In recent weeks my colleagues have been encouraging me to become more active on the web and through social media. I refer to these folks with affection as the Kool Aid drinkers, and theirs is not an easy task.

While I am not technology adverse, neither am I technology smitten. For years it has been my observation that our society is so enamored with immediate and constant interaction that we have lost our appreciation for quiet and contemplation. I’m hesitant to open myself up to even more electronic messages, images, and intrusions.

I’m also not at all sure that my life is so interesting that folks will want to follow me in whatever format. The chapters and books I edit or author are pretty well received, and I’m grateful that people feel I am making a contribution through those activities. However, they do not require me to open myself up much, and they don’t feel like they are about me so much as about a subject. The Kool Aid drinkers assure me that folks are interested, and they point to the very positive response to my Chronicle of Higher Education columns as evidence. There I feel like I’m sharing a conversation with friends, and writing the columns has been very enjoyable because they really seem to resonate with people.

So, with the encouragement/insistence of my colleagues and feedback from those kind enough to share their thoughts on my written work, I have moved into this new world. I created accounts on both Twitter and Pinterest, got a fancy new smartphone that handles all of this stuff better, and have created this web site with a blog.

I will try to post at reasonable intervals. Hopefully those posts will inspire some response. We’ll see where it goes from there.

Thanks!

GSM