Melissa Pierce over at Life in Perpetual Beta is making a fascinating documentary about our changing society, creativity, and the “planned” life. She recently held a contest and asked what “life in perpetual beta” means to us, and how technology has changed the way we see ourselves.
I was thrilled to find out that my entry was chosen as the winner, and I’ll be receiving a Panasonic Hi-Def camcorder — that means the pressure will be on to do more video!
I’ve decided to share my entry with you (despite my terrible bedhead) because it speaks a lot about where I stand today.
One final note: When my boyfriend watched this, he pointed out that I said I “effortlessly” created this community and identity. “It wasn’t effortless,” he said. “You put a lot of effort into those projects — the great thing is that all of your efforts were completely rewarded.” And that’s a very good point. None of this is effortless — but it means a lot when you can actually see the fruit of your effort.
Please head over to the Life in Perpetual Beta blog to see some of Melissa’s intriguing interviews.
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This is such a great post, and a wonderful insight into your life and how you’ve come to be where you are.
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Compelling post. You preform really well on camera. Very impressed.
Congratulations…well deserved and you help me understand the practice I too am trying to develop.
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Nice presentation indeed. Enjoyed your thoughts on how technology has impacted you. Your efforts to engage us in your community have made it easy for me, and likely others, to ‘reward’ you with ongoing participation. Should I ever start my own blog, I would be inspired by your methods of engagement, the carefully chosen topics, but more important; the guided questions.
@ Joely – I was actually pretty nervous to do video, since I always feel so goofy in front of the camera. It’s a cool way to relate to readers on another level though!
@ Bamboo – Next time I’ll work on actually looking presentable — bedhead is a performance no-no
@ Richard – It’s definitely an ongoing process…which is what makes it perpetually interesting…
@ Trina – Thank you! I love that so many of you voice your opinions and engage in conversation. It makes it worthwhile to keep coming back to this blogging thing
What a great response, Zoe! I’ve been to a few workshops this year about technology and education and this idea of connecting to people in a very real medium for a very real purpose has sort of framed my first year of teaching. I haven’t started my own class blog or wiki yet (enough pressures of being a first year teacher without adding technology!), but I plan to for next year. Maybe I’ll show your video to my classes next year to explain the real-life implications of blogging and staying connected through ideas outside of the classroom.
And as always, it’s great to see your smiling face and hear your voice!
You’re right, you DO smile a lot.
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Great to see you on camera. Thanks for sharing your world. Like you said, It allows someone else’s ideas to get into your bloodstream so we can become more real and true to our own path or voice.
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Congrats on the win and thanks for sharing the video. It’s fun to hear your voice. Your thoughts on technology’s impact on our lives are interesting.
You also gave me a great idea. It’s not directly related to the video’s content, but it’s something I can do for West Texas Writers. Thanks.
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This is outstanding, Zoe. I enjoyed watching your video and learning more about your personal story, and you have such a bright smile! It made me smile too. More video! And congrats on winning. You definitely earned it.
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Yay to Zoe! I totally agree with your dream on traveling abroad. There’s no bigger adventure than that and you can live life every moment, every minute. We’re getting closer to that dream.
I agree with Melissa. You’ve got a great smile and I felt totally at ease while watching the video. It was great to finally ’see’ you.
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Zoë – loved this! Thank you for sharing
Caren,
… and we can chat about it in real life this summer!
It’s excellent that your school does workshops on this — I think new media really has the potential to create cool opportunities in the classroom. I’ll e-mail you a pretty good resource I found on that topic
@ Matthew – Haha! See, I did not tell a lie.
@ TJ – Yes, what you’re touching on is so important — allowing all our interactions and new ideas we encounter to expand our own perspective.
@ James – I’m curious now — what’s the idea?
@ Melissa – Thank you
! Yea, video was more fun than I expected… I want to figure out how to incorporate it more often.
@ Kate – I love how this makes it seem like I’m meeting you guys on another level. I know you certainly see where I’m coming from with the whole abroad urge… and the writing too, of course!
@ Vickie – Thanks! It makes me happy when you stop by the blog
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Watched this again today; I heart you.
Matthew! Ah, you’ve won my heart in our little Skype sessions too
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Congrats! I’m glad to see that sometimes good people don’t finish last. : )
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@ ejly – Thanks! I’m quite excited.