Fail blog?!? Hard lessons learned from running the “WDIM Blog”
When I started the WDIM WordPress blog several months ago my objective was clear: create a department blog that students and faculty will contribute to, where general web and department issues will be discussed. Easy enough right? First off let me say that I don’t claim to be blog-savvy in any way, when I started the wdim program one year ago I didn’t know much about blogs (or the ‘inter-webs’) for that matter. Like many wdim students the first blog I created was for Chappy’s WDIM101 class. Despite my utter ‘blog-norance’ (blog ignorance?) I figured the WDIM blog would be easy breezy and practically run itself. Umm turns out NOT SO!
However, trying to start up a blog and witnessing it fall flat has taught me some valuable lessons about blog running that I might not have learned otherwise. No matter how many articles your read about how to run a successful blog I think the best way to learn is to create your own and have it essentially… well… fail. Sometimes you just have to eat it to learn what works and what doesn’t. Just to be clear I have no intention of abandoning our withering blog, I really want to revive it and make it, dare I say, interesting to read! Now that the ‘blog-issance’ (blog-renaissance?) has officially begun I thought I would share with you all some lessons I’ve learned thus far since starting this project.
Lesson 1: “That there Blog ain’t gonna write itself!”
The key to any interesting blog is content. In many cases, content from the very users that read and enjoy the blog (ie. failblog.org) My goal with the widm blog was (*and still is*) to get as many students and faculty participating as humanly possible! The obstacle I’ve faced is that when you ask a stressed out student or teacher to write a blog entry their response is usually “uhh… I guess I could do that… maybe” as they make an awkward face that says “you’re really asking me to tack that on to my list of things to do? Hellz NO!” I also face a stigma in that people often think “wdim blog? Who reads that? Oh right, NO ONE.” Pretty brutal, I know. To overcome these obstacles I have decided to lead by example (by writing entries myself) and encourage people to twitter/facebook about their entries as soon as they are posted (something I will do from the wdim dept twitter/facebook account as well.) This blog will only be as good as the entries that we publish, reading and writing a blog post really isn’t so bad (at least just take my word for it!)
Lesson 2: Censorship Sucks : P
Initially I added students to the blog as “contributors,” which means that their posts would have to be approved by myself before being published. The reasoning? I didn’t want to be responsible for an angry anti-wdim department rant being published, you know, the kind of rant that would really upset Chappy and Bill (the guys that asked me start the blog in the first place.) The downside of censoring posts is that a.) there is no instant gratification ( “yay! I just published something!”) and b.) no one likes ‘big brother’ (a.k.a. myself) pre-judging their writing and decided if it is “appropriate enough.” After going to school at AI for a little over a year and getting to know countless wdim students, I have officially concluded my psychoanalysis. The determination? The average web student is generally kind and good-hearted in nature! Needless to say I have learned my lesson, and as of today anyone who wishes to write for the blog gets the title of “author” (a.k.a. YOU get to edit, publish, and delete your posts as you see fit- no approvals needed.) I was thinking the other day that the only time I hear about blogs on the news is when some crazy person writes something completely shocking and outrageous, so basically the more shocking your are the more hits your blog gets. I’m not necessarily encouraging crazy rants, but a little crazy never hurt anybody, did it? Hmm.
Lesson 3: The importance of the “real-time web” – delay is unacceptable!
Like I said before, when it comes to blog entry publishing and commenting, real-time results are absolutely necessary. Originally all blog posts and comments had to be approved by myself. I admit I was not always the most observant and speedy when it came to approving posts and comments, shameful and regrettable indeed. The logic of approving comments/posts makes sense, but realistically most people want the instant gratification of BAM! “comment posted,” or BAM! “entry posted.” Possibly what the little thing called Facebook is popular? So rest assured that I have modified all privacy settings, once you join the blog and become an author you can do want ever you want- post a big ugly picture, write a poem about PHP, really ‘go to town’ as they say. Just let me know you want to become and author and we will get it done!
Lesson 4: Ugly blog’s get NO LOVE
Yes- the blog theme is ugly. Awhile back the project management class began creating a custom blog theme that unfortunately was never realized; way way back a student offered to create a custom theme and I told him “thanks but the project management class already has dibs on that.” Argh. So here we are today, lame-blog theme and all! I did spend about an hour today trolling through wordpress themes and the current one is the best I could muster- please give me suggestions or better yet lets work on a custom theme! Like I said, ugly blogs get no love : (.
Lesson 5: It’s takes a whole village to raise a blog!
In conclusion the more wdim-ers that get involved with this blog the better it will be. I hope that the recently established “author” status will entice people to participate and that this blog can begin to function more like a facebook wall – open to quick posts, links, articles, and of course student and faculty opinion pieces like the one you are reading. Thanks for taking the time to read this post and remember- the blog-issance is NOW; WDIM Blog’s future is in your hands!
-Allyson Dutko
