A talented Photoshopper has been having fun with some Star Trek novel covers.
Check out: Mighty God King's blog!
I can't make up my mind on a favourite. "Collectible Plate" is pretty hilarious, but so are most of the others!
Showing posts with label bloggers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloggers. Show all posts
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, September 28, 2008
"Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Group is closed"
My still-fledgling Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Group was closed yesterday "because nobody stepped up to become the Organizer", or so said the Meetup email message. Quelle surprise!
"But don't worry!" it continues, "There are over 48,963 groups on Meetup with 128 groups near Sydney. You can join another Meetup Group and meet up with real people who share your interests."
Oh yeah?
Meetup started out as a free site, and it's still free to join up. As a few very strange individuals have proven, it's possible to join every one of those 128 Sydney groups and make out you are into every hobby, pastime or interest listed, but never turn up to any of them. Eventually, Meetup started to charge group organisers a fee - you can run three groups for the monthly charge, which is very reasonable if you run a moderately-sized group and everyone dutifully tosses a coin into the hat at each meeting.
What it doesn't cover are the groups that attract only one or two other people to each meeting - usually a different one or two, frustratingly enough. I've corresponded with a TV interest group out of New York, whose coordinator boasted his false advertising of a "free trip to Hawaii" prize (his co-leader was going anyway), and supplying enough free alcohol at meetings to get the women tipsy so the guys who attended would have a better chance of scoring for the weekend. If that's what I was supposed to do to attract more people to Sydney Meetups, then "No, thank you".
Re the Bloggers group: I still don't understand it. People joined with such enthusiasm - we gathered about 30 people over the first six months - but it was as if the act of joining was the end of all participation. The inaugural meeting was very encouraging, but it was to be a one-off success. The worst event involved me travelling into the city (from the outskirts of Sydney) on a weeknight - additional to my regular Thursday night trip - because a few people had said Thursdays were impossible. So we tried a Wednesday, and I was expecting to meet seven other bloggers at the Attic Bar of the ArtHouse Hotel. An hour later, I was still sitting there alone for an hour, with my pathetic little sign on the table - and then Neerav turned up, after having already RSVPed "No". (I was so glad to see him, but all we could do was commiserate and try to understand why no one else could keep commitments.)
The other local Bloggers group supposedly has over 100 people - and only about five of them have even gone back to the site regularly since it was reactivated, even though they'd all get regular automated emails from it, and I did several mail outs. Strange. I've stepped down from an organisational role with their group, too. Maybe someone else can resurrect that particular phoenix, but I doubt it.
Way back in about 1998, I joined an Australian site called School Friends, which expanded to include New Zealand, then UK and is now international and known as Friends Reunited. It, too, was originally free, then started charging a smallish fee to be able to send messages. Receiving messages, and replying to old, stored messages was still free. I chose not to pay but there was nothing more frustrating that to get an unexpected email about an old friend or work colleague, and have to consider if they were worth paying a fee just to be able to read the contents of their message. Savvy use of Google was often enough to track them down via their other web presences, but that didn't always work.
Friends Reunited eventually locked all old correspondence stored on the site, unless you became a paying member. Interestingly enough, earlier this year, Friends Reunited again became completely free - Facebook and MySpace would be huge competition to pay sites - but I've have very little reaction to attempts to contact people from those now-free Friends Reunited lists. Probably people haven't returned to update email addresses.
Only this morning, a penpal in the USA mentioned a scam from a big, similar reunion site he'd joined. When first joining, as a free member, he'd performed a search for someone but they weren't listed. now, he's received a message that records show that person has signed up to look for him. He can't read their details (beyond some very sketchy ones) until he becomes a premium paying member of the service but... he originally signed up with a pseudonym, so there's no way that person was searching for him under that alias.
How long before Facebook starts to charge a monthly fee, I wonder, or will the advertising keep it afloat?
A bizarre little item while playing around with Facebook last night: a message on a friend's page that said something like, "You would not believe what someone just said about you on this blog...", and when you click on the hyperlink provided, it takes you to a facsimile of the Facebook page, and puts up a "Please enter your username and password to read this message". Curiouser and curiouser... A quick glance at the URL revealed "fanebook", not "facebook". It was yet another phishing expedition!
Where there's a will there's a scam.
"But don't worry!" it continues, "There are over 48,963 groups on Meetup with 128 groups near Sydney. You can join another Meetup Group and meet up with real people who share your interests."
Oh yeah?
Meetup started out as a free site, and it's still free to join up. As a few very strange individuals have proven, it's possible to join every one of those 128 Sydney groups and make out you are into every hobby, pastime or interest listed, but never turn up to any of them. Eventually, Meetup started to charge group organisers a fee - you can run three groups for the monthly charge, which is very reasonable if you run a moderately-sized group and everyone dutifully tosses a coin into the hat at each meeting.
What it doesn't cover are the groups that attract only one or two other people to each meeting - usually a different one or two, frustratingly enough. I've corresponded with a TV interest group out of New York, whose coordinator boasted his false advertising of a "free trip to Hawaii" prize (his co-leader was going anyway), and supplying enough free alcohol at meetings to get the women tipsy so the guys who attended would have a better chance of scoring for the weekend. If that's what I was supposed to do to attract more people to Sydney Meetups, then "No, thank you".
Re the Bloggers group: I still don't understand it. People joined with such enthusiasm - we gathered about 30 people over the first six months - but it was as if the act of joining was the end of all participation. The inaugural meeting was very encouraging, but it was to be a one-off success. The worst event involved me travelling into the city (from the outskirts of Sydney) on a weeknight - additional to my regular Thursday night trip - because a few people had said Thursdays were impossible. So we tried a Wednesday, and I was expecting to meet seven other bloggers at the Attic Bar of the ArtHouse Hotel. An hour later, I was still sitting there alone for an hour, with my pathetic little sign on the table - and then Neerav turned up, after having already RSVPed "No". (I was so glad to see him, but all we could do was commiserate and try to understand why no one else could keep commitments.)
