blogging life

So as a build-up to the Fem2.0 conference on February 2 in Washington DC, Fem2.0 is hosting another Twittercast this Sunday at 10pm–and it’s one I’m hoping to join (if I’m back in town!).  Everyone is invited to participate. The topic this time: Why Should Men Be Feminists?

But wait…what the bleep’s a Twittercast, you say?

Twitter, again, for those not yet in the know, is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. When you join Twitter, people sign up to follow your tweets, and you sign up to follow other people’s tweets. The tweets are instantaneous – people can tweet and respond to other people’s tweets in real time. With millions of overlapping Twitter feeds, Twitter is an incredibly powerful social networking tool. I love it and I hate it at the same time.

If you want to participate on Sunday and have a Twitter account, you can send the Fem2.0-ers your Twitter name, which they will gather into a list an distribute, so everyone will know who to follow for the Fem2.0 Twittercast.

If you do NOT have a Twitter account and are curious, you can sign up for one here: http://twitter.com/home

And if you hate Twitter and “tweets” and all the rest, feel free, of course, to bypass this post.

And GWP just became a media partner! What’s Fem2.0, you ask? Check it out, at their blog!

Some preliminaries:

Feminism 2.0–a conference slated for February 2, 2009 at George Washington University in Washington, DC–will bring together the leadership of major women’s advocacy organizations and online women’s communities, to “further the connection between the experience, knowledge, formidable real-world grassroots networks and online advocacy tools of women’s advocacy organizations with the powerful and growing communities of women online.”  How cool is that?

Among this gathering’s goals:

• To harness the power of women on the Internet to promote women’s issues.

• To create a forum – starting with the Fem2.0 website and continuing through the event – for women to discuss the issues that are of most concern to them today, and to encourage them to use the Internet to learn more, express their opinions about them and advocate for policies that benefit women and families.

• To create an opportunity for a “meeting of minds” across generations and media platforms.

• To unite women’s voices behind the issues that the vast majority of women support, such as education, healthcare, workplace fairness and economic security.

• To position women’s issues and their advocates for the incoming administration.

• To draw new audiences to women’s issues, especially those who are Internet-focused and can cross-pollinate to increase activism.

• Expand the audience of women engaged in online media activity and activism.

For more info, check out the Fem2.0 blog, email Gloria@fem2pt0.com, or call 703.304.5859.

Pssst…please pass it on!

Thinking in Public
A Workshop for Engaged Scholars

Instructor: Deborah Siegel, PhD, author Sisterhood, Interrupted and Only Child; creator of the Girl w/ Pen blog

Description:  What does it mean these days to be “an engaged scholar”?  For many it means writing for and engaging with a public wider than one’s peers.  This workshop is for the academically-inclined writer who wishes to extend her reach, the researcher who longs to write something other than grant proposals, the professor or administrator curious about blogging, the scholar who dreams of publishing a commercial book, a magazine article, an op-ed.

In today’s competitive marketplace of ideas, thought leaders increasingly desire a voice in the popular sphere.  Often, academic culture puts restraints on how, what, and where scholars think they can write.  For a variety of reasons, academically-trained writers often find themselves unprepared to address a broad public.  Many are taught to subordinate themselves to their topics, yet taking a public stance means putting yourself in your piece—and more.  To write for popular media in today’s publishing climate, you must be able to craft engaging, accessible, non-technical prose that appeals to an audience far outside your area of expertise.  These skills can be learned.

Thinking in Public is a hands-on, on-site workshop covering the how, what, and where of reaching a wide public through the written word.  These full and half-day trainings are designed to help researchers, scholars, and policy “wonks” bridge the translation gap and is tailored to meet participants’ needs.

Among topics covered: techniques for de-jargonizing and enlivening prose; the importance of narrative; common pitfalls; why “making it pop” is not equivalent to “dumbing it down” or “selling out”; overcoming internal hesitations, institutional scorn, and other obstacles to broader engagement.  Participants are encouraged to come with findings, perspectives, or ideas for stories they aspire to turn into popular books, non-academic articles, or use as platforms for a blog.  The workshop will help jumpstart individual projects, demystify next steps, empower, persuade, and inform.

