Blogademia ... now that's a name I've not heard in a long, long time. I'm always torn between posting something here to keep it going, and wanting only to post stuff worthy of posting. With the change of jobs, I've been kept nicely busy in recent times, and so my blog work has fallen by the wayside. Not my interest ... oh no ... I'm still really into social media, I'm still a sociolinguist, and I will get to pursue sentiment analysis in time. I'm just not sure when I'll get to write again. I've a few opportunities coming up - my grip on my data finally loosening - as both Jon and Alastair are beginning to work with people interested in continuing our group's interest in the area.

For my own part, I've mostly been playing the part of reviewer in recent times. It's quite an honour to be asked to review on the topics and for the specific publications I've been asked to do. I do have a very niche area of expertise, which I guess makes me a go to guy for such things. Along with all the individual papers though, I'm also on the committee for the international conference on weblogs and social media to be held in Seattle next year. Keen blogademics will know that I attended last year along with Sam Gosling. It seems our work of a more psychological bent has helped shape the direction of this years conference, and there has been a significant increase in submissions in this area.

This is two edged blade of course. It is great to see more people doing work in this area, slowly building the profile of psycho/sociological work in online environments. It will be fascinating to read these papers to see what new directions people are moving in. However, the big disappointment is that I probably won't be going this year. I know, I know, this is saddening news but just because there will be no Nowson does not mean the rest of you shouldn't go - trust me when I say this one is going to be good!!