Good local examples of how organizations should blog and use other online media

The Wren's Nest
www.wrensnestonline.com/blog

The Wren's Nest is the historic home of Joel Chandler Harris, the Atlanta Journal editor who published the Uncle Remus stories near the end of the 19th century. It's now the oldest house museum in the state, featuring tours and storytelling among other things. We recently interviewed Lain in a podcast about The Wren's Nest if you're interested in hearing more.

Lain Shakespeare, executive director, and other employees/interns/volunteers share blogging responsibilities so that no one spends too much time with it.

The great thing about how that blog is written is everyone clearly has a lot of enthusiasm for their work and what it means. They find ways to make it interesting and relevant to a modern audience. But it's written like an actual human is talking, and not like a press release. They're not afraid to make fun of themselves or to own up if something isn't going as well as they'd like.

They also podcast readings and offer Google videos of some of their story tellers.

Sopo Bikes Cooperative
http://www.sopobikes.org/blog

Sopo is a non-profit where a bunch of Atlanta bike enthusiasts share a space and tools to work on their bikes. Rachael, the executive director of Sopo, periodically will share interesting stories from some of the folks who come through the shop.

The site features a Google video on its homepage that gives people a sense of what the co-op is about.

Probably later today, I'll post a podcast interview I did with Rachael last week. I'll update this post later with a link. [Update: here's the link to that interview]

Center for Civil & Human Rights Partnership
www.cchrpartnership.org

This blog just started a few days ago, but looks like it's off to a good start.

The Center for Civil & Human Rights, if you haven't heard of it yet, "will commemorate the groundbreaking contributions of Atlantans and Georgians to the historic struggle for African-American freedom and equality, and also serve as a space for ongoing dialogue, study, and contributions to the resolution of current and future freedom struggles of all people at the local, national and international level." (that's from the site's about page). It's supported by a wide variety of sources, including the Atlanta Development Authority and Central Atlanta Progress, among others. Coca Cola has offered a potential site for the center in Centennial Olympic Park.

The Partnership is responsible for organizing construction, the surrounding logistics, and everything else that will go into getting the project off the ground. Doug Shipman, the executive director, plans to blog about all of that, which I think could turn out to be fascinating.

If you want to learn more about it, Wilson interviewed Doug in October.

[Cross-posted at Radical Georgia Moderate]

About this podcast:

(un)ConCast

(un)ConCast

Featuring unconference sessions and other related discussions from around the Southeast.
Hosts: This is a group program. Anyone can post an episode.

ConvergeSouth 2007 - Blog to Book with Soni Pitts and Stewart Pittman

Listen (0:58:00)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

Blog to Book session at ConvergeSouth 2007, led by Stewart Pittman and Soni Pitts.

Length: 58:00 minutes
File size: 39.8 MB

About this podcast:

Mostly ITP

Mostly ITP

Amber and Rusty podcast about whatever strikes their fancy, which generally are things and issues inside Atlanta's perimeter.

Blogiversary Part II - Why we blog

Listen (0:20:58)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

For the second podcast recorded the night of my blogiversary party at Manuel's, we passed the recorder around the table so everyone could talk for a few minutes about their blog, the benefits of blogging, and all that jazz. You'll hear from:

As a bonus, Mel and GriftDrift interject some bite-sized political commentary.

Also included is Mostly ITP's new favorite song: "First of May" by Jonathan Coulton. (Yes, it's kosher for us to play the whole song; all his stuff is licensed under Creative Commons.) If only we had known about this song on the actual first of May! Thanks to Steve Eley and the rest of the hot tub cast crew for letting me know about the new king of geek rock.

Length: 20:58 minutes
File size: 19.2 MB

About this podcast:

Mostly ITP

Mostly ITP

Amber and Rusty podcast about whatever strikes their fancy, which generally are things and issues inside Atlanta's perimeter.

