End of December is a time when I usually try to take stock of year behind and create semi-plausible goals for upcoming year. I didn’t used to do this until some day, a few years ago, I noticed that my twenties were gone. Since then it has become a habit that has served me well.

My biggest achievement this year is successfully suing myself. If this sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is. It would take too long to explain why I came to do this, but it goes to show how far you sometimes have to go to please some bureaucrat.

I worked a lot, to the point of postponing all my last years plans and didn’t get much in return. I honestly can’t say I learned a lot and I achieved even less of what I’m proud of. This year has simply been a professional disappointment that I have no intention of repeating again.

Of course I didn’t just wake up and discover my failures and failings. They’ve been apparent to me for a while and I spent a large part of last few months thinking about what interests me and what I want, can and will try to do. I tried to form my personal research agenda , but failing to get specific enough I have decided to spend next year learning about and exploring my areas of interest and see what I can come up with.

Creating content, while popular, still feels awkward and limited. As a LEGO fan since childhood I want to see if I can come up with a set of metaphors and building blocks that yield great power of expression. The point isn’t a tool for a perfect expression of an idea as much as it is an adequate expression of most ideas. Polishing can and should come later.

I got Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte a few days ago and it’s an astonishing book covering another topic I feel needs more (of my) attention. When we manage to create something, we often fail to present our ideas properly. Partly it’s our fault since we can’t help ourselves not to rely on forms and traditions that came before web. It’s also our tools fault. When all you have is a blog, everything has to be squeezed onto a timeline.

We’re over-focusing on primary creations. As a reader I’m usually quite limited in what I can do with a piece. These days I can make a vague statement with voting or less vague one with a comment. I may also forward a find, but that’s about it. My actions are by and large limited to statements about a piece instead of interacting directly with it.

I’m sure none of above mentioned problems is new or unexplored. Smart people out there have certainly done wonderful stuff I haven’t heard of yet. Any pointers are always welcome. So next year I’ll work less, learn more (about it) and spend time playing with ideas that might appear. Hopefully I’ll have something to show in year’s time. Who knows, with a bit of luck I might even have something useful.

But before I leave, let me wish everyone merry holidays and a happy new year.