I was just having a discussion with a group of people yesterday about different ways to set up a group blog and manage content, posting, editorial direction, etc.
I know how we do it here at IAG (organized chaos!)...but how do you manage the group blogs you participate in? Are you assigned a *beat*? Is it willy-nilly? Is it "Alice posts every Friday." Or all of these things and then some?
Inquiring minds wants to know...
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I just started blogging with the group at MCLC Techtalk http://mclctechtalk.wordpress.com I think group members post whenever they want on a variety of topics. Anali and Grumpator http://grumpator.blogspot.com provides the most content and has developed a Tech Friday talk where she posts every Friday on a technology that a library can use. MCLC is the Maricopa County Library Council which includes every library system in Maricopa County. I have more information about it on my blog http://gathernodust.blogspot.com
Thanks Jeff. I will go check it out. And I like what you were thinking along the lines of, for Library Advocacy and approaching it from the standpoint of richness and investment, rather than crisis.
We have dealt with this issue a number of times at ACRLog. I think there are two key issues - topical coverage and spacing of postings. If you bring together folks with different interest areas, you usually don't have too many issues with who covers what topic. At ACRL we each have our own interest areas so we rarely have that conflict. However, there are some coverage areas where we are weak - for example catalog or ERM. We lean more toward public service issues and technology. At first we did try a bit of schedule. I post Monday, you post Tuesday, etc. That only works if people post regularly. If the bloggers only write one post every 3 weeks, they want to post it as soon as it's done. So over time we've gone to more of a "check first" system. We try not to write over one another. If I want to post I check first to see if someone else has. If so, I wait till the next day. I think that's better for the reader and it gives us more consistent posting. It doesn't always happen this way. Sometimes we get two posts on the same day. But for the most part it works.
I have for some time wanted to do a panel session at a conference on the dynamics of group blogging. There are a number of issues (then there's what do you do with a personal post - it's not YOUR blog) that would make for an interesting discussion and give advice to those who want to start a group blog.
Thanks for sharing your experience, stevenb. This is good insight and I know it will help inform the way we move forward with our thinking.
We could totally do a panel discussion on group blogging. We could do it at ALA Midwinter in an OCLC suite, perhaps...Who else might be interested in this topic? I'm all ears!
Here at Jenkins Law Library, we switched from our old blog to Wordpress recently (http://blog.jenkinslaw.org) and decided to have our staff make a commitment of 1 or 2 posts a month so that there would be a regular rotation of posts. However, we're still in the beginning stages so I'm not sure how it will pan out.
There's a good OPAL webcast that may be of further help: Blogging Beyond the Basics -- A few highlights:
- To make a "blog posting schedule" work, we have to make sure we set aside time to write posts and incorporate it into our own routine
- Allow people to step away from blogging without penalty or guilt when they get too busy to blog
- Communicate with blog team regularly - via email, etc.
Thanks RayAna. The no guilt part is really appealing!!
I'm fascinated by group blogging and as I watch the changes of late in the Biblioblogosphere, I think the strongest blogs will be group efforts. It's a model that works so well in the library setting. Great idea too about the panel.
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