Yet again, the Weekly Blog Club writers have not disappointed in Week 25, producing another wide assortment of posts.
I will do a very quick summary this week since I am running late. There was something of a travel, tourism and day trips connection between many posts this week.
The Orkney Odyssey by Mark Braggin continued with a post about the Island GovCamp – Isle Lights – and a fabulous interactive word cloud based on tweets from the event: Puffin Island IslandGovCamp. Irena Souroup briefly considered an even more exotic place as she wrote about one of the Education Minister’s latest ideas in In Xanadu did Michael Gove. Phil Jewitt’s post focused on events in Yorkshire that brought in visitors from the Far East, one of whom was the Dalai Lama, and caused a bit of a PR pickle: On the pickle bandwagon.
Ross Wigham found unexpected delights as well as parts of a World Heritage Site when cycling in Tyneside: Two wheel city. I wrote about a day out at the seaside, also on Tyneside, and the plight of a bumblebee in Wet day on the beach. Matt Murray’s post – Why I love – and hate – Instagram – included some colourful seaside pictures to illustrate it.
Janet Harkin’s post started with the news about leaving her job at Learning Pool, and then she described something of the delights and tourist potential of Donegal in The leaving of Learning Pool.
Louise Brown reflected this week on her first 5 years on blogging in Happy 5th birthday blog!
Carolyne Mitchell wrote the must-read post in Week 25 of Weekly Blog Club. For her recently-passed MSc, she researched and wrote a dissertation on the use of social media by journalists and emergency services in Strathclyde during specific emergency events. Her post – From John Smeaton to #hurricanebawbag – summarises her findings, considers ways forward for improving use of social media by the relevant organisations, and gives a link to her online dissertation.
Finally (though not last in blog publication order), Kate Bentham sprinkled Beatles’ song titles appropriately in her post about influence in the workplace Yes, thus providing a playlist as well as thought-provoking ideas.
Week 26 is well under way with at least 3 contributions so far. Does anyone have any ideas for the [entirely optional] theme for the week? I set the [entirely optional] theme to help those who are stuck for ideas but find that usually everyone ignores it and yet a theme often emerges over the week as a post by one person triggers ideas for another.
I always intended that Weekly Blog Club should be sustainable and whilst there is only one person collating posts and tweeting as @WeeklyBlogClub, it is not sustainable. Since I do not have paid work at present and everyone else does, I realise that it is easier for me than for others to do the bulk of it but I would like to take breaks from it. Even more than that, I want to see some different ‘voices’ to keep it all fresh. So I am looking for some of the writers who contribute who would be willing to help out with writing the weekly summary at least occasionally, and also to write the individual post summaries and to tweet them as Weekly Blog Club.
If you are willing to help, please DM your email address, and if you have a WordPress blog, your WordPress ID, to @WeeklyBlogClub. Does anyone has any suggestions about an online calendar we could use to organise who will do the summaries which weeks (we can always swap round if someone has a heavier work week than expected)?
Thank you to all the people who have read the blogs, clicked the Like buttons, retweeted them, commented, or followed this blog over the past week. The activities of the readers are what make Weekly Blog Club work well for the writers. New contributors are always warmly welcomed and our About page tells you what you need to know about contributing.
Janet
Summary of Week 25 posts
Puffin Island IslandGovCamp by Mark Braggins.
In Xanadu did Michael Gove by Irena Souroup.
Two wheel city by Ross Wigham.
Happy 5th birthday blog! by Louise Brown.
The leaving of Learning Pool by Janet Harkin.
From John Smeaton to #hurricanebawbag by Carolyne Mitchell.
On the pickle bandwagon by Phil Jewitt.
Yes by Kate Bentham.
Why I love – and hate – Instagram by Matt Murray.
Wet day on the beach by Janet E Davis.
Weekly Blog Club was set up in early January 2012 to encourage people to blog regularly, and especially to encourage those working in and with the public sector, charities and voluntary organisations in the UK to find their own 'voice' through writing.
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