London Regional ICT Champion

This week saw NetSquared’s first London Net Tuesday Meetup – a gathering of non profit bloggers, techies, accidental techies and people wanting to know more about blogging – take a look at a head to head comparison of blogging platforms and blogging tips.

Two things quickly emerged from the evening:

Blogging platform of choice:

(i) Typepad and Moveable Type had their fans, but WordPress hosted and WordPress self-hosted was the most popular blogging platform of choice amongst the audience.  Apart from being free, WordPress is easy to set-up, easy to use, and has a large community of developers.

We met Miko, a London based web consultant and blogger, who has a great write up of the blogging platforms compared at Net Tuesday.  As someone with much experience of blogging,  and working on web-based projects, her thoughts on different blogging platforms are well worth checking out.

Blogging for work isn’t as easy as it first looks:

(ii) Many people rush to set up blogs either because their project requires it or, the Chief Exec thinks it will help trigger dialogue with stakeholders.  However, the reality is that many people find blogging for work an imtimidating prospect – they don’t know which blogging tool to use, can’t find the time or the inspiration to write, and lack any ‘editorial’ guidance from their organisation.

This is something the Champ blog very much identifies with and we’re still wrestling with those questions 18 months on!

The personal aspect:
The discussion at Net Tuesday made me realise how many people prefer personalised blogs, even if the blog is for professional reasons.  This is because it enables the reader to get a sense of the blogger/author and make a personal connection on some level.

However, The Champ blog is a non-profit organisation’s blog about a non-profit project in a niche part of the non-profit sector.  And the dillema is should I come out from behind the veil in Wizzard of Oz style and confess to some terminally credibility destroying sin? Like growing up with a Tom Baker haircut and a liking for 80s pop.  Or starting work in art gallery before stumbling into community ICT as an accidental techie?  Too much information?

Tips to get started with blogging at work:

Fortunately, Miko has come up with some great tips to help you get started on blogging at work.

• Why do you want a blog in the first place?
• Does my organisation have an internal/corporate culture that supports blogging?
• Start reading other people’s blogs – and join in the conversations.
• Think about the practical requirements of blogging
• Have realistic expectations
• Get your manager’s approval

I know I’ll certainly be re-evaluating the champ blog after reading her posts, so stay tuned.