~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are the raw notes I took during the 2005 Triangle Blogger's Conference. Alvin Phillips (http://alvinphillips.com) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anton's bio Got started blogging while reading about dot com millionare's. Showing a replica of a "tam-tam" - the chief would bang on teh big tam-tam (about 6 feet or so.) Paul Jones and Anton rang the equivalent of a "tam-tam" to draw all of us here today - two examples of community - the classic community and the new online community. The price of admission is to share out experiences, our successes and failures. We're not all bloggers, but we're all part of the community. Session 1 - Building a community around your blog - three bloggers have been asked to share their experiences. Ben Mcneill - trixieupdate.com - a blog about his young daughter. "chronicled the minutae of raising a baby" including vomiting. What are the expectations of any reader that comes to a website. Should you blog in realtime, or should you save up and publish on a schedule (once a day?). This led to the creation of the picture of the day - easy way to put up new content every day. Ben think this laid the groundwork for creating some stability - a publishing schedule - no pressure of the daily grind. Next up is Sid Stafford - writes bigwig - Created sometihing called the "chronicle of the vanities" - blog is the ultimate vanity press. picked bloggers each wenesday - sid is a sysadmin here at Chapel Hill. "Long tail" the pariticipation in the unknown things can equal or outperform the known items in small groups. The Internet allows people to find thing that they would otherwise not get. Wired guy - December/November issue of Wired - they will add link to Chris's blog. He puts up something each day - something will appeal to the visitor - and that gets them to come back - no longer hosts the chronicle of the vanities - he sent it out to the community. Blogs go extinct due to lack of community - they need outgoing links and incoming links. Most people can't continue writing without feedback (readers). The life-cycle and the life-span of a blog community. Next is Ed Cone. 1. Define what you're trying to do - Ed is trying to get local and national readers to follow what he's doing in Greensboro and the paper. He emails links out to people - doesn't rely only on the blog - he publicizes himself. He shares in building other communities - links are the currency - you link, they link. "just cast your bread across the waters." There is a payoff to your altruism. some radio guy says "have a take and don't suck". Eason Jordan - "the long tail wrapped around him and strangled him". longtail.typepad.com - the wired blog on longtail October 2004 Wired Magazine open for questions. WillR - questioning about instapundit - when will it become antimatter - I avoid your blog because you appear on instapundit. Responses from Ed Cone and Eric Muller - focusing on tom woods - Altrios and instapundit linked simultaneously - the polar opposites of the blog community. Dave Winer - links and traffic are the same as the dot com model - why do you care how many people read your blog - Greenspun - tries to record information that only he has - google picks it up and then people find it - he is a cog in the information planet (machine). Another Will - "is there an ethic to traffic-building?" Ed Cone - is there an issue with blogging about your daughter when she can't give her permission to be talked about. Eric feels that a lot of the info is clinical - he build a web application to track daily sleep patterns/whatever. Quote from the audience - "by the time she's embarrassed, she'll have her own blog and get you back". David Hoggard - "I can't believe I'm the only one that blogs in a bathrobe." Speak with your true voice - build community by linking and reading. WillR doesn't have a blog - Random quote - "you're not a full-featured human being without a blog". Dave Winer - to create a local community - a blog community that is localized - have a meeting. You're here at this conference - that's what we're doing. Get together with people to physically meet each other. Ed Cone says that in Greensboro there is a regular monthly blog meetup. NEXT SESSION Ed Cone - says that John Hood is a great commenter, even though he doesn't allow them on the John Locke site. Technorati is fairly quick at finding new blogs - a community might need a "blog hunter" that finds blogs and then posts them in an aggregated form. Greensboro has one of these - (didn't catch his name - he was the black guy standing in the back of the rom.) Name is "Jerry" Works with NAACP & VFW Ed Cone - use global tools and then apply them locally - someone read about technorati tags - had an issue with Duke power not allowing her to put up solar panels - someone inthe Greensboro community saw that, then let her know about the meeting today. Anton says that we all need to have an "about" page - he found that most of us don't. Ed notes that by doing