i was talking with a friend today who asked when i was going to go back to writing about the kinds of things i used to write about before july fourth; as it happens i’ve been thinking a lot about that very issue, so the request motivated me post a few thoughts about it and give readers and opportunity to give me some feedback on what they’d like to see in the future.

for over four years “ex machina” was my little spot in the larger vast wasteland for posting my thoughts on pretty much any ol’ topic. when i started posting “the eric update” i thought after a few posts to keep family and interested “old timers” up-to-date, i’d settle back into the familiar routine, occasionally posting nicu photos and commentary to keep people abreast of developments. i certainly had no clue that “the eric update” would quickly gain worlwide attention and that 8 months later there would be thousands of people visiting every day who only know me as the “micropreemie” dad who likes to take pictures and not the superdork who writes about boring things that exactly two people might be interested in.

basically, i’m trying to think of ways to go back to writing about topics other than a chronicle of odin’s adventures while remaining mindful that new visitors coming to the site for the first time from, say, the premature birth faq or daddytypes ( or innumerable links from preemie forums ) might be a little confused if they find a long and winding post on how the rise in popularity of folksonomies may or may not be due to the “worse is better” principle. relatedly, i’m wondering how many people are interested in long and winding posts on odin’s sleeping habits. while i’ve always been interested in keeping a visual record of odin’s adventures similar in concept to 10 years of my life, i’m as surprised as anyone to find myself giving and getting parenting advice on infant sleep habits.

so, i guess this is a long way of soliciting input from visitors on a potential sitewide redesign/reorganization. scenarios might include stopping posting frequent “eric updates” on ex machina and simply uploading the occasional photo to flickr. or maybe i’ll retire the conflux and {bio, medical} informatics sections, while keeping the frequent “eric updates” here and moving all the dorky stuff to the main page. or maybe i’ll turn the lights out altogether on the vast wasteland and keep my opinions and photos to myself 🙂

to put it another way, i’d be mighty obliged if you took a moment to tell me why you visit this humble site and what you’d like to more or less of so i can factor it into my grand plans for a redesign that will hopefully happen before the end of the decade.