As a teacher, researcher, and a subject matter expert in some aspects of military logistics, small unit management and leadership, I am constantly answering questions from current or former students on areas where they know I have some skill. I have been frustrated with providing similar answers to the same questions which have been separated by time. I have been struggling with how to generate, essentially, an FAQ of my expertise that is readily accessible to my students, yet flexible enough to adapt to their particular situations.
It is now clear to me that blogs are an extraordinarily effective way to accomplish this task in a way that is flexible and adaptable for me, and meaningful for them. It adds the dimension of being findable for people who have the questions I can answer but who diont know me yet. I am disappointed that it took me so long to finally figure this out and act, but I forgive myself and am getting on with it.
My intent is to use the blog to demo a "portfolio central" to capture all the good answers to questions that i would have typically written in an email in a 1:1 mode.
I have already been able to use the links to some posts to engage in some discussions on planning and managing uncertainty with officers deployed to field locations. the blog lets me continue to craft my answers and ratchet up the quality.
The blog advantage is that the posts are tagged/keyworded and are open to be found by any searcher, not just those who know me and have asked an explicit question
An excellent book on this subject is "Ambient Findability" by Peter Morville (2005); describes the challenge of being found in a world where your writing output grows arithmetically, but published works are growing exponentially.
You must be open to being found or your voice will be silenced by the stack of newly published material being piled around you.
Ken Long, Chief of Research, Tortoise Capital Management Independent research, combining technical analysis and behavioral psychology. 30 day free trial of reports and live trader chatroom. Training, education, mentoring and coaching for professional traders. |
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