The way I use talkgroup to share my life online is a bit different from how many folks use social networks online. This document explains the hows and whys of interacting with me, and will hopefully inspire you to do something similar. 
On v2.talkgroup I am focusing on hosted subject groups, and am currently at capacity, personally. So if there are to be new talkgroups, others will need to step up and bring it about (which is best started by stating such an intention in #meta).
Oh, and thatās where weāll start!
This is the place to discuss how talkgroup works. I use it as technical changelog, and hope others will learn from and contribute to my knowledge of running a public Discourse site. You are invited to start a new discussion here with questions about the site, and especially suggestions.
I work as an ethical technologist, so I spend a lot of time in #computing, logging my activity, taking notes, asking and answering questions. I do so in public to amplify my learning.
If you want to geek out, or get public tech support, this is the place for you. 
I host the media talkgroup, first because āHi, I host a media talkgroupā sounds dope, but also because it converges many of my interests, such as: media production, music, video games, literature, semiotics, documentation, archiving, etc.
Also, #mad-libs! Oh my _______ (noun)!
I tend to focus on a thing, like a format or TV show, and then make long, long, long discussions about them. Because then others can kinda watch along with me, and have asynchronous conversations about the same scenesā¦
#media is fun if you like watching/reading/playing/listening to stuff.
I know itās kinda weird to have a public group journal, but consider: maybe, occasionally you need a public group journal! And then, hereās one. I used it extensively, as little logs of things that need to be tracked, and benefit from being shared in case I need to catch folks up. For instance, getting my internet set up (Sonic.net, network and phone). Because the messages are time-stamped, I have a better tracking system for when things happen (I can even share a public link with vendors if to verify when stuff happened, something I deal with constantly in the world of information technology during a pandemic and supply line collapseā¦ anyways!).
However, I take it a bit further, because I practice a kind of personal radical transparency. That means I share my daily happenings, and health, in the open public. Here are some interesting journals I keep:
- Daily log, maiki - daily journal
- maiki scratches - microblog
- ā Clover and...! - inspirational/funny stuff my kid says
- Health log, maiki - my journey through the health system
-
Autumn Lights Festival, 2021 - I took sooo many pics!
Hereās the cool thing you can do: subscribe to a topic you want to follow. It is a setting, look for it on the topic you are want to follow:
Depending on your settings, you may then get emails, notifications, or digests with new messages, which works really well for following interesting journals/journeys. Try it out!
The world talkgroup is about scaffolding knowledge over time. We homeschool, and I learn most by the acting of sharing with others; considering how to communicate an idea, and discussing, creates vibrant memories that I intend to draw on in the future, as well as leave hints for those after to understand what and why we were studying this.
Also, I hope for serendipity: if I cast my net out far enough, wide enough, and often enough, Iām sure Iāll catch folks with knowledge to share.
Finally, when I was young I went to many schools and I developed my own meta-education framework. The hypertext abilities in Discourse work well for how I sort and multiply information. The #world is like a personal encyclopedia Iām building, one interesting topic at a time.
I feel we really crushed it with that description: itās the foodā¦ stuffs.
I donāt like cooking, but I like repeatable processes that produce food, so Iām in. Here are some interesting places to check:
- Whatcha cooking, maiki? - a personal meal prep log, so the future knows what I ate
- Whatcha cooking, Susan? - stuff @susan foods
- š Roberta's Pizza Dough - our pizza dough recipe!
We have another site, itās at https://talkgroup.xyz. Slowly but surely Iām processing all the conversations there. Because of the open-ended nature of how we use topics (group discussions, book reads, Star Trek gifs, etc.), sometimes we need a side-conversation to figure out what to do with it. Thatās what #previously is for.
You donāt have to worry about that talkgroup, Iāll mention you in a topic if we need your input on something; itās very out of the way. 
There are a few other talkgroups, but they arenāt being used very much and might go away; such is the transient nature of reality that equally applies to these forums. 
If you have any questions you are ask in a reply to this message, or if itās private you may email me at support@maiki.xyz.
