Blog guidelines

From the readings and case studies this week I think that some good guidelines for blogs are:

• Have a clear purpose and audience, and let this guide what gets posted

• Make entries of a consistent (and brief) length

• Provide an “about me” section

• Provide an “about this blog” section

• Use a reasonable number of categories, with sensible headings

• Edit!

I think that blogs benefit from having one consistent writer for two reasons: first, it makes for easier and more pleasant reading. Second, because then that person has an opportunity to get good at it. Writing is a craft that takes practise, and blogging is a unique form of writing.

That said, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone else monitoring the content and suggesting improvements where necessary. I am interested in the questions raised by Rebecca Blood and Karen Schneider about ethical blogging. There has always been a hierarchy of trustworthy sources. You might be less likely to question a fact that you read in a book published by Routledge than in a book coming from an unknown publisher. As well, if quoting a news item, you’re probably going to quote the Globe and Mail before you’d quote the Kingston Whig Standard. It takes a long time for a publisher to establish credibility. But since even the most credible sources frequently print erroneous information, perhaps blogs are doing us all a favour by reminding us to think critically about what we read. I agree with Blood that as a blog gets increasingly popular, its creator is going to become increasingly diligent. The more people that are reading, the more likely it is that mistakes will be found. As well, once your blog starts to get popular you have a reputation to protect.