So I see my blog's been picked up by Adrian Miles, Jill Walker, and Mark Bernstein (all of whom have kind and generous things to say, here, here, and here, respectively).
Actually, I suppose I cheated a little, having sent Adrian a note that this blog was now up, and yes, truth be told, hoping he'd get the word out to the community. Which he has, flattering me too much in the process. And I suppose my writing this, knowing full well that Adrian might soon be reading, is some kind of commentary on the new interpersonal space that blogging foments. (Anyway, thanks Adrian, and I hope to run into you again soon--ACH/ALLC 2003 maybe?--and you too Jill.)
Incidentally, I really need to get my brain around trackback. I suspect this entry is just the kind of thing it was made for.
Also need to take a closer look at blogrolling.com, which seems to be the thing to use to manage one's linklists.
Posted by mgk at February 23, 2003 11:01 PMWelcome to the wonderful world of Movable Type--so many delightful features to improve communication, so little time to learn how to use them. :-)
In my experience, the best way to add functionality to your blog is to find people whose blogs have that functionality, and borrow heavily. Given the template-driven nature of the software, you often have to ask outright--but most people are flattered by the request, and happy to share.
Trackback is perhaps the most valuable feature that MT provides, and the hardest part is not the technical implementation (though it benefits greatly from tweaking in the templates), but the conceptual piece. Two-way linking is a very new way for people to think about the web. When I taught blog basics to my web design students, they really struggled with Trackback. Not until I used it between two different blogs that I control (my personal blog and the blog I'd set up for the course) did it start to click, and even then they didn't fully grasp its potential and use.
At any rate, welcome to Blogaria. (Or Blogistan, or the Blogosphere, depending on who you ask...or read.) Have fun. But be careful. The reciprocal blogrolling can begin to eat away at your life. Too many good blogs to read, too little time.
Posted by: Liz Lawley at February 24, 2003 07:11 PM | Link to Comment