About the evolution of this blog
Posted by: Fidji SIMO in American way of life, Art, Blogging, Education, Entertainment, Entrepreneurship, Expatriation, Innovation, Internet/Technology, Travel, UCLA
As you may have noticed, this blog has been going in every directions these past weeks. I created it a few months ago and was willing to wait until my expatriation to launch it, but I couldn’t resist and I started this blog by talking a lot about Internet stuff, as it is the sector I love, and because I was really focused on that those past few months.
But the Internet is not the only thing I would like to talk about; in fact I realize that I would like to be able to write about everything I like, everything that surprises me, everything that scares me. In a word, I would like to talk about my life, because it’s often what blogs written by a unique author are, and life is diverse, fortunately.
I have spent one week and a half in the US now and I can’t manage to catch up with Internet news, so at this moment I can’t say anything great about Internet stuff but I would love to talk about American educational system, about the difficulties of expatriation, about the fact of being immersed in a group of international people… And I will probably go back to tech subjects in a while because I’ve taken courses in Technology Management at UCLA which are really promising. And I’m still working on my thesis about the impact of the Internet on the art market so I will also bring cool stuff about it. And I know that it is hard to find a consistency between Internet, entrepreneurship, digital art, expatriation and education topics, but the common thing they share is that they are all part of my life…
But I also know that I can’t ask my readers to be interested in everything I like, so I really don’t know what to do 
In a word it would be great if you can give some feedback on the subject. Do you think that blogs have to be specialized so that readers know what to expect? Or that if you like a blog it’s because you like the author (:-)) and would be interested in knowing more about him/her on multiple topics?
PLEASE, I really need your comments to figure that out, and it can also bring an interesting discussion about what blogging really is.
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Hi Fidji,
I think all the topics you want to talk about are interesting but I don’t think blending everything in one place would be a good idea.
One solution could be to create a second blog to talk about your American life. That’s what I did when I left France, I didn’t want to pollute my current blog; the pro/geek face of me. If you don’t want to open a new blog, create a different section on this one.
I know it’s not easy to organize all this stuff but if you feel inspired by your new experience, you shouldn’t wait.
I guess it all depends on whom you are writing for. In my case, my blog is mainly for friends and family to keep in touch on day-to-day stuff. It’s more of a personal journal, which for most people will be boring. But then the intent is not to offer good reading to strangers
My blog has replaced emails and phone calls. It has enabled me to keep a link with those I miss.
I think it makes sense to separate the 2. Personal day-to-day adventures and thoughts/ideas on whatever is of interest to you. The internet business. Art. I think it will help your readers and it also force yourself to set the tone right on these 2 aspects of your life. Which should profit to your willingness to share your ideas and thoughts with the internet community
Just my 2 cents!
Hi guys,
Thanks for your answers, they are really helpful (especially since you seem to agree!).
The fact is that often, blogs are taking unexpected directions: for example Seb, I’m not part of your friends or family but I read your blog everyday because I’m definitely interested in French expats’ life, especially the ones I had the chance to meet before…
So you both made me think, and the thing is that I opened this blog mainly for pleasure, without caring so much about traffic and number of comments. On the other hand, I participate in the collaborative blog techiteasy.org, and in this case I care a lot about traffic as it is becoming a “professional” experience for all the bloggers involved. And if I want to share some ideas and have some great discussions about Internet stuff, that’s definitely the right place as it has much more traffic than this blog, and highly qualified visitors and bloggers.
So I’ll wait to see if I get other feedbacks, but otherwise I will probably put all the Internet/Tech stuff on Tech IT Easy, and I will dedicate this blog to my personal experience in the US, since the name of the blog really reflected that at the beginning.
But all of this proves that blogging is such an interactive way of communication, so related to the daily life, that it is sometimes hard to apply the same rules of consistency and logic that we would apply in any other type of exercice.
Thanks again for your comments, I really mean it!
I feel like I’m answering a little bit late since it seems you’ve made up your mind.
Anyway I agree with what had been said above. I think your solution is good because what you’re living is interesting 
Hey Fidji,
As a friend and schoolmate, I am really interested in what you’re doing, LA, your life, and so on…
As a maybe future expat (I said maybe), your experience is something that may be very helpful one day.
As a former colleague and a tech lover (although far from your expertise), I love to read about all your discoveries and opinions.
As a curious reader of yours, I try all your art creative websites…
So I guess you have many sides as an author, but we readers also have many interests, some of them you transmitted to us.
Anyway you choose, I’ll still be reading everything you write, because its excellent!
As you said yourself, art and technologies are a part of you. You will easily be able to put in relation lessons of technology management and your thoughts with the intention of getting our feedbacks . Obviously, the first subject is the expatriation, but in the expatriation and your life there is UCLA and your professional and scholar cursus. So, even you write articles for Tech IT easy, I’m really convinced you will speak here about technologies and art …, because it is your life. And all TIE readers aren’t the same that here. And don’t forget the good things for VAOU
I’m totally overbooked with the new album but I don’t leave it 
Thank you so much for your insights!
@Herbacha: it’s never to late to comment and give me your feedback!
@Lina: you’re too nice, it feels good to have so loyal readers! But as you don’t have a blog, do not hesitate to give some news sometimes
@Bea: that’s what I meant, when you blog you really put some parts of your life in words, and as I am not schizophrenic it’s hard to separate radically. And don’t worry, I don’t forget Vaou, I have a lot of good places to speak about, but I lack some TIME !!!
There are sooooo many blogs (good and bad) on the web, that I truly think you should feel comfortable with what you want to write for yourself before worrying absolutely whether it has to be this or that way for your readers.
Since I have been reading blogs (now a good two years I guess), I have very seldom looked for a particular blog because of the topics it chose to talk about.
I have been reading blogs because of how their author was chosing to discuss topics I had interest in, or because I was attracted to some life stories and personalities of their authors.
As for my own blog, I had started it because I wanted to have a place to write about all the different aspects of my own life and passions, that I could definitely never express in specific other places, just because they were too specialized. I was tired of being only *one* part of the multiple faces I am, I did not want to only write about one of my activities or one of my issues, or one of my numerous social definitions.
That’s why I decided to have my own space. It is wide open to comments, but I know some of my readers won’t feel comfortable, some have expressed it, like in the beginning they were reading and did not really understand what I was talking about, or where I was heading to. I was not. Not heading anywhere, just witnessing and sharing. Who wants to share comes and stays, some just visit once or twice, because a note was discussing a topic of interest to them, and it was duly indexed in search engines, or linked by other blogs.
That’s blog’s life !
Thanks for your comment Otir. It’s just that in your case your blog is really a life story, besides you have an amazing style and a real life experience to share.
As soon as I started this blog I have had a growing audience and I got used to the vitues of exchanging wy views with at least one or two people on each post. And even if I want to have some pleasure writing, I would feel really sad having to people reading me, which is why I asked first. But you’re absolutely right, blogging must remain a pleasure and we organize so many parts of our lives (you know it more than everyone) that we should definitely let our blogs be a space of freedom.
Well Fidji, in fact, I do have blogs… its just that they are completely related to my associative life. So there is no news at all about my life.
The thing is: I just don’t have enough inspiration to begin one (let alone time, I know you can always find time when you’re passionate about something) !
Maybe when I’ll be more experienced, who knows!
Lina, I think that you can definitely be described as a passionate kind of girl, so you just have to try to put words on this passion and it’ll be interesting. I also waited to be more “experienced” but in fact that means nothing, it’s totally relative, so just say the interestinf things you have to say NOW !