Great question! A Pondering is a term I use for a short thesis that revolves around a central topic. The topics can be anything, and work best when they are a bit obscure, to help encourage the research process. In other words, they are short essays about anything.
What kind of topics can I expect?
I expect that many of my Ponderings will typically revolve around technology and video games, but you can expect a wide variety of topics. Some other topics that I have interest in include Japanese culture, media preservation, and science. These are things that I think about and form thoughts on. When I learn enough about them and form my thoughts, I write them here. My goal is to keep what I write here both interesting and positive.
Why do they exist?
Those familiar with my work may recall my old blog, Tech Talk 4 Geeks. The blog centered around daily posts about technology, with an emphasis on brevity. What I’ve learned from this style of writing is that the constant schedule didn’t allow me to invest everything I had into a particular topic.
Furthermore, in 2020 I co-authored a thesis for college. I found that I liked the idea of a fully comprehensive document with a very specific topic.
From here, I wanted to combine the informal tone of my blog posts with the completeness and commitment of a thesis. This is the essence of a Pondering.
I was also inspired by video essays on YouTube. I find they have a lot in common with my vision of the Pondering. Videos like these are often around 20 minutes in length, have informal tone, and allow for discussion of topics outside of the mainstream.
How often do you write?
Ponderings take longer to write than short blog posts. Ideally, I’d like to have a new post out every few months.
Can I trust them?
A Pondering should be a mixture of cited research and the author’s own thoughts. Part of the fun of writing a Pondering is using it as a learning experience. That said, I will not be an expert at every topic I write about on this blog. Each post on this site will have a dedicated section for citations and notes, which will mention any cited sources or notes regarding some parts of the post. I will do my best to keep opinion and fact distinct and obvious, but if there is any doubt or confusion, assume that it is my own thoughts. After all, it is just a Pondering.