Last week R and I went to the
2012 Global Conference of Chaplains in Higher Education. It was continuing ed for both of us, perhaps more
obviously for her than me. I did learn a lot about interfaith work. I also
attended a paper presentation on faith formation in a digital age given by
Fr.Chris Valka, CSB, a priest in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He talked about the
elements of a digital presence: website, blogs and podcasts, Facebook and Twitter.
We do all of those except Twitter at my church. We even launched a revamped
website recently.
I was especially struck by Fr. Valka’s remarks on blogs.
Here they are, with my parenthetical comments.
- Blogs are personal and vulnerable. They are about
relationship and emotion. (Mine tends to be more about ideas, perhaps in part
because they are homilies-in-waiting. Besides, I like ideas.)
- The ideal entry is 200-400 words. (Oops. Mine are more
like 700. On the other hand, one of my favorite bloggers, Lori Erickson, posts
500-700 words.)
- Pictures are a must in every post. (Oops, again. Lori, at
least, has pictures.)
- Update every 2-4 days. (How about once a week?)
- Wordpress provides the best analytics. (Sorry, Blogspot!)
I know that this blog could be more inviting. It is
pretty bare bones. On the other hand, I like simplicity. I have enough plant
photos for a decade of blogs, but do you really want to look at the fleur du
jour every time you check here? On the other hand, having to post a picture
would get me out with my camera more…and then I’d need a better camera to take
even better pictures. I like where this is going!
2 comments:
People differ in what is worthwhile for them. I bristle at the way that the experts try to make everything we do fit some ideal discerned by surveys and focus groups. Bah, humbug!!!
And pictures are NOT a must.
Valka had some good points which came from his actual experience. One writes for an audience, however, and mine is different from his. It is also different from Lori's. Nor am I trying to make a name for myself as a writer.
I agree that given the homiletical nature of my blogs, pictures are not a must. Yet I still like their aesthetic contribution to the layout. Should the time come when I revamp my blog - which will probably mean a new host site - I will likely add photos.
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