The other local Bloggers group supposedly has over 100 people - and only about five of them have even gone back to the site regularly since it was reactivated, even though they'd all get regular automated emails from it, and I did several mail outs. Strange. I've stepped down from an organisational role with their group, too. Maybe someone else can resurrect that particular phoenix, but I doubt it.
Way back in about 1998, I joined an Australian site called School Friends, which expanded to include New Zealand, then UK and is now international and known as Friends Reunited. It, too, was originally free, then started charging a smallish fee to be able to send messages. Receiving messages, and replying to old, stored messages was still free. I chose not to pay but there was nothing more frustrating that to get an unexpected email about an old friend or work colleague, and have to consider if they were worth paying a fee just to be able to read the contents of their message. Savvy use of Google was often enough to track them down via their other web presences, but that didn't always work.
Friends Reunited eventually locked all old correspondence stored on the site, unless you became a paying member. Interestingly enough, earlier this year, Friends Reunited again became completely free - Facebook and MySpace would be huge competition to pay sites - but I've have very little reaction to attempts to contact people from those now-free Friends Reunited lists. Probably people haven't returned to update email addresses.
Only this morning, a penpal in the USA mentioned a scam from a big, similar reunion site he'd joined. When first joining, as a free member, he'd performed a search for someone but they weren't listed. now, he's received a message that records show that person has signed up to look for him. He can't read their details (beyond some very sketchy ones) until he becomes a premium paying member of the service but... he originally signed up with a pseudonym, so there's no way that person was searching for him under that alias.
How long before Facebook starts to charge a monthly fee, I wonder, or will the advertising keep it afloat?
A bizarre little item while playing around with Facebook last night: a message on a friend's page that said something like, "You would not believe what someone just said about you on this blog...", and when you click on the hyperlink provided, it takes you to a facsimile of the Facebook page, and puts up a "Please enter your username and password to read this message". Curiouser and curiouser... A quick glance at the URL revealed "fanebook", not "facebook". It was yet another phishing expedition!
Where there's a will there's a scam.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Blogathon anyone?
Recently, I've had a small influx of new members to the two blogging Meetup groups I organize, and there's always curiosity as to why these meetings seem to flounder from lack of interest. One new member has suggested a "blogathon" type meet up (eg. attendees bring laptops, 3G or iBurst and blog for an hour or two one morning or evening), and following it up with subsequent meetings and blog-ins.
There are two Sydney-based groups over on the Meetup site for bloggers who live in Sydney. A quick pocket history:
While the first few meetings in early 2007 were fizzers, the Sydney Webloggers Meetup took off quite nicely under Sara, aka The Bargain Queen, and by scheduling several Meetups in 2007 as unofficial after-parties to big web conventions in the CBD (and publicising them through her very successful blog) attendances were at the 20 to 30+ mark. A very healthy Data Miners group broke away (so they could sit chatting about all that mathematical stuff) and formed their own Meetup group but - I dunno... maybe most other attendees were coming to find out how Sara (and friends) were suddenly starting to make an income out of blogging on the side?
Sara was suddenly unable to run meetings, and no one else on the site was vetting and approving messages to their bulletin board, or even answering emails. In 2008, in frustration, I started up a separate Bloggers of Sydney Meetup group (focusing on hobby blogging, so as not to step on toes) and I politely spammed quite a few on the old site to tell them about it. Then, about three days later, the owner of Sydney Webloggers emailed me to say he'd made me an assistant organizer of his group - and thus I ended up running two groups. (Sara and her husband went off to New York, to start her US career as a pro blogger, I hear.)
Strangely, in the five Meetups I've run in 2008, nobody from Sydney Webloggers has ever attended a meeting who wasn't already also in my Bloggers of Sydney group. Numbers are currently at 103 for Sydney Webloggers and 33 for the group I started. A few crossovers. Obviously, no one in Sydney Webloggers is much interested in hobby blogging, but their complete silence on what they would like is deafening. (Even though I now use blogs in my professional life as a primary school teacher-librarian, it's obviously not what they wish to hear about.)
I've tried weeknight and weekend meetings. Not much difference. Coffee shops, pubs, restaurants. Not much difference. The last successful Meetup (in a restaurant at Albion Park) had eight people (two drove from Canberra), but only two (plus one guest) were actually from my Meetup. The rest were from Aussie Bloggers' Forum bbs!
I don't own a laptop or 3G or iBurst, so I wouldn't have a clue who'd respond to such an idea. I keep hoping enough people will come to a meeting and we can discuss it. Looking forward to working out more ideas.
Anyway, this may be my Meetup swan song...
Announcing a new Meetup for The Sydney Weblogger and Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Groups!
When: Thursday, September 11, 2008 7:00 PM
Where: Click the link below to find out!
Meetup Description: It's been a while since I scheduled a meeting. I guess people reckon it's been too cold to venture out on a school night? I'm happy to design meetings around your preferences, and invite special guests but I need to hear about them first. Come and meet fellow bloggers of Sydney, don't just sit at home blogging about coming along one day!
Learn more here:
http://blog.meetup.com/371/
http://blog.meetup.com/408/
There are two Sydney-based groups over on the Meetup site for bloggers who live in Sydney. A quick pocket history:
While the first few meetings in early 2007 were fizzers, the Sydney Webloggers Meetup took off quite nicely under Sara, aka The Bargain Queen, and by scheduling several Meetups in 2007 as unofficial after-parties to big web conventions in the CBD (and publicising them through her very successful blog) attendances were at the 20 to 30+ mark. A very healthy Data Miners group broke away (so they could sit chatting about all that mathematical stuff) and formed their own Meetup group but - I dunno... maybe most other attendees were coming to find out how Sara (and friends) were suddenly starting to make an income out of blogging on the side?
