Hitting Eject

September 17, 2009

To my knowledge, this is the first time my Brightkite data hasn’t been delivered as expected. It’s a typical occurrence for Twitter, of course, and I have a backup set of data for when that happens. I never bothered with a backup for Brightkite because 1. it was seemingly always available, 2. it’s hard to show where you are without actually having data and 3. in all likeliness it will be right back and my viewers probably won’t even notice.

But all of that to say, there may be some wisdom in not bothering. Most people settle for a link to their information as hosted elsewhere.

Originally I wanted something visual. It’s a great addition to the introduction page, and I had envisioned it being really interactive, incorporating photos, video etc. But now I question its relevance for me, because I never actually go anywhere. All of my travels are between home and work, and I don’t really like to give the exact location of my house. It’s also probably not important that people know where I am at any given moment, is it?

With all things considered, I’ll probably abandon the large map and update the geo-coordinates differently. If I start traveling more often I’ll re-negotiate it all, or maybe just have a dedicated page for it.

All of that to say, I’m taking my own advice and hitting eject on a project or feature that wasn’t panning out and could have absorbed all of my time.

I don’t know that I’ll regret it either. =)

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