Back to nature: rambling thoughts from an unplugged week
I unplugged.
I took the first week of vacation time during spring break
from school, so we could play together, just chill, as the 16-yearold would
say, and most importantly unplug from the various wires that keep us connected.
I twittered maybe once or twice the whole week. We took everyone to Eureka Springs, AR, and my wife
purposely booked a two-story cabin that advertised “no wireless internet” and
“no cell phone coverage.” It drove the
teens a little nuts. They would sneak
out of the cabin and trudge up the road until one would hear the other say,
“I’ve got bars. Yes!” At least it got them to hike.
The blog lagged but my life rejuvenated. It reminded me we all need to unplug every
once in a while.
When I returned, I found this
post by Mindy McAdams with some excellent tips on how to plan and carry out
a multimedia package.
It’s something we all need to think about. We’ve talked
about learning the essentials over the past year, getting audio and video,
trying not to let it take up too much of our time. We also need to try to
pull all those elements together into a cohesive package for the web.
As Mindy says: “The best time to tackle these attributes of
the package is at the beginning — not at the end.”
Also catching my attention in the reader,
Howard Owens pointed me to
this article in the New Yorker about the "death and life of the American newspaper."
Now I’m ready to
plug back in again…