Sara was suddenly unable to run meetings, and no one else on the site was vetting and approving messages to their bulletin board, or even answering emails. In 2008, in frustration, I started up a separate Bloggers of Sydney Meetup group (focusing on hobby blogging, so as not to step on toes) and I politely spammed quite a few on the old site to tell them about it. Then, about three days later, the owner of Sydney Webloggers emailed me to say he'd made me an assistant organizer of his group - and thus I ended up running two groups. (Sara and her husband went off to New York, to start her US career as a pro blogger, I hear.)
Strangely, in the five Meetups I've run in 2008, nobody from Sydney Webloggers has ever attended a meeting who wasn't already also in my Bloggers of Sydney group. Numbers are currently at 103 for Sydney Webloggers and 33 for the group I started. A few crossovers. Obviously, no one in Sydney Webloggers is much interested in hobby blogging, but their complete silence on what they would like is deafening. (Even though I now use blogs in my professional life as a primary school teacher-librarian, it's obviously not what they wish to hear about.)
I've tried weeknight and weekend meetings. Not much difference. Coffee shops, pubs, restaurants. Not much difference. The last successful Meetup (in a restaurant at Albion Park) had eight people (two drove from Canberra), but only two (plus one guest) were actually from my Meetup. The rest were from Aussie Bloggers' Forum bbs!
I don't own a laptop or 3G or iBurst, so I wouldn't have a clue who'd respond to such an idea. I keep hoping enough people will come to a meeting and we can discuss it. Looking forward to working out more ideas.
Anyway, this may be my Meetup swan song...
Announcing a new Meetup for The Sydney Weblogger and Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Groups!
When: Thursday, September 11, 2008 7:00 PM
Where: Click the link below to find out!
Meetup Description: It's been a while since I scheduled a meeting. I guess people reckon it's been too cold to venture out on a school night? I'm happy to design meetings around your preferences, and invite special guests but I need to hear about them first. Come and meet fellow bloggers of Sydney, don't just sit at home blogging about coming along one day!
Learn more here:
http://blog.meetup.com/371/
http://blog.meetup.com/408/
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Disaster averted!
A huge thank you to The Other Andrew and Sephyroth, who just nursemaided me through a blogger's ultimate nightmare:
I ended up with a weird glitch in my Blogger template last night. I tried to fix it ("cleverly" taking a copy of the HTML from another window I happened to have open - but it was only of one recent post) and, of course, everything looked perfectly fine when I previewed it. Then I've realised I'd managed to cause a logic loop of some kind.
Following some advice, I managed to do more of the same (ie. with more archived posts showing up, but the page itself was still "static".) Every link in my template kept me (and any readers out there) looping back to that same small sample of blog entries.
Time to seek out some HTML experts! (Surely, I kept telling myself, two years of earlier entries couldn't have been wiped out by one small coding error. I mean, I never pressed "Delete". The old posts must still be stored somewhere, even though I've seemingly severed all the old links?)
While waiting (im)patiently for an answer to my pleas (Sephy's on US time), I started grabbing Google caches of various "important pages", retrieving the HTML of my two annual indexes (so at least I had the titles of two years of entries). I started to imagine that, over time, I could rebuild the whole site from Google's cached pages. But, did I even need to? If it was just a minor HTML correction needed in the template I'd rather do it that way...
Then, at about 4.45am this morning, Sephy came to my rescue. Thanks everyone at Aussie Bloggers for all your good vibes, and especially thanks to Sephy, kathiemt, Snoskred and The Other Andrew. I could visualise what needed to be done, but that little voice in my head kept telling me I'd created a mess that wasn't fixable.
Essentially, all that was needed was to restore the Blogger template back to the one I was using, as it had all the specialised tags that Blogger uses to make posts appear (which the HTML I pasted in, in my panic last night, didn't). Then I just had to find all special code I'd so bravely added over the years (the sidebar, Sitemeter, etc) from the code in the static page I still had, save that to my computer, and then put it back in where it needed to be in the refreshed, but now-generic, template.
Easy! (When you're thinking straight, and have wonderful Internet friends to support you.) Yes, I did get a few hours of sleep overnight, but not enough.
Oh well, it's breakfast time...
I ended up with a weird glitch in my Blogger template last night. I tried to fix it ("cleverly" taking a copy of the HTML from another window I happened to have open - but it was only of one recent post) and, of course, everything looked perfectly fine when I previewed it. Then I've realised I'd managed to cause a logic loop of some kind.
Following some advice, I managed to do more of the same (ie. with more archived posts showing up, but the page itself was still "static".) Every link in my template kept me (and any readers out there) looping back to that same small sample of blog entries.
Time to seek out some HTML experts! (Surely, I kept telling myself, two years of earlier entries couldn't have been wiped out by one small coding error. I mean, I never pressed "Delete". The old posts must still be stored somewhere, even though I've seemingly severed all the old links?)
While waiting (im)patiently for an answer to my pleas (Sephy's on US time), I started grabbing Google caches of various "important pages", retrieving the HTML of my two annual indexes (so at least I had the titles of two years of entries). I started to imagine that, over time, I could rebuild the whole site from Google's cached pages. But, did I even need to? If it was just a minor HTML correction needed in the template I'd rather do it that way...
Then, at about 4.45am this morning, Sephy came to my rescue. Thanks everyone at Aussie Bloggers for all your good vibes, and especially thanks to Sephy, kathiemt, Snoskred and The Other Andrew. I could visualise what needed to be done, but that little voice in my head kept telling me I'd created a mess that wasn't fixable.
