An Afternoon Constitutional

As I related in a recent blog post, I have been spending too much time in front of the computer recently, and not getting nearly enough exercise. To do something about that, I've been arriving early to pick up my daughter from school in the afternoon, parking my van, and walking for fifteen to twenty minutes, while listening to audiobooks on my MP3 player. It has been working well for me.

Recently, friends I've made while using Google Buzz told me about Audioboo, an audio-blogging service. Coincidentally, Stephen Fry, my inspiration for walking while listening to audiobooks, has used the service a lot. This UK-based site is optimized for iPhone, and has a corresponding application. However, they have recently added the ability to upload any audio files, or to record from your web-browser. I don't have an iPhone, but I have a voice recorder built into my mp3 player, so I wondered if I could do a little audio-blogging while doing my afternoon walk. This has led to a new mini-project, which I have called An Afternoon Constitutional, after that Victorian idea of the walk for the constitution, or health.

It has been an interesting experience. I was not aware, at first, that there is a five-minute limit to "Audioboos," and my first attempt was sixteen minutes long! When I realized my mistake, I used an audio-editing program, Audacity, to edit some material out of it and split it into two five-minute "episodes." I'm sure I could have found another service that would have allowed me to record for longer, but I decided that five minutes was quite long enough for anyone to listen to. I've already had some mild complaints about all the puffing and panting during the recordings. This is the only time I really have available to do this; it is keeping me interested in my walking, and hopefully, as I get fitter, there will be less breathing noise!

My "boos" are a little different from my posts here. For a start, I talk about anything that's on my mind, and not necessarily on subjects that would fit well here. There will of course be some crossover. I don't plan out what I'm going to say (although I usually have an idea of the theme), so they tend to be very "stream-of-consciousness." Please give them a listen, and let me know what you think.

http://audioboo.fm/Foucault

I Might Still Be in Luton If Not For the Web

Some of my American friends, knowing that I do so much on the Internet, think that I must use it to keep in touch with friends and family in England. The truth is, with the exception of my Brother, who got his first computer just a month or two back, very few of them have access to the Internet. Or if they do, they rarely use it. So, having been online since before the widespread use of the World Wide Web (I was around in the days of online Bulletin Board Systems), I've been a bit of a pioneer.


As I've written elsewhere, I met my American Wife (while I was living in my home town of Luton, England) through a mutual love of American folk music. We were both on a discussion group for singer-songwriter Dar Williams, when she e-mailed me about something I said on the group. A friendship grew over the Internet, which turned into love.


When we married, I moved here, and while I was waiting for a work permit, I took an online course to keep my computer skills up to date. A chance e-mail to my instructor led to him employing me. I've worked for the company for around ten years.


These days, I have made many friends through the Internet, on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Using e-mail, the Web and Social Media sites has helped me with my work for local nonprofit and community groups. Of course, it has enabled me to write my blog, which is a welcomed creative outlet. I'm grateful too, that I have a small group of faithful readers, scattered around the globe


As someone who has always been a little shy, I do believe that if it wasn't for the Internet, I might still be living in my home town of Luton.

A Community Within a Community - Carmen's Story

I met Carmen Villadar (@digitalfemme) on Twitter a while back, when we had an impromptu brainstorming session about business start-ups in the current economic climate. It was enough to convince me that we have very similar views about many things. Then she very kindly offered to proofread my blog posts and offer comments before I published them. It's great to have a second opinion before I "go to press."

When I started wondering about how other people coped, living in a country other than the one in which they were brought up, Carmen was an obvious person from which to solicit an opinion. She was born in The Philippines, but immigrated to Canada when she was three. After spending her childhood and young adulthood in Toronto, she moved to Texas to pursue a career in nursing. She lived in Texas for eleven years.

Participating in Second Life, a popular online "virtual world," Carmen met a man from Frankfurt, Germany. Cutting a long story short, they fell in love, and Carmen moved to Frankfurt in 2007. Once she was able to get her work permit, she became a freelance business English trainer. She now works in Business development for a company that is seeking to expand into Europe.

I wondered whether she had become involved with local organizations as a way of trying to become part of her local community. Actually, Carmen has taken a slightly different path. While she has been able to meet her personal goals, it seems to me that she is not sure whether she has really succeeded in becoming part of her community yet.

Each time she has moved, it has been because of a personal connection she has made. When she moved to Texas, it was because a family member living there recommended it. Her move to Frankfurt came about because of "Second Life."

Carmen has made many of her connections online, via Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Her current job came about after a conversation on Twitter with an employee for the company and a Facebook chat with the CEO. Perhaps more importantly, these sites enable her to remain connected to friends from Toronto and Texas and to chat in English with friends around the world.

One of the biggest barriers to becoming completely comfortable in Frankfurt, where she currently lives, is not being fluent in German. What she has done to get around this is to build her own community, really a "community within a community." She has started a couple of networking groups in Frankfurt, Frankfurt Girl Geek Dinners, and Open Coffee Club Frankfurt. She feels safe within this microcommunity. Instead of breaking out into her locality, she invites people from outside to join her.

It occurs to me that Carmen could do what she is currently doing in Frankfurt in just about any part of the world. Could she be part of a new breed of "World-citizen," living in a world without borders?

I would love to hear your comments about Carmen's story. Perhaps I can persuade Carmen to stick around and answer any questions you have.