Il s’agit de la formation de spécialiste en médias sociaux et communautés en ligne, qui a déjà eu lieu l’an dernier (avec grand succès, je me dois d’ajouter!) sous le nom de “spécialiste en management de communautés et médias sociaux”.
Le contenu du cours ne change pas fondamentalement, mis à part les inévitables ajustements d’année en année. Le changement de nom est simplement dû à une volonté de mieux refléter la matière du cours.
Bref, si les médias sociaux vous intéressent, et les communautés en ligne, venez jeudi soir 26 mai à 18h30 à la Maison de la Communication à Lausanne afin d’y poser toutes les questions qui vous passeraient par la tête! (Une autre séance d’information aura lieu le 14 juin.)
[fr] A Bruxelles avec Solar Impulse, gardez un oeil sur leur blog pour me suivre durant cette semaine! Je m'occupe de leur programme blogueurs.
The week ahead is going to be busy: I’m in Brussels with the Solar Impulse team, taking care of their blogger programme and supporting them in their social media use. It’s great fun but a lot of work!
03.2012: photo has sadly been removed from Flickr by the person who uploaded it.
News of special interest to my Belgian readers, cross-posted from the Solar Impulse Blog. Thanks for helping spread the word about this blogger programme, time is short (happenings are next week!)
As announced, there are four occasions we can invite you to take part in:
Plane visit: Elâ and I will host a small group of bloggers and podcasters on Monday 23.05 morning 9am at the Solar Impulse hangar for an informal visit of the plane. A chance to meet up, chat, ask questions, take photographs, etc.
EUFORES/EREC cocktail on Tuesday 24.05 evening: an occasion to brush with political celebrity, this cocktail is an invitation-only “intimate” event of about 300 people for which we have a certain number of passes to distribute to bloggers. This will take place in the hangar where the plane is.
Green Week side event with European Commissioner for Environment Janez Potočnik on Wednesday 25.05 evening: this event is slightly more accessible to the general public through Green Week, but we will save you the hassle and bring you in as our guests, again, through a certain number of blogger invitations. This event will also take place in the hangar, of course.
Breakfast discussion with André and Bertrand: Saturday morning 9h30-11am, come to the hangar for a discussion table with André and Bertrand while we all have breakfast together! A chance to ask your questions, talk about anything related to the project, film, photograph, blog, tweet, you name it. For 60 minutes, we will leave the two founders of the project at your mercy 😉 (we trust you’ll hand them back in once piece so they can get to work on what’s left to be done after this, though!)
All are still open (I’ll update this post as needed) but be quick, space is limited. So far, we are able to accommodate all those who have contacted us (you’ll be hearing from us soon), so if you want a chance to meet the team and see the plane for real, it’s worth applying.
We’ll of course have stickers and a certain number of booklets about the project (particularly for those of you coming Monday and Saturday).
An extra opportunity we’re throwing in for you is that if you come to one of these four occasions, we would like to invite you to write a guest post on the Solar Impulse blog. No obligation of course, and we’ll set a time limit (upto July 6th), but we think it would be cool if we open up the blog to other bloggers.
If you aren’t a blogger or a podcaster, Saturday afternoon will be open to the general public (you’ll have to sign up though). Keep your eyes open for more news on this blog, or sign up as a Friend in our supporter program and we’ll let you know. If you are a “2.0-type” photographer, it’s worth applying too if you make your photos available through Flickr under a creative commons license (meaning, you allow bloggers and other online people to use your photos to illustrate their writings, as long as they credit you, of course).
Our main aim with the blogger programme is to help spread information and enthusiasm about the Solar Impulse project. So when you take part in the programme, we expect you to help us with that by:
producing publicly available content about your experience and the Solar Impulse project on your blog or podcast in a timely manner (we’ll link back to it on our blog, of course)
making your photos available under a creative commons license (let us know if this is a serious issue for you)
and it’s always appreciated if you disclose that you participated as part of the blogger programme!
What’s next?
If you’re not around to come and see us at Brussels airport, you might still have your chance. Early July (you know how we roll now, we won’t be able to tell you the date until the last moment) the prototype is flying to Paris for Salon le Bourget.
There won’t be much to see at take-off and landing (Paris and Brussels airports are huge, you’ll be better off glued to your screen watching the video stream!) but there will be short in-flight interviews with André (we’re waiting to see how many slots we can secure for bloggers) and probably a press conference upon arrival (to be confirmed). We’re also seeing if it’s possible to give access to the press conference to certain bloggers/podcasters. More soon.
