Profiles of Web 2.0 - Digital Nomad

This is our first in a series of profiles about people of Web 2.0, and perhaps this kind of post is the most appropriate after all. In our excursions across the blogosphere we run across some of the most interesting people, but too often we take them for granted or lose track of the fact that Web 2.0 really IS people. So here is my first installment in recognition of the famous and semi-famous of Web 2.0.

Requiem for a Blogger

I often think of the relatively unsung heroes of this fabulous tool we call the Web. So many times we ask and receive give and take from our contemporaries out there without perhaps the proper acknowledgment of the individual. One of my favorite bloggers is Digital Nomad (Michael Beck). I ran across him at My Blog Log months ago and immediately liked his down to Earth mastery of the blog realm. Instantly engaging without a hint of hype or spam, his first contacts with people there at MBL and on his various blogs is always overtly friendly and helpful. Nomad may indeed be the bloggers- blogger as he typifies what so many people out there are involved in, that is a quest for voice and home on Web 2.0. So, at the "freedom seeker" blog at Digital Nomads; SOHO Quest product reviews; Sovereign Journey and to the Rugged Notebooks commercial enterprise blog Michael has covered the gambit of the blogging lifestyle. More importantly he has done it without subterfuge or disregard for others, and this is what sets some bloggers apart.

Digital Nomad Condensed

Michael has been a writer, investor, teacher, artist and designer among other things. Like so many great people I have run across exploring this great network of ours, Michael is extremely diverse and talented. I am willing to bet most of you have noticed that we all tend to be drawn to other people on the Web (via some cosmic power) that are really mirror images of ourselves. At times it seems like all that really divides any of us is an invisible layer of time and space, and so Nomad and others are really great examples of us!

Shared Visions

Digital Nomad dreams of contributing, interacting and reflecting the world of Web 2.0 back in on itself. This is not an all too uncommon vision for the bloggers I have met. I think most of us can identify with Michael's desire to work remotely while retaining a certain degree of freedom. His goal is simple, honest and straightforward; to provide services (monetized and free) while traveling both in the digital world and the physical one. Michael's goal is to move to the Isles of the Caribbean and to continue working as a true Digital Nomad. How many of us are ready to go on that journey?

Calculations of BloggerValue

Bloggers really provide so much more than they are often given credit for I think. Besides providing literally billions of links to sites, products, news, online information and a wealth of other tangible variables bloggers may well be the best voice of humanity online. High profile bloggers like Michael Arrington, Pete Cashmore, Richard MacManus and Robert Scoble lead the Web in popularity and monetized value, but the backbone of Web 2.0 is the every day dedicated and often unsung blogger. Certainly, there are negative aspects about any type journalist or writer in any venue but perhaps we should all take a closer look at all the people we interact with because their value is really our own. So, my anthem for the unsung blogger of the week is Michael Beck also known as Digital Nomad. Perhaps our readers will suggest their favorites to be recognized for their contributions.