The more I immerse myself in the flow — increase my addiction to the Internet, some would have it — the harder it is to focus and collect my thoughts in a blog. I’ve always tried to use my posts to synthesize ideas that come from different places, so it’s sometimes a long time before things gel into a coherent concept. Lilia Efimova’s blog this morning brought my process into focus.

Her PhD thesis is on the blogger community and blogging. She has continued to blog throughout her research and now in her dissertation-writing phase. Here’s how she divides the process of writing into phases:

• Awareness and articulation — starting to get ideas on the radar
• Sense-making — when the connections among the ideas and a possible meaning become clear
• Turning the ideas into specific product — the dissertation chapter

Here is her perceptive map of the process:

Here are the bits I am collecting (somewhere between the two left-side states):

• Understanding what collection of Web 2.0 tools to use in different contexts (this will go on the AppGap)
• Information overload in the flow (more on the topic introducing this post, also AppGap)
• Uptake of net work in the nonprofit world (here)
• Understanding the transition between an emergent, self-organizing state and the close-knit structure required for a team to produce

Actually, the last item will need a graphic that looks very much like the one above.

Thanks, Lilia!