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July 28, 2006

Welcome to BlogHer '06

Yesterday I endured a long (but pleasant) JetBlue flight from New York to San Jose so that I could attend BlogHer '06. In its second year, the conference's mission is to create an opportunity for all kinds of women bloggers to pursue exposure, education and community.

This morning hundreds of women (and their friends) were welcomed to the conference by BlogHer co-founders Elisa Camahort, Jory des Jardins and Lisa Stone. Of note was Stone's citizen journalism related comment: "Today everybody is press. Everything you say or do is on the record."

Now I'm off to a panel that focuses on starting a community-based blog site. The panel is sponsored by Blurb, an online service that provides software that enables writers to both layout and publish books. It will be very interesting to hear the implications of community-based blogging for businesses.

4 COMMENTS

Posted by: roger fulton at July 29, 2006 8:00 PM

I don't get it..what's with the "bloggers for women" bit? There as many women doing it as men..so what's the beef? Why the distinction?
You are creating a problem where there is none.

Roger F
Yuma

Posted by: Frank F. at July 29, 2006 9:16 PM

I see no redeeming value to a policy of exclusion. How can this help further or promote positive change in the work force for women? Perhaps there's some need to vent (male bashing) that's being met, but ultimately anything of value has never come from excluding any group from participating and networking.
Only fosters a deeper wedge between what needs to be done to address some major issues (pay equality for equal contribution etc) and addressing those most likely to affect change (the men who include women among their co workers, family, friends, and peers)And amplifies the problems sought to be solved by making those excluded feel neglected and defensive. And rightfully so.
Should an all male business blog site emerge, it would be met with rallying cries of "injustice" and "unfair business practices" and "blatent sexism" by those excluded. The "ladies" on the "View" and "Oprah would have their fangs showing and claws out... And rightfully so.

Good idea on paper, but doomed to fail in the long run. But I'm male, my viewpoints have no merit or value.

Posted by: Mom101 at July 31, 2006 11:00 PM

Whoa there, lads! What's all this about exclusion and men's opinions having no merit? Don't take something wonderful and twist it into something devious and divisive.

As someone who attended the conference, I can assure you there was zero male bashing this weekend - not one drop. There were quite a few men there for various reasons. There were no pumping feminist fists in the air, no armpit hair braiding. Mostly, there were panels on the things women tend to care/blog about, discussed in a forum women feel comfortable in. Women tend to blog as a way to find community, which is different than why most men blog. And thus - a community of women coming together for a weekend to discuss the medium and find friendships.

Frank F, your absolutely insulting references to Oprah and the View and fangs and claws are exactly the reason there is something like BlogHer. Be smarter than that. It behooves your gender.

Posted by: mothergoosemouse at August 1, 2006 1:52 PM

I echo Mom-101's comment above. It was a unifying conference, and I learned a great deal about writing (thanks to Lynne and Lisa's workshop on web writing!), advertising and marketing strategy, and the many communities of women - and men - intersecting in the blogosphere.