DigiKev » Birmingham Bloggers http://digikev.co.uk Building experiences | Web design, interface design, information architecture and user experience Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:06:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 When a blog post becomes an article http://digikev.co.uk/06-03-2008/when-a-blog-post-becomes-an-article/ http://digikev.co.uk/06-03-2008/when-a-blog-post-becomes-an-article/#comments Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:09:47 +0000 Kevin Rapley http://www.digikev.co.uk/digikevwp/?p=40 Two weekends a go I embarked on what I thought would be a rather large but tasty blog post reviewing the new Waitrose website which had adopted all manner of social interactions with its users. It honestly began as a blog post but as I got into it and further into the Waitrose website I found that I was no longer writing a blog post, it had become an article. At the point where I had reached in the region of 4000 words I was advised by my good friend David North that it was an article and I should distribute it as such. Thanks David, you are very right. Now I know that I am one to ramble on with my posts and that I seem to get lost in the language that I love and by the time I know it the postings are as long as a shopping run to Asda after a three week holiday. When I am writing a blog post I like to pay it my full attention too so complete it before I start thinking about what the next discussion will be. I have spent the last two weekends working and reworking the article before moving on which is why there has been a gap in my regular postings.

The question is at what length should a post become an article? 2000 words? 3000 words? Does it depend on the language used? I don’t wish to spoil the fun of what I have written until it is properly published but my introduction to this article was written in a very friendly, and I hope, engaging way in my regular tone of voice and bringing in my current life experiences. Now on David’s advice again, I will be using this for the blog post to introduce the article and link to it once it is published. My experience has been that you should just write with the natural flow and not get hung up on whether it is going to be a regular posting or evolve into something quite different as your hard work can always be adopted and chopped up allowing it to be placed in the correct setting.

One thing that Mark Steadman has been talking to me about with his own posts is that he is looking to begin writing much more regularly but in shorter bursts much like Dave Briggs. It is not always necessary to regurgitate everything that is in your head on a subject at one time, as Dave shows you can convey everything that you want to and build up the bigger picture over time. I think this is a valuable lesson that I can learn too in my style of blogging. I am not for one minute saying I am going to give up writing long posts for good, heaven forbid. I always write naturally and just allow the post to develop organically. But I will attempt to change it up a bit and introduce a subject over several postings. You won’t lose out, I will convey my message over time, it just means that you will have to keep coming back to fill in the gaps. I hope you do.

]]> http://digikev.co.uk/06-03-2008/when-a-blog-post-becomes-an-article/feed/ 0 Birmingham blogging bug pandemic http://digikev.co.uk/19-02-2008/birmingham-blogging-bug-pandemic/ http://digikev.co.uk/19-02-2008/birmingham-blogging-bug-pandemic/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:15:35 +0000 Kevin Rapley http://www.digikev.co.uk/digikevwp/?p=44 There is a bug going around Birmingham at the moment and I have caught it. It’s the blogging virus and it is spread through close contact, speech, hearing and touch. Yesterday evening was the second Birmingham bloggers meet up and it was a much more interesting dynamic than the last. Not to say the first was bad, I got a lot out of it and we discussed some very interesting topics but this time with around twenty people and with such a mixed bag of styles and genres of blogging it really had a zing about it. Without meaning to exclude anyone’s particular style of delivery, to give you a flavour there were political bloggers, press bloggers, social media analysts, Birmingham promoters, personal bloggers, rant specialists, podcasters, creative and design promoters and a cartoonist. Such a vibrant bunch of people, such diversity, and so much alcohol consumed. I must say I was feeling a little worse for wear this morning and from what I gather from some of the Twitter profiles going around, I was not alone. You know who you are!

Quickly splinter groups formed and everyone mingled throughout the night and losing track of the time I had to dash up to New Street to catch my last train back to Erdington at 11.15pm. If there was a later train I would’ve caught it. With no agenda it was an occasion of getting to know the persons we had met previously or had been reading blog posts of since the group started a month a go. Or if we didn’t know them or read their stuff, got to know them and collected their RSS feed. I now have a folder for Birmingham Bloggers in Outlook for all the RSS feeds I have collected and it is great also collecting the Twitter profiles too. Twitter is a lot more exciting when you are sharing it with those that you know.

I just wish to thank Nick Booth for organising and promoting the evening again and for whoever put Nick onto using the Dragon Inn for its social space, cheap booze and wifi access but also to everyone who attended and made it what it was. Everyone was up for it, everyone had exciting stuff to say and we all had a good laugh mainly and it felt more like a party night rather than anything stuffy. If you live in the midlands (or can get to Birmingham for that matter) and you own a blog, or even thinking about creating a blog, come along to the next one as I am sure you will make a lot of new friends and have a great time. There was nothing geeky about this bunch of folks.

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