Wednesday, February 03, 2016

Survey



The winter that wasn't isn't anymore. Whether El Nino's influence on the weather means anything or not is not for me to determine. What I do know is that today I've been shoveling snow. Free exercise.  That's how interesting my life is.

I recently received a survey that asked about FITK. Here's the gist of the email:
I’m interested in how the thoughts and experiences written by people like you on weblogs and other social media can be used to make conclusions about society as a whole. I am contacting you because I am trying to collect reliable data about bloggers’ opinions, experiences, and characteristics in order to refine and evaluate my analyses. 
You can watch this video about the project (funded by the U.S. Army, btw,) if you are interested:



It got me to thinking. Is FITK like these other, "daily life" blogs? Am I deluding myself in thinking that my efforts here are somewhat different, dare I say unique? My daily life is usually pretty unremarkable excepting, of course, meeting with fellow bloggers IRL. Some of the questions in the survey struck me as facile, i.e.; "Do you sometimes post things that aren't true? Do you sometimes make things up?"

Is it true? I try to be. Sometimes you have to make things up to be truthful. I don't think the researcher figured fiction into his equation. Or Art. Or "Common things which are actually strange and strange things which are really common," which, from the very beginning, is what FITK is all about. My life, albeit the tabla rasa upon which this glorious mess is drawn, is only the medium. The message lies somewhere beyond the mundane plane of everyday life. The part the researcher did get right is "Friends You Haven't Met Yet."  I'm not big on social media, but those bloggers I have met have been worth all the time and effort I've spent.

By Professor Batty


2 Comments:

Blogger Jono said...

Was there any doubt that Sean and Mary's story wasn't true? I would feel insulted to think you relied on imagination instead of fact!

Really? What the hell kind of survey is that?


Blogger Professor Batty said...

I must have missed the "Ethics in Journalism" class in blogging school.

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