“You may have seen them in your travels around the World Wide Web. Some provide succinct descriptions of judiciously selected links. Some contain wide systems of commentary dotted sparingly with links to the news of the day. Others consist of an endless stream of blurts about the writer’s day; links, if they exist, are to other, similar, personal sites. Some are political. Some are intellectual. Some are hilarious. Some are topic-driven. Some are off-the-wall. Most are noncommercial and are all impassioned about their subjects. They are weblogs.”
So writes, Rebecca Blood, author of The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog. Blood also writes, “A weblog is a coffeehouse conversation in text, with references as required.” For more information, see: amazon.com
After a seven-month publishing hiatus, Sounding Line is back. This time we’re all electronic, which echoes the trends that are part and parcel to present and future insurance technology. Furthermore, electronic communication is economical and efficient, which means we can offer more information at a much lower cost.
But if you haven’t yet discovered, we’ve added a new feature to the Web site, which, in part, fuels what you will be reading in Sounding Line. The feature? Weblogs from both John Ashenhurst and Steve Brightbill. Our Weblog links are included in the menu on the left side of the Sounding Line Web site.
What’s a Weblog?
Today’s Weblog, commonly called a “blog,” is something of an online journal or diary, often with relevant links. Weblogs got their start around 1998. At first, they were primarily links to other Web sites the author was interested in. In the early days of blogging (the act of creating and maintaining a Web log), the blogger (the person who creates and maintains a Web log) had to know something about HTML, the programming language of the Web. Today, it still helps to know basic HTML, but the process is simplified and expedited by several online companies that specialize in hosting Weblogs, Blogger being a well-known favorite.
Why a Weblog?
There are as many reasons for creating a blog as there are bloggers. Blogs are something of a free-spirited and self-directed venue for Web publishing, which means that almost anything goes. Presently, there are over 1 million blogs on the Web and that number leaps and bounds monthly.
Some people take the view that blogging is the “greatest thing since sliced bread” because it facilitates free speech, gives power to the people, and supports the notion that anybody — with access to the Internet — can be a publisher.
But a brief survey of existing blogs seems to indicate that many blogs are more diary-like, focusing on the personal musings of an individual (see http://instapundit.com/ for a good example of this genre).
On the other hand, serious and established writers use blogs as an alternative means of expression and as an enhancement to what they’re already doing. See http://www.davebarry.com/ as a full-blown Web site and blog extension of the well-known humorist.
Most blogs are something in between. John and Steve’s blogs are almost-daily entries of something about insurance technology, often with links to the news items that provoked the blog in the first place. Both John and Steve have their own areas of interest, as you’ll discover by poking around their respective blogs.
Who could benefit by having a blog?
Hopefully, anyone who has something worthwhile to offer a particular readership would be a good blogger candidate. Within the insurance industry, several individuals come to mind.
ACORD’s Greg Maciag writes a regular column that I, at least, find useful, insightful, and informative. Greg and the entire ACORD organization are good information providers. Perhaps something useful could materialize from regular blog postings.
What about IIABA’s Jeff Yates? He’s involved in and regularly writes about the insurance technology initiatives of ACT, the Agents’ Council for Technology. Jeff always has something worthwhile to say, and a blog could be a useful vehicle for saying it.
Perhaps the CEOs of the major agency automation vendors are potential bloggers. These individuals are knowledgeable (or ought to be) about technology issues relative to their product set, development philosophy, corporate direction, end user issues, service, and the like. Don’t you think users would like to read the regular musings of the “top dog” in their vendor group?
Then too, the carrier veeps of technology might offer a good read. I think agents might like regular insight into that they’re thinking about, plus carrier technology strategies, developments, and how agents can prepare for changes and new initiatives.
Maybe user group presidents should consider blogging. After all, they are in a leadership role and ought to be fielding their constituents’ comments and interests. User group presidents usually have an influential role in representing members’ interests to the vendor as well as knowing what’s going on with the vendor.
Agents probably wouldn’t find blogging practical or helpful. But, agents could find useful information on available blogs that contained information that was relevant to their interests and needs. Sounding Line Weblogs aim at providing that kind of information.
What can you expect from our blogs?
Expect useful information, relevant links, commentary, and how the information might benefit readers. Sometimes our comments may be off-the-wall, outrageous, critical, sarcastic, challenging, or humorous. Sometimes we’ll ask for specific input, but always feel free to e-mail your comments. You might detect threads of related information that eventually develop into articles that appear in Sounding Line.
In any case, think of our Weblog comments as daily value-add to the Sounding Line Web site. We enjoy researching and writing, and we hope you enjoy reading our blogs.
© Copyright 2003 by Sound Internet Strategy. All rights reserved
Today’s Weblog, commonly called a “blog,” is something of an online journal or diary, often with relevant links.
Expect useful information, relevant links, commentary, and how the information might benefit readers.