In Paris itself, the plane will normally be available to the public in the afternoons — but it’ll basically be a path around the plane with many many thousands of people streaming by. So we’re thinking of doing something similar to Brussels: a private visit with a small party of bloggers and podcasters one of the mornings, and another discussion table (like in Brussels) with André and Bertrand. The rest of the time, Elâ and I would be available to receive you by appointment. All this is to be confirmed, of course, but like that you know what we’re planning!
I’m also busy thinking about introducing an “official Solar Impulse blogger” status. It’s still pretty fuzzy for me (so suggestions welcome!) but it would basically entail a certain number of privileges and requirements for the bloggers/podcasters in question.
Are you a blogger or a podcaster? Are you excited about the Solar Impulse project? We have news for you.
As you might have seen if you’re following us on Twitter or Facebook, I (Stephanie Booth aka @stephtara) am currently working with the Solar Impulse team to set up special access and events around the project for bloggers and podcasters.
Update 17.05.2011: this article was published on the Solar Impulse blog before the flight to Brussels, but it has now taken place successfully!
First of all, two words of caution:
the offers in this programme are for established bloggers and podcasters only, that we will accept on a case-by-case basis;
we do not know yet exactly when we’re flying to Brussels (flights are confirmed 24h in advance) — and bear in mind there is a small chance that all the necessary conditions for a safe flight may not be met before Green Week.
That being said, please use this form to let us know if you’re interested in taking part in our blogger programme. You can also simply sign up for the blogger announcement list, which will let you know about anything we plan specifically for bloggers and podcasters.
Current details on what we’re planning can be found below. We’ll be in touch with more as we finalize things, as well as confirmation — or, depending on the success of the blogger programme… more information about the selection process!
For the flight
The whole flight can be followed live on the Solar Impulse website and can also be followed on your smartphone (download the app for iPhone or Android). We have a small number of slots available during the flight if you would like to interview André while he’s in the air (ask him what it feels like to be outside Swiss borders with Solar Impulse!).
Update: departure and landing events are full, unfortunately!
It is also possible for us to invite a few people to the take-off, but as I mentioned, it will be on very short notice. We know it will be on the morning of the day of the flight, though. So, if you’re not far from Payerne and think you can make it for take-off around 8am if we warn you the afternoon before, try your luck!
There is a landing event in Brussels in the evening (around 8pm). Obviously we’ll have a little more notice than for take-off, but it’s still not much. We have a handful of invitations to that event for bloggers and podcasters. (By the way: even if you’re not a blogger, Brussels Airport are inviting 30 of their followers on Facebook and Twitter to be their guests at the landing — follow them for more information on that!)
The Week in Brussels (23-29 May)
During the time the Solar Impulse airplane will be in Brussels (during Green Week!), there are four occasions on which we can invite you — two of which will be open only to bloggers/podcasters (the other two are events which are open to a part of the public, but you’ll be able to attend as our guests).
First of all, a chance to see the plane in its hangar before everything starts — Elâ and I will be your hosts. That will be on Monday 23.05 morning, probably 9-11 (but we’ll confirm the exact time once it gets closer). This will be an opportunity to meet up, get to know fellow bloggers, chat about the project, photograph the plane, etc. The only people there will be bloggers and podcasters (and maybe some photographers!)
The second “blogger exclusive” event will take place on Saturday 28.05 morning, and it will be a discussion roundtable with André and Bertrand. Breakfast included! As we want to keep this conversation “human-sized”, the number of spots for this event is quite limited.
On Tuesday evening, there is the EUFORES/EREC cocktail event. About 300 people will be invited (political and economical spheres), and we have a certain number of passes for bloggers.
We aim to bring a community of bloggers together around the Solar Impulse project, beyond this first trip outside Swiss borders (next stop: Paris, more details vers soon, and who know what after that!) — at some point, we’ll define criteria for an “official blogger” status with visibility on our website.
We’re looking forward to meeting you, reading you, listening to you… and answering your questions about the project! If you have any other ideas, don’t hesitate to let us know using the “Anything to add?” field of the blogger programme form.
[en] Solar impulse is taking off tomorrow for Brussels, yay! The blogger programme is taking shape too, so if you're a blogger or a podcaster check out what we have in store (you can come for take-off or landing, as well as four different events during the week the plane will be in Brussels).
