I have a busy year ahead of me. I am in the throes of doing the interviews for my PhD (the fun bit) and then comes the hard bit – the analysis and writing. I’m very much looking forward to it.

Over the past few years of blogging here and at my personal blogsite, I have learnt that blogging is fun, but it is also hard work. Like many bloggers, I get a rush of enthusiasm from time to time and then other commitments takeover and there just isn’t the time to make a contribution to the daily debates – as much as I might like to.

It’s tempting to believe in the power of technology, but the challenge to produce good content regularly over a long period of time will always be daunting.

Australia’s opinionsphere has expanded rapidly in recent years, with the traditional media leaping on-board.

Nevertheless, Crikey’s platform is still unique, or uncommon, in the sense that it allows individuals, including outsiders not just in-house journos, to maintain their own blogs and publish directly.

And that’s a lot closer to the spirit of blogging that I imbibed when I went to Bloggercon at Stanford way back in 2004.

I hope the Crikey blog experiment goes from strength to strength.

Thanks to the Crikey team and to everyone who read my stuff.

If you want to follow the progress of a humble post-career PhD student, I will keep blogging at my typepad blog when time permits and the mood strikes.