Teaching an (sorta) old prof new tricks

I’ve always been stuck between generations. My generation got stuck between the Baby Boomers and the Baby Busters. My generation got stuck between PCs and Mobile Computing. My generation got stuck between newspapers and Twitter.
Am I complaining? No. Just in a fog at times. I’m not hooked on social networking. I do love the Internet and all it offers, but fear we’re waaaayyyyy too self-disclosive. I don’t get the blogging thing. So why am here?
Old dogs sometimes have to learn new tricks. Like when your workplace says, “Make a web page for yourself.”
As a professor in today’s marketplace and social spaces, a Communication professor at that, I get it. Everyone’s online reading everyone’s stuff. Young people (and their parents) want to see that you are a real person and not just a mug shot on a boring standardized institutional website.
Doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with it. At least not yet.
Ok. I know enough about this online presence thing to realize I’m bordering on ranting.
(Do you see that?! That’s an emoticon! Ooooh! I’m up-to-date now!)

Photo: Mitzy, the rolling robot dog. A new old spin on our "best friends." Art by Will Wagenaar. Learn more at GizmoWatch.com.