What I write about: Personal Portfolio

In the previous post I talked about my Aviation Portfolio -- all related, at least tangentially, to my work. In addition I write material that I think of as my Personal Portfolio.

The centerpiece of my Personal Portfolio is a blog called The Right Blue, which I co-produce with my husband. In it we recount the many adventures we've had over the course of several decades as divers, and some of the things we've learned along the way about the ocean and its natural inhabitants. In addition to the tales, the blog also showcases my underwater photography. With very few exceptions (all of which are labeled) , the images on the blog are photos I've taken myself, here in Hawaii where we live, as well as at various dive sites around the world.

Here are a few of the most recent articles posted to The Right Blue:

• Tales of whales: Humpbacks in Hawaii
• A little fish with a big job
• Male fur seals at Taiaroa Head
  

And here are a few recently posted stand-alone photos of marine life (no text -- although each has a brief description posted as the first comment).

• Red-spotted Sandperch
• Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle on Puako Reef
• Stripe-belly Puffer Fish
  

At present we are preparing a new blog -- a land-based companion to The Right Blue. The new blog will feature photos (and descriptions) of scenery, flowers, and animal life. We have an extensive garden that we run like a mini nature preserve, so most of the photos in the new blog will focus an the plants, trees and flowers in our garden, and the critters that live there or visit regularly. We'll also display photos shot elsewhere on our island, as well as images from places to which we travel. Stay tuned: When the new blog is launched I'll announce it here.

Finally, I also write for a multi-author blog called Go! Smell the Flowers. Here are my three most recent posts there:

• Go! Kick up your heels underwater!
  
• Go! See the contrasts
  
• Go! Smell the wildflowers... er, weeds
  

I rarely lack for topics to write about, but sometimes I run a little short of time to write all of the things I want to write, WHEN I want to write them. For example, all of the writing I intended to do in my personal blogs had to be put aside late this past week after a British Airways plane crash landed at London's Heathrow Airport. The priority was to write about that event and its aftermath for my aviation news blogs, which I did, but the task was so labor intensive that it left no time for the personal writing.

So it goes.

What I write about: Aviation Portfolio

"Just what kinds of things do you blog about?" I was asked recently by a new acquaintance.

I write about topics in several distinct domains. In my mind they are organized into two 'portfolios': I have a Personal Portfolio, and an Aviation Portfolio.

Let me introduce you to my Aviation Portfolio first. It's composed of a static website and a suite of blogs, all of which arose in conjunction with my work.

I'm a research psychologist, and for some years I have been studying the lives of people who work in the aviation industry, and especially those who fly for a living. I began in this role by investigating occupational stress and its effects on the health and well being of people who work as civilian aircrew. At first I focused only on pilots and flight attendants who work for commercial airlines. Somewhat later my work expanded to include other sectors of the civilian air transport industry as well, such as air cargo, air charter, and corporate aviation.

Eventually my research focus broadened beyond the stress-and-health issues, per se. More recently my research can best be described as ethnographic, i.e., looking at all aspects of the lives of people in aviation occupations, including training, safety, security, and labor issues as well as health.

Along the way I became an aviation news junkie! I'm interested in aviation news mostly from the perspective of its impact on the lives of the crew members I have come to know.

At some point I found myself forwarding news items and links to articles to the many pilots and flight attendants I had come to know through my research programs. I did this on a very frequent basis. I just didn't want them to miss anything important!

Then one day in 2004 it occurred to me to collate the news items and links on a blog that all of the people on my email list could read at their leisure (or not!) instead of having their in-boxes clogged up with my frequent mass mailings. That worked out reasonably well -- well enough that I began to think about how to do it a little better.

In February of 2005 I abandoned the first link collection in favor of a new blog, in which I posted news summaries of interest to people who fly for a living -- and the people who support them on the ground. I added a little commentary here and there, and also posted the occasional crew-related essay I had authored. I named the new blog Aircrew Buzz.

Aircrew Buzz remains as my flagship aviation news blog -- and continues to grow in readership. But in the Fall of 2005 I decided to spin off two specialized aviation news blogs from Aircrew Buzz -- one for pilots, and another for flight attendants. That airplane at right is the logo that now is displayed on each, indicating that they are all part of the same suite -- my Aviation Portfolio.

Today, Aircrew Buzz still focuses on "crew-centered news and commentary," but covers the broader topics -- regulatory issues, for example -- as well as international events and industry-wide topics. Here are some recent examples:

• Continental takes delivery of first Next-Generation B737-900ER
• Transaven Let L-410 missing off Venezuelan coast
• New prohibition on lithium batteries in checked baggage
  

The second in my portfolio of aviation news blogs is Professional Pilot News. Just as the title suggests, this one is less general than Aircrew Buzz, focusing on news and issues of particular interest to the people who fly civilian planes for a living. Topics covered include flight deck safety, accident and incident reports, contract and labor issues, tips on who's hiring pilots, and occasional stories about individual pilots. For example:

• American Airlines Pilots want mediation of contract talks
• Taxi prang for Sen. Obama's chartered Gulfstream
• Pinnacle vs. pilots: The latest chapter
  

Cabin Crew News, a news blog for flight attendants around the world, was spun off from Aircrew Buzz at the same time as Professional Pilot News. Similar in range of content to the blog for pilots, it features news of specific interest to flight attendants: cabin crew contract and labor issues, reports about cabin safety issues, tips on finding cabin crew jobs, and stories about individual flight attendants. Here are some recent examples:

• Air Canada turbulence incident injures 10
• Virgin Atlantic cabin crew plan to strike
• Aloha Airlines No. 1 F/A retires after 50 years
  

All three of my aviation news blogs are syndicated by both BlogBurst and Newstex. Through this syndication, the content from all three appears regularly on the Commercial Aviation page of McGraw-Hill's Aviation Week, and individual articles are distributed through syndication to Reuters, LexisNexis, EBSCO and others. (I must admit, it's fun to see my articles pop up on news websites all over the web.)

That's my current Aviation Portfolio. Next, I'll tell you about my Personal Portfolio.