As a journalist, there are many subjects I write about professionally. Technology is an obvious one. So are cloud computing, data centers, cybersecurity, AI and industrial technology. But there are also many subjects that fascinate me personally and that do not always fit neatly into one of the websites, magazines or other platforms I write for.
That is one of the reasons I started Just Me. I wanted a place where I could simply write about the things I find interesting. And there are quite a few of those.
Technology, but not only technology
Technology will certainly be an important part of this blog. I have always been interested in new technologies and in the way they change the world around us. AI is an obvious example, but I am just as interested in developments around open source software, European technology and the growing discussion about digital sovereignty and autonomy.
I find it fascinating to look beyond the individual product or announcement and ask what a development actually means. Who controls the technology we use? Where is our data stored? How dependent have we become on a relatively small number of technology companies? And what alternatives are emerging?
Sustainability is another subject that regularly catches my attention. Particularly when it intersects with technology. Energy, data centers, renewable power, more efficient computing and smarter use of resources are all subjects I expect to return to regularly. European companies are actually at the forefront of developments like these.
Looking a little further away
I have been fascinated by spaceflight for as long as I can remember. And right now, space is becoming particularly interesting again. New launch companies, satellites, lunar missions, reusable rockets, space-based infrastructure and an increasingly important European space industry are creating an enormous number of stories worth following.
Space technology is also becoming much more closely connected to everyday life on Earth. Satellites help us understand climate change, monitor agriculture, improve communications and respond to natural disasters. At the same time, ideas that sounded highly futuristic only a few years ago are gradually becoming serious engineering projects. That makes space exactly the sort of subject I enjoy writing about.
Building my own knowledge system
Another recurring subject will probably be personal knowledge management. I read a lot. I save articles. I make notes. I bookmark websites. I collect ideas for future stories. And, like many people who do this, I am constantly trying to find better ways to organise all that information. That has led me to tools and concepts such as digital notebooks, knowledge graphs, linked notes, RSS, self-hosted services and personal archives. At the moment, I’m using Capacities.io for this. It has quite a steep learning curve, but I have to say: it really works for me!
I am interested not only in the tools themselves, but also in the underlying question: how do you build a useful collection of knowledge without simply creating an enormous digital pile that you never look at again?
Music, blogs and the small internet
Then there is music. I enjoy streaming, but I also like CDs, vinyl records and even cassettes. There is something interesting about the different ways in which we discover, collect and listen to music. Sometimes the technology becomes part of the experience: the crackle of vinyl, the mechanical sound of a cassette player or simply rediscovering an album you had forgotten about for decades.
The same is true for blogs on the indyweb. I have become increasingly interested in personal websites and independent blogs. In a web dominated by enormous platforms, algorithms and automatically generated content, there is something refreshing about discovering a small website maintained by one person who simply writes about things he or she cares about. One post might be about software development. The next about a record they bought. Another about a walk through a city, a book they read or a strange technical problem they finally managed to solve.
There does not always have to be a content strategy behind it. Sometimes somebody simply has something interesting to say.
A place for curiosity
That is roughly what I want Just Me to be. Not a tightly defined technology publication. Not a personal diary either. And certainly not a blog that tries to stay within one carefully selected niche. It is simply a place where I can follow my curiosity. One day that may result in a story about European technology or digital autonomy. Another day it might be about a spacecraft, a useful open source application, a personal knowledge management experiment, an interesting blog I discovered or an old record that suddenly sounds wonderful again.
There is plenty to write about. And that is exactly what I intend to do.