Friday, May 09, 2008

Imagine no technical difficulties

Our old friend Peter the Great notes the lack of frequent posts to this blog, suggesting that I might be out of town. Oh, I'm out of town alright -- at the Marberry Arboretum and Green Earth, enjoying the Spring sights and sounds.

The reason why I haven't been blogging much is the medium is 'old-hat' for me now. I need a new drug: Drupal could be it (sure sounds like a drug), but there have been technical difficulties with transferring files to a new server, causing the ShawneeNet aggregator to go completely down. It's always something, ain't it?

The new server is another story. I was hosting with a company in New Lennox, IL, but the service went south a few months ago, so when it came time to renew the contract I went with a spiffy-looking cheap hosting outfit called 3iX, which didn't work out (couldn't upload files for 4 days!) so I canceled the account, but they're dragging on refunding my payment. I should have investigated more before paying for a full year in advance.

So top priority is getting the Shawnee Net site up to speed again, with the aggregator and community blog components.

Another reason why I don't blog much about The Dale these days is . . . distractions of pop culture: the Presidential race (Obama all the way), the NBA Playoffs (Hornets all the way), American Idol (David Archuleta all the way. Watch David's amazing version of 'Stand by Me' on Tuesday's Idol. If you like it, his rendition of 'Imagine' ain't bad either.)

Speaking of standing and imagining . . . the manager of Longbranch, stood at the Greyhound ticket counter yesterday passing out a flyer for a meeting of the Historic Town Square Coalition. People in this town still don't get the virtue of virtual media. I could give you a list of names (and will, in my blook) of business and organizational leaders who fail to use electronic media to promote their things. If you find Longbranch's menu on the internet, it's because I scanned it and posted it, at no charge to the Branch, years ago.

Call me a dreamer, Bloggee, but I believe the people of Carbondale, Illinois want better information delivery.

Imagine no news paper, I wonder if you can,
Nothing to recycle, or throw in the trash can
Imagine all the people, linked by silicon . . .
Yahoo-oo-oo may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one.
I hope some day, Carbondale Community Arts, Main Street, the Chamber of Commerce, etcetera will join us
And the town will be more fun.

4 comments:

DaveX said...

The rest of your entry seems to work against your point that digital delivery is best-- not being able to upload for 4 days, having webhosts disappear, etc...

I agree that Southern Illinois could definitely utilize digital mediums more fully, but you're probably just going to have to reconcile yourself with the fact that most folks are still transitioning to these sorts of things.

Anonymous said...

It is a nice moment in time when the manager of the Longbranch pays a visit to my shop. Always a smile and kind words that help to link the Historic Old Town Square community. It is the personalty and persistance that make a positive impression. Not a message that comes by email that you delete and forget. Just my opinion Mr. More! Email serves a purpose.....but not for everything. Being able to look someone in the eye and speak are still important virtues.

Anonymous said...

If you need a geek to give you a hand, drop me some email. My smart young guys are graduating, but maybe a hour or two is all you need?

Nice to see you back at work, but what is this about the blook being back burnered? We may need a ghost writer for you. :)

Parentheticus said...

DaveX - Digital doesn't mean no difficulty. My posts rarely begin with thesis i want to prove, although it wouldn't difficult at all to prove that Carbondale, Illinois, is virtually retarded due to people like Anonymous (above) who seems to think digital and personal are *either/or* rather than BOTH/AND.

Anonymous - I was not saying that the manager of Longbranch should have used Email instead of visiting your shop..... I WAS saying the info should be posted on the Bytelife blog, for example.... Or in this blog. And still go door-to-door... But a paper flyer that looks like this may explain why attendance has been off. (go ahead, click on the link to see the flyer).

If the information was digital it wouldn't be outdated at the time it was being distributed.

Not that the mgr. does not work hard and try at what she does. It's just like most managers and leaders I've had any dealings with (including you, probably, Anonymous), they're in the dark about the possibilities of digital communication.

Peter - Thanks for the offer. I'll fax you the details. ;-)