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An official “welcome back” to everyone!  And merci beaucoup to Virginia for starting us up with that meaty must-read roundup yesterday.

So before I went under for the break, I had asked each of our bloggers to chose her favorite post from 2008.  Ordered chronologically, I’m pleased to present….(drumroll)….The First-Ever Best of GWP 2008!

I’ll be sending these out in a new year’s e-blast, but hey, you saw it here first.  Happy reading!!

1. Is Faludi’s Terror Dream Coming True? (by Melinda, 12/20/08)

2.  Thankful for Blue Sex, Sasha, Malia, and Little House (by Allison, 11/19/08)

3.  Larry Summers – More than Just a Line (by Veronica, 11/12/08)

4.  Faux Feminist? The Political and the Personal, Again (by Kristen, 11/03/08)

5.  Global Exchange: Election Day Special (by Gwen and Tonni, 10/29/08)

6.  Listen Up, Sarah Palin (by Jacqueline, 10/06/08)

7.  Generation Next: Youth Organizing Beyond the Election (by Courtney, 9/22/08)

8.  Opting Out Just Ain’t What It Used to Be (by Virginia, 7/22/08)

9.  Getting Active Online – Your Feminist Guide to Wikis (by Elizabeth, 7/01/08)

10.  Four Things Editors – Like Me! – Look for in Book Proposals (by Laura, 4/14/08)

Yes, I know, we’ve hit 10 and this, now, is cheating.  But really just 2 more:

11. Gottlieb and the Single Girl (by Elline, 3/04/08)

12. Are the Mens Ready for Madame President? (by Deborah, 1/25/08)

Image cred

I’ve been posting lately on writing resolutions, and now here’s a post for anyone with a resolve — or aspiration — to blog. For those of you who are interested in becoming bloggers but don’t know how or where to start, two fresh guides to check out, chock full of useful sounding tips:

1. This Slate article: “How to Blog”

2. This book: The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging

(Thanks to Annie for the heads up!)

The other week I had the great fortune of meeting a fellow traveler, Gretchen Rubin, creator of The Happiness Project — my current favorite model for a blog that’s tied to the creation of a book. She interviewed me for her “True Rules” series, and here (dorky though I look) is what I said:

Ok, so this is probably OBVIOUS from that shiny ad over there, but I didn’t want to be all sneaky about it and I wanted to explain WHY.

1. I heart BlogHer. For those who don’t yet know it, BlogHer describes itself as “the community for women who blog; you say it, we share it.” I went to my first BlogHer conference in 2007 and loved it from the first shalom. I learned a ton and credit the organization for helping me take all this blogging to the next level. I’ll be at BlogHer 2009, hopefully, this year too – it’s in Chicago, my hometown. And it’s their fifth anniversary this year!

2. I appreciate the mojo of the women who started BlogHer, and share their mission: increased visibility, support, and tools for women seeking to get their messages out there, via blogging in this case. I also appreciate their entrepreneurial spirit. Full disclosure: BlogHer and their bloggers share any ad revenue that comes in.

3. I’ve watched the trend of ads at political blogs unfold and have totally made peace with it. Many if not most of the progressivey bloggers I know and admire have incorporated ads on their sites over the past year. At first, I was hesitant, but I have come to feel that it is a-ok to try to earn a little extra from blogging, even when blogging is not itself commercially motivated. You won’t see the content change in any way, shape, or form. I promise. Except, of course, for this post.

4. We’re bringing on interns to help us develop now that we have gone group and there’s a whole lot more going on. And currently they are working for free. We’d like to change that.

If you have questions, comments, concerns, I do hope you’ll voice them in comments. And we here at GWP are more than happy to answer any questions! We are all learning as we go.

Speaking of learning as we go, a few preliminaries:
-Some ads are flash right now, but we’re opting for static, so that should change soon.
-We can also opt out of certain campaigns, so if you see an ad for Barbie or anything, know that I’m on it.  Of course, “or anything” is relative, but if you see something, say something, and we will definitely check it out!

