I guess technically, I joined the diabetes online community back in October, 2005 when I joined dLife, and I became active in the overall DOC some time in 2008 -- but it wasn't until this year that I, and others, had the opportunity to "eyeball" the folk we'd been e-mailing, blogging to, commenting blog posts from, tweeting, and otherwise conversing with on various diabetes-related forums and social networks. 2009 is also the year dLife launched the dLife Community, and the year I started blogging here at Blogabetes.

Some of my year's highlights include:

March

• March 7 - I went to my first-ever quilt show to meet up with MarieB of TuDiabetes and several members of her quilting circle -- some of whom have Type 2 diabetes.

April

• April 1 - I started blogging at Blogabetes
• April 5 - After some hemming and hawing, I signed up with Twitter in advance of presenting a talk and poster session on diabetes social networks at the 34th Annual Trenton Computer Festival.
• April 25-26 - Trenton Computer Festival. While I had few people at the talk, I was able to reach more people touched by diabetes at Sunday's poster session.

May

• May 24 - New York metro area diabetes meetup in honor of Cara of Every Day Every Hour Every Minute and Amylia Grace of One Type One, both visiting the City.
• May 25 - I got to meet Team Type 1 at the annual Tour of Somerville bicycle race.

June

• June 3 - Members of the diabetes online community were asked to be part of the audience of The Early Show on CBS, supporting the Global Diabetes Handprint initiative sponsored by Johnson & Johnson (makers of Lifescan/OneTouch glucometers and Animas insulin pumps) and the Diabetes Hands Foundation

July

• July 22-23 - Roche Media Summit - a number of prominent diabetes bloggers were invited by Roche (makers of Accu-Chek glucometers) to visit their facilities and discuss the role diabetes pharmaceutical companies could (or should) play in diabetes-related social media. While I was not one of the invitees, the list did include several contributors to dLife's Blogabetes and Viewpoints features.
• July 26 - My deceased 1981 Lotus Excelle mixte bicycle was replaced by a 2008 Specialized Dolce, increasing my contact with the cycling community in general, and cycling diabetics in particular

October

• October 3 - Local STARFLEET chapters participated in the Seaside Heights, NJ JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

November

• November 14 - Once again, it was into the City for a NYC diabetes meetup -- this time, to celebrate Dr. Banting's birthday and to participate in the Big Blue Test

December

The holidays, once again, presented an opportunity -- or an obligation -- to reach out and educate family and friends, or to touch base with friends and family with diabetes.

As for 2010, January is set to start off with a bang as the Global Diabetic Awareness Community has declared January 1-5 for a Non-Diabetic New Year Test'olution. The goal is to raise awareness of diabetes, and to make sure that loved ones who may be at risk for Type 2 diabetes might be identified earlier in the course of its progression -- before complications set in.

I am expecting many of our online communities and social networks will continue to bridge the "outreach" gap in 2010, arranging meet-ups, doing outreach, and helping other people with diabetes maintain the highest possible quality of life.