Journal: News & Comment

BlogHer buzz

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There are always conferences going on in the tech world, but certain ones have more buzz than others. Last month it was Gnomedex (or, as Steve Rubel called it, "Woodstock"), and this month it's BlogHer (which I'm not able to attend).

While not limited to women, today's conference focused on the experiences of women in blogging. And as you can see from the Flickr photos, the audience composition at BlogHer and Gnomedex was a bit different. But there were just as many laptops and other geek bling. And back in February, Northern Voice had a much more realistic mix of men and women, beginners and experts, locals and visitors.

Next week, some of my colleagues from work are heading to the Open Source Convention in Portland, which is less philosophical and high-level and more about actually writing code to do real things. I'll also be in Oregon, but not at a conference—like last year, my family and I are going to the beach.

Looking back on BlogHer now that it's over, Little Judy reports:

Another participant said she felt that people often don't go beyond their comfort zones and tend to only read blogs written by people just like them. She suggested everyone "find five blogs of people that don't look like you and learn something about them." Someone else suggested that everyone identify three people they know and help them create and learn how to use a blog.

Robert Scoble, who, like me, wasn't there, writes:

I'm really bummed I wasn't able to be there. But, actually, it's almost better than I'm not. As I read the blogs here I realize I'm part of the problem and need to just sit back, read, and hear what's being discussed there. [...] The ideas being discussed there are ones that we haven't yet discussed well in the blogosphere.

They're good ideas. And good ideas are what we need.

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