a bit of perspective on public

[Michael Feir]

Hello everyone. I was telling a friend of mine about this group and he pointed out that I should put the whole issue of having our archive of messages accessible to the public in better context than I have so far. Some of you may not be very experienced with blogs, groups, online publications, email lists and such. He's quite correct and I apologise for my sloppiness there. It's been over half a decade since I handed over editorship and community leadership of the Audyssey Magazine community of blind gamers which I ran for eight years. I guess I'm a tad rusty at it.

 

The whole question of just how public we are might be making folks more nervous than they should be. Many of us were or still are members of the ODSP Fireside group. In fact, I believe that all of us are from there at present. Any messages you may have read on that group are available for anybody to read. Those moderators have a whole lot of work to do checking all the messages to avoid danger from slander. Given their focus on activism, this is something they have to be extra careful of. Especially with all that anger and bitterness present. I don't envy the moderators of that group at all. Despite their efforts, look at the kind of stuff we all read there. Now, for a truly horrific thought, think what they've read and stopped from going through. All of that bitterness and anger they let through is sitting there for anybody to see. The only difference is that you can't join unless you're invited to.

 

Our group is set up so that people can join and post messages without needing my approval. I wouldn't want to have that sort of power. I will absolutely expell members who do cause trouble if we run into any. Have no fear about that. Even if some illness befalls me, this group will still be here for you to talk with each other and whoever joins you. I'm usually quite healthy so don't worry unduely.

 

Here's the thin though. While anybody *can* read ODSP Fireside trafic as well as ours, very few people actually will. Think of us like a group standing around in a busy large shopping mall. Very few people would interrupt whatever they're doing to pay attention unless they had some cause to. Things we say will be recorded, but it's like we're a small paragraph in the middle of a large novel whose pages are mixed up. There's an unimagineable ton of information out there from all sorts of groups, people, companies and such. You would have to have similar interests to stumble upon us. For instance, perhaps, one of you will write a message about a wedding. When somebody searches for information on "wedding" and perhaps pairs it with "odsp", or "disability", there's a small chance that a message from a group like ours that deals with disability and a wedding would come up. That person might then wish to look deeper into the discussion and perhaps join our group to ask a question or hopefully participate more extensively. The probability is small, but it's there. I'm certainly hopeful that our group will grow large and bring together many people who need a friendly place to share their positive lives. Even if we grow larger than ODSP Fireside, things will remain much the same for us in the context of how public what we say is. As long as we keep it clean and don't reveal stuff like our credit card info, we should be quite safe. Perhaps, in the years to come, Sociology students [those who study groups and societies], might find our messages useful for research purposes. Perhaps, journalists might take an interest in what we say for an article or news item. It's rather unlikely but possible.

 

Here's another personal example to illustrate how these things can go. I've kept a blog for around four years now ever since my x-wife and I separated. I found it to be excellent therapy for me because it forced me to examine my thoughts and deal with my darker ones. I always asked myself how I'd want to be remembered if I passed on and my neaces wanted to learn about their uncle Mike years later. That made me deal with anger right up front and I haven't written anything I regret now. I don't avoid talking about the hurt of what I've gone through, but I filtered what got out there so that I didn't attack anybody unfarely. One of the things I've blogged about a little was the trouble my x-wife and I faced with bedbugs while living in an apartment in Oakville. Those things are absolutely horrid pests. A blind man who I had never met before found the entry I wrote about them and contacted me. We corresponded for a while about a number of things as he found more of what I've released online over the years. He and I haven't written to each other in well over two years now. I doubt if I have his email address anymore. That's an example of what you may experience over time. Hopefully, it helps put things in better perspective and you won't be afraid to say what you want to say.

 

Michael Feir
Owner of Silver Smiles
Join and share the silver lining in your life.
Group home page: http://groups.google.com/group/silver-smiles
2010--
Author of Personal Power:
How Accessible Computers Can Enhance Personal Life For Blind People
2006-2008
www.blind-planet.com/content/personal-power

 

A Life of Word and Sound
2003-2007
http://www.blind-planet.com/content/life-word-and-sound
 
Creator and former editor of Audyssey Magazine
1996-2004
Check out my blog at:
www.michaelfeir.blogspot.com