What’s the difference between a blog and a website? Amy Wohl got me thinking about that this morning:
We are changing the relationship, on the web, between who you are,
what skills you have/have to have, and what interactions you may have
with the web and its content.
It’s not fair for me to reprint Amy’s whole post here–much as I am tempted to do so–and I didn’t even get to the three-layer cake…
Congratulations are in order today!
My friend Richard aka “Just A Gwailo” blogged what he sweetly called counterpoint to something he claimed I said–that you should never blog your personal life.
What? I said that? No way!
I do remember blogging half-serious advice to young job-hunters–that high-tech employers might know about Google–that nothing on the first page of Google results for your name should portray you as Mr. or Ms. Keg-Party-With-Tears-And-Fist-Fights.
So I ran my Feedster blog-search and found that blog entry and–by gosh! Richard was kind of right about what I said:
Don’t blog your drinking habits, pet peeves, relationship issues, etc….Hey–limit yourself to corporate/geeky stuff on any page linked to from Google results for your name.
OK–I was exaggerating–so sue, me, I’m half Irish. My actual, not very funny advice–your blog shouldn’t make some cipher in Human Resources afraid of getting in trouble if they hire you.
Wait–do you suppose that blogging I sometimes exaggerate, or that my memory isn’t always perfect, will shut me out of a job? Hope not, but then again, I already have a job, a job I really love.
weblog every single day.
So aside from the fact that Adam writes a pretty darn good weblog–he’s Feedster’s Feed of the Day to inspire the rest of us to sit ourselves down and…
Write something!
Every.
Day.
Tags: Metablogging
February 6th, 2004 · 3 Comments
…and in my nightmare, I am back in grade school.
And one of my friends has embarassed the heck out of me–by saying stuff about me he meant as a compliment. And another friend is making little public jokes about us both. And then–
And then I wake up.
It’s morning, and I’m not in pre-teen hell and you can’t send me back there.
I have, as the New England saying goes, “better fish to fry.”
And how I wish I had known that years ago.
Tags: Metablogging
January 21st, 2004 · 6 Comments
Wow, January 22 is my first bloggiversary! (Blog backstory here, if you want it.)
A year ago I had a boring blog with zero readers, and now I have (at least) a more varied blog and a whole lot of blogfriends to show for the year just past.
Not to mention the conferences–thank you, Dave and Alex! — lunches and my bright yellow business cards with my blog address–or my new job working for Feedster–perhaps to keep me from putting Scott Johnson into any more amateur graphics….
Tags: Metablogging
January 20th, 2004 · Comments Off on New eye on Halley….
Heh–glad to see Halley is back to blogging!
I had a good time with Halley yesterday. No surprise that hanging out with Halley is fun, but pretty remarkable when you consider our surroundings, a stacked-up waiting room for a behind-schedule doctor, and later the recovery room.
Halley of course quickly acquired a number of local fans, and I was glad to be able to smuggle her out, finally, without her getting married or signing any major contracts.
You’re not allowed to do those things within 24 hours after anesthesia. And there are a lot of even more enjoyable things that you can’t do in the first week or two…..
So, Halley, you might as well just blog and blog and blog….that would make the rest of us happy anyway.
Tags: Metablogging
January 14th, 2004 · 1 Comment
No longer content with heartless attacks on Linux, SCO has moved on to
(brace yourself for the shock)
spamming referer logs.
How else in keduckus can I have two “referals” in my blog stats from the SCO home page?
There’s no damn link to my blog there.
Maybe they were hunting for my parody post, SCO Declares “Law of Gravity” Void…
Or maybe they are exploring a new business model.
(Drumroll, please.)
Spam Betsy’s stats/referers for fun and profit….
What’s next? A massive new push by Microsoft to monopolize all the lucrative spam-blogs action?
What do I like to see in my referer stats? Of course I’m thrilled if your blog pointed to mine. I also delight in mysterious searches for stuff I never said that brought folks here anyway–for example, searches on “LOVE & XXX 2004,” “mac sticky c virus,” or “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.”
What can I say about any of this but …. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Love and xxx from Betsy, January 14, 2004. May your Mac and mine remain free of the sticky C virus. (I’d hate to have real readers leaving here disappointed.)
Tags: Metablogging
Blogged any good books lately? makeoutcity has.
Jay McCarthy has been
blogging his reading of Dante’s Divine Comedy, * using the quotes-plus-notes that make him such a good guide to blogworld.
Then I started thinking–what if Dante rather than Jay were the blogger?
The Pepys’ Diary blog shows how a blog format can add value–even when you just reproduce a text and add hyperlinked notes.
But why stop there? Why can’t you “study” a favorite novel by writing a blog for each character? Why can’t you write a blog-novel where characters in a Live-Journal-like community interact? Or a role-playing game, where different players create fictional blogs that take turns talking about who did what to whom?
Anyway, I like the idea of re-imagining Dante as a non-professional blogger-like journalist who gives an extended account of extended adventures.** (Note, if you take up this project–lose the terza rima!)
In my work life I skim a lot of blogs using RSS*+*. I also find value in reading that asks my commitment, time, and thought.
Guess I’ll stop writing this now and go do some of it!
* You can visit more authors with Jay in his category “Books.” And Lisa Williams of Cadence90 has links to even more good books in her “Nightstand” over at del.icio.us.
** A modern non-fiction example: Susan Kitchens blogging of the Mars landing (thanks to Dave Winer for the link.)
*+* Excellent explanation of the merits of RSS for fast reading by Robert Scoble.
Tags: Metablogging
