Thinking through the principles of content generation now that the website and blog have been setup

Introduction

For the last week or so, I have been thinking more about the type(s) of content that this site should contain, and more importantly, how said content should be organised. The following quotes capture succinctly the basic motivation behind this series and the philosophy that underlies how and why I add content to this site:

“If we fail to prepare, we prepare to fail” widely used

“The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare.” Thane Yost

Note: I figured that the first quote was from an African proverb, but couldn’t find a reference (sadly). Interestingly, this quite has been misattributed to Benjamin Franklin and has been referenced by Mr T., he that “pitieth the foolish” (sic).

The ideas in this series are basically here to ensure that my content is of maximum utility to anyone who might find this site interesting. My vision is to have a site that consists of concise, useful content. I previously articulated this concept before when I talked about having a “website with a blog” (i.e. a website that has blog as one of its features). This is a big dream for one as vebose as I am .

Implementation

From the brooding musings of the last few days, I have identified three fundamental content types that I will feature on this site to achieve its aims. These are blog posts, topic pages (study notes) and project pages.

• Blog posts: These are single (individual) or series (connected) posts that serve as a freeform exploration of various topics in small chunks. The ability to connect posts via series makes it possibly to grow larger, coherent idea from smaller disparate fragments. These entries build upon topics of interest by capturing and growing new idea snippets in a flexible and dynamic way, and feeds matured ideas that can be formed into topic pages.

• Topic pages: These are “wiki-style” content pages that consolidate knowledge gained by i) generating blog content ii) revision of content gained from formal (i.e. structured) study of content. These will be foundational pages that codify my learning and help me to organise different concepts together around a common theme. The will not be as dynamic as blog posts, because they are meant to distill and organisethem into essentially “timeless” or “static” information. However, topic page content will be curated and periodically updated like a wiki as my knowledge about a specific topic grows. This focused and structured collection of content will serve as a major springboard for further learning about a specific topic, producing idease that can feedback into new blog content or be further consolidated into project pages.

• Project pages: This type of content is centred around the application of concepts derived from one or more topic areas of study to the solution of a reasonalby complex problem. Basically, this is the application of what I know to the solution of an interesting and complex “problem” scenario. The focus will be the further consolidation of concepts consolidated in posts and topic pages. Projects will apply my growing skills to realistic data scenarios in order to:

  • complete understanding of one or more concepts that I am learning.

  • link concepts together practically to solve problems.

  • help me to continue to enjoy and explore the ideas that I have learned and reinforced, making them second nature.

Conclusion

The preparation that I am making to organise the content is all about the vision to:

This phrase reiterated above really makes the point best. I the next series of posts I am going to build upon the concepts and tools that I want to use to make an enjoyable digital space for both me and any potential visitors to this site