Verdict on the ACRL blog

It wasn't a blog. In some ways, it was better than a blog (more multi-media, threaded commenting); in some ways, it was worse (no permalinks, no RSS feed, requires a terms of service agreement checkbox to enter). All in all, it just doesn't quack like a blog.

While I can see why one would want to call it a blog (blogs are cool!), I think it caused more problems than it was worth. There would never have been a demand for it to go public if it had not been called a blog. ACRL asked for volunteer bloggers and got mostly people who preferred to produce text and resisted producing audio. If they had asked for roaming journalists, as Jane called us, they would have had volunteers who always had a secret desire to be Liane Hansen and would have gone about interviewing every one they met.

If I were Queen of ACRL, here's what I would do next time. Assuming that the virtual conference is a success, I would invite Learning Times back to do it and ask them to include a component like this year's blog, only call it something else (ACRL multi-media news? ACRL's roaming reporters? ACRL newscast?). Separately from Learning Times, I would set up a blog using the PLA blog as a model. In fact, I wouldn't wait until the next conference (ACRL only meets every two years) to start a blog, but I might wait a few months so that I can ask for advice from Steven and Andrea after they have more experiences with the PLA blog to share.

I don't want to imply that my experience with the ACRL conference blog was bad. It was very good. It pushed me out of my comfort zones in ways that were beneficial to me. In fact, if Learning Times does this again at another conference I attend, I'll be in the front of the line to volunteer. While I'm convinced that there are people who would take more naturally to the medium than I did, I am now experienced! I'm happy with the final results. There's even a bit of a story arc there--I'm wondering how far I could push that before it became artificial. I also think I could probably find more creative and meaningful ways to use the audio. I would love the opportunity to see what else I could do in this medium.     #

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