Essentially, all that was needed was to restore the Blogger template back to the one I was using, as it had all the specialised tags that Blogger uses to make posts appear (which the HTML I pasted in, in my panic last night, didn't). Then I just had to find all special code I'd so bravely added over the years (the sidebar, Sitemeter, etc) from the code in the static page I still had, save that to my computer, and then put it back in where it needed to be in the refreshed, but now-generic, template.
Easy! (When you're thinking straight, and have wonderful Internet friends to support you.) Yes, I did get a few hours of sleep overnight, but not enough.
Oh well, it's breakfast time...
Monday, July 14, 2008
All about Olive
Yesterday, Australia and the world lost their oldest female blogger: 108 year old Olive Riley.
That's what I call a good example of an "early adopter" of ICT (information communication technologies)!
RIP Olive! Your stories shall live on.
That's what I call a good example of an "early adopter" of ICT (information communication technologies)!
RIP Olive! Your stories shall live on.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
I ate at the Aviator
Today's most excellent gathering of bloggers - in Albion Park, near Wollongong - was so enjoyable. Two Canberrans traveled up and six Sydneysiders traveled down to rendezvous at the (highly recommended) Aviator Lounge for a meeting of Aussie Bloggers.
Tim & Carmen, whom I know from my two bloggers' Meetup groups, were joined by myself, plus Snoskred & The Admin, AndrewBoyd, Ian from Canberra and Gemisht (to whom I must say a big thank you for driving me down).
Phoning in her attendance from distant Townsville, Queensland, was the envious Anonymum, who was determined to be part of the action - via speaker phone - from the moment I clambered into Gemisht's car. She also checked up on us during dessert and encouraged several attendees to partake of the decadent Deep Fried Mars Bar. As for myself, I can heartily recommend the White Chocolate Cheesecake.
The only brief lulls in conversation were when all eight of us happened to be swallowing mouthfuls of food at the same time. It was great to put faces - and actual names - to some Internet identities I've gotten to know quite well over the last six months. I'm really looking forward to catching up with them again.
Sunday's magic number: 93.6 - Wow! That's amazing! I don't feel like I've done that many different things to recent weeks, and yet this week I'm two kgs lighter? Today, I celebrated!
Tim & Carmen, whom I know from my two bloggers' Meetup groups, were joined by myself, plus Snoskred & The Admin, AndrewBoyd, Ian from Canberra and Gemisht (to whom I must say a big thank you for driving me down).
Phoning in her attendance from distant Townsville, Queensland, was the envious Anonymum, who was determined to be part of the action - via speaker phone - from the moment I clambered into Gemisht's car. She also checked up on us during dessert and encouraged several attendees to partake of the decadent Deep Fried Mars Bar. As for myself, I can heartily recommend the White Chocolate Cheesecake.
The only brief lulls in conversation were when all eight of us happened to be swallowing mouthfuls of food at the same time. It was great to put faces - and actual names - to some Internet identities I've gotten to know quite well over the last six months. I'm really looking forward to catching up with them again.
Sunday's magic number: 93.6 - Wow! That's amazing! I don't feel like I've done that many different things to recent weeks, and yet this week I'm two kgs lighter? Today, I celebrated!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The magic cupboard
Poor little Jack dreads what comes out of the magic cupboard. Sometimes it's doggie chocs (Yay!), sometimes worming medicine, sometimes itch tablets, and sometimes Puppy Milk - or liver sprinkles to put on his morning puppuccino.
This week, I've been pulling out my own treats from the same cupboard: contents of several showbags from the Royal Easter Show. Wicked! My resistance is low. No such thing as a half-empty packet!
Today, I headed into the city for a lunchtime meeting of Sydney's blogging community at Star Bar. Five of us turned up this time - improved from the last meeting, certainly, but still not very representational of the whole membership list.
However...
Sunday's magic number: 91.3 - Yay! Doing okay. Not much progress, but still stable.
This week, I've been pulling out my own treats from the same cupboard: contents of several showbags from the Royal Easter Show. Wicked! My resistance is low. No such thing as a half-empty packet!
Today, I headed into the city for a lunchtime meeting of Sydney's blogging community at Star Bar. Five of us turned up this time - improved from the last meeting, certainly, but still not very representational of the whole membership list.
However...
Sunday's magic number: 91.3 - Yay! Doing okay. Not much progress, but still stable.
Friday, February 29, 2008
The tail end of the tale
I've only just discovered the wonderful (just ended) blog of Mike the human and Bondi the Alaskan Malamute, el Loco & el Lobo, who have just returned from an epic journey of 2.5 years roaming Europe and UK together.
While I'm disappointed to have found their adventures only once it was all over, I've barely scratched the surface of reading about their shared experiences. I've travelled with my Jack Russell to Queensland, Victoria and many parts of New South Wales, but it hadn't crossed my mind that international travel with a dog was even possible, let along viable. With planning, Bondi only needed to spend one month in quarantine when they returned!
What really topped the week was meeting Mike last night! I was invited to my third Thursday night bloggers' meeting in three weeks - and Mike was there, relating tales of Bondi in person! (Poor ol' Bondi wasn't allowed into the beer garden.) It kinda felt like meeting a celebrity. I'd known of Mike and Bondi's blog for less than 24 hours but I felt an immediate sense of camaraderie, and it was great fun to listen to his stories firsthand.
Jack would love to meet Bondi, being very familiar with two local malamutes who flop above the rim of their fence to watch Jack and me walking by their yard every day.
Thanks Andrew for the invitation. It was a great night with some fascinating blogging personalities!
While I'm disappointed to have found their adventures only once it was all over, I've barely scratched the surface of reading about their shared experiences. I've travelled with my Jack Russell to Queensland, Victoria and many parts of New South Wales, but it hadn't crossed my mind that international travel with a dog was even possible, let along viable. With planning, Bondi only needed to spend one month in quarantine when they returned!
