About Journaling
Apr. 7th, 2003 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI decided to answer these questions mainly because a person over in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
libraries is using them for a survey.
1. Do you own a hardcopy journal as well as your livejournal?
Yes.
2. How long have you been writing in each of them? (Or just livejournal if you don't have a hardcopy journal.) What was your reason for starting a journal, and has that reason changed over time?
According to the ones I see on my shelf, 3.5 years, but there's one notebook missing, which must be in the debris of my old office (now called our "Junk Room"), which might have predated the one on my shelf by a tiny bit.
This also raises the question of "what is a journal?" I've logged sessions of my gaming group on and off (currently off) going back at least 12 or 13 years. Starting 10 years ago I produced an online magazine for a five-year period. These are ultimately all different ways of marking time and remembering what has gone on in the past, even if not precisely journalling.
So, depending on which answer you like, 3.5 or 13 years.
For my current efforts, there have been two main purposes. First, I on-and-off maintain various creative journals whose purpose is to remember ideas that I've come up with, for stories, columns, and games. Second I maintain a more personal journal (currently here at LJ), whose purpose is mainly to keep a record of my life, because I was jealous of my wife,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kimberly_a talking about how she had been writing for twenty-some years, and thus could remember events from her past that would have been entirely lost to me. And, because I'm on LJ, I guess there's a third purpose which is to evangelize and rant in a public forum.
3. How old are you now? (So I know when you started journaling)
31.
4. What is your main reason for using livejournal and/or your hardcopy journal?
I use LJ mainly because I'm more likely to write in an online medium because I'm online a good 10 or so hours most weekdays. I use my hardcopy journal if I want to actually be able to write in physical comfort and be able to lounge about.
5. Do you have any entries that are private? If so, why are they private (what do you write about? More personal things, etc?)
I do have private entries. If an entry's private it's because there's litigation involved or the potential therefore.
6. Is there a difference in what you write in your livejournal versus your hardcopy journal if you have one?
I use my LJ for all my personal writings.
I use my hardcopy journal for most of my game design and other creative thoughts.
7. What is your main motivation for keeping a journal online? What do you hope to achieve?
My main motivation is that by having it online I'm more likely to write it in, both because it's always easily available, and because I'm aware that other people are aware if I'm not writing, and thus it's incentivized.
I don't hope to achieve anything other than having a record of this part of my life available.
8. Do you have multiple journals for various topics, or do you include all topics you write about in one journal? (For example, there are journals of travel, journals of conscience, journals of personal memoranda, and public journals where you would write about your daily life.)
Personal journal (online), game design journal (hardcopy), writing journal (hardcopy). Used to keep a relationship journal (hardcopy) when the wife and I were having big troubles a couple of years ago. At various times some of these have been mixed together.
9. When you are making entries for your livejournal, do you have a self-conscious awareness of an audience? Does this make you write differently than you would if you didn't know you had an audience?
Yes, always.
I'm always cautious when writing about other people, because they haven't given permission to be discussed in a public forum. Thus, I use abbreviations or first names. I'm also unwilling to talk about something sensitive to someone else unless I totally and absolutely cloak identity or unless I make the entry private.
I'm also always aware that I'm somewhat on stage. My style isn't quite the same, because I'm partially talking to you not just me. I'm also a bit more likely to rant or be evangelical because of the fact that I'm aware there's an audience out there.
10. Do you feel that you censor a lot out of what you would really like to say in your livejournal entries because you know someone else is going to read it? It has been said that "anyone who asks about a person's diary must accept the fact more is concealed than said." Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
Mostly I only censor stuff related to other people, as noted above.
However, I'm also unlikely to talk about very personal topics (masturbation, sex, etc.) because I'm aware this is a public forum. I was going to say that I didn't write about this in my old hardcopy journals either, but I did, though only a little bit.
Is it true that "more is concealed than is said"? I'd say generally, no, though it ultimately depends on the person. I don't feel like I offer huge, expansive emotional insights in general, but I still feel like I say much more than I conceal, purposefully or not.
11. Is the fear that your life will be forgotten if you don't write things down a part of your motivation for keeping an online and/or hardcopy journal?
Yes. The main motivation.
12. What is your motivation in reading other people's livejournals?
The different perspectives and different lives are interesting.
13. Where do you think the future of journaling is going? What will be the next "phase"? Do you think video journals will become popular? Any other ideas on this?
I think this is the future of journalling, right here. An online, community-based, journalling and discussion forum.
I can't see video journals picking up at all. I mean, if people didn't want to write, for many years they've been able to keep audio journal via tape recorders, and while some people do that, I don't believe it's any notable portion of the entire journalling community.
In the future I can see more complex web searches and databases being intrinsically linked into journals so that you can jump straight from a journal to the topic someone is talking about (e.g., book and movie references will link straight to summaries, reviews, etc). I can also see the opposite being true. It's going to be all about the data: how increasingly sophisticated computer systems manage and interlink increasingly large sets of knowledge.
libraries is using them for a survey.1. Do you own a hardcopy journal as well as your livejournal?
