UNC-Pembroke will host the 2007 Digital Content Consortium and Podcasting Festival March 16 & 17.

Join the Chapel Hill bloggers this Wednesday as we bowl a few games at Mardi Gras Lanes (Hwy 54 near I-40). It’s a family night at the lanes — and Valentine’s Day to boot — so bring your loved ones and children. We’ll start at 6pm, but join us when you can. Mardi Gras has free wifi, and we’ll talk blogging and more as we bowl.

We’ve provided blogging how-to articles of our own over the years (links to come), but here’s a new resource, Weblog Tutorials.

Announced by e-mail today: bq.. ConvergeSouth 2007, the Southeast’s first tech user conference is held in Greensboro, North Carolina. The 2007 conference is scheduled for October 19-20, 2007 at NC A&T State University. Hold the dates! We are seeking proposals for interactive discussions, DEMOs and how-to sessions in these areas: # New media and journalism # New creative online models and tools # Blogger how-to and blog improvement # Music performance (evenings) # Original video and film This year’s ConvergeSouth features a new track: screening original video and film. Guidelines can be found at the ConvergeSouth site after March 1, 2007 We are actively seeking sponsors for ConvergeSouth 2007. Please click here for more information.

The call for submission has been issued:

This week’s Tarheel Tavern (#103 for those of you keeping score) comes on the Sunday before Valentines Day. In a declaration of vitality and ecstasy, the theme of the Tavern is Utter Transformative Joy. While all submissions will be received like family, take the opportunity to gush your gushiest goodness for our readers all over North Carolina. This week’s Tavern will be a week to get your blogfriends and neighbors involved. Invite new voices and feel free to submit the work of other NC bloggers. I’m ready for a deluge. This week’s Tavern will appear at Scrutiny Hooligans, with a front page link at BlueNC, BlogAsheville, and American Samizdat. Please use this opportunity to spread the word about our amazing NC blogging community. Send your gear to scrutinyhooligans AT yahoo DOT com – Get it to me by Sunday morning at 7am.

On a phone call today, I learned that “ascertainment” is an official concept related to a television station’s FCC requirements to determine that the station is responding to a community’s needs. That’s part of the reason for the WNCN NBC-17 blogger meetup on February 19th.

Last night we had our first Blogger MeetUp of the month. Apparently there was a game (UNC vs. Duke) so not many people showed up, but we had a great time and an interesting conversation anyway. Of the veterans, Brian Russell and Steve Cory were there. We were joined by Billy Sugarfix, who, I understand, is quite a legend of the local music scene. He gets most traffic when he posts ads “I’ll put your lyrics to music” than anything else. Another new face is Anna Lena, poetry editor for the online Fringe Magazine which just had a new issue out with the topic of Feminism. She is interested in adding a blog to the magazine website, as well as starting a personal blog of her own. She is wondering if she shoul have one blog or two, as she has two vey different interests: biking and poetry. As she is interested in other local bloggers interested in the same stuff, I pointed out two local poets I could immediately think of – Billy and Erin and the local biking blogger Nicomachus. So, we were talking about a bunch of stuff. We briefly touched on the success of the Science Blogging Conference. Of course, we had to touch on the whole campaign bloggers brouhaha as well. Then we talked about the recent effort by the local NBC affiliate to reach out to bloggers. On that topic, Brian has more and he finds another blogger’s take on a similar effort by the NBC affiliate in NYC. Quite a lot of food for thought. Next Wednesday, we go bowling. Feb 14 at 6pm at Mardi Gras lanes. There’s wi-fi so bring your laptops so you can liveblog the meetup (livebowling or bowlging?).

Kudos to Jason Clough of NBC-17 for reaching out to local bloggers and inviting us to a listening tour — the station’s “community ascertainment is a casual meeting with representatives from the community and NBC 17.” Unfortunately, the timing isn’t quite conducive to a blogger meetup, but if you can be in Raleigh at noon on Monday February 19th, send Jason a message (JClough AT wncn.com) And stay tuned for an announcement of another “meet the bloggers” event this month.

