802 Online Archives

I grew up in East Detroit, but I have an army of relatives in North Carolina, and have spent at least part of every year of my life visiting Thomasville, Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem. NC has never felt exactly like home, but it's close. How exciting then, to find out that the area has spawned one of the most innovative and involved blogging communities in the country.

On Friday, I'll be flying to Raleigh, renting a car, and crashing at my cousin's place to attend the Triangle Bloggercon at UNC Chapel Hill. I managed to squeeze some money out of Seven Days to go. I'm hoping to meet Dan Gillmor, chat with John Robinson of the Greensboro News & Record , and finally find out how to create a blogroll (I still just don't get it.)

Mainly, though, I'm looking for ideas on how to expand the Seven Days web presence. How can an alternative weekly use the web to do what we do better? How can we use blogs to build community in Vermont? How can we link to and support local bloggers? And what should a real bloggercon look like? Regular readers of this blog will note that I tried to organize a Vermont event last fall that drew a mere 3 participants.

I'm also interested in brainstorming ways I can use on-line resources to help my boss and friend and favorite cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Alison draws "Dykes to Watch Out For," the comic strip for lesbian spearchuckers and the people who love them. I'd like to explore ways to syndicate her strip on-line.

And let's not forget about the Winooski Eagle — how can I, the editor and publisher of a small community newspaper that doesn't yet have a website, use blogs and affordable internet resources to do community building here in the low tech Onion City ?

If anyone has ideas, I'm listening.