Tech Ronin

Welcome to Tech Ronin, land of free agents, cluetrains, small worlds and the latest technology that goes with it. As we've gotten our feet wet in this 21st century, we've landed as different beings. We are no longer well kept, secure, bored, sensation-seeking consumers. Well, we may still be sensation-seeking, but now we have new problems and new tools. When the slaves were freed, that was no picnic either. I exaggerate, but stick with me.

There's a good dose of sink or swim in the air. Econo-blues, terrorist threats and wars don't help. This is our second jobless recovery and probably won't be our last. I've recently re-read Job Shift by William Bridges and he was saying in 1994 that the whole idea of job as we've known it is breaking down. I'm a microbusiness-owner. I'm not looking for a job but I frequently do jobs of various sorts for people. Occasionally it feels like perpetual unemployment, but I'm used to it and kind of good at it. As far as I can tell, we are all in the same boat.

I have a small software business that's managed to survive the dot-com bust and this sluggish economy, recession, whatever you wanna call it. I'm a techno ronin. Back in medieval Japan, Samurai warrior's belonged to particular fiefdoms. If one of these fiefdoms was defeated and the lord deposed, the Samurais lost their reason for being, they lost their jobs. These unemployed Samurai had to go out and survive by their wits. They were called Ronin. Sound familiar? Check out The Way of the Ronin for further details in my Good Books list to your right.

I'm a migrant from Movable Type. Please refer to tokerud's technology treats for my past and, to some extent, my present. I'm keeping that thing going while I evaluate this new cool thing called TypePad. I am eager to try this for my own blogging pleasure and to see what feeling of community might be present here. I've been on the Ryze business network for the last five months and like this online community stuff - especially when it works!

P.S. If you think my blog is a little bit half-baked and perhaps even ugly, please stay-tuned. I'm the persistent type. There's lots of controls on this spaceship and I'm just beginning to get the hang of it.

Comments

[christianhauck]

I like the Ronin metaphor. Have not read the book though, and I guess I will be too busy in the next weeks: just bought Wolfram's "new kind of science".
But I have a short but dense paper that might also be interesting for you in that context. Since I am not sure about the property rights, I'll send you thge pdf as a mail attachment.

[Janet Tokerud]

Thanks, Christian, for making the first comment in my techno ronin blog! Let me know what you find in "new kind of science" and I'll do the same for Ronin here at perhaps more quantity. Got your paper and will read it shortly.

[Randy Delucchi]

What comparisons do you draw between the similar paths HTML and blog development are taking? In their early incarnations, both were done, mostly manually, mostly by experts. Then, as simple WYSIWYG tools became available for both, they proliferated, driven by an influx of less savvy newbies. Good thing? Risks?

[Janet Tokerud]

Hi Randy- Perhaps from a connossier's point of view, the easy tools contribute to a dramatic increase in noise - read - the average webpage or blog is not of great quality. I can live with that. I want non-geeks participating. I want people who have better things to do than futz with code, writing down their good ideas and expressing themselves to each other. I like the diversity. We just need to keep working on ways for us to find the websites and blogs that are valuable for us. I mostly put it down to finding people which is one reason I'm into the progress of the FOAF standard to see if that will help. Tell me about risks and your opinion on this, Randy.

[Sally Shannon]

Mazel Tov! There's a Jewish prayer or blessing that's said upon doing or seeing something for the first time - the shehecheyanu. It's about giving thanx for being sustained and enabled to live long enough to reach a special moment. Given the life of the ronin, I say a shehechyanu for you and your new blog tool.

[Janet Tokerud]

Thanks for the shehecheyanu, Sally, to help me celebrate this new beginning!