Signs

Tradition demands that certain statements are included in this blip so I thought I'd better trot them out.

I didn't think I'd get this far - Well of course not. What kind of fool sits down one day and thinks "I'll post a photo every day for 2,000 days because that's obviously a sensible thing to do"

Blip is not as good as it used to be - I don't think that Blip has radically changed from my point of view. The UI is different but I'm not here because it's black on white or grey on green or any of that stuff. Some folk I know through other places (IRL or online) are still here while others have moved on. That's pretty much how communities work isn't it? I'm reasonably sure that I'm not as good as I used to be but that's probably a different thing.

I'm not sure if I'll carry on - I've never been sure that I'll keep posting a blip each day. My record suggests that I might but taking a photo a day serves lots of purposes which I'd have to meet in other ways if I didn't post to Blip. Some days it's the reason I put down a book and go out to explore the world. On most days it helps me to see the world as a boundless collection of possibilities. Blip is a diary of more than five years and even when you guys don't know where I was and why and what happened I usually know the story behind every image and that has a value to me. Martin covered much of what I get from it in a presentation back in 2012 - it's worth checking out. Posting a blip is one of my daily Mindapples

I'd like to thank everyone who takes a look/comments - Yes, without doubt. I don't reply as often as I used to and I'm not sure that I comment as widely as I did in the first months of youthful exuberance but I still feel part of the community; participation and reciprocity are what it's all about and I could even launch into a long (and boring) spiel about virtual socialization and how it might articulate with Lave & Wenger's stuff about communities of practice; but I won't.

I love looking at blips from other people - Oh goodness yes! I've seen parts of the world that I will never visit and I've seen images which take my breath away. I've learnt a good deal about photography from looking at other blips but, more importantly, I've learnt a great deal about how we - blippers - see the world. Occasionally I see that someone has "protected" their blips and that's cool but I rarely ask to intrude; I'm past the point at which I think the best parties are happening behind doors that I need to knock on to open.

I hope that I've covered all the expected points. 

I had a fast pass over the last 1,999 blips last night and I was surprised at the places I've photographed and it was lovely to see the people who have agreed to be included - and the few who haven't agreed but have been included anyway :-) Not sure that there are enough steam trains or birds though so I'll have to up my game.

Edited - Having done the text and image and posted it I realised that I'd put two thousand tweets rather than two thousand blips! D'oh!