Today is International Blog Day.

This day, celebrating the blogosphere, began last year. On the day:

In one long moment In August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new Blogs, preferably, Blogs different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog surfers will find themselves leaping and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

The Thali were talking about this day and how we wanted to celebrate it with you, and thought we’d share what we’ve gained, learned or enjoyed from blogging and participating in the blogosphere generally.

Librarian Kathryn says:

I started blogging because I’d been asked by work to explain blogging to other librarians. Initially I presumed that blogs were not very interesting, self-indulgent journals of personal blathering.

I’ve progressed to realising that they are chiefly an easy way to make a web site (see Peta’s Blogs Masquerading as.. post). I’ve also discovered that a blog is more like a node in many large conversations, than a solitary exercise. It is as much about reading other blogs (thank you RSS!!) as about writing your own.

I’ve also had the inevitable gaffs, like saying Paul Miller from Talis sounded English when he’s Scottish. (He very politely corrected me). Or pressing “publish” before my post was properly edited. Sure, I could edit it afterwards, but it had already gone out on RSS. (Damn you RSS!!)

The lint experience has taught me that while the Australian library blogging world is so small, it’s naive to presume all librarians understand about blogging. Some things should still should be spelled out clearly, without presuming everyone else “just knows”. It’s also taught me what to look for in a WordPress template and to get the template tickety-boo before launching a site.

Peta tells us:

I started blogging after Michael (Impressions Scholarcast) visited with the library staff at work to talk about blogs and how he was using them both personally and with his students. In preparation for the visit I did a bit of scrounging around about library blogs and started using Bloglines to explore the use of RSS. 18 months later I now have several blogs on the go, and Michael I believe is still using Bloglines. Via our blogs and rss readers we have regular “conversations”.

I blog at work for the library news (a collaborative blog) and for a project, I blog to experiment and keep track of ideas and technologies I want to follow up with later and I blog to share knowledge. One of the things I enjoy the most is just playing with templates to add widgets, javascripts and experiment with new web services and how they can be integrated. It has become a bit of a creative outlet, replacing all those handicrafts I used to do.

Morgan writes:

I also started blogging because I was asked to write about blogs for a library association newsletter. Being somebody who learns by doing, I decided to start one on a temporary basis. I immediately found it very compelling and empowering. Four years later, I find that blogs are almost commonplace and an extension of real life. Almost. When I started, just by existing, any given blog was close to unique. For example, when I began, there was only one other academic law librarian blogging in the entire world. Now it’s different, and we have this amazing community of bloggers. It’s more difficult to be unique in that existential kind of way. But now we can focus on other kinds of uniqueness – so that our blogs reflect our own individuality.

Tango says:

When I first started reading blogs, I thought – why haven’t I read about all this great stuff going on in mags, or at seminars, or meetings, etc. I wasn’t seeing or hearing it elsewhere, because no-one was picking it up to be done elsewhere. So I decided to start a blog, to help get that information out of the UK and US where it was all happening, and into Australia where it was just beginning. I hoped, but didn’t expect that people would read what I wrote and I definitely didn’t expect that some of those whose blogs I read from overseas would stop by and I definitely didn’t expect the community that has arisen from becoming an Australian blogger. But its all happened and I am very pleased to be a part of the “cutting edge” of what’s happening in libraries down under.

Five of my favourite inspirations?

Tame the Web – Michael Stephens
Librarian in black – Sarah Houghton
Librarian.net – Jessamyn West
blyberg.net – John Blyberg
Information wants to be free – Meredith Farkas

Bronwyn adds:

I returned to work yesterday after attending a day of ideas about using blogs, wikis, VOIP and so on for communicating with clients (thanks QULOC), full of enthusiasm and nascent possibilities. “So how was your day off?” colleagues asked. “Where did you go again?” Within seconds of the explanation, the eyes would glaze “Hmm blogs – think I’ve heard of them somewhere…”

And that’s why the blogging community excites me – something like surfing a wave, I guess – with so much we can offer.

And I think it’s exhilarating to be part of a group/profession that is growing and changing so fast, partly because of the interaction that blogs allow.

And CW says:

Blogging has given me a reason to write. I’m not claiming any particular skill, but it’s really helped with my usual obstacles: Fear-of-Writing.

And all this constant engagement with so many wonderful library folks all over the country and all around the world – it’s given me so many ideas, so much inspiration. Thank you everyone, and here’s to many more hours of pleasant banter and invigorating exchange!

Happy International Blog Day!