Tags: IBM, Academy of Technology, AoT, Collaboration, Collaboration 2.0, Web 2.0, Learning, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, New York, Somers, Madrid, Las Palmas, Flights, Travelling, Metablogging, Blogs, Diary, Life, Hope
I meant to write this particular weblog post last Monday as part of some of the different highlights from having attended IBM‘s Academy of Technology Collaboration 2.0 conference event in Somers, NY, the week before. But given the recent problems I have been having with my Internet connection I haven’t been able to do so till now. Thank goodness it is still very much fresh in my memories, because it certainly was an incredible experience. And the funny part is that it doesn’t have anything to do with the event itself, but with the experience of getting to Somers itself. The conference itself was just awesome, but what I am about to share with you folks is even better than that.
It is a little bit of a story. Actually two of them, thus I am going to split up this weblog entry in two parts. You may want to go and grab a cup of coffee (Or tea) and make yourself comfortable, because I am sure you are going to like both of them just as much as I enjoyed it while going through them. It all starts with the two flights I had to take to get to New York. The first one from Las Palmas airport to Madrid was just … charming. The second flight story I will leave it for a follow up weblog entry for later on …
There I was, sitting on the chair waiting for the flight to take off when a lovely and cute girl of, say, 10 to 12 years old, perhaps with some hearing problems, I noticed, sits on the same row as myself, by the window. I am on the aisle. We are both travelling alone. We chatted for a little bit, while the plane was ready to take off, and we both got down to our little things. I kept reading a book (More on that one later), and she just took out her small pink diary and started writing stuff on it.
I am thinking, hey, she is writing in her diary about … stuff. Cool! I do that myself, too, but online, in my Internet blog(s) heh. I tell you, that scene was just adorable. There I was, sitting next to a young girl who was very concentrated on putting together her thoughts in her diary about her experiences, whatever those may have been at the time. She looked very keen on the whole effort, and I just thought it would have been incredibly delightful to have taken a picture of her in such stage of concentration to remind me / us al of how it all started, blogging, that is, when we may lose our inspiration to keep writing about the stuff we are passionate about.
The whole experience was just fantastic! We kept talking every now and then till the plane got to Madrid. And every so often she would go ahead, open up her diary and write a few notes. I tell you, if I would have had my digital camera I would have asked her if I could take a picture of her while she was writing. Alas, it was packed away in the suitcase, so I couldn’t. Pity. But one thing for sure is that, as I get to write these different weblog entries, I keep getting back to those precious moments and how a young girl of 10 – 12 years kept her diary alive when she could have been doing something less profound, while the flight was on its way to Madrid. You know what I mean. Still, there she was. Concentrated, writing away her own thoughts on her own experiences and looking forward to meet her parents once again.
Just awesome! That is just one of the main reasons why I still enjoy travelling quite a bit. Don’t you think? What a brilliant way to get things going with a trip to one of those conference events that I was looking forward to all along for the last couple of years. It all felt incredibly re-energising and I do hope that at some point in time she would have not only her own private (offline) diary, but a lovely open weblog that she keeps updating every now and then. Next time I bump into her, I will ask her…
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