Et en plus de ça, notre programme spécial pour blogueurs et podcasteurs prend forme, avec des invitations pour le décollage et l’atterrissage, ainsi qu’à quatre événements durant la semaine à Bruxelles (deux sont exclusivement réservés aux blogueurs/podcasteurs, dont une table ronde de discussion avec p’tit déj sous les ailes de l’avion, en compagnie de Bertrand et André).
Si vous voulez y prendre part, jetez-vous sur le formulaire d’inscription, le temps court et les places sont limitées!
Si vous ne connaissez pas cette grande dame du réseautage responsable francophone, avec qui j’ai eu la chance de partager une croque le mois passé lors de mon séjour à Montréal, je vous invite à y remédier de ce pas!
Great news! You’ve heard I’m working with Solar Impulse these days — one of the first results of our work together is a shiny new blog running on WordPress. We’ve imported all the articles from the existing home-made blogging platform, and installed WPML to make it all multilingual, as their articles are translated into French, English and German.
The whole thing went pretty smoothly thanks to all the people involved!
[fr] Un pas de plus sur le chemin du deuil, alors que je m'apprête à éparpiller les cendres de Bagha dans le jardin où il passait ses journées. Tentative un peu laborieuse d'identifier (et de trier) ce qui dans la douleur de la perte de mon chat est proprement la douleur de sa mort, et ce qui est simplement la douleur de la solitude retrouvée.
I started writing this months ago, not long after Bagha died. In India, to be precise. As a way to help me come to terms with his loss, I spent some time trying to write down what made him special for me. What is it exactly that I’m grieving, through him?
I actually tried to blog this once before, and that ended up being the article “Sorting Through Grief“. Like all painful things, it’s tempting to postpone this kind of exercise — but now that I’m preparing to take Bagha’s ashes out of the back of my cupboard to scatter them in the garden he loved, I feel it is time to pick up this list again. I need to move forward. These last weeks, or maybe months, I’ve slipped into a not-too-uncomfortable limbo somewhere along the road of grief. There was a little sideroad somewhere with a bench, and I sat down.
It’s time to start walking again.
What follows is a little raw. It’s also not “perfect” — meaning that I’m aware I’m failing at sorting through some of the things I was hoping to sort through while writing this. That’s the whole point, I guess. Otherwise I would just sail “happily” through grief, if it wasn’t that difficult for me.
So, what made Bagha such a special cat for me? Quoting from my previous post, here’s what I’m trying to disentangle:
what it means for me to now be living completely alone (ie, “petless” => by extension, what having a pet — any pet — adds to my life)
what made Bagha special, as compared to other cats (his personal caracteristics, pretty objectively)
what made Bagha special for me, in terms of the relationship we had and what he meant to me
I’ll start by setting aside the obvious: what kind of cat Bagha was, outside of the relationship I had with him.
Physically:
he was big and strong
he was a beautiful animal
he had a mashed-up nose and ear tufts
he had a long non-twitchy tail
he slept on his back with his front paws crossed
he was long-legged and slim with very sleek fur — had the body of an Indian cat
he was a spotted/striped tabby with lovely eyeliner
And also:
he slept on his back, front paws crossed on his chest
he had a very girly high-pitched meow which was kind of comical for such a big boy
he snored gently in his sleep and made little moaning noises when being petted
he’d sleep with his head and paw resting on my arm
More about his behaviour and interactions with me and other humans, which is maybe a little less “cat-standard”, but not yet the stuff that made my relationship with him so special:
he would come back home all by himself, right into the flat, and come and say hello
he trained the whole building to let him in and out
he would patiently let me give him his meds or put his collar on before going out
everybody who met him liked him and saw he was not an ordinary cat
Here we are, now. The cat-companion. This is what the emptiness of his absence is made of.
he slept with me every night
he would follow me discreetly from room to room
he’d sit on the table while I ate
he’d wake me in the morning to go out with just one meow
he would come and lie down where I patted my hand
he would come and cuddle when I watched TV or worked at home
Trying to rise above the mundane details of daily cohabitation (even if they’re important), here are some of the deeper roles Bagha played for me:
he would be waiting for me, always happy to see me
he kept me company every day
he helped me connect to people in my building and neighbourhood
he connected me to India and Aleika
he was a constant through all the changes my life went through these last ten years
Of these, I guess the fact he kept me company and was happy to see me are more pet-generic than Bagha-specific.