After that last post, I thought I owed you all an upper. So here are three things that cheer ME up:

1. The Happiness Project, a blog based on a forthcoming memoir about the year Gretchen Rubin spent “test-driving every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study I could find, whether from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah” ; The Happiness Project (just the name makes me happy!) gathers these rules for living and reports on “what works and what doesn’t.” On this daily blog, Gretchen recounts some of her adventures and insights as she grapples with the challenge of being happier. Happy that, Gretchen!

2. These cool fora (as in plural of forum, not as in “flora” with a typo) that I’ve been working on for the National Council for Research on Women’s new blog:

3. GWP’s new intern, Melinda Parrish, aka formerly Girl Sailor, who you will be hearing more about/from soon.  Welcome, Mel! We’re so excited to have you here!!!!

(Note, I did not say my kitten. Oops, I guess I just did. Hopeless am I.)

So sayeth Jessica Wakeman, a former associate blog editor at the Huffington Post. And she should know.

The stats:

• The site highlights 13 “featured blog posts” on the home page at a time, and that selection is updated regularly. Extra! recorded those featured bylines twice every weekday for nine weeks and coded them by gender.* During the study period (7/7/08-9/5/08), only 255 of 1,125 bylines-23 percent-belonged to women.

• Of the 89 times bylines were checked during the study, not once did the number of women’s bylines equal those belonging to men. Only eight times did women account for more than a third of all bylines. And Arianna Huffington, appearing 57 times, accounted for more than a fifth of all women’s bylines; 45 of those occupied the most visible top post. Only once, in fact, did a woman other than Arianna Huffington get her byline in the most visible top slot-Post editor-at-large Nora Ephron

Wow.  GO Jessica Wakeman.  Read the full article, here.

Today we bring you Elizabeth Curtis with her monthly column, Blog U, coming to us from her newly established home on the left coast. We miss you, E! -Deborah

I hope that many of you out there are as giddy as I am about the U.S. presidential election results. I can’t pass up this opportunity to reflect on the power new media technologies had in the election this year. From building a Facebook group of 3,010,494 supporters to making important announcements via text message, the Obama campaign mobilized their (proven successful!) efforts using emergent technologies. And now that they are transitioning, the Obama team is keeping the American public updated with their very own blog.

But blogging isn’t just a powerful medium for politicians. Historically, blogs have allowed individuals to self-publish and share their message. As former FCC Chairman Michael Powell has stated, “The Blogosphere has added spice to our democracy, making it more appetizing to more people.”

Of course, some of you may still be skeptical about what blogging can accomplish and where blogging can take you personally. The personal is political and all.

I started my own blog as a part of my M.A. thesis, which focused on online social activism in the feminist blogosphere. The research I was pursuing and my own blogging connected with many great feminist bloggers – and even brought me here to GWP. While I have been more devoted to blogging at some times than others, I have maintained a constant presence in the blogosphere – and people noticed (even if I didn’t notice they noticed). When a major feminist blog showed me some link love, I was honored to know that my blog held A-list bloggers’ attention and excited that my advocacy around women’s studies status in the academy was getting more readers’ attention. As I kept blogging, I had the opportunities to share my message – by publishing a articles and presenting at conferences.

A break came when Naomi Wolf asked me if I would be interested in submitting a short essay to her new book about how average people can get civically engaged. What better platform, I thought, to use to advocate for my cause and – through such an amazing opportunity – for my career?

I know I’m not the only one out there with a personal story that proves why blogging is powerful. With 36.2 million active lady bloggers out there right now, I am sure that there many more impressive stories about why you should not give up on blogging turning into something much, much more. So, GWP readers, share your stories in the comments section – and I’ll highlight your expertise in a future full-fledged post.

And, if you’re feeling inspired and looking to gain a little next-step know-how on how to take your own blogging to the next level (or just get started!), check out ProBlogger. Or, bring Deborah to your campus, group, or organization to tell you more!.