DIO: Do It Ourselves (In which I do my part to perpetuate one of those annoying catchphrase meme-thingies like a full-on social media dipshit)

Ronnie James Dio 1942 - 2010.

I am tempted to wrap up 2011 with some sort of epic jeremiad in which I dismiss the preceding twelve months as the year in which all hope was lost, and acknowledge that the 2012-dead-enders might be on to something. But I can’t write a better version of that than Mr. Kernohan already has… So I find myself in the unlikely position of poking through the embers in search of light and warmth.

And if I am wholly honest, this year-old Abject space is very much a product of 2011… While it is safe to say that this blog did absolutely nothing to make the world a better place, it did provide me with a space to get my hands into the gears of webwork again, to spew verbiage as I see fit. The readership here is miniscule, but if I had to draw up a select list of people whose work is most important to me, the ones I most want to interact with for inspiration and for laughs… well, I pretty much have that here. So if you have spun by this little lovenest of ed tech subversion for whatever reason, and especially if you ever cared to toss off a comment or a link, I truly appreciate it.

My bit of year-end good cheer is drawn from someone who has been in this field doing great work ever since I got here, Sebastien Paquet, who a few weeks back Tweeted:

The slight shift to “DIO” from “DIY” is obvious enough, and if I think about all the fun and all I learned this past year through, say, DS106, it’s equally obvious I didn’t do any of it myself. I can’t do anything by myself… but maybe I can help kick out the jams, because WE ROCK:

Onward to a loud and rowdy 2012 my friends. Nobody’s gonna do it for us, we’ll have to do it ourselves. Mess with the bull, you get the horns.

20 thoughts on “DIO: Do It Ourselves (In which I do my part to perpetuate one of those annoying catchphrase meme-thingies like a full-on social media dipshit)

  1. I like the idea, but what about the myriad of things we really can’t do by ourselves?

    What about the things that require greater organization to accomplish, more coordination, and those many things accomplished well by the institutions of the day?

  2. Hi Darren, thanks for your comment. I consider myself fortunate to work at a large university, and have no plans to quit. I am not suggesting we need to Do It ALL Ourselves (DIAO), not least because it would mess up the heavy metal acronym.

    I can dream of more effective institutions and governments… We can all hold them to higher standards. But I daresay that in 2012 that to defer to them, or to expect them to do the right thing on their own, does not promise anything but a continuation along our present disastrous course.

  3. I have always wanted to do Ronnie James Dio, not realizing that I already had. Just another blackout I can;t reconstruct—kinda like 2011.

    And I can;t agree with you more, Kernohan’s end-of-the-year Jeremiad is insane, you and him need to form a band and get out on the road—magic would happen and it would give 2012 maybe a little bit of hope. You all have a good one out there, and keep on keeping on.

  4. Antonio – Dios mio! (Sorry, I know that isn’t Italian.)

    Jim – You got the RJ Dio down, all you need to do now is shout “look out!” periodically. I can only dream of adding Kerhnohan into the mix at a reprise of the NV jam at The Sanctuary.

    Happy 2012 to you both, amigos! You’re two of the best.

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