Ravioli Reflections

I think my digital identity helped me in my learning a little since I was able to get encouragement, tips, and a sort of overarching umbrella of ideas which I was able to narrow down to a good starting place.  I’m not sure my digital identity has changed because of this process, but maybe a little.  People now know that I am taking this class and that I am trying to learn a new skill. Friends and family ask me about it when I see them.  I already blogged, but more people may now be aware of this. Facebook and Twitter are not too concerned at the current moment with cooking.  Maybe if this had happened at a different, less historical, moment, more attention would have been paid to my posts about food.  Also, there are many, many cooking blogs, websites, and resources.  Perhaps if I had chosen a skill within an area that was less popular or ubiquitous (we gotta eat…) then maybe the community would have been smaller and more responsive and interactive.  My own personal digital community helped and supported me, but I have not become a member of a new one.  

I suppose I am focused more on the actual making of the ravioli than on the sharing of the process with my digital community.  This is partly because I am a “digital immigrant,” and it isn’t second nature to be documenting my every move on social media, and partly because I like to create an actual, tactile, edible, product more than I like producing posts to share on social media. (And I like to eat…) So maybe sharing more of the process on social media, not only questions but final products, would get me more support as a member of a “ravioli community.”

I do feel supported by my digital, and by extension, real, community.  The ideas they gave, and continue to give, help me keep working toward my goal.  Now that people know what I’m up to , they check in, give suggestions, ask questions.  Also, it serves to give me ideas I probably wouldn’t have come up with on my own.  By using the digital community, it helps me be more creative.  Also, in some ways it keeps me going.  People ask and wonder how it’s going, and help keep this process in the fore of my mind.