Yes, you read that right. Based on my reading of several experts in the field of communications, I think we're well into Web 2.1, possibly even Web 2.2, the next increment of social networking. However, also based on my recent readings, we're still trying to figure out a) how to make the new model work with credibility and b) how to create a viable business model.

Over at Examiner.com, where I write regularly about United Methodist issues, we had a lengthy discussion on the writers' forum about the credibility issue. We're agreed that credibility is still essential to good communication, but the ways to achieve it have shifted. There needs to be much more collaboration rather than competition among journalists, writers and editors. The professionals also need to work more with "citizen journalists" who contribute their own reports through the many media that are so accessible to them today.

The other major issue in communications is that of speed versus context. Hands down, the Internet is THE source for up-to-the-second news, and the winner in this category is (drum roll, please) ... Twitter! The 140-character message system was the first to announce and confirm Michael Jackson's death last week, according to Google statistics.

Traditional news outlets such as the New York Times, and even newer outlets such as The Huffington Post, may be quaking in their news boots over Twitter's ascendance. However, more insightful experts, such as David Weir at BNet, respond that speed is not the only issue. Twitter's fast, all right, but at only 140 characters, it will never be able to provide the kind of context that's necessary for full understanding of any issue or event. That leaves plenty of opportunity for the rest of us communicators to take the necessary time to observe, interpret, and most importantly, verify the information we disseminate.

To that end, I've decided to focus my communications efforts via my own web site. I'm closing down two blogs I've been running at Blogger in favor of using this site exclusively for my personal communications. I continue to write news and commentary on United Methodist issues and events for Examiner.com. I'll also continue on Facebook and Twitter, since these are essential communications streams at present.

At the same time, I'm still offering my services as a communicator and consultant to anyone who needs writing, editing or design help. Please contact me via the methods listed and we'll talk.

Let's keep in touch!

Cynthia

PS This site is very much a work in progress. Let me know what you think as the design continues to develop. Thanks!

Remember the excellent "Star Trek" film called "First Contact"? The plot centered on humans' first encounter with extraterrestrial beings, which the Borg -- those human-machine hybrids -- were attempting to prevent so that they could conquer Earth. Sometimes I think the Borg could have just waited for the Internet to come along, since so many things seem to have been conquered by it!

We're living through an era of what social scientists call a "tectonic event." Like an earthquake, digital communications of all kinds have disrupted and transformed human contacts in ways unheard-of 45 years ago when the first "Star Trek" episodes ran on TV. Why, we even have personal communicators now -- I think of Captain Kirk every time I open my cell phone.

Yet while the delivery systems have changed radically, the need for good, clear communication has not. In fact, the need for clear communication is even more acute, to be able to cut through the layers of chatter afforded us today by our new digital delivery systems.

That's where I come in. I'm a writer and editor whose passion is clear communication. I wrote and edited newspapers for 30 years. I've edited books, published poems, written press releases, designed newsletters, crafted reports -- you name it, and I've probably written a version of it somewhere. That's the level of skill and experience that underlies everything I do.

So since the Internet is now the global marketplace, here I am -- a scribe  sending out messages in pixels instead of ink. If you have a message that needs crafting, I'm the master scribe who can put words and images together for you.  Let's get connected.