To me, it’s all the same creating and sharing - when it comes to software, websites, a theatre performance or music recording or uploading a photo or drawing. It can be discouraging at times when something matters to you and you or your creation feel “undiscovered”. You hope one day, after much hard work and some luck, you will get discovered.

What happens when you write software or a website that no one cares about or uses or discovers? How much effort do you have to put in to “market” it, or do you just keep making content which ties back to your as the blog author or GitHub contributor? How do you make it easy for people to use your projects when you have many repos?

If my best project I’ve ever made (so far) gets zero stars or forks and downloads, should I care? Should I focus on something else or share it more and get verbal feedback?

Should I make something that people can use for work, or for fun? Something can I can use or something for someone else?

I guess then it comes down to make art and content and share it because it makes yourself happy not because you want recognition or validation.

People are sensitive to authenticity. If you write software or create art or even blog or tweet for an audience to get fame or money, but not for you to use and enjoy - that gets considered “commercial” or a “sell-out”. Especially for a band that changes artistic direction and their original fans feel betrayed and they judge the artist for not being authentic.

What if the tool or art has no use or commercial value but is just fun or inspiring or makes you think differently?

I realized the other day that governments, school principles and so one place more budget and recognition on business/maths/sciences than the humanities. But, what do people do to cope with the Coronavirus and stress in general after work? They use the humanities. They listen to music, they educate themselves, they make art and poetry, they play games, they watch series and movies.

These are art forms that keep people sane and happy. Often enabled by tech. But you can do them without tech.

Everyone lives two lives where they have different priorities. e.g. How do I do my job better and earn money during the day and how do I relax and socialize as a well-rounded human outside of work hours?

These are my thoughts. I write them because they matter to me and maybe someone out there will read and resonate with this. If not, I can live with that.