Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa. Blank Slate. This phrase was made famous by John Locke, who used it to describe his belief that the mind comes into life blank or empty, and is written on by experience. His work has been used in education and to argue the nature vs. nurture issue. And now, many years later, the term "Tabula Rasa" has a new meaning. It's the name of a video game that will be released soon, a game I’ve become very familiar with in the past few months.

In December, I was given the opportunity to take over what has become the largest independent Tabula Rasa Fansite, Planet TR. Back then, I wasn’t quite a blank slate when it can to web design… but my experience was fairly limited and I had (and still have) no formal training. Just an interest, a couple of day long workshops I've taken, and a variety of books I’ve used to teach myself what I know about web design.

Since then I’ve learned a great deal… written quite a few new things on my slate. I’ve gotten very good at writing code and using Photoshop to create original graphics for the site. I have also learned a lot about what it takes to manage a site… everything from building a solid community to problem solving technical issues. And it seems like I learn something new every day. It’s been an incredible experience… so good in fact, I plan to start taking courses in web development at our local community college. It will take a while for me to complete my degree, but I hope to eventually be able to start a small business using the skills I’ve learned, and the ones I will learn in the near future.

So if you’ve wondered where I’ve been lately… or what’s been keeping me so busy, now you know. I’ve been writing new experiences on my “Tabula Rasa”.