1. Edit your privacy settings and friendships.

This one is easy for me. I practice radical transparency. If I don’t want the world to know about it, I don’t put it anywhere. So, yes, I’ve tracked on some of the Facebook concerns, but since my “friends” know little more about me than other publics do, I frankly am not concerned. If someone decides not to hire me because they’ve seen me being a bit nuts in a classroom, or a bit tipsy at a party, then I don’t want to work there.

(I won’t get into the larger argument. I think there are worthy reasons to pursue certain sorts of privacy, but I think a common understanding of the idea of “privacy” is part of the residue of mass society and now it’s, well… it’s complicated.)

Status: COMPLETE

2. Change your passwords.

This one is long in coming. I’ve had a poor password regimen, and someone has put in a malicious backdoor on my Dreamhost account somewhere that leads to access to this blog among other things. I don’t think that’s a password issue (more likely a poorly protected application), but the damage is done.

I don’t like password managers, but I do have a set of relatively default passwords that I reuse at various levels of security. I’ve started replacing those–even for the very basic ones–with a unique password arrived at algorithmically. Replacing all those passwords is going to take a while–and probably won’t be done by 2010. But I’ve gotten a good start on it.

Status: STARTED

3. Own your name.

I don’t think there’s much more I need to do with this. Nobody is likely to confuse this Alex Halavais with all the others out there.

Status: ONGOING

4. Prune your feeds.

Truth is, my feed reader has grown so out of control that I stopped using it this year. In large part, Twitter and popurls have taken its place.

Nonetheless, I want to be a little more ahead of the curve. I’ll go back to the system I had before, of organizing reads into first, second, and third tiers. I’ll update here as I decide what those waves are.

Status: STARTING SOON

5. Find a better mobile.

All the chatter about the new Google phone and iSlate isn’t compelling to me. I found the Droid I was looking for. I’m glad I waited. Though I hate being tied to the Verizon contract, and I’m a bit uncomfortable with how closely it clings to Google services, it’s very convenient, and it lets me run my own home-made apps. Even if I never have time to write them, I like the idea of having that option. Looking forward to more locative blogging.

Status: COMPLETE

6. Update copyright notices on your website.

RWW is mostly concerned with copyright year, which isn’t really a big deal, at least for me. But (see below), I will be updating the footer to more clearly indicate the Creative Commons License.

7. Revisit your blog.

This one is a big one. I’ve set up an action plan for this blog, which has mainly gone fallow, and will be starting a second site for a new project.

Over the coming weeks, I will:

1. Blog the creation of my new class, of the work I’m doing on a paper, and of my work with the DML Hub and a research network here in New York.

2. Create a research page outlining my scholarship and providing links to as many of my articles (in draft form) as I can.

3. Create a teaching page that does the same, and links to some of the class sites I’ve created.

4, Work through the categories and a tagging structure, as well as effective search.

5. Rethink the layout, and bring in better archives, searching, and my twitter feed.

8. Back up your data.

This has also been a long-time issue for me. I had a box that I was going to turn into a NAS using OpenFiler or FreeNAS, but because of a number of issues, I gave up on that plan, and realized that the (eminently hackable) DLink DNS-321 was on sale for < $100 after rebate. That’s been loaded with a pair of 2TB drives in RAID1. This is a backup system in addition to another server that’s simply set up with a bunch of old drives. Now that the hardware is sorted, need to get the actual backups going (including an offsite backup for the most vital chunks).

Status: UNDER WAY

As you can see: serious New Years Eve partying this year :). Hoping that “ten” is your best year so far.

Now, I am naturally lazy–a trait I am trying to more actively cultivate, but I gather he had figured that because I haven’t been blogging or tweeting or doing any of those other sorts of continual status updates I must be slacking. As usual, my blogging (including micro-blogging) is inversely proportionate to how busy I am, not the other way around. There is a small caveat: sometimes it is an indicator that I am procrastinating, and therefore should be busy. On very rare occasions, when the stars align, it is actually linked to progress on a project, but generally speaking, silence on this front should never be taken as indication that I am actually relaxing a little.

On the other hand, the number of hours I have each week to work on projects is somewhat limited by being the daytime parent (with some help) of Jasper. This remains my priority, and though it sometimes means sacrificing things I would like to do, there is never going to be another time to hang out with my six-month-old, so he wins. As it is, I wish I could spend even more time with him.

In what seems to be a perennial sort of post, here are some of the projects I’m working on right now, besides raising the future benevolent dictator of our solar system:

• Writing Course at Quinnipiac University. I’ve been dragged–somewhat against my will :)–into teaching the “writing for interactive” course this summer. Actually, the content of the course isn’t what puts me off: it’s that (a) it is in the summer, and I would like to reserve summers for research and projects and (b) it’s 5 weeks long. It is hard enough to teach a course in 15 and have students not feel overwhelmed. When you compress that into 5 weeks–and it’s the same number of credits, so I think we should hit the material at the same depth–it is just impossible. So, dealing with that tension, particularly in a writing course, is going to be difficult. I also need to revise my fall seminars. I’m organizing one of my courses around reading and annotating Little Brother, as well as heavily revising my intro (ICM 501) course. (I have also felt a recent disruption in the force in the ICM program, which will probably require even more cycles being put toward re-keeling it.)
• Digital Media & Learning Hub. I haven’t been talking publicly in any organized way about this, but some of you know that I have been working with the DML Hub, a group constituted to improve collaboration among researchers funded by the MacArthur’s Digital Media and Learning initiative. I’m working with a team to create a DML Collaboratory site for researchers, as well as an external site that will seek to gather the current state of the art in one place. I’m also in the early stages of working with a group to establish some norms of sharing data, particularly qualitative data. I’ll actually be blogging a bit about this latter project in the coming week, and probably tweeting a little about the Collaboratory and that process.
• Twittering and Protesting. Happy to have the opportunity to work with Maria Garrido again, this time on a project that tracks the ways in which Twitter is being used to both build identity and coordinate action. This is one of two papers that I’ve promised for the AoIR meeting next year. Will be blogging a bit as it develops. This is also one of two Twitter-related research pieces I’m working on, both at early stages.
• Association of Internet Researchers. In the short term, setting up a registration site, but I am desperately hoping that I can get the Exec behind using this in the long term as well. It would make my life so much easier, and everyone else’s as well! Still doesn’t solve the paper submission and refereeing system issues, but I really hope we are able to move to a different system for that next year. Looking forward to talking to next year’s organizers about how to make that work out a bit better.

A lot of other things are right on the cusp of needing to be done, but I’m trying to keep my head clear of them for the moment. It really doesn’t seem that bad when it’s spelled out as above. Of course, tthere are the other pending things: three book projects, whipping some old research together into publishable form, a grant proposal sometime later this year, various talks, digitizing my library, etc. But I’m trying to keep those things out fo mind, wherever possible.

* Finishing up my new book, Search Engine Society. I’m putting the finishing touches on the index. All of it was desperately out of date the moment I wrote it, but that was inevitable. Luckily, Polity has been very good about turn-around timing on this. It’s due out in October, if the gods of printing allow. Indexing is more annoying than I thought. Can’t we just Google it?

* Research for a paper about Digg, and ratings. I had originally planned on writing this up in the form of a Dr. Suess book, but I think I’m headed for something a bit more traditional at this point. This actually follows a line of research from my dissertation, lo, so many years ago.

* Research for a paper about the use of hyperlinking in the rhetoric of extremism (and particularly racism) on the web. Again, this is a project that I’ve been thinking about for about a decade, but I’m only now getting things together for it.

* Early stages of planning to take the initial ideas I presented in a paper at NCA last year, about collaborative filtering, netroots, and the public agenda, and apply them to the presidential election. I want to finish this up sometime in, say, November.

* Organizing materials for my next book. Will be working on it over the next year or so. There are a three separate ideas I’ve been working on, but I think I’m going to look at the nexus of networked communication, learning, creativity, and government.

* I’m revising my “Intro Interactive” course. No, really. This will be the first time I have revised a course rather than starting pretty much from a clean slate. Very exciting. Hoping to outsource some of it, and interview some friends and former students to get a look at the interactive industry.

* I’m rewriting “Communication, Media, and Society” from scratch, trying to provide the means for doing my “students design the class” thing and still having it work for an online version.

* Early stages of planning for my spring courses: “Web Programming” and “Something Else.” There are several possibilities for my special topics, including: Search Engine Society (duh!), Surveillance, Virtual Worlds,

* I’ve been doing some prep on a major project, which will be my top priority when it launches later this year. Laying the foundation and doing some planning over the next few months. I’ll announce it formally on my birthday later this month.

But I haven’t been blogging. I’ll try to do better. Oh, and if I owe you something (refereeing, emails, invoices, money, the head of your sworn enemy), I’ll get to it. Just a bit bogged down right now.

1. Start nothing new

Mostly, I was good with this. I promised to referee articles for three journals (JASIST, JCMC, and New Media & Society), but that is less “new project” and more “normal business.” I managed to say “no” to a lot of projects and people (sorry!).

2. Two new distance courses.

I think both of these have semi-miraculously gotten off the ground. I hear reports that students are freaked out and nervous, but again, I don’t consider this a failure. Part of my job is to freak out students, as long as it is at some sub-deer-in-the-headlights level of incapacitation. I’ll keep up with weekly (or so) updates from the front.

3. See at least one play, watch at least three movies, and read at least one new novel.

I have gotten a solid start on Spook Country, which is about locative art. Not a huge fan of Gibson, but this is entertaining enough. Also reading or read three other books during the month: The Know-It-All, A Christmas Memory, and Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak.

Went to see Stoppard’s Rock n’ Roll with friends. Really outstanding play; well acted and compelling. For all the cultural studies stuff I’ve read about the relationship of popular culture to political action, none really gets at that relationship at a gut level in the way Rock n’ Roll does. At times, it seems a bit funny to think of an audience in a theater loving this stuff–how many theater-goers really plug into the question of the degree to which the October Revolution represented a betrayal of the ideals of contemporary anarchistic socialism?–but it’s clear that they did, and do.

