This is a general question that I have been specifically thinking of in its current form since I was a freshman at St. John’s… “which is more important, focused action or attention on just one thing (specialization), or diffused action or attention spread across many things (generalization)”. I’ve consistently come down on the side of generalization, because I think that trying to focus one’s ability and talent into ‘just one thing’ is wasteful and pretentious. Human being aren’t supposed to be specialists. There isn’t anything that justifies any argument to the contrary that I have seen or experienced.
So, specifically, I have been troubled with the issue of on-line identity, namely, should I be spread all across the internet at different addresses, or should I settle into a single address, single blog, single URI from which all of me can be found? I’m torn. On the one hand, I enjoy having a broad presence, but if it costs me depth and continuity, then is it worth it?
And, more practically, there isn’t enough exposure now that I’m unemployed and homeless to support the cost of a broad presence. I need to establish an identity and build a reputation, and breadth just doesn’t do that very well. There needs to be a focal point, from which both the breadth and depth are accessible, in order to facilitate discovery. That, of course, is a design constraint that modifies the original principle’s adoption.