BlogTogether

I’ll be speaking about weblogs and medical journalism at the UNC-G Department of Nutrition faculty seminar next month (Mon, Sept 12). My ambitious
TITLE: bq. Staying Healthy On A Diet of Blogs: A conversation about how experts and amateurs are using websites, weblogs and podcasts to share their scientific knowledge — or ignorance — with the world. Any suggestions for blogs, sites or online resources that fit the topic? What lessons should I be sure to cover? [cross-posted to mistersugar.com]

See the class weblog for Paul’s JOMC 391.1: Blogging, We the Media and Virtual Communities. As always, he’s got an impressive reading list and guest-expert schedule. If you’re a student at UNC-CH, I highly recommend this class. (Paul’s personal blog is here.)

Because I messed this up so many times today, I’m reposting the Chapel Hill Bloggers Meetup details: bq. Season 2 of the Chapel Hill Bloggers Meetup begins Thursday, September 8. We’ll be meeting on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 7 p.m. at 3 CUPS coffee bar in the West End Courtyard off West Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. Please download the poster and post it at your place of work, study or play.

I hope your summer has been enjoyable and relaxing. Our August slowdown is nearly over, and soon it will be time to gather again. Here’s an update on fall blogging events in North Carolina. * I’ve updated the BlogTogether website, as you can see. Notice the listings in the left menu. * Season 2 of the Chapel Hill Bloggers Meetup begins Thursday, September 8. We’ll be meeting on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 7 p.m. at 3 CUPS coffee bar in the West End Courtyard off West Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. Please download the poster and post it at your place of work, study or play. * Have you signed up yet for the ConvergeSouth new media conference? It’s scheduled for October 7th & 8th in Greensboro. Looks to be an exciting event. * It’s not too early to sign up for the Podcastercon podcasting users conference. It’s scheduled for January 7th in Chapel Hill. * As far as I know, the Raleigh/Cary Bloggers Meetup still gathers the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Cafe Cyclo in Raleigh’s Cameron Village. * I’ve updated the BlogTogether webcal — you can subscribe to webcal://zuiker.com/ical/public/blogtogether.ics to keep up on the schedule of meetups, bloggercons and podcasting events. If you know of other events, please send me the info and I’ll include it. See you September 8 at 3 CUPS.

The Independent Weekly gets its first blog, about local music. Congrats to them (the design is a bit lacking, but it will improve, no doubt). At the first Chapel Hill Blog Teach-in, Indy editor Kirk Ross and I talked about how useful a local music blog would be. Glad to see he and his staff agreed.

I’ll be posting an update on our Fall 2005 schedule for meetups and teach-ins (and a visit to Greensboro for ConvergeSouth) later this week. Until then, you might be interested in this tidbit from Mena at SixApart: the next version of Movable Type will allow unlimited blogs, even for the free account.

No Chapel Hill blogger meetups this month as we spend the time with our families, our lawn mowers or our air conditioners. Some bloggers take a break from their blogs during August, but if you’ll still be posting, consider submitting an entry to the Tar Heel Tavern. My notes from last week’s meeting, attended by Jane, Adam, Ruby, Jackson, Corey, Chris new blogger (and Carrboro mayoral candidate) Mark Chilton. We talked about election, voting and political contribution information that’s available online — see Corey’s excellent mapping of Orange County candidates — then chatted about the Grand Theft Auto there’s-sex-in-that-there-violent-video-game controversy. We then discussed the Chapel Hill Blogger Meetup schedule for September on. Please help us settle on a good time, place, frequency and agenda for our regular meetings. Post your thoughts in the comments. Here’s what we have so far: * Frequency: twice a month, as in second and fourth weeks. * Time: 6 p.m. is too early for some, so 6:30 might be better. * Duration: one hour, though the discussion may go longer * Location: Tyler’s Speakeasy seems a good choice, but we can’t guarantee that room each week (it gets rented for parties). Carrboro’s cybrary at Century Center seems a perfect location, except that building closes at 5 p.m. Mark Chilton suggested he could help us look into using that space after hours (good reason to help him get elected, eh?). Other spots? We need space to sit in a circle or around a table, and free wifi would be great. Doesn’t have to be a cafe or shop — a church basement would do, and we could take turns providing refreshments. Weigh in, please. As for the Chapel Hill Blog Teach-in, I’d like to plan one or two more of these for the fall; this is our community service project. Then there’s the Podcastercon event in January.

UNC-CH journalism student Allison Hager covers blogs in Charlotte this month. Full article insn’t online; watch here for PDF. (Hager heard me talk about blogs in Deb Aikat‘s class last year.)

Brian’s making progress on his pet project: Podcastercon has a new logo and a firm date and location: Saturday, January 7, 2006, 11am – 4pm in UNC’s Murphey Hall (where we had the Triangle Bloggers Conference earlier this year). Nice work, Brian and collaborators. Can’t wait to participate in this conference.