Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Last week I gave a talk at the Job Search Learning Lab (JSLL) in Anderson Township here in Cincinnati, Ohio. They had requested that I speak about blogging, specifically in getting started with a WordPress.com blog. I recently checked and realized that I have created over 15 blogs since I first started back in 2002. (more…)

Dean Peters, whom I’ve known in the blogosphere since 2002, recently shared Judith Newman’s article in the New York Times, entitled “When ‘Best’ Isn’t Good Enough“. It’s about the subtle things that can be said and inferred in how we sign off our emails.

On e-mail sign-offs and social lubrication

If we’ve ever corresponded via email, you probably have noticed that I sign off with “Make it a great day!” There’s a reason for that, (more…)

I’ve been playing Starcraft 2 since August of this year. It’s my first-ever venture into massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) or real-time strategy (RTS) gaming. The game has many areas for individual players to enjoy as well as multiple players to have matches with one another.

Two features of the game that I love are (more…)

Geez. It’s October already.

For three years now, I’ve been organizing events for the in-person social networking community I founded called New Media Cincinnati. We actually have the October event coming up this weekend.

My approach in getting the word out about these events has changed over time, from sending multiple direct messages to followers, to using Facebook as the medium to plan and organize the events.  For awhile we even had a wiki set up. I thought I’d share some of  my current approach to getting the word out.

An approach to event marketing

In 2008, I began using Eventbrite to organize, plan, and run the monthly events, which have become known as New Media Cincinnati Second Saturdays (mostly because people always wondered when we met). I’ve enjoyed using Eventbrite, and I’m not ashamed to recommend them (and for you to use my affiliate link!). (more…)

In January 2002 I started my first blog. I’d read about Blogger for a few years and thought it was time to look deeper and see what I could do with it. I’ve been an introspective person for much of my life, so when it came time to come up with the title, I called it something that would signify the purpose for which it was created. I’d been journaling since I was in high school, and I saw blogging as an opportunity to do that. I named the blog “Journey Inside My Mind”.  It was a scary title. Even now, it still scares me a bit. What will I find there? What will others find there?

Even so it was fun. I remember the enjoyment I got out of figuring out how to get certain things done with the tool. I learned how to change my template, add features, and even had fun spilling my guts and letting the creative juices flow. I recall impromptu posts where I’d create a poem from scratch.

In 2005 I learned about audio blogging and started listening to podcasts. I learned how to collect podcasts in a single location to listen to as an alternative to the radio, customized for my personal listening experience. Ever since I was a kid, I thought I’d love to be a DJ. I also learned how to create audio blog posts and eventually spent many hours learning how to create my first podcast episode.

Five years ago this month, I released the first episode of the Journey Inside My Mind podcast. (more…)