Before starting this blogging exercise, I have been experimenting, for almost two decades, the use of different forms and tools of electronic and digital communications. The areas of application were mainly three: acquiring knowledge, exchanging messages, and publication of information. Over the last years, I learned, in informal ways, how to adapt traditional contents to digital forms, how to create, develop and promote multimedia products using online platforms and targeting different audiences in different countries, with different cultural backgrounds.
However, at the end of 2018, I came to THE decision: shutting down all my social profiles, personal websites and online channels accounts. Indeed, today, I keep only a LinkedIn profile, for professional reasons. Furthermore, navigating online materials and platforms becomes limited to my job’s needs.
The reasons behind such a decision would be the subject of an entire book, but I want to focus, here, on the blogging activity because I found myself involved in it thanks to the assignments of the course New Media, ICT & Development course which is part of the online blended learning Master in Communication for Development at Malmö University.
Reflecting on what I learned from this experience, my first note involves the continuous process of informal learning. During this experience, looking for weekly posts ideas – while keeping in mind the fundamental concepts of the course- has been leading to an effective engagement with knowledge where researching, evaluating and selecting are in constant interaction. Not only in consideration of what we live in the present but also questioning what we have learned in the past
The second note, which comes in comparison with my past personal experiences, a blog is not just a tool to promote a personal brand. In fact, keeping a reasonable up-to-date blog outside a full-time job and family responsibilities requires time, efforts, and in some cases money. Which means that a blog is a project in its self and as such it should provide contents of interest for a target’s consumption. The higher the value of the contents is, the more successful the blog becomes. The value, here, resides in the provided knowledge as it opens spaces for reflections, interactions, future opportunities and is measured in terms of a steady increase of the audience’s engagement.
Last but not least, as far as I am concerned, in those almost ten weeks of this course, I learned one of the most important lesson of my life: curating a personal blog could be profitable ( I do not mean financially but I am not excluding it) if you consider it as a project that needs plans to be developed even though the main reason for the blog’s existence is not related to a specific professional activity. Additionally, blogging could be an excellent tool to combine theory with practice by researching and experiencing concepts and events, opening new frameworks of practices and opportunities.
Here ends my journey with this blog but starts a new one with personal blogging. The main objective is to explore the tools offered by new media, ICT, and the Internet for women empowerment in all aspects of life focusing on the exchange and interaction of knowledge in the Euro-Arab region with all its trends of developments, cooperation and social changes.
