What Happened to LiveJournal?

I started to think back to my early experiences with Web 2.0 this week specifically in the context of produsage.  I understand the concept but sometimes if I think too long about users + producers I might be mixing myself up.  My understanding so far is that the roles of producer and user are merged in participatory media and networked environments.  Okay, so we are in this "user-led age". As I read more about produsage and re-read Beyond Differences (Bruns, 2011) I keep thinking about the pros and cons of a user-led age at this point in time for education and society.  It scares me to think that educators may "lose their privileged position" as subject matter experts and peer-based advice or instruction could essentially replace formal education and training.  It also excites me to experience creative collaborative communities online, many of which I participate in already.  For example, I started the Keto diet back in January and follow several Keto communities for recipes and videos.  I also have some Keto recipe books at home but find that with using the digital spaces I am better able to connect with people who are also doing Keto and get more creative with my recipes, then also share back how they turn out!  I also think about how much I love Yelp and treasure my elite status.  I trust these communities to provide accurate and helpful information but also understand the nature of the platform is peer led, thus differences in thought or opinion are highly likely.  Yet, the skeptical and cautious side of me can see how Generation C (Burns, 2011) presents a threat as well as opportunity.  The rabbit holes that I have find myself in on social media of people sharing knowledge of thoughts, opinions, and information has certainly made me question trustworthiness.  As a career counselor, I always tell my students to use credible resources for sources of career information (e.g., salary, job outlook, education requirements) rather than believing what is seen on TV or word of mouth.  I tell them to stay away from sites like Wikipedia because it lacks credibility compared to sites like the Occupational Outlook Handbook.  I suppose there is a time and place for gathering information and knowledge from produsage based forms and a time not to.   

Lastly, I started off this post actually thinking about LiveJournal and what ever happened to it?!  Then my mind went around and around thinking about whether I was a user, producer, or produser in that space.  Then I started to think about all of the ridiculous things that I probably wrote about at that time (2003) and how it has to be living somewhere on the internet but I have no idea what my name was or how to access it. Eeeks!  Well, it looks like LiveJournal does still exist as a global community of bloggers and it is Russian owed now -- who knew!  Apparently, back in 2014 there were 26 million LiveJournal credentials leaked online which brings about an entirely other issue of privacy in this digital world.  Perhaps one day I will remember which email address or username was my LiveJournal and can read my thoughts from 20 years ago.  Otherwise, I'll keep using Insta and Snapchat stories which I know will expire 😆.

No bee pictures today from me, but, I did inspect my bees tonight -- Honey & Beeyonce are doing just fine and producing a lot of brood and honey.  Talk about the hive mindset!