But the role he played in helping me find my place in my neighbourhood, the connexion to India and Aleika, and the ten years of my life that he saw me through — those are things that are uniquely linked to Bagha. No other cat will ever be able to give me that again. He was a living, breathing, purring witness to these things, no lost forever. I carry those years and that part of my life completely alone, now.
Along the same lines, here are two more things I’d like to add:
he made eclau a special coworking space
he brought me closer to some of my friends who lived in my flat to take care of him when I was away
Eclau will have other cats, and be a “special” coworking space in that respect in the future. Salem, my upstairs neighbour’s cat, has already taken quarters on the couch, and will probably soon have his own page on the eclau website. Some time next year, I’ll be ready to have cats again, and they’ll come to eclau too. It will always be a kitty-friendly coworking space — but Bagha was the first, and his constant presence in the office was soothing for those who worked there.
The fact that quite a few of my friends cat-sat at some point or another when I was travelling over the last ten years made him a connexion between me and them — connexion which is now gone, like some of those friendships. His absence makes their pastness a little more present.
On a more emotional level:
I loved him and cared for him
I gladly gave up some of my freedom because I loved him
I accepted some risks (like losing him to a car accident) because it gave him a better life
These are things I learned for life because he was my pet, and will treasure for ever. His legacy in me. Traces of his life that his death cannot erase, and which — I believe — make me a better person.
I believe there is no meaning in the world other than the meaning we put in it, consciously or not. Beyond the meaninglessness of life and death, we choose to make sense of our lives so that we can keep on growing.
Maybe Bagha’s biggest gift to me, beyond the ten years of precious companionship he gave me, is in his death. I got to say good-bye. Not at the moment of my choosing, of course — death rarely gives us that — but did get to say good-bye properly. I am saying good-bye.
So here’s the meaning I choose and which makes perfect sense for my life, almost as if it were provided by some intention bigger than and beyond me:
Bagha let me love him for a long time and with all my heart, so that I could learn to love and grieve properly.
Amongst all this, I wonder, what is just the pain of finding myself “alone”, or catless? What does it mean to me to have a cat? I’ve tried to break it down into “plus side” and “minus side”, because part of the grieving process is also greeting the new good things in my life brought about by this loss (I have a blog post draft sitting in WordPress titled “The Bittersweet Freedom of Catlessness” — I will write it someday).
Having a cat means:
having company to sleep with me at night
having somebody to care for
having somebody waiting for me to come home
having somebody to communicate with and keep me company
having cuddles and affection handy when needed
having an attraction for visitors and a topic of conversation to make friends amongst cat-lovers
But it also means:
giving up some freedom (no unplanned trips)
expenses (food, vet, etc)
having to cat-proof the home
having to get up to let the cat out, or change the litter
worrying that it didn’t come home (or might not)
negotiations with neighbours/concierge if it causes any trouble
The pain of losing Bagha is still very present, nearly five months after his death. There is still a terrible pit of sadness in my heart, but it doesn’t overflow with tears anymore when I don’t want it to.
I sometimes try to imagine my future cats, who are maybe not even born yet — I fear that I will not love them as much as I loved Bagha, or that they will not be quite so extraordinary, and I know that I still need to spend some time walking down that road.
Warning: long article, mais c’est aussi parce qu’il y a plein de photos, et plein de choses à raconter!
Vous commencez à être au courant, mais si jamais (scoop!), voici pourquoi vous m’avez entendu parler de Solar Impulse plus que d’habitude durant la dernière semaine: je travaille à soutenir l’équipe communication dans leur utilisation des médias sociaux, y compris la mise sur pied d’un programme de “relations blogueurs” en bonne et dûe forme. Jusqu’à fin juin en tous cas, me voilà donc plongée dans l’univers de l’avion solaire. J’adore!
Je vous en dirai plus sur ces deux “events” et le vol prévu dans un autre billet, mais sachez déjà que c’est à ces occasions-là que nous aurons des choses intéressantes à proposer aux blogueurs (du coin ou d’ailleurs, s’ils désirent se déplacer!) Pour être sûr de ne pas rater l’annonce et les offres pour blogueurs, inscrivez-vous à la petite liste-annonce que j’ai ouverte sur Google Groups. (Pas très élégant mais facile, et ça vous assure d’être au courant dès que je peux vous dire quoi que ce soit.)
Bref, lundi, j’ai vu voler l’avion. Wow!
En fait, même si ça faisait longtemps que je connaissais le projet (j’ai entendu Bertrand Piccard le présenter lors du Forum des 100 en 2006), je me suis rendu compte lors de cette première semaine qu’il y avait des tas de choses que je ne savais pas!