The very first blog carnival, the Carnival of Vanities was invented here, in Chapel Hill. The very first state-based blog carnival, the Tar Heel Tavern was invented here, in Chapel Hill. There were about a hundred editions of this weekly carnival so far and the Second Anniversary is approaching fast. The latest edition was posted last night on Moomin Light. Next week, the carnival comes back home to my old, recently resurrected blog Science And Politics. Send me permalinks to your best post (or two) of the week by Saturday night, at: Coturnix AT gmail DOT com. Also, let me know if you want to host a future edition of the carnival. Let the tradition continue – meet the NC blogging friends, old and new, every week in a different virtual tavern. Addendum: Slight changes in the hosting line-up for the Tar Heel Tavern: Next Host: Scrutiny HooligansTTHT #104 (18 February 2007) Host: Writing for Nonprofits

1. TTHT #105 (25 February 2007) Host: Science and Politics
2. TTHT #106 (4 March 2007) Host: Slowly She Turned
3. TTHT #107 (11 March 2007) Host: Scrutiny Hooligans
4. TTHT #108 (18 March 2007) Host: ?
5. TTHT #109 (25 March 2007) Host: ?
6. TTHT #110 (1 April 2007) Host: Scrutiny Hooligans
7. TTHT #110 (8 April 2007) Host: ?
8. TTHT #111 (15 April 2007) Host: ?
9. TTHT #112 (22 April 2007) Host: ?
10. TTHT #113 (29 April 2007) Host: Writing for Nonprofits
    Let me know if you want to host!

The NYTimes features Big Apple restaurant bloggers in Sharp Bites, and local company Blogads gets a mention (Henry Copeland mentioned to me at the Blogads office warming party last month that food blogs are a booming part of their business). BlogTogether is planning a series of summer food blogging events. Help us noodle on this idea.

The News & Observer covers local politicians who blog. Our friend Chapel Hill councilwoman Sally Greene is featured.

Jim Buie has published a blook about his mother: bq. I’ve written a blook, not just a book, called Teacher of Our Town: Lillian Secrest Buie. That is, I started out in 2004 putting together a blog of my mother’s writings. Post a few paragraphs several times a week and within a couple of years you’ve got a big enough manuscript for a book. A blog provides the rough draft and a good structure for the discipline of writing a book. A blog that evolves into a book is called a blook. There’s even a Blooker Prize for the best blog turned into a book.

Just checking to see if this thing is on. Interesting belly of the beast in Textpattern! Certainly not as fool-proof and user-friendly as Blogger, Frogger, Typepad, MoveableType or Wordpress. I am glad Anton is taking care of the behind-the-scenes stuff here. Anyway, it is nice to see that BlogTogether is growing and that a few of us will be able to post here. This should make the place much more lively. If you have any blogospheric local news let us know, so we can post here. Has a blogger moved in or moved out of the Triangle or NC? Anyone shut down a blog, or a new person started a cool blog? Anyone changed the host/URL? Did you have fun at the latest Meetup and have pictures to share? Are you planning a blogger party, teach-in or conference? A local blogger has important news: marriage, birth of a child, promotion at work? Let us know! OK, let me try to do a link on this platform, about local blogging, go see here.

Stephen Fraser reappears to resurrect his blog, Salutor.

Good chat tonight, with Davak, Bora and Jackson joining me. My apologies to anyone who tried to join us — I just figured out that the free version of Campfire only lets four people chat at one time (I’ll pay to upgrade so the next chat can accommodate more). Some highlights from the chat: For the next few months, we’ll plan for one of the Chapel Hill Bloggers Meetups to have semi-formal discussions led by guest bloggers: * February will feature the big-name politico bloggers swooping into Chapel Hill for the Edwards campaign * March will feature Davak and others about moneystuff — how to make money from your blog. We’ll invite Justin from Blogads, and an accountant to share some tips and resources. * April will feature a guest to talk about legalstuff — copyright (a perennial topic), libel and liability. We’re also noodling on plans for a series of foodblogging events this summer, and Jackson has designs for a cool design unconference (like this one). And Davak and I will be brainstorming on ways to explore health and medicine through blogs. I also noted plans to form a nonprofit organization for BlogTogether. Please contact me if you have experience you’d like to lend. And we’ll need a logo, if you’ve got the talent and desire to donate your design efforts to creating a brand for BlogTogether. And we’re still on for these meetup times in February: * Wed, Feb 7 at 6:30pm at Milltown. * Wed, Feb 14 at 6pm at Mardi Gras lanes. * Wed, Feb 21 at 6:30pm at Milltown.