I was supposed to be writing a blog post every day for a month. I failed after 2 days. But…
…I will carry on and write an extra two posts today to catch up, and we’ll just pretend they were written over the weekend, ok? No-one needs to know 
Posts Tagged: blogging
21
Jun 10
So my plans went a bit awry
17
Jun 10
A blog post, every day, for a month
I’m aware this may attract sniggers from anyone who’s read my previous commitments to blog more, but in an attempt to counter my blogging apathy I’m going to write a blog post every day from now until 17 July
No, seriously, a post every day. Honestly. I mean it this time
I think part of my apathy has been down to mulling over potential blog action for far too long, then fiddling with wording and structure until the subject either becomes outdated or (more likely) someone far more articulate, witty and prompt writes a better blog post first. (And yes, I know it’s hard to believe I spend any time at all considering the wording or structure of my posts)
So for the next month, expect a stream of random observations, garbled comment, utterly irrelevant musings and maybe, just maybe, the occasional insightful post
Maybe…
(this post counts as today’s effort btw)
10
Feb 10
A new blog post
Yes, that’s right, this IS a new blog post!
I’m finally fulfilling my commitment to blog more regularly (after being shamed into it)
I don’t know what to write about though.
Google Buzz? Nope, it’s already been covered by about a gazillion people already.
The weather? Nope, it’s cold but that’s normal for winter, no?
So. Um…I’ll be back shortly
20
Jan 10
A commitment
OK, I really mean it this time…I’m going to start blogging regularly again.
At, least 3 times a week.
Definitely, this time.
Honest
11
Nov 09
Oh dear, still not blogging
Hmm, seems I’ve failed to keep to the commitment I made in my last post to blog at least once a week.
Let’s start again shall we?
28
Jun 09
This one time, at LocalGovCamp…
So it looks like I’m even later to the party than I thought, what with Charles Arthur declaring that blogging is dying. Ok, so that wasn’t exactly what he was saying, but it sounds nicely dramatic so I’ll go with it
Anyway, now I’ve started I’d better keep it up, so I wanted to reflect a bit on last Saturday’s LocalGovCamp. This was my first unconference and also the first social media event I’ve been to in person.
I’ve followed a fair few online but it’s definitely a whole lot easier to follow what’s going on when you’re in the room! And it was great to finally meet some of the people I only know through twitter or blogs (though my stupid shyness prevented me from meeting many others – sorry if you were there and I didn’t introduce myself)
But hang about – I don’t work in local government – so why was I there? Well I’m a huge believer in stealing sharing great ideas & ‘good practice’ from all over the place – local, regional & central government, & the voluntary, community & private sectors.
The day had a big impact on me – I’ve NEVER attended another conference where there was so much enthusiasm, energy and sheer desire to do things from all the people there – people giving up a major share of their weekend too. Not your average ‘it’s a day out of the office jolly’
I only caught a few of the day’s sessions so it’s great that the discussions are continuing online (Dan Harris has set up the Localgovcamp forum to keep the conversations going & Dave Briggs has pulled links to some of the activity together on the LocalGovCamp site).
Lots of people have carpe diem’d (I know that’s an appalling abuse of latin – apologies to any classicists out there) in true JFDI style & are building apps, setting up social media cafes, . I’m going to start with a few smaller steps:
- start blogging (ok, that’s a cheat because that one’s already been covered) and start contributing more to online conversations
- try (inspired by Ingrid Koehler‘s session on councillors & soc med) to persuade my local councillor of the potential benefits of using social media to engage with the local community (this is proving more difficult than I thought, considering we live together, but I can be persistent. or a nag, depending on your point of view. but I will win)
- find the time to finish turning my CIPR diploma research into an online engagement strategy & guidance for my organisation (because they need it and I want to do it)
- start using the apps I’ve installed on my iPhone to start capturing some audio/visual stuff and sharing it (once I’ve figured what the hell some of them are. I only downloaded some of them so I could have a little rainbow of apps across the screen. yes, I am that shallow)
I know that’s a short list, but it’s just a start - I will do more. Because now I’ve re-discovered my enthusiasm for all this social media stuff. So big, big thanks to Dave Briggs and everyone else involved in organising the day, and to everyone who attended and made it a great experience
Oh, and I have to credit Justin Griggs for the American Pie inspired title because I totally stole it from him
24
Jun 09
Late to the party
So, I’ve finally started blogging
There’s already a gazillion blogs out there, and plenty of them are better informed, more articulate and far more widely read than my blog ever will be.
So why am I doing it?
- because it’s probably about time I did – I’ve been wittering on about the value of online engagement and social media and boring everyone around me for a while now
- because I have too many thoughts in my head, which go round and round and round and go nowhere, or I have a flash of inspiration which I then forget, or I…uh, I forget
- because I pledged to do it by the end of this week after Saturday’s LocalGovCamp, so I better had, otherwise I’ll feel like I’ve let down the all the inspiring, committed and downright brilliant people I met there
- and a load of other reasons that were floating around in my head but which I’ve now forgotten (see reason No.2)
So here I am, late to the party as always (in my head I like to think ‘fashionably late’), but I figure why not, no-one’s going to read this thing anyway
Oh, one last thing – I know it looks boring at the moment (again, in my self-delusional head I’m thinking ‘cool and minimal’), but I have plans!