What really topped the week was meeting Mike last night! I was invited to my third Thursday night bloggers' meeting in three weeks - and Mike was there, relating tales of Bondi in person! (Poor ol' Bondi wasn't allowed into the beer garden.) It kinda felt like meeting a celebrity. I'd known of Mike and Bondi's blog for less than 24 hours but I felt an immediate sense of camaraderie, and it was great fun to listen to his stories firsthand.
Jack would love to meet Bondi, being very familiar with two local malamutes who flop above the rim of their fence to watch Jack and me walking by their yard every day.
Thanks Andrew for the invitation. It was a great night with some fascinating blogging personalities!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Shhhhh!!!!
The Other Andrew wondered aloud in his blog today what was up with the blogosphere that it was so quiet this week?
Well, I've been a little lax here this week only because I'm trying to split allegiances by devoting more time to my new professional learning blog, Booked Inn: heroic adventures in teacher-librarianship over at http://ianmclean.edublogs.org/
Also a brand new blog format for the NSW Dept of Education & Training's book rap on the picture book, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge at http://rapblog.edublogs.org/ - meaning lots of emails back and forth helping brand new educator blogger virgins to blog for the first time.
Sydney Webloggers' Meetup (ending the hiatus from last July) reconvened last night and, although I was expecting about 15 people, only six of us showed up at the wonderfully atmospheric attic of the ArtHouse Hotel in the CBD. So there must be some other distractions out there. No matter, the six of us had a great time!
But otherwise the blogosphere - especially yesterday and today - seems [E.Fudd] "vewwy, vewwy qwiet, hehehehehehe..." [/E.Fudd]
Well, I've been a little lax here this week only because I'm trying to split allegiances by devoting more time to my new professional learning blog, Booked Inn: heroic adventures in teacher-librarianship over at http://ianmclean.edublogs.org/
Also a brand new blog format for the NSW Dept of Education & Training's book rap on the picture book, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge at http://rapblog.edublogs.org/ - meaning lots of emails back and forth helping brand new educator blogger virgins to blog for the first time.
Sydney Webloggers' Meetup (ending the hiatus from last July) reconvened last night and, although I was expecting about 15 people, only six of us showed up at the wonderfully atmospheric attic of the ArtHouse Hotel in the CBD. So there must be some other distractions out there. No matter, the six of us had a great time!
But otherwise the blogosphere - especially yesterday and today - seems [E.Fudd] "vewwy, vewwy qwiet, hehehehehehe..." [/E.Fudd]
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Computer says, "Blog!"
There's nothing more embarrassing than booking a table for fifteen people at a popular restaurant, and finding that everyone who RSVPs to your Meetup will only commit to a "Maybe", and then only four or five turn up. Been there, done that, bribed the waiter.
However, I'm thrilled to report that, for last night's inaugural meeting of Bloggers of Sydney, we were expecting twelve people (one had stated he was doubtful, but I had removed the pesky "Maybe" option) and ended up with thirteen! Not bad for a group that's only been around for a few weeks. It was a friendly, chatty, supportive group. I thouroughly enjoyed myself and I can't wait to explore all the new members' blogs.
Due to my zeal in volunteering my services to the other blogging Meetup group, there are two February meetings:
Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Group. For more details, please see the full listing: http://blog.meetup.com/408/calendar/7184749/
When: Thursday, February 14, at 7:00 PM (Valentine's Day)
Where: Old Vienna Coffee House, QVB, Sydney CBD.
Sydney Weblogger Meetup Group. For more details, please see the full listing: http://blog.meetup.com/371/calendar/7185298/
When: Thursday, February 21, 7:00 PM
Where: ArtHouse Hotel, Sydney CBD. Please keep in mind that the ArtHouse bouncers impose a dress code - smart casual.
So, at the moment, I'm balancing two groups. To keep them a bit distinctive, I've suggested that the newly-formed Bloggers group might prove more attractive to hobby bloggers, while the more-established (but inactive since July 2007) Webloggers group maintains its emphasis on people who blog as part of their job, or for some kind of remuneration. The Data Miners spun off into their own Meetup group in 2007.
I'll aim for a balance between coffee vs alcohol venues. If you join up one of the groups, please do suggest friendly venues that promote opportunities for people to mill around and establish new conversations. And feel free to promote both groups on your own blogs.
Meanwhile, you can keep pace with the Australian blogging scene online at the wonderful, new Aussie Bloggers web site and its very active Forum. It's one of the most user-friendly BBS sites I've used! Very impressive network, which only launched last Monday and is off to a great start.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
I am the 421st noisiest in the blogosphere
According to the blog site BuggerAll(Blog), I am ranked 421st noisiest out of 1299 current Australian blogs, with 718 "backlinks" on Yahoo, for the winter of 2007. (Yahoo is said more liberal in counting links; Google is "a bit of a scrooge that way".)
My friend The Other Andrew was ranked 144th, with 5230 Yahoo backlinks!
Hey TOA, I can hear you from here! Keep the noise down; I'm trying to blog!
My friend The Other Andrew was ranked 144th, with 5230 Yahoo backlinks!
Hey TOA, I can hear you from here! Keep the noise down; I'm trying to blog!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Waxing and waning
Last week I complained that my 50-100 visitors per day blog inexplicably fell to about 30 daily hits, which is way below what it even received when I was last on vacation (and nowhere near computer access).
Today, very strangely, and with no additional publicity or potent posts whatsoever, the stats suddenly doubled! Maybe Google Images had been down, or something? I certainly get a lot of site visitors through my Flickr! pics, and these get catalogued by Google. I'm realizing now that it was the referred links from pics that were lacking on the Site Meter data.
