Back to Blogging

I like the idea of blogging but often have difficulty in the delivery. A few years ago I maintained a blog when I worked for the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (iCER) at Michigan State University (MSU). At iCER I did a lot of High Performance Computing (HPC) User support. This involved mostly helping researchers figure out how to use advanced computing systems in their research. I got into a habit of writing up a blog post when I learned something new or figured out a solution to a practical technical problem. I also found the blog useful for posting slides and examples from presentations I would often make at workshops and conferences. Many of these old posts are still see a little traffic. Check them out here:

iCER Wiki

I also did some blogging related to my kids and our "maker" hobby.

Maker Wiki

Over the years I moved away from working directly for iCER and have not done a good job keeping up with my maker blog. I am going to try to bring the blogging habit back into my workflow. I am currently in the middle of quite a few projects relating to education and large scale computing.

I have a couple of goals for writing a blog. These include:

• Getting over my reluctance to share and communicate in online communities
• Helping me organize and be accountable for my projects
• Connecting with people with similar interests to my own
• Providing informations that others may find helpful

To reach these goals I am going to try to get into a daily habit of writing. I don't think I will post a blog everyday but the writing habit is important to me.