thus opens the thought laboratory

I recently found Say Everything in the half-off section of Strand, and just wanted to say that it's a fantastic read so far. Granted, I'm only about halfway through the thing, but it's definitely a read that drags out some thoughts.

I'll save any sort of synopsis for another time. But one of the biggest thoughts that's been floating around in my head has been the idea of experimenting with your online voice.

As a creator. As writer. As a curator. As an innovator. As a planner. But most importantly, as an individual.

Although the book fills in the details of an often-overlooked blogging history, my mind can't help but spot my own story juxtaposed on each dramatic tale. It seriously made me think about how I've involved myself in the changing blogosphere over the past decade or so. Starting with LiveJournal, playing around with WordPress . . . and eventually moving on to bigger and better things.

Probably the greatest attribute of blogs (and with other things, like twitter/etc since the introduction of blogs) is the license of thought they give people. There's something very powerful in that innate automaticity. Something we as people can learn from, and something we might be able to extend to the brands of the world.

But anyway.

Here I am, still ranting about things online all these years later. Although I seem to have a pretty good idea of what my voice sounds like (test, test), I would argue that no one truly understands everything their voice can do (or has done) for the world.

Enter some dabbling in the online world of verboseness and excessive self-expression.

Without getting too far off-course here, I wanted to take a moment to sort of broadcast a self-assigned project/goal/expectation thing I've agreed to take on:

I'm going to be clicking "publish" each day in September. With whatever thoughts I have to share.

Why, you ask?

Simple. I believe our voices should be used in laboratory-like settings as a way to showcase our thought processes. It's something I feel very strongly about, but I think it's something that everyone could improve upon. Thinking, voicing, sharing, etc. All very strong ingredients in powerful communication, and I'm pretty sure concocting a lab-like context will produce some sort of great end-product. Not sure what it'll be, but I can feel it in my gut. (If I knew what the benefit would be and could clearly communicate it, I probably wouldn't need to dedicate a month of my life to voicing up.)

This thought laboratory concept isn't new for communications, though; it seems to be popping up all over the place. BBH, Jerwood Space over in London, Ajou University, Havas Group, MIT, etc. All really great stuff. What can we learn from them?

I'm not entirely sure what'll happen over the next month, but I look to Russell for another great example of this little experiment -- thoughts are forked over, and other thoughts follow. It can only be great, right?

Well, anyway. I just think it's a really great project for myself. One I'm happy to take on as I seek out some sort of next step in my planning life.

'Til tomorrow, cheers.

image c/o thatwasmyfoot.my-expressions.com