Premièrement, on me l’avait dit, mais je n’avais pas enregistré, ou réalisé: il est grand, l’avion solaire. Vraiment grand (63m40 d’envergure!). J’en ai pris la mesure une fois qu’il avait été sorti du hangar et que j’ai voulu le photographier dans son intégralité. J’ai eu beau reculer, il ne rentrait toujours pas dans le cadre, regardez:
Alors OK ;-), j’ai changé d’objectif et le bel avion solaire a accepté de rentrer dans le fameux cadre de la photo, mais quand même. J’ai été surprise, là. (Notez en passant comme c’est joli, la campagne payernoise et les champs de colza. Il y avait aussi les grillons qui chantaient et le soleil qui grillait, mais ça c’est difficile à partager par internet.)
Deuxièmement, on me l’avait dit aussi, mais je n’avais pas non plus enregistré (ou réalisé): l’avion vole lentement, comme un grand oiseau planeur majestueux. En fait, le HB-SIA (c’est le p’tit nom du prototype) est une sorte d’immense planeur, très très grand, et très très très léger. Avec des hélices propulsées par des moteurs électriques (la puissance d’un scooter) alimentés par l’énergie solaire, qui peut aussi être stockée (pour voler de nuit). 1600kg, c’est pas grand chose!
L’article dans Gizmag offre une analogie très parlante (je ne sais pas si elle est d’eux, mais c’est là que je l’ai vue): c’est un peu comme si vous preniez votre voiture familiale et que vous l’étiriez pour lui donner la taille d’un Airbus A340. Voyez comme c’est léger? Moi, ça me fait proprement tourner la tête.
Donc, vous avez déjà vu voler des planeurs… ça plane. Et Solar Impulse aussi. C’est très agréable pour prendre des photos.
Troisièmement, et corollaire de la remarque précédente (là c’est mon cerveau qui a pas fait les connexions): il décolle très vite! Je vous explique: pas vite comme les F/A-18 (on a subi leurs décollages juste à côté à la fin de notre pause de midi), mais vite comme… oh, il est déjà en l’air!
J’étais postée dehors, pas tout à fait à côté de la piste, mais bien placée pour voir décoller l’avion, après avoir assisté à la sortie du hangar que je vais vous raconter tout soudain. Je m’installe, appareil de photo en main et prête à filmer le décollage. J’attends, je vois deux-trois tests d’hélices, et là, je réalise (pardonnez la lenteur de mon cerveau encore un peu endormi) que l’avion va faire tourner ses hélices avant de se mettre à bouger. Chouette, je serai ainsi avertie et pourrai commencer à filmer! Il suffit de garder un oeil sur les hélices.
Ah, voilà, c’est le moment! Les hélices tournent! Je pointe mon appareil de photo en direction de l’avion! (C’est beaucoup de points d’exclamation pour bien vous montrer l’excitation du moment.) Je me mets à filmer mais… tonnerre, il est déjà en l’air! Moi qui m’imaginais (de nouveau, échec cérébral, j’avoue) que l’avion allait prendre toute la longueur de la piste pour décoller, comme un avion de ligne… Eh bien, j’ai raté le décollage proprement dit. Prise de vitesse. Moins de 100m et hop, il vole. J’ai quand même une vidéo à vous montrer, hein.
(Mon appareil fait des caprices de mise au point, sorry… faut que je relise le manuel pour régler ça!)
Vous entendez le doux ronron du moteur électrique? Pas mal, hein.
Et le voilà dans les airs!
Quatrièmement (mais pas dans l’ordre chronologique), je n’avais pas du tout pensé au fait que sortir l’avion de son hangar est déjà toute une aventure. Il sort au pas, avec plein de monde autour pour veiller sur lui. Il est quasi millimetré pour tenir tout juste dans le hangar, il faut donc faire bien attention!
Le voici dans son hangar:
(Notez les vélos électriques à gauche, je vous raconte après.)
Sortie, on surveille la queue (je sais qu’il y a un nom technique pour cette partie de l’avion, mais je ne suis pas encore au point, donnez-moi encore quelques semaines pour m’imprégner du vocabulaire aéronautique):
Vous voyez, c’est déjà toute une histoire!
Petit détail sympa en passant, le genre de truc que les journaux vous raconteront jamais. Les nettoyeuses de piste!
