Writing for the Web

A Newspaper's Multiple Blogs

Many newspapers offer a blog or two, usually run by a specialist in some field like business. But in Greensboro, North Carolina, the News & Record offers no fewer than 11 blogs covering everything from school news to road conditions. Whether you're an individual blogger or a journalist, the News & Record blogs are worth visiting.

With print media still trying to figure out how to use the Web, this is an experiment worth following.

Blogs Doubling Every Five Months

Some startling news about the growth of the blog phenomenon at Sifry's Alerts: State of The Blogosphere, March 2005, Part 1: Growth of Blogs. The number of blogs is now close to 8 million, according to Technorati. That's double the number in October 2004, and 16 times the number just 20 months ago...which was when I really got into blogging. Here I've been feeling like a newby, but compared to the vast majority of today's bloggers, I'm an old-timer.

A New Blog

The number of knitters who also blog seems to reflect a certain mindset that I am beginning to appreciate. Just as creating a new scarf or sweater seems to be an enjoyable form of relaxation, I mellow out when I'm putting a new blog together. Apart from those listed below under "My Blogs," I have a number of blogs for my courses and other purposes. Hey, it's easy and pleasant, so why not?

While most bloggers see their sites as places for self-expression, blogs can also be a form of self-education...and that's the purpose behind my latest, H5N1. It's a way for me to learn more about avian flu and the hazards it poses. Over the next little while I'll add more links to medical and media resources, and try to keep up with the flow of information. If it's useful to others, so much the better.

It was a similar blog, dedicated to SARS, that actually got me interested in blogging in 2003. The sheer concentration of information on one site was a revelation, and the links led me to many other fascinating resources—from medical agencies to newsblogs to individual bloggers. I doubt that "H5N1" will have a similar impact on its readers, but my own education is proceeding rapidly.

A Third Edition

In 1997, Self-Counsel Press here in North Vancouver asked me to write a book on how to write science fiction and fantasy. I was delighted to do so, and as the project moved along I pitched them on a book about writing for the Web.

They liked the idea, and as soon as the SF/F book was completed I went to work on the new project. I'd been teaching "writing for the computer" since 1990, and had developed a writing course for a short-lived program my college developed to train Webmasters. So I had a substantial body of material, and it rapidly expanded as I made contact with writers who were already creating text for the sites of the dot-com boom.

The book came out in 1999, and did well, but the publisher soon realized that it was being shelved with the books on how to write romances or children's books; the computer geeks were looking in completely different sections of the store.

Divided They Blog

Thanks to Kevin Drum at Political Animal for the link to a new study, The Political Blogosphere and the 2004 US Election: Divided They Blog. It's a 16-page PDF file; I haven't read it in detail, but from Drum's summary and a quick scan, it looks like a fascinating analysis of political blogging on the right and the left.

What's a Blog?

Despite the post just below, Pew Internet & American Life Project's Report on the Blogosphere finds that 62% of American Internet users still don't know what a blog is.

Doesn't seem to be much better here in Canada. Last month I talked about blogging to the West Vancouver Seniors Computer Club, a very sizable crowd of 70 or 80. Many of them asked me before I started: "What's a blog?"

I should have told them that blogs are like Canada itself. Everyone's vaguely aware of us, and most of our foreign visitors enjoy their stay here, but those who don't visit have no idea what we're about.

The Internet as a Political Factor

According to Pew Internet & American Life Project: Campaign 2004, the Internet played a major role in the 2004 US election as 75 million Americans used it to get information about the campaign and the issues. It isn't really surprising, but it makes me wonder about the next major political campaigns—not only in the US, but in Britain and Canada as well. And could newspapers either implode or migrate en masse to the Web? Their influence is waning with their readerships.

Marketing With Blogs

Yesterday an email arrived:
I’m heading the marketing project for my company for the education sector and am seeing and reading everywhere that blogging is the way to market these days.

Can you help me? I would like to know if you have any insight on the blog market and what types of sites I am able to market our service on.

And here is what I replied:

You raise some interesting points. I googled "marketing with blogs" and got 18,500 hits, so a lot of people are thinking along similar lines.

I honestly don't think blogging is the way to market...not yet. But at least some companies are using blogs as a way to sell some things, including a human image for their companies. That may be the most important thing they're doing on the Web.

Vertical Listening

Here I am, writing a mild form of hypertext while usually listening to highly linear radio: at the moment, "After Hours," a jazz program on CBC Radio Two. But the CBC's resident techie, Tod Maffin, is calling for a different kind of radio based on Vertical Listening: actively choosing the kind of radio you want, from whatever source and whatever time. It's a thought-provoking piece and a kind of manifesto urging the CBC into a new direction.

I'll stay tuned.