Council of Federal Libraries 2005 - 10:40 - Steven Cohen on Blogging and RSS

10:40 Communication With Your Constituency via Blogs and RSS
Steven Cohen - PubSub - LibraryStuff

http://www.stevenmcohen.info/CFL09142005.ppt (PowerPoint)

demo of PubSub sidebar using alerts on members of parliament e.g. Prime Minister Paul Martin

be aware of what technologies are coming

Google Blog search http://blogsearch.google.com/ is out

Georgia State University Library blogs
UThink
Simple Machines

* Marketing
- stand out in the crowd
- ease of use
- best way to publish without trade publications
- finding your niche
- write everyday
- Marketing the Librarian ( http://www.liscareer.com/cohen_marketing.htm )

My commentary:
Did not discuss major issue for federal blogging which is that it appears to be impossible to do
and comply with official languages (unless you have every single posting translated).
There would also be Common Look and Feel (CLF) issues, access to information and privacy implications, etc.

Comments

[Steven M. Cohen]

There will definitly be issues (languages, etc), but blogs can be used as an intelligence tool as well. As I menioned in my talk, if you are an elected public servant, it is important to know what your constituents are saying about you. Blogs are a great way to monitor this.