Back when there weren’t a lot of easy ways to start blogging elegantly I’d give blogs to any of my friends who showed interest, setting up Movable Type/WordPress/Blogger for them and working out simple templates I thought they’d like. Some of them are still up and going ( Mira, Woo! Room206, Speaks the Gimp, Tom Makes Pictures, A Collection of Works, The Creative Act, St-Francis Jigger, ) while others were abandoned a long time ago in favor of social networking or other hobbies (Brian, Princess Camp and Poison Frogs, Girl Riot, No, You’re a Blogger Geek, Lyss). Just making that list took me so long, I don’t think I ever added it all up like that before.
Anyway, these days I usually just point people at WordPress.com, since they have great themes, the best software around and an easy way to take it to the next level.
So what’s left to do? The other half of giving someone a blog: Showing them how to use it!
Global Voices’ core mission, aside from reporting on what’s happening in blogs all over the world, is to get more blogs and bloggers going whenever possible. Writing is good for you, it helps you clarify your thoughts and hone your writing, and it also helps people find you and keep up with you online.
GV is having a drive to get people to teach someone else how much fun blogging can be, or alternately blogging’s little cousin, microblogging (which means services like Twitter or identi.ca similar to “status” on facebook but with more power and more fun. btw I’m almost always @jeremyclarke).
I signed the pledge to write about it and teach someone, but as the above list implies, my life is already pretty saturated with people I’ve taught to blog, so if you live in Montreal and want to learn how to blog (or want some advice about it too I guess) drop me a line and I can help you out sometime.
If you have someone in your life with problems getting their message out (or a business to promote, or any other problem that could be solved if they had a TV channel) then consider taking some time to show them how blogging could improve their life <3
Who will you teach Jer ?
[Besides the continuing education of the clueless few at GV ;) ]
this is great. i have been teaching people overseas to blog since 2001. keep it up!
Ironic. Since I asked you about it, and you gave me the run around. Now I expect the whole nine yards. I want lessons. Homework. Everything.
I am trying to learn microblogging to italian users, on a free service based on laconi.ca microblogging software (open source) but italian people are newbie with the new web-applications.