Blogging - What To Say

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Introduction

An otherwise complex audio signal chain
My name is Jake Swensen, this is my first blog post and I think it is important for me to give this introduction, and explain a little bit about the title of this blog "Aux Replays". A considerable part of my identity is that I produce a lot of music, I have studied audio engineering, exploring sonic quality and creativity for over a decade. Usually producers need "stage" names, I go by Aux, personally it resonates with me. My middle name is Austin - hence the 'Au' portion of the name. The last part is the 'X' which is the roman numeral for my life path number, 10. Aux is also sort of a nerdy audio term, usually dealing with signal flow. "Replays" is just a fun replacement for the word "reflects". I hope you find this blog insightful. I hope I can use this blog to develop some literacy in this medium, as well as leaving a positive digital footprint. This blog will also be a way to share my perspective about 21st Century Skills and emerging digital technologies.

Concerns

I am definitely concerned about the consistency I will have with this blogging assignment. While I can keep rolling out these blog posts, what do I even say? Sure, there is usually going to be a prompt and a topic, but I have no idea the slightest style to write in. This blog post will definitely be me exploring what kind of style I want to have as well as my first impressions with blogging. Are blogs supposed to have a hyper professional tone? I think I would like to keep my writing conversational, but I definitely understand the fact that people are trying to read these posts. I also have to be aware that it is hard to determine the tone of what I am writing, certain words have bad connotations, and I have to be cognizant, using words in the right context as to not confuse the reader.

Excitement and Insecurity with Blogging

I think blogging is a great way to share my thoughts, but I also think some may see it as pretentious. Do people really care about what I think, and just because I can write about what I think, does it mean I should? There is definitely a blend of feelings between excited and insecure about forum posting.  On the side of excitement, I have had a bizarre year, there are so many topics on my mind when I think about my personal life. I have a lot of interests, and I already love the idea of having a space to talk about those interests, thoughts and beliefs. 

Hacking scene in film "The Social Network" directed by David Fincher about Meta's (Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg

On the side of insecurity, I feel strange about having this space, and that literally anyone could have this space. In the digital world, all of what I am writing now is permanent. I can't take back these words, so it makes me feel like I want to be more reserved in my writing. But there is an incentive to be fully transparent in my writing, it would set me apart, and make my thoughts special, raw and truly present. The caveat is that there is a greater risk of writing something that is subject to scrutiny. 

Lastly, I think that writing for my personal interests will be a lot more insightful than writing for professionality. Professional endeavors are in my opinion meant to be very tight, unassuming, and withdrawn until there is a level of trust between two parties. Writing for my personal interests feels so much closer to an experience like live-streaming, where there's a stream of consciousness that will not be taken too seriously, and that's the side of blogging I would love to explore. I would love to explore topics that I and other folks can relate to, not just topics that are to be taken seriously by other scholars, while I wouldn't be opposed to explore that side as well. Is there room for both? I am not one-hundred percent sure what this blog will end up being, but I hope it can be something I am not embarrassed of in the future.   

If you'd love to support me and other artists from the Bay Area; Listen to music produced and engineered by Aux on Spotify here:


Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

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