Blogiversary Part I - A short history of Being Amber Rhea, and thoughts on blogging in general

Listen (0:13:25)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

This is the first of two podcasts recorded on April 20, during the highly nerdy "Five Years of Being Amber Rhea" party at Manuel's Tavern. Sherry started asking me questions about my blog, and I broke out the recorder. We talk about how and why I started my blog, and then move on to talking about blogging in general, and how a lot of pre-conceived notions are being challenged - especially in the business world - thanks to social media.

Length: 13.25 minutes
File size: 12.3 MB

About this podcast:

(un)ConCast

(un)ConCast

Featuring unconference sessions and other related discussions from around the Southeast.
Hosts: This is a group program. Anyone can post an episode.

SoCon07 - Blogging 102 with Morgan McFarland

Listen (0:50:45)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

Morgan McFarland of the Blog2Learn Project leads a discussion at SoCon07 that covers many introductory topics related to blogging. SoCon07 was an unconference which took place Feb. 10 at Kennesaw State University.

Length: 50:45 minutes
File size: 46.5 MB

About this podcast:

(un)ConCast

(un)ConCast

Featuring unconference sessions and other related discussions from around the Southeast.
Hosts: This is a group program. Anyone can post an episode.

SoCon07 - The Power of Online Social Communities with Jonas Luster

Listen (0:54:50)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

Jonas Luster of Socialtext leads a discussion at SoCon07, about the power of online social communities. SoCon07 was an unconference which took place Feb. 10 at Kennesaw State University.

Thanks to Stephen Eley for recording this session.

Length: 54:50 minutes
File size: 50.2 MB

About this podcast:

(un)ConCast

(un)ConCast

Featuring unconference sessions and other related discussions from around the Southeast.
Hosts: This is a group program. Anyone can post an episode.

SoCon07 - Women and Social Media: Finding Your Niche with Toby Bloomberg and Jeneane Sessum

Listen (1:00:45)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

Jeneane Sessum and Toby Bloomberg lead a discussion at SoCon07 about women and social media. Much of the discussion focused on the "why" of blogging. SoCon07 was an unconference which took place Feb. 10 at Kennesaw State University.

Length: 60:45 minutes
File size: 55.6 MB

About this podcast:

(un)ConCast

(un)ConCast

Featuring unconference sessions and other related discussions from around the Southeast.
Hosts: This is a group program. Anyone can post an episode.

BlogSavannah - Women and Blogging with Gennie Bailey

Listen (0:42:40)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

In our fourth and final podcast from BlogSavannah, Gennie Bailey leads a session on issues facing women bloggers. A recurring theme is how much to share and why. Also, I rant a bit.

Length: 42:40 minutes
File size: 39.09 MB

About this podcast:

(un)ConCast

(un)ConCast

Featuring unconference sessions and other related discussions from around the Southeast.
Hosts: This is a group program. Anyone can post an episode.

BlogSavannah - PR and the Blogger with Jennifer Abshire

Listen (0:29:30)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

In our third podcast from the BlogSavannah Un-Conference '07, Jennifer Abshire, President of Abshire Public Relations and Marketing, leads a discussion on how blogs are affecting the PR industry. One of the central themes: the conversation is already happening, so you might as well host it in your space.

Length: 29:30 minutes
File size: 27.01 MB

About this podcast:

(un)ConCast

(un)ConCast

Featuring unconference sessions and other related discussions from around the Southeast.
Hosts: This is a group program. Anyone can post an episode.

BlogSavannah - Business Blogging 101 with Chris Cree

Listen (0:47:15)

Please update to the latest Flash Player and make sure Javascript is enabled in your browser. Or use the download link below to listen on your desktop.

Show notes

In this episode, Chris Cree leads an introduction to business blogging session at BlogSavannah, which took place Jan. 26, 2007 in Savannah, Georgia. Topics covered include the difference between traditional web sites and blogs, what makes a good business blog, and positive and negative aspects of the conversation that opens between businesses and customers when a business starts a blog.

Length: 47:15 minutes
File size: 43.26 MB