Yes.
2. How long have you been writing in each of them? (Or just livejournal if you don't have a hardcopy journal.) What was your reason for starting a journal, and has that reason changed over time?
According to the ones I see on my shelf, 3.5 years, but there's one notebook missing, which must be in the debris of my old office (now called our "Junk Room"), which might have predated the one on my shelf by a tiny bit.
This also raises the question of "what is a journal?" I've logged sessions of my gaming group on and off (currently off) going back at least 12 or 13 years. Starting 10 years ago I produced an online magazine for a five-year period. These are ultimately all different ways of marking time and remembering what has gone on in the past, even if not precisely journalling.
So, depending on which answer you like, 3.5 or 13 years.
For my current efforts, there have been two main purposes. First, I on-and-off maintain various creative journals whose purpose is to remember ideas that I've come up with, for stories, columns, and games. Second I maintain a more personal journal (currently here at LJ), whose purpose is mainly to keep a record of my life, because I was jealous of my wife,
kimberly_a talking about how she had been writing for twenty-some years, and thus could remember events from her past that would have been entirely lost to me. And, because I'm on LJ, I guess there's a third purpose which is to evangelize and rant in a public forum.3. How old are you now? (So I know when you started journaling)
31.
4. What is your main reason for using livejournal and/or your hardcopy journal?
I use LJ mainly because I'm more likely to write in an online medium because I'm online a good 10 or so hours most weekdays. I use my hardcopy journal if I want to actually be able to write in physical comfort and be able to lounge about.
5. Do you have any entries that are private? If so, why are they private (what do you write about? More personal things, etc?)
I do have private entries. If an entry's private it's because there's litigation involved or the potential therefore.
6. Is there a difference in what you write in your livejournal versus your hardcopy journal if you have one?
I use my LJ for all my personal writings.
I use my hardcopy journal for most of my game design and other creative thoughts.
7. What is your main motivation for keeping a journal online? What do you hope to achieve?
My main motivation is that by having it online I'm more likely to write it in, both because it's always easily available, and because I'm aware that other people are aware if I'm not writing, and thus it's incentivized.
I don't hope to achieve anything other than having a record of this part of my life available.
8. Do you have multiple journals for various topics, or do you include all topics you write about in one journal? (For example, there are journals of travel, journals of conscience, journals of personal memoranda, and public journals where you would write about your daily life.)
Personal journal (online), game design journal (hardcopy), writing journal (hardcopy). Used to keep a relationship journal (hardcopy) when the wife and I were having big troubles a couple of years ago. At various times some of these have been mixed together.
9. When you are making entries for your livejournal, do you have a self-conscious awareness of an audience? Does this make you write differently than you would if you didn't know you had an audience?
Yes, always.
I'm always cautious when writing about other people, because they haven't given permission to be discussed in a public forum. Thus, I use abbreviations or first names. I'm also unwilling to talk about something sensitive to someone else unless I totally and absolutely cloak identity or unless I make the entry private.
I'm also always aware that I'm somewhat on stage. My style isn't quite the same, because I'm partially talking to you not just me. I'm also a bit more likely to rant or be evangelical because of the fact that I'm aware there's an audience out there.
10. Do you feel that you censor a lot out of what you would really like to say in your livejournal entries because you know someone else is going to read it? It has been said that "anyone who asks about a person's diary must accept the fact more is concealed than said." Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
Mostly I only censor stuff related to other people, as noted above.
However, I'm also unlikely to talk about very personal topics (masturbation, sex, etc.) because I'm aware this is a public forum. I was going to say that I didn't write about this in my old hardcopy journals either, but I did, though only a little bit.
Is it true that "more is concealed than is said"? I'd say generally, no, though it ultimately depends on the person. I don't feel like I offer huge, expansive emotional insights in general, but I still feel like I say much more than I conceal, purposefully or not.
11. Is the fear that your life will be forgotten if you don't write things down a part of your motivation for keeping an online and/or hardcopy journal?
Yes. The main motivation.
12. What is your motivation in reading other people's livejournals?
The different perspectives and different lives are interesting.
13. Where do you think the future of journaling is going? What will be the next "phase"? Do you think video journals will become popular? Any other ideas on this?
I think this is the future of journalling, right here. An online, community-based, journalling and discussion forum.
I can't see video journals picking up at all. I mean, if people didn't want to write, for many years they've been able to keep audio journal via tape recorders, and while some people do that, I don't believe it's any notable portion of the entire journalling community.
In the future I can see more complex web searches and databases being intrinsically linked into journals so that you can jump straight from a journal to the topic someone is talking about (e.g., book and movie references will link straight to summaries, reviews, etc). I can also see the opposite being true. It's going to be all about the data: how increasingly sophisticated computer systems manage and interlink increasingly large sets of knowledge.