactivity and opportunities for expression. Some have seen these as in binary opposition. The truth is that they are inexorably merging. But the big question is where do we go next?' Good question.

There are more and more examples of pre-exhibition museum blogs

The Australian War Memorial has a great one and has used others e.g. Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse

Australian Centre for the Moving Image

...is somewhere I should visit next time I'm in Melbourne

Blog roll

Every so often I might do a blog roll...which is just a posting about blogs (or really sites/zines/scrapbooks etc) I have seen/read/think are cool or more importantly find vital to the task of daily living. I love the challenge I get when I talk about blogs (usually, and I'm sorry to anyone outside of my generation) but usually this comes from speaking with someone outside my generation who just doesn't 'get' why people would want to blog. 'Why not?' my oft reply and why not indeed when there are so many people doing interesting things. Why wouldn't you want to participate in a world where you can, through the click of a few buttons, open up to worlds and experiences, thoughts and inspirations of others. Don't knock it to you try it, I say.

Every day I'm more and more inspired by the people I find (or should I say fall into my lap) from the world of the internets. More and more my discussion with friends focuses on a subjects that so and so's blog bought about. Here's a few I've just started to follow simply because they, well, are (and I do hate to say it again, but really it's true) inspiring.

Something Changed

Jessica works in advertising in Sydney. Her blog, her online scrapbook is amazing.

52 Suburbs

A wonderful journey week by week into a different suburbs of Sydney with photography that never disappoints. Train trip anyone?

What Consumes Me

Self-reflective and again much like an online scrapbook, but oh so cool (well way cooler than my little blog). NY-based Digital Strategist Bud Caddell is on a journey of 'aggregating and curating everything I do, read and generally consume'. I'm hooked Bud.

Scaryduck

Ok, not a serious one now, but the tales of Scaryduck, the fragrant Mrs Duck and Scaryduck Jnr are irresistible. Full of epic fail, sick in a hedge and Kim Jong II.

Got a suggestion for something that might float my boat? Do share.

Behind Ballet wrap

“Social media sites offer exposure into another world that one may normally never get access to” says Kate. And that is the intention of Behind Ballet. “We were always coming across these great stories that we wanted to share with everyone.”

This is from Kate Scott, Marketing and Communications Manager at the Australian Ballet. The Behind Ballet blog is beautiful and beautiful in the way that anything about Ballet can be beautiful, yes I agree, ballerinas (and boys) are usually far more photogenic than most other stage performers. The genius in all of this however, is that link between content the AB has and an audience eager to view and interact. And it's not all 'dear reader, today we opened in Sydney...'. The Behind Ballet blog covers questions, to trips down memory lane, to fashion and movies...and for me a query about the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty had me instantly as a I read and sought to answer the query I had..'will it be like the movie?'.

I'm sure I could find about 10 stories right now from the place of toil that we weren't able to share with everyone, and give me a room full of eager people who love the artform and we could probably come up with 50 ideas about our art and its links. Surely, this is what it is about...using a medium that can allow a voice, an interaction, a transparency and a digital record of just what we do with tax payer's money and its relevance to every day life. Beautiful yes. Smart, even more so.

Arts Hub on Behind Ballet

http://www.behindballet.com/

blog roll!

This won’t need much introduction for me, but needless to say someone has compiled a list of the 100 Best Curator and Museum Blogs...happy reading.