How to blog
What is a blog? The short and sweet answer is it's nothing more than a piece of personal publishing software.
Another short answer from a different point of view is a blog enables a means of self-expression.
What it is mainly is a way for anybody -- from the professional to the person who just has something to say -- to communicate in a real, personal voice.
Blogging refers both to the technology that makes personal online publishing easy and to an attitude about media.
At The Batavian, we blog.
To some traditionalist, the idea of mixing journalism and blogging is something like mixing holy water and gin.
We ask, why?
Up until the second half of the 20th Century, when journalism finished its full transformation from a trade to a profession, the craft and art of media revolved a lot around personal expression. Writers could write, and readers generally knew the bias and predilection of either the reporter or the publication where the news appeared.
Blogging allows media to get back to its more uninhibited roots.
Why should you blog? Because blogging give you a chance to add your voice to the media mix. You know stuff. You have opinions. When you come into possession of new information, you have just as much right to share it with the public as any journalism-school graduate.
It doesn't matter if you won a seat on the City Council, drive a snow plow, operate your own store, sell insurance, arrest thugs or push paper -- it's highly likely you know things or can share things that others will find useful or interesting.
That's what blogging is all about -- allowing for a form egalitarian communication.
At The Batavian, we make it easy for you to blog.
First, sign up for an account -- more than 100 people already have.
Second, look for the link on the left rail of the site that says, "Create Content."
Third, click on the "Blog Entry" link of the "Create Content" page.
Fourth, write a title, add some tags (I usually do this after I write my post) and then go to the big text box a little lower on the page and start writing.
Fifth, after you've said all you save to say, click publish.
Once you've written your post, a member of The Batavian staff will see it the next time we log onto the site (contrary to rumor, we do eat and sleep sometimes, so we may not see your post right away), and if we find it of sufficient public interest, we'll "promote" it to the home page.
What should you write about?
Well, you can use your blog on The Batavian for purely personal expression -- stuff about your family, pets, garden, dating life, etc.
Or you can write about issues of current interest, either in Batavia or abroad.
You can also use blog posts to promote things your civic group is doing.
You can also share other bits of news you happen to learn and believe to be true.
We don't have too many restrictions on what you write about. We do ask that you avoid being nasty and mean, using foul language and engaging in unfair attacks on other people, either by name or as a group (such as racist rants). In a few days, we'll publish more on our "official" rules.
BTW: If blogging for The Batavian isn't your style, go to wordpress.com and start a blog. If you do, let us know about it, we'll follow it (and when we add a blog roll, we'll link to it), and when you write something we find interesting, we will link to that blog post. And we hope you'll do the same for us.
So, what are you waiting for? Start blogging. It's fun, easy and can help make Batavia a better place to live and work.
UPDATE: BTW, for those who don't know ... Blog is short for "web log." A log being a form of personal journal, or a place to record things. Some of the first blogs (going back to 1999) were just a collection of favorite links with maybe a comment or two. Of course, blogs have become much more than that, but link blogging is still popular.
Previous Related Posts:
- Now you can blog on The Batavian
- All about me getting to know you
- Welcome to The Batavian
- Community news encourages civic engagement
- Exploring the complexity of community issues as a community