Wednesday May 25, 2005

Reading Blogs

Writing an introduction to how to read blogs and then posting it on your blog is kind of like holding a seminar on mountain climbing on top of a mountain. But I think I will point a lot of people to this entry when I tell them how beneficial it is to read blogs. So if you are already an avid blog reader you might just want to skip over this posting.

I was in a staff meeting yesterday where we were talking about how to really understand the business needs of a group with whom we are doing a big project. A bunch of the people in the client group are bloggers and it was obvious to me that the people from my group who are doing the project are missing the bet if they don't read the blogs of the client group. There are lots of other good reason's to read blog too. If you want to understand Sun strategy. If you want to connect with other people in your discipline or in your area of interest both inside or outside of your company I can't think of a better thing to do than to start reading blogs.

I don't really understand why more people don't grasp how useful and enriching it can be. Again I'll say that if you are reading this then you probably already know the value of reading blogs but I know there really still is a whole world of people who just don't get what the big deal is.

I suspect that a primary reason is time. If you have a job and kids and a spouse and friends I know that at times you have to choose between doing the dishes and taking a shower and even reading your email ends up quite a ways down the priority list. So maybe you just don't have time. A lot of people considering reading blogs assume that to read blogs means going to each blog that you are interested in to see if there is anything new. But there is an easier way. That is where Bloglines or some other aggregator comes in. Bloglines allows you to look in one place to see if there is anything new on any blog you read. You create a Bloglines account and then start adding blogs to your blog roll. Then any time you want to see what's new on any blog you read you can just look in one place. You can also easily add a button to your browser that will automatically add a new blog to your blog roll.

If anyone reading this would like help setting bloglines up just let me know. I'd also be happy to recommend the top ten blogs I think you should read based on your interests. I'm sure I'll miss some but it will be a way to start. It goes without saying that the top ten is different for each person. I know that each of my friends and colleagues has different interests. Obviously I am in no way an expert on blogs and all that is out there but I am really passionate about this and I would be happy to help. Leave a comment on this blog or email me at marion dot vermazen at Sun dot com.

Monday May 16, 2005

Blogging as a Connection Tool

Every once in a while Pubsub turns up a blog that mentions me and quotes my blog. I just found this article and as always the link to my blog makes me sit up and smile. I guess it might be just an ego boost but I think it is more than that. It is the joy of starting a new conversation. I love conversations and I love meeting new people. I think it must be because they keep life interesting and new.

Anyway, Jon Froda in the E-mediator blog just wrote an article about corporate culture and blogging. He does a great job of articulating how blogging enhances multi-directional communications. Coincidentally I was already working on a posting on pretty much the same subject.

Scoble commented after reading some Sun employee blogs including Mary's about how corporate blogging is a great way to build bridges across organizations. His example was between Microsoft and Sun but it made me think about how it builds bridges within organizations. At a big company like Sun disparate groups never cross paths. Before blogs I don't think I knew anyone in a group like for example, Solaris engineering. Since I started blogging I have met several people virtually who I didn't know before I started blogging. I'd like to meet more of them face to face now. I like the way Scoble is always doing meet ups. My personal goal is to start meeting face to face the people who I've met blogging.