There has been quite a lot of interest in the Public Sector Bloggers site I set up recently (and which I really must get around to updating soon), which has been very gratifying. One of the issues with it – and indeed with any process of aggregating content from lots of blogs into one place – is that the sheer weight of content may well get people down a bit.
I wonder if there is any need for a more editorialised type of blog, with multiple authors, writing about government webby issues, maybe in an introductory style. It might not even look like a blog, using a ‘magazine’ style theme for example. It could cover the occasional snippets of news in the web world with how-tos and other guidance, and lots of links to other related content. I don’t see why some content couldn’t just be reposted from people’s individual blogs, to be honest.
To try and avoid having too many articles, though, it could maybe have the content refreshed twice a week, say, so that people only need to visit the site then, rather than feeling they have to check it several times every day to avoid missing something. Obviously RSS and email subscriptions could be available for those that know how.
What do people think? Is there a need for such a site? If there is, who’s in to contribute?
I vote yes.
It’s not exactly a fashionable idea and I suspect it’s a bit of work, but something slightly more edited could be really powerful as a way of moving us forward as a community, in the same way that A List Apart (http://www.alistapart.com) did for the web design community.
I’ve commented about this before – It’s one reason I rave about the Victorian egov initiative, it’s an edited feed (which I very occasionally make!).
To make it sustainable though I’ve pointed at PSF, who kindof do it in their email newsletter, as do some other egov news sources, though in a far too limited way.
I do like the idea of the raw alongside the edited though. But who supports/funds the editor(s)?
Sounds like a good idea, as long as it doesn’t get too complicated or onerous.
Thanks for the broadly positive comments – I think the issue around workload is a valid one, and it might be worth making it a once a week affair. Also, it doesn’t have to be fresh content all the time – it could be things previously published elsewhere which the target audience (ie not generally web 2.0 (or indeed 1.0) savvy folk) are unlikely to have seen.
This does sound like a positive idea and an opportunity to consolidate, what feels like a sea of information.
How it is managed will be key and how you draw in contributions from people who have great things to say but are not online.
Shout if you need help, i’m happy to support where i can..
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