Blogging rocks!
Advantages Blogs are windows on other people's worlds..
Disadvantages Not everyone out there has an interesting world!
The Author
Author's newest reviews
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05/04/2006
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03/04/2006
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Bloggers stand up. (or sit down under a bedspread in Leeds, in an office in Washington, in a bombed out IT centre in Iraq or from your hospital bed…)
This is real life, this is the world as seen from you lot out there - (y)our loves, losses, joy and pain.Blogging is the new black/brown/white/yellow/green (delete as appropriate)
Blogs (or weblogs) are open diaries full of views, opinions, pictures, music and links to other sites. Hey some blogs apparently just link to other blogs and you can hop along in a circle!I started one in January, with Blogger.com.
(http://transplantwait.blogspot.com) has had 3,000 visitors to it and found myself on radio, TV and in the press directly or indirectly because of it.This is democracy in action. Blogs told and spurred along the political changes in the Ukraine. But rememner…One person can start a cultural snowball.
I now am working on an MP3 blog for BBC WM and a video diary for a documentary to be show on BBC1 in August - 'Life On The List'…(Sometimes it seems I am writing the blog about writing other blogs!) Is this popular culture eating itself or what?!
I use my blog for awareness. I am fighting a race against time to get a double-lung transplant and hope people can really feel they can get to know me through the blog, and it may help them make a decision to become a donor.It is also a mini soap opera with the characters being friends who come in and out of my life, what we do, and what we don't do as well because of my condition..
(http://transplantwait.blogspot.com) I am shamelessly plugging this! LolPeople do read blogs….It's a great way to get your opinions out in the open and people talking about what you write, if only to stop it festering inside!
What do you need to start a blog?Well you can do one on your own website (if you have one) but most people use a blog host. Google's Blogger is a blogging service that's simple to use and free.
Most blog hosts allow the setting up and editing of blogs with little technical know-how…automatically placing the postings in chronological order, just like a written diary.But beginners will appreciate Blogger as in minutes you get your first posting into cyberspace….then you have all the time in the world to redesign it (and re-jig.)
Blogger just requires a simple setup. First you create your account, name your blog and finally choose from pre-designed templates or design your own.Blogger allows you to put your blog on your web host or make your blog a part of your own Web site, or you can use Blogger.com's free hosting service, instead.
If you do the latter you get myblogsname@blogspot.com - this can go on your business card or even on a t-shirt (Yes I know its sad, but I have my website on a t-shirt.)It's a black t-shirt with glow in the dark green lettering….If you catch me late at night you may just see a moving website coming towards you. That will teach you to take drugs!
Blogger.com provides a simple WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) way of editing or writing your script. It does what it says on the side of the can!Buttons enable you to choose different fonts, sizes, colours, bulleted lists and text alignment within your posts. It's a simple as writing a letter in Word. If you can do that, you can do this!
Blogger.com ahas an online help page with dozens of tips and tricks for basic and advanced use of the service. You can also e-mail technical buffs if you have problems.I am learning to design web pages. I did find I was having problems applying knowledge of web design to Blogger…but this is because so much is done for you! It is almost too easy!
You can even download a Google toolbar which includes a button allowing you to blog with a simple click of the button.Once set up your blog is actually on the net and like your Ciao reviews can be seen and found by anyone with internet access.
The down side is that with so many people on the bandwagon you have to write something different if you want to get noticed…although many write as therapy or to get things off their chests anonymously.. …You can write comments or additions to other people's blogs, but you need to have set up your own blog first, even if you never update it. This stops anonymous postings.
Be careful who you are rude about or nice about… People have even been sacked because of their blogs. There was the case of the bookseller who slagged off his bosses - unfortunately they were internet savvy and regularly logged on to his rantings!People who read my blog know I obviously fancy the girl who works in Holland and Barrett in Lichfield. One day she will find out through someone who has ready the blog telling her….
This is the exciting thing….She may never know.I have a picture site at http://groups.msn.com/marksucks and put pictures on here then upload them to my site.
But sometimes, for no apparent reason I just get a diagonal cross in a box where the picture should be….As I already stated the site has hints and tips and by leaving comments on other people's blogs you like you can find there is quite a community out there and if I could be bothered I could probably find the answer to this little bug. *if anyone knows, send me a message!
There are other blogging sites available to host your blog, but this is the one recommended by whatever internet magazine I was reading in January and I have never needed to go elsewhere…(oh and this one's free!)You can even make money using Google's AdSense scheme where you can put ads in your blogs (well they do it for you, you just tell them what size) and if enough people click on the ads you get a small amount of cash….(but it won't cover your weekly food and alcohol bill!)
It is fun to see what they put on. When I was on IVs, nursing courses were advertised, when I talked about the death of The Pope, Catholic charities advertised on it.I have also had dodgy dating sites, cat protection charities and on-line CD shops, depending on what words on my blog they had picked up on.
I choose to have just one ad on my blog (although they can change it as many times as they want) and it is small and unintrusive…but please click on it and make me about 0.5p or something!Anyone can start a blog….Anita Roddick has one William Shatner has one. One of the most famous blog chronicled the life of an ambulance driver (the 'randomreality' blog)
The Baghdad blogger became a celebrity in his own right - and his regular posts from Saddam-land were recently made into a best-selling book.Of course just because you have a forum to say something (as readers of boring reviews on Ciao can testify) doesn't make what you have to say interesting or useful.
You can contact Blogger if there are any particularly offensive things in a blog, although to be fair, it is a good example of self-policing and I haven't found any (although I haven't been looking!)I use my blog ultimately as my own diary or the major things I get up to. I know family and friends who regularly print it off and keep it.
Perhaps one day I will be interesting enough to become a book…then the girl in the Holland and Barrett will definitely find out!Until that time here are some interesting blogs
http://transplantwait.blogspot.com
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Seresecros 05/01/2008 16:14
woodnymph 03/05/2006 22:16
littlefluffycloud 07/04/2006 05:00
Janej47 17/03/2006 19:04
At last ! Now I understand what a blog is !! Good luck with the transplant . Jane xx
fabulous_girl 19/10/2005 17:34
Great article. I should start blogging 'officially'. I tend to abuse ciao by just using the Cafe section to blather on about myself far too much. I should really stop abusing the system, but its OH so easy!
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