Did manage three movies. I had moderate hopes for Walk Hard, given that I’ve enjoyed other films Judd Apatow has been involved in, but this one fell flat, I think. The critics are all drooling over There Will Be Blood, and it is definitely and enjoyable film. I hate to drink their milkshake, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the best film of the last year. That honor may go to Atonement, which has gotten a lot of critical nods (and a Golden Globe for best picture), but not nearly the widespread appreciation I think it deserves. Still near the top of my “want to see” list: Persepolis and Taxi to the Dark Side.

4. Finish writing a book

Well, not much progress there at all, I’m afraid. Need to make some inroads soon.

5. Make progress on hire

Can’t say much more specifically about this, except that we have significantly narrowed the field and are making progress toward identifying the next member of our team.

6. Learn new manual skill

No, nothing new here for the moment. I will have to roll this over to the next month.

7. No more Digg.

Managed to stay away from Digg almost completely. Also spent next to no time in Second Life. It’s not that I don’t find the latter interesting and fun, it’s just that I think my time is better invested elsewhere for the moment.

There is a theme here: I’ve been pretty good with the resolutions that require me to do less.

8. Do something about AoIR Wiki

Still have problems with the wiki. I’ve set up a new version of the wiki, and plan to export only the most recent version of all the pages, to do away with some of the spammy history.

9. Lose 10 pounds

Managed to stay on a diet for a few days, and lost about five pounds during the month. Since I only managed about a week of actual dieting, I’m counting that a glorious success and trying to do better next month.

10. There will be blog

At least this one I’ve done an OK job with. I made 10 posts during January, up from 7 in December, 7 in November, and 6 in October.

February Goals

So, I may not have reached the outcomes I had hoped, but here are my resolutions for February, without much explanation:

1. All book revisions completed.
2. Extended abstracts in for at least two conferences.
3. Finish refereeing I’ve promised, but take on no new reviews.
4. Upgrade the motherboard/CPU on my main machine.
5. Sleep better – I am going to aim for a steady 8.5 hours, and the same 8.5 hours, each night.
6. Increase my level of physical activity
7. Keep my email inbox <50 items throughout the month.
8. Lose 10 pounds (let’s try that again!)
9. Bring some people in for interviews for our tenure-track position.
10. Improve the processes for setting up on our blog-server.
11. Make the transfer on the AoIR wiki.
12. New solution for AoIR papers.
13. Web archiving grant proposal.
14. Complete one craft project.

That should keep me busy!

1. Start nothing new

With the exception of the items to follow, I will start no project that cannot be completed the same day. Of course, I have some ongoing projects I need to take care of, and the Internet Research conference deadline is looming, but for the entire month, I will only work on projects I consider “outstanding.”

This means, as much as I hate to say it, no recording of my sister’s brilliant reworking of Iron Man: “I am Santa Clause,” and not actually trying any of the neat projects in Make Magazine.

2. Two new distance courses.

Not surprisingly, I’m well behind in planning for my two courses this semester, both of which will be distance courses. Almost all the materials–at least those I create–will be open access. My short audio “lectures” and other materials will be posted to the blog here. So, for January, I want a strong plan for each course, and a good launch mid-month. This is going to take up the greatest proportion of my time, I’m afraid.

3. See at least one play, watch at least three movies, and read at least one new novel.

I already have some of these lined up. I’ve ordered a used copy of Spook Country, and will see one of those films tomorrow morning.

4. Finish writing a book

Yes, I actually have started the book, to be published by Polity. It’s nearly done, but needs some revision in places. The book is called Search Engine Society and looks at the social place of search engines. It needs a bit more theoretical development and to draw in a more global perspective, as well as some other changes, which I hope to have finished–or nearly so–sometime around the end of the month.

5. Make progress on hire

We’re trying to hire a new colleague to teach in the Interactive Communication masters program. Hope to have visits scheduled and maybe even some completed by the end of the month.

6. Learn new manual skill

Yes, that’s a little obscure, but I have my reasons. I’ll be able to say more at the end of the month, I hope.

7. No more Digg.

Yes, have to quit something bad for me, and I’m afraid Digg is getting the old heave ho. I’ve just removed the gadget from my iGoogle page. The good stuff usually ends up (or comes from) BoingBoing anyway.

8. Do something about AoIR Wiki

I’ve managed to enlist others’ help on the major projects for AoIR, including the website redesign and the conference web. The wiki remains a target of spam, and is running a woefully out-of-date version of Mediawiki. After several attempts at updating to the current version, I’m thinking I will probably throw in the towel and spin off a new install (without the current accounts), but I want to see if I can transfer as much as possible. Then I hope to do some serious reformatting and weeding on the site.

9. Lose 10 pounds

This is here because it would be bad form not to include it in a list of resolutions. I lost a lot of weight last year, and gained nearly all of it back again. So, I suppose a more careful wording would be “Weigh 10 pounds less than today by the end of the month.” There are subsidiary goals here: more exercise, etc., but I’m already boring you.

10. There will be blog

Hope to get back to blogging a few times each week. That’s made much easier by the list above, which I will be blogging about. (Well, probably not as much about #5 or #6.) By January 31, I’ll see how well I’ve measured up to these.