Posted in uncategorized, tagged blogging, design, simplicity, usability on 25 February 2009 |
Well, blogroll be moved, actually.
Tired of all the widgets in the right column, so first step towards cleaning up simplifying was to move the blogroll to its own page. Now accessible from that nifty page link just above the site banner (look up… just a little further…)
Posted in blogosphere, observations, tagged 90-9-1, blogging, content, writing on 12 January 2009 |
(Image credit: “100 fotos de My Buffo,” by My Buffo on flickr)
This is my 100th post. Amazed I made it this far actually.
Some quick observations on blogging practice:
Given all these whines, why don’t I just quit? After all, most of the time I’m perfectly happy to part of the 90% who lurk. Why bother struggling to be part of the 9% who contribute from time to time (never mind the 1% who account for the bulk online content)?
Well, for one thing, I like how blogging gives my writing muscles a good workout. My blog writing is very different from the writing I do in my “regular” work, being in the first person and all. It’s good practice in a different mode. And hitting the publish button after a good post is very satisfying.
Another good reason is that the blog provides me a good excuse to keep an eye on the social media, web 2.0, and government 2.0 spaces. And this has good effects on my day job — advising my colleagues on web communications has become a big growth area for me. And I’m very happy about this. (Can you tell which way I want to move in my career?)
And of course, I would be dishonest if I didn’t mention the ego boost that comes with knowing that others are actually reading what little old me has to say.
BTW, here’s a great essay on the practice of blogging from one of the granddaddies of the medium.
Posted in uncategorized, tagged blogging, break, French training, hiatus on 20 November 2008 |
Crumpled Frustration, by Aaron Jacobs
During the existence of this blog, I have not been a particularly frequent poster. I have tried to get at least one or two new posts up every week. However, my postings are likely to become few and far between in the next little while. I`m on French training until January 2009.
What is this you ask? It`s a kind of hazing ritual for those federal public servants in Canada who come from a unilingual English background. We must go through it at least once in our careers. In my case, I`m actually undergoing my second bout. I must be a glutton for punishment — but then I am a government employee, aren`t I?
The daily training is often an exercise in frustration – the goal is to prepare the victim for a test in which they must demonstrate their ability to speak a highly artifical version of their second language that resembles formal written communication much more so than any kind of spoken conversation.
Doubly frustrating for me since I live in a bilingual household and use French daily at work. No I`m not perfectly bilingual by any stretch of the imagination, but I am able to get my message across at work and I can shoot the breeze with my inlaws all day long.
So anyhow, `nuff complaining. My French training is an intensive course that requires a lot more focus and much less computer time than I am used to. So I can`t promise even semi-regular blog updates for the next little while.
Over and out – I`m sure the conversations around Government 2.0 and whatnot will continue very nicely without me.
Posted in uncategorized, tagged blogging, hacks, public sector on 4 September 2008 |
Just stumbled across this nifty hack by Dave Briggs over in the UK: Public Sector Bloggers
It’s a bascially a bunch of UK public sector blogs syndicated in one spot. As Dave himself explained:
I’ve been wrestling with how to bring together and publicise the bloggers who have always been around, and those who are springing up following the publication of the guidelines. [Note: these are the guidelines he's talking about]
So, I have started hacking together http://publicsectorblogs.org/ which takes a bunch of feeds, bungs them into one using Yahoo! Pipes and then republishes them on one page using SimplePie. Sophisticated it ain’t.
Something we oughta do here in Ottawa. Or maybe it’s been done already and I’m out to lunch. If it hasn’t I’ll try patching something together. Any ideas for a domain name?
Posted in uncategorized, tagged blogging, search on 10 April 2008 |
(source: parl)
The brand new, official Spaghetti Testing Search Widget(tm) is right over there on the sidebar, right under the about me blah blah text.
Why? Because Chris Brogan told me to:
The #1 thing I seek in a blog I’m returning to (versus a newly discovered blog) is a search bar. Why? Because often, I’m returning to a blog to find a story.
It’s a good point – I myself have gone to back to blogs looking for specific stories that I have recalled reading, but neglected to bookmark. Without search, it becomes very hard to find them, especially if the time lapse is longer than a few days. (or hours depending on the bloggers’ posting frequency!)
BTW, I’ve also dumped the categories listing in the sidebar – I’m not satisfied with it and it takes too much space for nuthin’. I’m switching to tags anyhow.
Occasional thoughts on web and government communications. Everything here by Peter Smith.
What's a spaghetti test?