this, we localize ourself - a very good thing to let people know who you are and what you think. Dave Beckwith - from Charlotte - they are woefully behind the times in the use of triangulation and long-tail. It is anti-bloggin in a certain snese. Reading the Charlotte paper - they deride bloggers and people who feed kitties. He wrote a diatribe against the reporter (who he knows). Some don't wait for newspapers, some follow the newspapers. Ed says that some papers are getting it - Greensboro - Detroit - Lawrence Kansas. These places are letting the blogosphere be the content talkers - they become journalists in the broadest sense of the word. ED cone quoted someone else - "On the Internet, everyone will be famous for 15 people". Ed - build the community in the real world and they spread online - questions like "what is this RSS thing I'm hearing about?" Questions they might be emabrrased to ask online. The community building is probably not its own end - Google for "Personal Democracy Forum" - Ed - we have 2 minutes before the pee and donought break - please note that those are separate activities. Ed says that blogs and big media aren't either/or - Blogs complement big media - they don't ahve to be anti-big media. I met Bob Young - talked with him for a few minutes - now with lulu.com Phil Meyer - the vanishing newspaper - works with Paul Jones at UNC Dan Gilmore is here for the next session. Ed Gross from the Dean campaign was in the room - about 5% of your readers would open up a comment thread, 1% would leave a comment. He is here. "Comments are more than binary - either on or off and either crappy or not" - Dan Gilmore We need to keep the trolls out on a more permament basis - right now we're playing whack-a-mole - he is interested in finding out what we would like to see in comments. Dean weblog - "every time you see a troll, send money" This seemed to daunt the trolls. This idea came from the readership, not from the campaign. Book on Landmark - by Frank Batten owner of the weather channel - also the owner of the Greensboro paper. iThe corporate culture of entrepreneruship will decide how a paper responds. A reporter blogging live from a trial - getting names wrong, then corrected in comments and published correctly in the paper the next day. The impetus behind the change in the Greensboro paper came from the local independent bloggers - the management came to the piedmont blogger's conference and then decied to heed their advice. The big media and newspapers have to get out of the lecure mode and into a conversational model of reporting. What world can the blog world play in pushing big media to cover the right stories, cover them accurately, cover them with objectivity? Influence is often driven by the fact that reporters and local elected officials are reading local political blog (like orangepolitics). They want to be the watchdog, not the primary source Influence is often driven by the fact that reporters and local elected officials are reading local political blog (like orangepolitics). They want to be the watchdog, not the primary source.. Dave Winer says that perhaps there will come a time when we will all get our news from each other and not from Dan Rather - Do you believe that this was the first time they put up an improperly sourced story on CBS. Dave wants full-volume, no soundbites from the experts on a subject. David Warlick - former educator - now consultant. Part of your task is to prove what you're reading - Dan Gilmore is worried about the fact that schools don't teach critical thinking. We can read "carnivals" as a magazine because of their broad range of topics. Gilmour - "trial baloons are often floated by political figures and reporters through papers like the New York Times" Book to get - "A Fire Upon the Deep" - also "Bloom" - about bloggers. Gilmore - he's surprised by how the weeklies are behind the dailies in their embrace of the internet. Ed Cone suggests that a paper that wants to push a blog community put in a weekly column on blogs - point to them and publish bits from them. Often, the readers of the papers will start blogs. Dave Winer suggests that the reporters start blogging and then have a blogger's meetup - you'll be surprised how many people will come, but it will be very beneficial if only five show up. Paul Jones - rural reporters are in essence bloggers. He enjoys reading those stories. Dan Gilmor's new book is out - Paul Jone's wife - she heard comment that blogger's had no credibility - they just have a pajama problem. Paul Jones talked about Ronald burt - apophenia ? Structureal holes and how they are filled are much more important than how heirchys are formed or command and control structures are organized. Phil meyer - journalism has moved from a hunter-gather mechanism to a process. Big media needs more informed reporters who can do more than simply report. They can get behind the story to put it into perspective. Paul Jones - "Phil blogs weekly in the USA today". random quote - "I trust humans, not artificial entities."