Cityscapes

[Linkmeister]

Re: Cityscapes

I wonder if it'll be okay to crosspost the same stuff to both the metroblog network and other group blogs like HawaiiStories (or our own personal blogs)? It's hard enough keeping fresh stuff flowing elsewhere without generating something entirely new for another site.

That's more or less what I plan to do. As you say, the well occasionally runs dry enough without going to it twice in a day.

[Mocha]

Re: Cityscapes

Thank you all for the explanation. Guess I'm very "backward" when it comes to certain on-line lingo. I'm going to read the suggested links now.

[scrivener]

Re: Cityscapes

Has anyone besides Ryan heard back after "applying?" I haven't, so, you know. Just wondering.

[scrivener]

Re: Cityscapes

I finally heard back this weekend via a mass email explaining pretty much what Ryan outlines above. Has anyone here tried recruiting someone? I sent a couple of emails out but haven't heard back from anyone.

This thing sorta feels dead before it starts, to be honest. But maybe I'm just impatient.

[pzarquon]

Re: Cityscapes

The more I think about it, and the less organized the whole effort seems, the more I revisit what I wrote above and think that I'd rather see a home-grown entry like HawaiiStories.com thrive before a cookie-cutter "network" node... though admittedly for somewhat selfish reasons.

Indeed, after I posted about The City Stories Project above, I went back to discover that even their once thriving, active network is pretty quiet now. The original City Stories site, San Francisco, is on hiatus. Being part of a network is neat, but you rely a lot on other people who may or may not stick around alongside you.

Now... I noticed that in the Metroblogging.com system, all the city sites look the same, except for Los Angeles, which is an independent and unique domain. I suspect that's because Metroblogging's founders are there. Using them as an example, though, why couldn't an already functioning "group weblog" in a region or community be part of the network?

[Quark]

Re: Cityscapes

E kala mai. I've been hanging out in some other threads and recently sent out an email about MetroBlogging to the Bytemarks group not realizing it was already being discussed here. I am not sure what the deal is with MetroBlog but they told me as of this Sunday that there were a total of 4 bloggers from Hawaii. Just judging from the response on this thread there should be at least 7. I think Ryan has a good point. Perhaps they should adopt HawaiiStories as the Hawaii Metroblog instead of recreating the whole thing from scratch.

[Albert]

Re: Cityscapes

Well, I had an email from Burt Lum this morning [shameless bragging] telling me about this Metroblogging thing and at first I confused it with the silly Metrosexual thing.

(I'm getting too old to keep up with all this stuff ... )

I'll check it out tomorrow, am ready to give up computers for today and listen to the more peaceful radio.)

[Quark]

Re: Cityscapes

Did anyone get the email today from MetroBlogging placing you on the author mailing list? As I understand there are 6 bloggers who have expressed interest. I hope we can get a few more as I am sure there are a lot more interested bloggers. Pass the word around.

[pzarquon]

Re: Cityscapes

There was that, and there was another message with a bit more detail - at least ten but probably no more than 20 authors per site, authors are unpaid (for now), and - most importantly - created works are property of the author but they hold a perpetual right to use stuff you've published on their system (presumably so you can't quit and take the whole site with you). Nothing too worrisome, I suppose.

I'm still willing to give it a shot. Considering the minimal exposure and interest they've generated with all their work to date, though, I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Quark]

Re: Cityscapes

I think you are right. I couldn't quatify their exposure or popularity but it's probably not tremendous. I was chatting with a SF blogger who is on MetroBlog and she concludes they are still trying to get to critical mass. Regardless, it's probably a good idea for us to get in on the front end and see where this ride takes us.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Cityscapes

Well, I know Burt and Ryan got the same mail I did, because they've submitted brief biographies, as have I. So it's slowly creeping along toward critical mass, I guess.

[pzarquon]

Re: Cityscapes

Slowly but surely. I have been enjoying some of the other metro-area blogs.

One of the things they need is a photo or image to represent the Hawaii group. If it was just Honolulu, any sort of urban image would do (skylines are very popular in the other regions). Since we're more broad, though, what sight would say "Hawaii" and somehow work for both Bishop Street in downtown Honolulu and Kea`au on the Big Island?

It has to be a very wide crop (1000x100 pixels), so that's a limiting factor. I submitted these and thought I'd share them here:

• Mauna Kea looming over Hilo at dawn
• The Hawaii Theatre marquee (a bit obvious)
• Hawaii Theatre architecture (a different angle)
• Rabbit Island off Waimanalo

Those were my submissions, but I'd love to know what others might think could work.

And, um, we could still use more bloggers!

[helen]

Re: Cityscapes

And, um, we could still use more bloggers!

To which site?

[pzarquon]

Re: Cityscapes

To which site?

The not-quite-fully-formed Hawaii chapter of the Metroblogging.com project, for which this thread was originally started. We've got a mailing list, a message board, and some ideas for a header graphic... we just need three or so more members to "launch" the actual Hawaii site.

At which point, we might know a little more about what we're talking about.

That said, HawaiiStories.com is always open to more bloggers, too, and stands ready to help anyone start blogging should the whim strike.

[mel]

Re: Cityscapes

I've been getting the introductory email to this group (4 people so far I think) and I know I signed up for it. Trouble is that if the host sent out a bulk email welcome with password and posting guidelines on it, I never got it at my email address due probably to the spam blocking mechanism (all spam deleted at the server level before I even see it, which is the way I generally like it)..... My question is, was there such an email sent out by the site host?