Covering Conferences, Protests, and Social Change Events
Some tips. What blogging tips do you have? What do you think of these tips? What should be added/subtracted/edited?
Originally posted to the alpha version of the new Peacework blog site.
1) Blog about issues you know a lot about, share your expertise, critiques, and constructive feedback.
2) Blog about new information you're just learning - chances are, many others don't know, either. Blog about what you learned. Blog about creative innovations.
3) Share perceptions of what you see, hear, observe, and feel (but avoid telling people how to feel themselves or assuming that everyone would feel x).
4) Blog about power dynamics. As Tamim Ansary wrote in his book, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, "It's always harder to ignore the rock you're under, than the rock you're on." Write about the rocks you're under. Write about the rocks you're on. Write about internalized oppression and internalized oppressiveness. Write about and critically evaluate attempts to build a better world together side-by-side. Strive not to ignore any rocks, and write about the rocks others may have missed. Blog about the rocks you perceive, being honest about your perspective.
5) Blog what was said that interests you - concisely. Most people don't want to read a blog entry recapitulating an entire speech. Summarize, share good lines, write about ideas you think are thought provoking, informative, and important for more people to contemplate.
6) Blog your questions. "If this is true, I wonder if we could...?" "Which organizations are working on this?" Questions can motivate people to comment.
7) Blog about dilemmas that you face. Chances are, others are struggling with some of the same issues. Blog about what you are struggling to understand, struggling to do, and struggling to do better. Write about your own mistakes and what you've learned from them.
8) Blog your impressions and your opinions. Only you can write this blog entry. Write your personality in to your post. Share reflections on relevant personal experiences.
9) Add to and amplify missing voices. Increase the diversity of the conversation both ideologically (e.g. how would this look from a pacifist perspective?) and demographically (e.g. how might a proposal affect various people with disabilities?). If you think, "I wish person x was the one on stage right now," then ask person x what they would have said if they were on stage, and then blog about that. You can ask someone at the conference, or contact a source and say, “I just heard StageSpeaker1 say blanketyblank. What’s your take on that?” You provide the stage. (Person x might be you.)
10) Blog the buzz. What are people excited about? What are people talking about in the halls or at the vigil?
11) Include quotations from other attendees. Quote folks, especially folks you find interesting, as journalists do. Ask, "What idea are you most excited about taking back home with you?" "What has upset you most about this conference/protest/rally/panel so far?" "What organizing approach or idea has inspired you?" But you can blog perfectly well without interviewing anyone, too. It's up to you.
12) Blog the controversies. What are people disagreeing about? What are the difficult issues which people are grappling with? Write honestly and compassionately about a range of opinions, and vigorously and assertively share and explain your point of view.
13) Provide external and internal links - links to info about things you discuss, speakers, links to organizations, links to related blog entries of yours, link to related blog entries on your blog site, links to effective writers/bloggers writing about this topic, links to reference info, links to provide historical and political context, etc. If it’s not a media giant, ask for a link back from the places to which you link.
14) If you hadn't been able to attend this event, what would you most want someone to be blogging about for you? Blog about that.
15) Be specific. Instead of, "I met many interesting people. It was fantastic!" try something like, "I met person x who developed this particular model for organizing against domestic violence which they are now trying to replicate nationwide." Instead of, "I attended the plenary, and then went to some workshops." try, "I agreed with the plenary speaker, Movement Bigwig1, when they said that in order to end the war, we need to sit-in at every Congressional office in the country, and keep sitting in every month, and then every week, until they defund the war. But when Bigwig1 said that we just haven't been effective so far, I strongly disagree. As I learned at MovingWorkshop2...."
16) Blog the actions and the action ideas. What are people doing? What might we do? Review actions and/or presentations as if you were a constructive movie critic. How could it be improved? If you're blogging a protest, blog about the most rhythmic chants, the clever posters, and the most effective leaflets.
17) Blog the historical, global, and artistic connections. How might this idea be scaled up to replicate and multiply its impact? What precedents or parallels might shed light? Blog the theoretical and philosophical implications. What might we learn for other contexts and situations from these events? Blog about the connections with literary and artistic works.
18) Blog about what you're reading and writing, and the art you're experiencing and creating, both online and off.
19) Blog empathetically. Express feelings strongly, coherently, and compasssionately. Blog critically of actions and ideas while being gentle and generous with individuals. Engage in conflict in order to blog towards mutual understanding and comprehensive justice. As in a mediation session, the issue is not who's right, it is what's right.
20) Include images. Take photos. Credit the source of graphics. As long as your blog is nonprofit, you can use Creative Commons-licensed images.
21) Blog about what we as readers could do to address, resolve, change, transform, or at least ameliorate problems that we address.
Other articles with advice for effective blogging: "7 Habits of Highly Effective Blogs," "23 Rules of Thumb for Effective Blogging," and "Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post." I don't agree with all the tips (only 3-4 sentences per paragraph is a bit draconian, IMO), but I hope they are nourishing food for thought.
As I asked up above: What blogging tips do you have? What do you think of these tips? What should be added/subtracted/edited?
Interested in blogging on the New Peacework Blog for Nonviolent Social Change? Please contact me.