I find it quite fascinating, which is making me yearn, even more, for the Sydney-based Webloggers' Meet-up activities. The group has been strangely quiet recently, despite having 133 members at last count, although several are meeting as a spin-off Data Miners' Meet-up group. Now, I'm guessing that the data miners would know what's likely to be affecting my blogsite - numbers are their business, I think - but since I found myself quite out of their league at the regular Meet-ups, I'm not sure the level of conversation at a wholly data miners' meeting would be less scary and/or mathematical.
I'm seriously thinking of trying to run a Hobby Bloggists' Meet-up group through the Meet-up site, since many of those at the regular Webloggers' Meet-ups do their blogging professionally, but I am also having doubts that too many hobby bloggers will be any more free to meet in the CBD for drinks than those at the Meet-ups I run for Star Trek fans or Lost fans.
Today, very strangely, and with no additional publicity or potent posts whatsoever, the stats suddenly doubled! Maybe Google Images had been down, or something? I certainly get a lot of site visitors through my Flickr! pics, and these get catalogued by Google. I'm realizing now that it was the referred links from pics that were lacking on the Site Meter data.
I find it quite fascinating, which is making me yearn, even more, for the Sydney-based Webloggers' Meet-up activities. The group has been strangely quiet recently, despite having 133 members at last count, although several are meeting as a spin-off Data Miners' Meet-up group. Now, I'm guessing that the data miners would know what's likely to be affecting my blogsite - numbers are their business, I think - but since I found myself quite out of their league at the regular Meet-ups, I'm not sure the level of conversation at a wholly data miners' meeting would be less scary and/or mathematical.
I'm seriously thinking of trying to run a Hobby Bloggists' Meet-up group through the Meet-up site, since many of those at the regular Webloggers' Meet-ups do their blogging professionally, but I am also having doubts that too many hobby bloggers will be any more free to meet in the CBD for drinks than those at the Meet-ups I run for Star Trek fans or Lost fans.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Writers blogging
I just discovered that a writer/reviewer/editor friend, Judith Ridge, who works on the editorial staff of the long-running "School Magazine" (NSW Department of Education & Training), has a very slick and erudite webblog, The New Misrule Blog. Judith focuses on children's literature, of course, and her blog was recently reviewed in the latest issue of the professional journal, "Scan", my own old editorial stamping ground. A "Scan" reviewing colleague, Carol Thomas, praised Judith's work in the review, suggesting ways teachers might use it for both information, and as a weblog model of excellence. Carol also provided some pithy comments on blogging and the Internet in general; I absolutely love Carol's incisive observation that "the electronic world is choked with egocentric ramblings".
Egocentric ramblings? Mmmmm, sounds a lot like my blog?!
If you follow the link above to Judith's site, you'll see she links to blogs from other colleagues and contacts from my days at State Office, including former editor of "School Magazine", Jonathan Shaw, and the zany novelist, poet, globetrotter and film buff, Geoffrey McSkimming, creator of Cairo Jim!
Egocentric ramblings? Mmmmm, sounds a lot like my blog?!
If you follow the link above to Judith's site, you'll see she links to blogs from other colleagues and contacts from my days at State Office, including former editor of "School Magazine", Jonathan Shaw, and the zany novelist, poet, globetrotter and film buff, Geoffrey McSkimming, creator of Cairo Jim!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Webloggers in the Attic
Tonight Sydney's Weblogger Meetup Group met again in the well-hidden Attic Room of the Art House Hotel in Pitt Street. About 22 members turned up; always a few new faces - and plenty of chances to chat, and then recombine with different small groups for more chat.
Sydney Weblogger Meetup pics by Tim Lambert.
Therin of Andor and group organisers, Mr & Mrs Bargain Queen, are at far left.
I especially enjoyed meeting two fellow Star Trek fans, neither of whom have indicated their science fictiony passions on their blogs, as far as I can see. A third member claimed it was my Andorian pic on the Meetup site that made him want to attend. (If he expected to find a blue-skinned guy with antennae, he was to be disappointed.)
One recurring topic was how Google seems to be listing blogs above other search hits, meaning that the content and keywords of our blogs can determine where we get lots of visitors or just a few. It continues to be fascinating to be a small part of the blogging phenomenon. Who can guess where it's leading?
One of the females in the group had a bizarre experience, though. It seems that a member of an RSVP meeting of Sydney's online, lovelorn singles was taking place elsewhere at the ArtHouse tonight, and that a lost RSVP guy was checking out our group and evaluating that the weblogging females were a more choice collection than the RSVP females.
"He didn't even know what a weblogger was!" our targeted female blogger said, "I tried to tell him that Meetups weren't RSVP pick-ups, but he wasn't buying it..."
Sydney Weblogger Meetup pics by Tim Lambert.
Therin of Andor and group organisers, Mr & Mrs Bargain Queen, are at far left.
I especially enjoyed meeting two fellow Star Trek fans, neither of whom have indicated their science fictiony passions on their blogs, as far as I can see. A third member claimed it was my Andorian pic on the Meetup site that made him want to attend. (If he expected to find a blue-skinned guy with antennae, he was to be disappointed.)
One recurring topic was how Google seems to be listing blogs above other search hits, meaning that the content and keywords of our blogs can determine where we get lots of visitors or just a few. It continues to be fascinating to be a small part of the blogging phenomenon. Who can guess where it's leading?
One of the females in the group had a bizarre experience, though. It seems that a member of an RSVP meeting of Sydney's online, lovelorn singles was taking place elsewhere at the ArtHouse tonight, and that a lost RSVP guy was checking out our group and evaluating that the weblogging females were a more choice collection than the RSVP females.
"He didn't even know what a weblogger was!" our targeted female blogger said, "I tried to tell him that Meetups weren't RSVP pick-ups, but he wasn't buying it..."