Pour stabiliser l’avion pendant qu’on le déplace, on le soutient à la main, comme on voit bien sur cette photo:
(Vous verrez aussi ça à la fin de la vidéo de l’atterrissage, si vous avez la patience de regarder jusqu’au bout…)
Le cockpit, de près (notez qu’il n’y a pas de vitre — enfin pour le moment, elle est ajoutée après, si j’en crois ce que je vois sur mes vidéos plus bas):
Une hélice:
Et voilà, il suffit maintenant de l’amener en bout de piste pour le décollage!
La butte sur la gauche, elle est prévue pour les spotters. Elle est accessible au public, et on y a une bonne vue de la piste!
J’ai fait bien sûr toute une série de photos de l’avion en vol. En voici quelques-unes que j’aime bien:
Et en passant, toutes mes photos sont sous licence Creative Commons “paternité, non-commercial, partage à l’identique” (by-nc-sa): ça veut dire que vous pouvez les réutiliser (et même les modifier) tant que (1) ce n’est pas pour un but commercial (genre vous les vendez pas sans mon autorisation, sinon bobo!) (2) si vous les modifiez, vous les partagez avec la même licence (en gros, vous n’avez pas le droit de faire un machin “tous droits réservés” à partir de mes photos). En bref et pas compliqué: si vous avez un blog ou un site et que vous voulez utiliser mes photos dessus, pas de souci tant que vous spécifiez que ce sont mes photos! (Les médias, par contre, vous êtes “commerciaux” :-))
Retour à l’avion, donc. J’ai deux vidéos à partager avec vous, encore: celle de “l’approche” (en gros, l’avion fait comme s’il allait atterrir, mais il n’atterrit pas) et celle de l’atterrissage proprement dit:
Notez les cyclistes qui rejoignent l’avion sur la piste. Regardez jusqu’au bout la vidéo suivante (celle de l’atterrissage) pour voir ce qu’ils font…
L’avion immobilisé après l’atterrissage:
Ce que j’ai appris aussi (c’est le cinquième truc) c’est que les vols ne sont pas planifiés super à l’avance! A ce stade du projet, l’avion dépend beaucoup des conditions météo. Tout se décide 24h à l’avance… Je n’en avais aucune idée!
Voilà, je vous laisse ici pour aujourd’hui. Et dès que je peux, des nouvelles du vol pour Bruxelles et du programme blogueurs.
[fr] CTTS a vécu la plus grande partie de sa vie sans blogroll. Fastidieuse à maintenir, paresse, etc. Il est temps de changer ça: les blogazines et blogs-marketing ayant pris le dessus dans l'esprit des gens quand on dit "blog", je désire mettre en avant ceux et celles qui font et ont fait mon monde. Certains bloguent depuis plus de dix ans, certains moins, mais tous ont en commun de bloguer par passion avant de bloguer pour le profit. Une invitation à se rappeler que le blog dit "personnel" a encore de beaux jours devant lui, une fois remis de la gueule de bois marketeuse qui nous pend au nez.
Look down the right column of this blog. (Yes, you need to be on the actual web page to do this.) Scroll down a bit. Further.
Do you see it?
When I started blogging, there weren’t that many bloggers around. Well, there were many, but not as many as today. There were a handful I started to read and like, and I listed them in my sidebar like everybody was doing. (At one point we learned that it was called a “blogroll”.)
Very quickly, though, my blogroll started failing me. I couldn’t put everybody in there. I also realised that once somebody was in the blogroll, it was very hard to remove them. So when I changed the design of my site to design #3 way back when (don’t ask, I’ve lost count) I just scrapped the blogroll.
Everybody had one. It didn’t really matter if I didn’t: the paths through the blogs were well-trodden.
Years have gone by, and Climb to the Stars, for most if its history, has never had a blogroll. But it’s time for that to change.
This last year or so has been coloured by my increasing frustration about what blogging has become. Blogs have now become synonymous with blogazines and blogging-by-numbers (thanks for the expression, Adam), which leads some to say that the blog is dead (are you kidding), while still others actually don’t have the slightest clue about what blogging as a medium really is.
So, I need a blogroll, you see. A blogroll to celebrate the long-lived geeky personal blog. Yes, personal and professional mix. But these are the blogs which are written for love before they are written for profit.
My blogroll will forever be incomplete, imperfect, missing people, and with the odd superfluous “what’s that one doing in there?” link. Doesn’t matter.
It’s an invitation. An invitation to discover blogs that revolve around a name, not a brand. Blogs that have been around for a couple of years or more than 10.
