lbobiville: State of The Union Address.
lbobi: Little Blog of Big Ideas
State of The Union Address
It's been 7 months since we launched this blog right before the opening day at IUSA2010 in Nashville. I was sitting in Allison's pre-con SMS class putting the finishing touches on the blog. Anthony Ronga, owner of Into the Dark Room, was there for our platform talk and the first unveiling of our site. It was a great launch! He even graciously gave away a custom blog at the talk. A side note: We will be speaking again this year at IUSA2011 in San Antonio, Monday, at 3:30.
After IUSA2010 I realized the thing people liked most about the idea of lbobi was the fact that it's a community blog. Everyone who signs up for free can make a post. What a great idea! Originally, the community section was secondary to the studio blog portion. We decided to roll it all into one blog, and you guys decided this for me.
The next big change happened when we developed lbobiville. It was an extension of what we were teaching when Allison and I did the PPA Tour. I thought adding a section for paid members and keeping the original blog was a good solution. This worked for a while, but it eventually became clear to us that it was dividing our attention in half and that we would be better served to just add the lbobiville additions into the regular blog--another great improvement led by you guys.
The future of lbobi.
There are things I love about the format of the blog, and there are things that cause me headaches. The biggest question I have is "do I keep it where anyone can make a blog post?" This seems like a great idea, and everyone loves this idea; however, only 5% of the viewers actually make posts. THANK YOU 5 percenters! It is fine with me that you guys want to read and not post, but with such a small percentage of you actually wanting to make a post, it makes me question even keeping that option open.
The benefit to keeping lbobi a community blog is that, well, it's a community blog. Everyone CAN make a post if they want to. People like the idea of this option. The drawback to this is limited functionality. The new blog format I am using here is from the good folks at Six Apart, the creators of Typepad, which is only 8 months old (1 month older than lbobi itself). This just means that it's not as well developed as some of the other blog formats out there. I am patient and will wait if this is what everyone wants. I just need feedback.
The questions:
• Keep the community blog ability? Is this important to you?
• What do you think of adding a limited forum?
• More contests? I have a 3Gs to give away and I also have vendor giveaways.
• Specials of the week: What do you want more of?
• Finally, what do you think would make lbobi better?
I think we will also be opening the blog up to vendors to advertise here. The only vendors who will be allowed to advertise on lbobi will be those that I can personally vouch for. I don't necessarily have to personally be using them. I just want vendors with good reputations. This is very important to me.
Well, that about wraps it up. I really would like to know your thoughts so please post your comment.
Mayor Jeff
Comments are required.
Your vote counts. Do not let the lady suffragettes suffer in vain.
Try this URL to make a comment.
http://lbobi.com/darkroom/mt/mt.cgi
The site is rejecting login attempts. It's vexing me something fierce.
Sorry for the inconvenience, hopefully it will get cleared up tomorrow.
Personally, I'm looking for learning and critiquing. Such blogs as Photofocus and Skip's Photo network are nice for learning tidbits.
I'm unclear if your desire is for an open blog where people can post blogs, or if you're looking for something a bit more interactive. I don't think the format is quite right for interactive discussions--a format like the forum at http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/ (for video) would be more appropriate for an interactive give-and-take. For blogs, I'd be willing to bet most have their own blogs, or will soon. Personally, writing as much as I have written already just now is time-consuming--I don't think I'd be up to blogging on multiple sites. Heck, I just made my first blog on my own site last night, and it was a one-liner, and I've had Wordpress out there for some time now.
Now, I will post on forums, in response to questions, or asking questions (most likely case). When I need video advice, the above forum is my go-to, and I'm not shy about word count.
I would expect blogs to be well-written, informative, and based on knowledge and experience. I can give you the first point, but I'm still trying to fill in my knowledge gaps and gain experience. So I'm not likely to post a blog delivering useful bits of information. I will, however, read them voraciously. Now a forum, on the other hand--I'd be all over that. There are just too many "secrets" left out of the various books that would make life much easier. Those are things I would ask on forum.
A-D-D moment--y'know what would be really good (speaking of secrets)? A video of one of your portrait sessions. Seeing how another photographer works the assistant(s) and interacts with the subject would be invaluable. I'm still not comfortable asking local photogs if I could sit in on a session or two (and I'm not sure how appropriate it would be to ask...).
Anyhow, I read the tidbits Jeff and the few others post, but I don't feel at this point I have the knowledge or experience to provide cogent posts. So I don't post.
But, as you can see, I can write plenty! ;)
Thanks,
Matt
Mattt, a challenge to you. Video one of your sessions and post it to lbobi for others to critique. Seems to me that you would gain more from that experience than from watching someone else's session.
Todd
1. Yes, I think keeping the blog communal is important. I love the fact that there are posts from so many different creative worlds e.g. architecture, interior design, music, tech, as well as photography.
2. If you did a forum, might limit it to photography. I couldn't see non-photogs using it. (But I'm not a big forum user/reader anyway.)
3. Keep the contests coming. Waiting for the moment you start giving away Mark 5 d's or whatever it is that @scottbourne gives away.
4. Since I don't use the things you sell in my world, I'll pass on this question. When you start giving away AutoCAD blocks, I might start paying attention...
5. Lbobi tweet-ups: whether locally here in the Memphis area or at national events so the non-local lbobians could attend. Also, if you give the site a fresh baked cookie smell, that'd be sweezy.
Love, Todd
Funny you suggest a scented site, Todd, as I have been trying for some time to make lbobi smell like a giant pan of cinnamon rolls!
Never give up!
Agree with Todd about communal blogging being an important thing. I know how discouraging non-participatory people can be (I'm sorry, by the way, for being one of THOSE lbobians for quite sometime and I'm glad I've fixed that). I would simply encourage you and everyone here to continue to push the community aspect of this blog.
As to a forum. I think it's VERY important to differentiate forum from communal blog. So far, lbobi is the ONLY communal blog I've ever seen (granted I'm not as traveled on the interwebs as some). A forum IS for asking questions and getting answers. Maybe a lbobi forum would be a better home for the Ask ARP posts. But the Collaborate portion of lbobi must remain a blog. It's as though we have all been given an equal voice in the topics covered here. As Todd mentioned, the topics here are varied and inclusive of many art-forms. Rather than a few contributors, lbobi wields the potential power of an entire village of professionals...potentially. ;-)
I think contests and give-aways are always a great idea! They're fun, good competition and better for all our creative juices. Also, just tossing this out there, but what if some of the citizens offered prizes for contests. For example, maybe Photographer Joe has a gallery wrap of a fine art image of his or a template he has designed. He might offer that (through contact with Mayor Jeff) as a prize. It increases the variety of give-aways/prizes, keeps ARP from having to support the entire burden of goodies, and gets his name out there as a fine artist or designer. This is a raw idea and needs some detail but its out there.
Love the specials. Especially the vector art and brushes. Oh and textures, love textures. The actions too. Those are keen. Okay, I love the specials.
ANY blog would do better to smell like baked goods. Solid.
Chris Fox
Oklahoma City, OK