Blogging with courage

Susan Mernit's blog is always on my must read list. Her latest post on "Blogging with courage, aka losing the habit of holding back" really struck a chord with me. You see, I write a daily blog for AOL. It appears internally  at 2.open.aol.com and I also work for a Health Care company, CareFirst.  The two roles give me a fascinating insight. My challenge is always to find ways to cross-pollinate ideas.

At CareFirst I get involved with IT Strategy and see the potential to revolutionize how we engage with our customers if we adopt some of the tools and techniques from the Web 2.0 world. This will not happen unless change is forced. It is too easy to sit back and depend upon the tried and trusted methods. We have to be brave and experiment.  

I have been coming to the realization that as bloggers, I believe we have a duty to share a little piece of ourselves when we write. That is why Robert Scoble is such a compelling read as well. 

So, Susan, thanks for bringing these thoughts in to focus for me. I can't stay quiet if I want to see change happen. I have a duty to voice my opinion, share my ideas and encourage change. 

I am also one of the people that have joined the Data Portability work group. I have been a big advocate of OpenID since the early days and was delighted when AOL took the step to OpenID enable every AIM screen name.  What really attracted me to the Data Portability work group  is the potential for it to change the implementation of the Personal Health Record (PHR) for the better. The PHR is of vital importance to each of us. Its importance will grow as more of our health is monitored and recorded electronically. It absolutely should be something we as individuals control. The PHR is bigger than any one company, even Google or Microsoft. I firmly believe that Data Portability is part of the PHR solution.  The mechanisms promoted in Data Portability provide the basis for us each to control who can access what parts of our PHR.