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View Full Version : Enviromental Collaboration - New Ground Anyone?


shyflower
11-21-2007, 10:45 PM
This thread sprang from Sara's idea (http://www.theblogexperiment.com/blog-forum/showthread.php?t=1202) about collaborating on a blog.

I purchased the domain new-ground.net over a year ago with intent to start a gardening site. Yet with client work, my business site, and my two present blogs, I'm usually pretty strapped for time.

Besides, I am becoming more and more concerned over environmental issues. I think New Ground is a good name for environmental discussion.

The idea is still rough around the edges, but here goes.

My idea for New Ground is to begin with three categories: Flora, Fauna, & Enviro. Instead of just planetary environmental concerns, the blog would be a series of small steps people can take to help heal the planet.

I sort of got the idea from the Small Steps (http://www.smallstep.gov/) website on losing weight.

For instance, not a biggy, but what if we all took the first available parking space instead of driving around the crowded lot for half an hour? A small thing, but if enough people did it, it would make a small dent in both emissions and petroleum use.

I haven't taken the time to write a first post yet, but the idea will be better explained there.

What I'd like to do with New Ground is develop a collaborative blog where contributing authors talk about changes they have made in their personal environments, changes they could make, and changes made in their localities that are effective for their purpose but, perhaps, too small to get media attention. For instance, each spring Winona has a river clean up day or a few months ago, I could have reported on the effects that flood damage had to our area or what the government did and didn't do to help people in distress.

Would anyone like to join me? Go ahead and post your ideas here or pm me.

I will truly appreciate any help I can get. Right now I have the template up.
You can see at New Ground (http://new-ground.net) .

splitbrain
11-22-2007, 03:48 PM
I really like the idea. I wouldn't have the time to blog regulary but I can imagine to guest post once in a while.

Jessi
11-23-2007, 06:56 AM
I love the idea, too! I used to be fairly active in environmental issues, but don't have as much time to speak out about it now. I don't think I could contribute regularly either, but I myself blog about environmental things from time to time. Coincidentally enough, tomorrow's (later today's) post is going to be about an environmentally friendly pop-out bag....it rolls up so that it fits conveniently in a purse or even large pockets and folds out into a nice sized, durable bag for things like quick grocery shopping, etc, instead of constantly using plastic/paper bags. Some people save them and reuse them for other things, but I still thought this was a nifty idea. A small change, but it makes a difference.

shyflower
11-23-2007, 09:15 PM
I love the idea, too! I used to be fairly active in environmental issues, but don't have as much time to speak out about it now. I don't think I could contribute regularly either, but I myself blog about environmental things from time to time. Coincidentally enough, tomorrow's (later today's) post is going to be about an environmentally friendly pop-out bag....it rolls up so that it fits conveniently in a purse or even large pockets and folds out into a nice sized, durable bag for things like quick grocery shopping, etc, instead of constantly using plastic/paper bags. Some people save them and reuse them for other things, but I still thought this was a nifty idea. A small change, but it makes a difference.

Exactly the kind of thing I had in mind. The idea is still taking shape in my head, but I'll keep a list of anyone who is interested. I don't expect any "regular" contributors. We all have our own lives, businesses, and blogs... but if it could even be a "sometime" thing, like I said, I need all the help I can get.

What I think a good first step is to get together a core group of people to hammer out the details. I have some ideas, but they are all new and pretty rough. If anyone is interested in this and has experience working on or hosting a collaborative blog, I'd sure appreciate input on the nuts and bolts of getting one together!

Bob!
11-23-2007, 09:44 PM
I will make one suggestion for you. When you allow people to sign up set them to become contributers and not authors. If you set to authors anyone can sign up and post anything straight onto the blog, but if you set to contributers you get to moderate the posts before they go live. Then once someone posts a few decent posts that aren't spam you can change their status to author (once you trust them).

ses5909
11-24-2007, 07:41 AM
I'm sure Mark will jump in here and give you some advice as he has a lot of experience "managing" a collaborative blog.

I would recommend though that you set up google docs for you guys to share documents and collaborate on.

shyflower
12-22-2007, 01:30 PM
Thanks everyone that is interested and thanks, Bob for the advice! The blog is up and running (finally!). Hopefully we'll see some collaborative posts real soon before I run out of ideas.

ses5909
12-25-2007, 07:03 PM
Congrats on getting it up!