Friday, March 30, 2007
Talking shop
I just arrived back home after a wonderful meal at Springwood's Orient Hotel. It was a staff dinner. Several non-teaching partners of the staff had that half-bemused expression as the teachers did what they do so well: talked shop about students, classes and teaching methods. No matter how earnestly we promise it won't happen, it always does...
The restaurant seems to have become become a staff favourite over recent years. Although there are several cosy nooks inside, we usually end up in the large front area, which is a transparent plastic-curtained area (with gas heaters on poles). The looooong table made conversations a bit restricted, so there was plenty of chair-hopping during the night.
When there are lots of us, there is a cheaper, limited choice menu available but, last night, we ordred from the regular a la carte selection. The lamb dish sounded very tempting, but I'd eaten lamb only last Wednesday, so I went for a well-recommended barbecued chicken fillet dish, which was scrumptious.
Oh, by the way, I've recently stumbled across the blog of Ian MacLean, a student of Dearborn, Michigan (not far from Ann Arbor, where my penpal, Olivia, lives) in the USA: The Chronicles of Ian. I absolutely love his blog's motto: "... where I'm Ian, and you're wrong."
The restaurant seems to have become become a staff favourite over recent years. Although there are several cosy nooks inside, we usually end up in the large front area, which is a transparent plastic-curtained area (with gas heaters on poles). The looooong table made conversations a bit restricted, so there was plenty of chair-hopping during the night.
When there are lots of us, there is a cheaper, limited choice menu available but, last night, we ordred from the regular a la carte selection. The lamb dish sounded very tempting, but I'd eaten lamb only last Wednesday, so I went for a well-recommended barbecued chicken fillet dish, which was scrumptious.
Oh, by the way, I've recently stumbled across the blog of Ian MacLean, a student of Dearborn, Michigan (not far from Ann Arbor, where my penpal, Olivia, lives) in the USA: The Chronicles of Ian. I absolutely love his blog's motto: "... where I'm Ian, and you're wrong."
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
"Oh, Magoo, you've done it again!"
Remember my post of yesterday, where I droned on and on and on about people who do not, or cannot, interpret the publication data in books?
For all my enthusiasm and helpfulness, I was told, "There's no need to be condescending."
Sigh. There I go again.
There was no malice whatsoever in my TrekBBS post. I'm a teacher-librarian (USA: school librarian) in a primary (USA: elementary) school. I spend many minutes of every working day - as do all teacher-librarians I know - modelling to students how to interpret the parts of a book, and stressing the importance of noting the reliability of a resource (ie. by noting its publication details, etc), and yet many people ask questions about books on the bulletin boards that indicate (to me) that many adults choose not to remember, or never received, the same school experience.
Ok, so the poster knew all about the books, how to check the publication data, etc, but they weren't available to him or her, so by answering the question - I managed to insult the poster. I know all of the poster's back story, and I only added my internal dialogue as I compiled my answer because I thought that was as interesting as the answer itself.
At the risk of seeming to be even further condescending, I suggested that using Google, and some judicious search terms, they'd have had the answer(s) even faster than asking on an online bulletin board. For example, crucible trek publication mccoy just gave me a full page of possible citations. The top entry turned out to be the Simon & Schuster page for "Crucible: McCoy" and the publication date is clearly marked.
Oh well. Was that condescending? (Please don't tell me.)
Onto two other happier topics:
Today is, ironically,
and I need to go and raid the wardrobe for something orange. We have a full day of harmonious, orange activities planned for the students at school. It's always a wonderful day, with lots of good vibes.
Last night's Webloggers' Meetup was great, as usual. I didn't get much of a chance to circulate, but I really enjoyed chatting to the people who ended up in my proximity, but all too soon it was time to race off for my train. I'm thinking I'd love a different setting to a pub, because it would be great to hear each person introduce themselves and give a pocket biography. There's a lot of talent and energy in the room when these bloggers meet.
For all my enthusiasm and helpfulness, I was told, "There's no need to be condescending."
Sigh. There I go again.
There was no malice whatsoever in my TrekBBS post. I'm a teacher-librarian (USA: school librarian) in a primary (USA: elementary) school. I spend many minutes of every working day - as do all teacher-librarians I know - modelling to students how to interpret the parts of a book, and stressing the importance of noting the reliability of a resource (ie. by noting its publication details, etc), and yet many people ask questions about books on the bulletin boards that indicate (to me) that many adults choose not to remember, or never received, the same school experience.
Ok, so the poster knew all about the books, how to check the publication data, etc, but they weren't available to him or her, so by answering the question - I managed to insult the poster. I know all of the poster's back story, and I only added my internal dialogue as I compiled my answer because I thought that was as interesting as the answer itself.
At the risk of seeming to be even further condescending, I suggested that using Google, and some judicious search terms, they'd have had the answer(s) even faster than asking on an online bulletin board. For example, crucible trek publication mccoy just gave me a full page of possible citations. The top entry turned out to be the Simon & Schuster page for "Crucible: McCoy" and the publication date is clearly marked.
Oh well. Was that condescending? (Please don't tell me.)
Onto two other happier topics:
Today is, ironically,
Harmony Day
and I need to go and raid the wardrobe for something orange. We have a full day of harmonious, orange activities planned for the students at school. It's always a wonderful day, with lots of good vibes.
Last night's Webloggers' Meetup was great, as usual. I didn't get much of a chance to circulate, but I really enjoyed chatting to the people who ended up in my proximity, but all too soon it was time to race off for my train. I'm thinking I'd love a different setting to a pub, because it would be great to hear each person introduce themselves and give a pocket biography. There's a lot of talent and energy in the room when these bloggers meet.
Monday, March 19, 2007
"My name is Therin and I'm a blogger..."
