As a famous bard once said, "The times, they are a-changin."

I love change, I love how it always gives us something to pay attention to. It helps us to avoid complacency, and sometimes even gets us off the couch to do something different. It's important to note that change needs to be for a reason - not just change for the sake of change. The change I am talking about is the kind of change that gets me excited.

It is exactly this love of change that led me to Ann Arbor over 15 years ago. My then fiance (don't worry, we got married) and I moved to the area so that she could work at Ford, and with me being in the rapidly emergent world of Internet development I knew I could work anywhere. So, we packed up our bags, and moved to Ann Arbor from our respective homes in State College, Pennsylvania and Alexandria, Virginia.

To be honest, we weren't really thrilled with southeastern Michigan. But Ann Arbor had a certain 'glow' about it - a visceral and palpable feeling of being alive and vibrant.

We liked it here. For the first time, I felt that I could call a place 'home'.

We felt that there was a real community here. The cultural and intellectual draw of the University, the wide variety of ethnic restaurants, and the fact that there was a fairly vibrant live music and theatre scene.

Part of every vibrant American community, historically, has been an active newspaper that focuses on the needs of the community and on the topics that are relevant to the people who comprise that community. Prior to this century, the print newspaper was the only way to get this information out on a daily basis with regularity and saturation to the readers around the area.

♫ The times, they are a-changin. ♫

As you know just by reading this blog, print media is no longer the only way to reliably get information out to the public in a timely fashion. In fact, print and paper media are for many of us from the 'Network Generation' an almost bucolic thing. The only time I have purchased a newspaper in the past many years is whenever I don't have Internet access, or for some reason I want a physical artifact of an event or a news story. I may be an exception rather than a rule here, but I am willing to bet based upon what I have seen around the country and here in Ann Arbor that I am not alone.

When I heard that the Ann Arbor News was going to cease operations, my first thoughts were probably not typical. I found that it really didn't impact me personally a lot. Selfishly, perhaps, I found I didn't have a strong opinion on the matter. Those of you that know me may actually realize what a bold statement that really is. I DIDN'T HAVE AN OPINION ON SOMETHING? Was I sick? Perhaps ill? Had I been struck on the head?

When I started to talk with friends, colleagues and customers about it, however, I got a different viewpoint.

A voice in Ann Arbor would be missed, dearly.

I understand that feeling, and I certainly understand the strong emotions that come with the feeling of losing a voice and losing a part of our shared history and community.

♫ The times, they are a-changin. ♫

I am a geek. A huge geek. Every part of my identity screams "NERD!"

If I can take something apart and mess around with it, I will do so. My wife will attest that she has come home and found me with our flat panel tv set taken apart on the dining room table, checking out the power inverters or the hydrospanners or whatever makes that thing tick.

I love to fix things, I love to tinker. I married an engineer, perhaps unconsciously, so that my tinkering instinct could be understood. Not endorsed, perhaps, and sometimes just barely tolerated. Certainly I thought I could expect some empathy about my need to putter around with screwdrivers and pliers.

Part of being a geek (and a huge part of who I am) is in being relatively fearless. This is why we moved to an unknown area. This is also why we opened our toy stores and other toy-related businesses (Tree Town Toys and Brain Station Toys, as well as Dragonfly Depot) when all the signs were that the economy was slowing.

If you haven't been paying attention, the economy did slow down. A lot.

This is why I do not fear print media slowing down, and why I don't fear the inevitable changes that technological progress brings us. Things change. Times change.

♫ The times, they are a-changin. ♫

Part of owning a local business here in Ann Arbor involves being fearless. Being an entrepreneur is a frightening thing. It is hard, constant work fraught with peril and risk. There are times we missed simply working for 'the man', getting our regular paychecks and being able to not think about work when we left the store. But what's the fun in that? What is the reward?

My friends and family (and students when I taught at the University's School of Information) often asked why I was willing to try so many things. Wasn't I afraid that I wouldn't be able to do it?

My answer is well rehearsed at this point.

"I would rather fail a million times then never have tried once."

I thought I was being original when I said this. Go figure.

The story of Edison's attempts to invent the light bulb says he failed 1,000 times before he reached success..

When pressed on the subject, Edison allegedly said, "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb."

♫ The times, they are a-changin. ♫

As a local businessperson, a husband, a father of two incredible kids, an active part of my sons Cub Scout pack and my daughters passion for music and singing, as well as a consummate geek, I was intrigued when I heard that a plucky group was going to try the next generation newspaper. They were going to try to use these newfangled intar-tubes to continue to create a community in the new digital medium.

I was even more thrilled when I was asked to be a contributing blogger.

I find the concept behind annarbor.com to be fascinating. I can feel the buzz in the group, and the excitement among the staff, reporters and community members who are participating.

A physical newspaper is a dead thing, really. It sits there, final and static, waiting to be picked up or ignored. It is not until it is opened and handled that it comes to life and the voices inside start to shout their messages to the reader. But it is also instantly obsolete. The very moment it is put to print, the world has already changed.

The digital medium of this site changes that equation, possibly even the entire game.

News and reporting are no longer just a one-way dialogue. You are now part of the voice of the community. You have an opportunity to comment on stories, to communicate with the authors, and to be part of the living online community of Ann Arbor.

This is a greater thing than any purely printed newspaper could ever accomplish.

For the first time, there is a true voice for 'citizen reporters', a place for everyone to participate and share. It is a grand experiment, and it is worth the risk of change.

It is worth being optimistic about.

♫ The times, they are a-changin. ♫

I welcome this change, and am thrilled to be part of it.

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After 22 years of working in Information Technology, teaching and consulting, Hans Masing turned his focus to specialty and educational toys. He runs Tree Town Toys, Brain Station and Dragonfly Depot with his wife Patricia and their children Keller and Simone. Brain Station started in 2002 as a "crazy idea" in the family home, and has grown to be a successful Internet specialty toy retail operation and fulfillment center. He opened Tree Town Toys as a brick-and-mortar specialty store in 2006, and launched Dragonfly Depot (online fulfillment and distribution of specialty toys) in 2007. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association. For fun he plays drums with North and The Witch Doctors from time to time and raises chickens in his back yard with his kids. Being a dad is a constant adventure for him, and he lives by the motto "It's never too late to have a happy childhood!" He can occasionally be seen at his Day Job™ at JStor in downtown Ann Arbor.