#1: Why Am I Doing a Newsletter that Features Outdoor Adventures and AI? Why not?

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Bryan: Why Substack? 

Hey thanks for taking the time to read this. I’m Bryan, the host of this little newsletter. So why Substack? I’ve been thinking about starting a newsletter like this for some time now, as I have experiences in a few areas that people seem interested in: trail running, mountain biking, travel, and camping. You know, outdoor-sy kind of things. Oh, and technology, specifically generative AI (more on this below)! Substack (and the newsletter) is also where people ARE, as a subscription (free) is an invitation into an email box, rather than writing for the web, tweaking SEO content for search, and hoping people find your work in a really big sea of other content. So here I am. 

What are you looking to build?

I’d like this space to be a little different, with each post including a conversation/interaction between myself and generative AI, like ChatGPT. As a person who teaches writing at a community college in Maryland, I’ve had some initial experiences in understanding how this transformative tech will impact the way we think, write, and consume content (it’s a brave new world, friend). So if you are the kind of person who is into outdoor activities, wants to be informed by the best and worst of the internet, perhaps there might be something here for you. The image included here is an example of this, created by the OpenAI image generator called DALL-E, using the prompt “trail running in Ogden, Utah.” These generated images are so weird…with life-like backgrounds and blocky, mushy humans. And this is the best of the bunch! This is the kind of thing that interests me: taking outdoor activities and filtering them through the lens of AI…just to see something different. Good color scheme for sure, AI runner; hams for hand though and mashed potatoes for face!

AI generated runner in Ogden, Utah

What can I expect in terms of content?

I expect to post once a week, with posts dropping on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the week. There will be interactions with generative AI, and pictures and videos from my own experiences. Since this is a free newsletter, my initial hope is to provide some value to readers and to see if it's possible to build an audience/community, who are interested in thinking about outdoor activity differently. 

So thanks for reading until the end and I’ll see you in the next one.