These Weblogger Meetup Group gatherings sound a bit like the equivalent of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting but the two I've attended so far have been very interesting.
Once again (tomorrow), we are meeting at the ArtHouse Hotel in Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD. On busy Thursday nights, that popular watering-hole routinely has a bouncer or two, looking over potential patrons, and commenting upon their dress sense, or lack of..., but on Tuesdays the conditions are seemingly lax. (We have school photo day at work, tomorrow, so I'll be in my best gear anyway.)
As of tonight, there are 23 positive RSVPs and seven "maybes" registered at the Meetup webpage, and I notice that many of them are professional bloggers, rather than hobbyists like me, so it's sure to be a big one. Tomorrow is also the start of the Sydney Search Engine Room conference in the Sydney CBD, so that event has helped to raise the profile of our latest Meetup.
It's fascinating to be a small part of this evolving, still-fledgling blogging phenomenon, and to observe how it's been so quickly integrated into the daily lives of the big (and small) professional wheels in the business, marketing and public relations sectors of the world community.
Once again (tomorrow), we are meeting at the ArtHouse Hotel in Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD. On busy Thursday nights, that popular watering-hole routinely has a bouncer or two, looking over potential patrons, and commenting upon their dress sense, or lack of..., but on Tuesdays the conditions are seemingly lax. (We have school photo day at work, tomorrow, so I'll be in my best gear anyway.)
As of tonight, there are 23 positive RSVPs and seven "maybes" registered at the Meetup webpage, and I notice that many of them are professional bloggers, rather than hobbyists like me, so it's sure to be a big one. Tomorrow is also the start of the Sydney Search Engine Room conference in the Sydney CBD, so that event has helped to raise the profile of our latest Meetup.
It's fascinating to be a small part of this evolving, still-fledgling blogging phenomenon, and to observe how it's been so quickly integrated into the daily lives of the big (and small) professional wheels in the business, marketing and public relations sectors of the world community.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Bloggers unite!
Tonight was my second meeting of the Sydney Weblogger Meetup Group, hosted by Sara, aka The Bargain Queen (and her consort, who has taken to introducing himself to others as "Mister Bargain Queen"). The venue was the atmospheric Art House Hotel in Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD.
Last time had eleven attendees; this time there were probably 35 or so! No doubt the increased numbers (25 had RSVPed) were because a conference (Ad-Tech) had been in progress all day, and many of the pro bloggers had come from a full day's program of events - and had obviously brought some blogger buddies.
It's an exciting time to watch the whole blogger phenomenon unfold, and how it's been embraced by the business sector, not just the hobbyists. Comparing blogging in the 2000s to the rise of the talk-back radio phenomenon of a few decades ago, Mr BQ postulated, "If Alan Jones or John Laws were starting out in their public careers today, they'd be bloggers!"
Thanks again for organising the event, Sara.
Last time had eleven attendees; this time there were probably 35 or so! No doubt the increased numbers (25 had RSVPed) were because a conference (Ad-Tech) had been in progress all day, and many of the pro bloggers had come from a full day's program of events - and had obviously brought some blogger buddies.
It's an exciting time to watch the whole blogger phenomenon unfold, and how it's been embraced by the business sector, not just the hobbyists. Comparing blogging in the 2000s to the rise of the talk-back radio phenomenon of a few decades ago, Mr BQ postulated, "If Alan Jones or John Laws were starting out in their public careers today, they'd be bloggers!"
Thanks again for organising the event, Sara.
Friday, January 19, 2007
To be noted, be noteworthy
Last night I attended a meeting of the Sydney Weblogger Meetup Group, hosted by Sara, aka The Bargain Queen. The venue was Paddy Maguire's Pub in the city.
I enjoyed meeting everyone and it was great to see the conversations flow so easily, despite the amazing variations in our blog content and scope. Several of the "professional bloggers" work in public relations, and it was enlightening to hear how savvy PR people so quickly embraced blog technology when it came along.
At my count there were eleven attendees, although more might have turned up after I raced for my train. I know a few of the bloggers had met before, some only by email but others face-to-face, but this newbie was made to feel quite at home in no time at all. I am looking forward to exploring the blogs of other attendees over the next few days/weeks, and to seeing everyone at the next meeting. Thanks for organising the event, Sara.
The tip of the evening came from Steven Noble, who writes a blog called Elbow Grease: Getting Results in PR & Digital Communication. Steve told us, "If you want to be noted by a particular audience, the first step is to ask how you, in their eyes, can be noteworthy."
Mmmmm. Interesting...
I enjoyed meeting everyone and it was great to see the conversations flow so easily, despite the amazing variations in our blog content and scope. Several of the "professional bloggers" work in public relations, and it was enlightening to hear how savvy PR people so quickly embraced blog technology when it came along.
At my count there were eleven attendees, although more might have turned up after I raced for my train. I know a few of the bloggers had met before, some only by email but others face-to-face, but this newbie was made to feel quite at home in no time at all. I am looking forward to exploring the blogs of other attendees over the next few days/weeks, and to seeing everyone at the next meeting. Thanks for organising the event, Sara.
The tip of the evening came from Steven Noble, who writes a blog called Elbow Grease: Getting Results in PR & Digital Communication. Steve told us, "If you want to be noted by a particular audience, the first step is to ask how you, in their eyes, can be noteworthy."
Mmmmm. Interesting...
Monday, December 18, 2006
Time magazine's "Person of the Year"!
And the winner is... :
Me.
And indeed, you. According to a blog entry over at KRAD's page, Time has given the title of Person of the Year to "anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web".
So congratulations to KRAD. And me. Oh, and you!
Me.
And indeed, you. According to a blog entry over at KRAD's page, Time has given the title of Person of the Year to "anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web".
So congratulations to KRAD. And me. Oh, and you!
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