AOL Journals Guest Editor's Picks for June 17, 2005

Hi everybody...heads up: This is mostly a repeat of my post to the Journals Message Boards.

Posting as a blog entry, though, should reach additional folks, plus it
gives

us some built-in archiving, so it should still be useful.



Here are the Editor's Picks for June 17,
2005:



As noted, we're trying a new programming feature, the AOL
Journals Guest Editor's Picks.



Dan, of Slapinions, is our inaugural Guest
Editor,

and here are some of his top blog picks.  Be sure to check out his blog entry where he talks

about his picks, why he chose them, and more:



* Tom's Astronomy Blog


* PostSecret


* Coldheartedtruth


* 'No One's Child'


* The
Squatch


* ArloAndJanis.com



But wait -- they're not AOL Journals!



Here's what's going on with the Guest Editor's Picks.



We're shaking things up a bit. Why? We've painted
ourselves into a bit

of corner, and in doing so, we're missing out on a lot of the stuff

that's going on in the wide, wonderful blogosphere out there.




And frankly, they're missing out on us, as well. By embracing more of

the blogosphere at large, we're trying to get them to embrace us back

(and link to us, and post comments in our Journals).



(It wouldn't have made sense to do this before AIM

Blogs came along -- now, though, bloggers can play in "our"

space, while still being a part of the blogosphere.)



Here's how it the process seems to be going:



1. Send me your name and blog address if you're
interested in being a Guest Editor.



2. If I pick you to be a Guest Editor, you then choose 6-8 of
your top

blogs  -- AOL Journals or blogs on the
Web-at-large -- and send them to

me.  If you like, you can choose a theme, or you can choose to
not use

a theme (or in some cases, I might ask you to incorporate a

theme). 



(2a. Note that in this particular case, all of the featured blogs were

non-AOL --

this is up to the Guest Editor's discretion, though I anticipate that

most folks will have a mix of Journals & other types of
blogs.)



3. Then, you do a blog entry, talking about your
picks, why you chose

them and a little bit about yourself.  If you want to
throw some love

out to fellow Journalers & bloggers, you can do that,
as

well.



4. Lastly, you send me a photo and a
completed photo release. (We'll coordinate all the
timing and details.)



5. When Friday comes around, I'll feature your photo, blog entry and

your top 6 (or so) sites on the AOL Journals main page.



There are more changes coming, not the least of which is I will be

posting here more often (not just when stuff breaks). I will let you

know -- please leave your comments below.

Lastly,
in

response to some of the early comments in the Message Boards and mails

I've gotten -- I think that everyone (even the suits over here)

recognizes that the AOL J-Land community is a unique group of folks

with a distinct character, not to mention being a powerful

resource.

It's kind of a fancy way to say that we

definitely want to preserve that flavor, as well as grow it
(hopefully,

one can have it all)-- we're going to be working on more tools and

programming to nurture those connections, so I look forward to

continuing this discussion with everyone.



Thanks, and Happy Father's Day -- Joe

































Tag: Guest Editor's Picks