As I wrote this post on my 'work' blog The Alban Institute – 2010-06-28 Why Blog? | 4orty2wo I realised that the topic might interest some of you who pop along to this one. Here's why I thought that: "I’ve found some corporate entities like small colleges and charities doing this. I’m not yet sure I’ve seen a church blog set up this way (but if you know of one, let us have a link in the comments). And, alerting us to the misuse of blogs as mere official announcement media, we are reminded usefully that “Blogs have a distinctive voice: conversational, personal, and informal. “. I say ‘misuse’ in the previous sentence not because it is an absolute rule but simply because the coriolis force of usage and expectation with regard to blogs has meant that this is what people tend to expect: a blog that is mere announcement without the personal opinion and reflection will tend not to attract revisits. That’s not to say that some announcements aren’t in order, but they should contain a personal take.
So, not just: “There’s a coffee and study morning on Friday at 10 in the narthex” but rather something like; “I’m gutted not to be going to this week’s coffee and study event. I love the way that the narthex has been kitted out to engender a really lovely atmosphere. And for the last 2 months when I’ve gone along to it, it has helped me to … This week they’re looking at … go along yourself and see if I’m not right!”"
My question is: do you think I'm about right? Also is anyone aware of collaborative church blogs?
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I've been watching the TV series 'Foundation'. I read the books about 50 years ago (I know!) but scarcely now remember anything...
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from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/online/2012/5/22/1337672561216/Annular-solar-eclipse--008.jpg -
I've just had an article published on emergingchurch.info. It's an adaptation of some of my book, but I thought I'd share it and...
2 comments:
I certainly think you're right about what people expect of blogs. The origin of the term was indeed "web log", a simple log of web sites visited that one wanted to remember, and that might interest others too. But blogs have since become merged with another genre, that used to be separate, the online journal or diary, and many blogs are now a combination of the two. A bare list of web links without the added value of personal reflection is indeed boring and unattractive.
That reminds me Steve; when I first heard of blogs I thought that they sounded pretty uninspiring because they were explained etymologically as simply logs of which websites one had been visiting. When I discovered that the real deal involved comment and interaction, that's what made it attractive.
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