New AOL Webmail "Blog This" Feature and Some Tricks

Hi all -- so, Will over at the AOL Pictures blog has a couple of recent entries that should be of interest to Journalers (and others). Here's the first -- it's actually about Webmail, AOL Pictures & AOL Journals.

The new version of AOL Webmail went live this week at http://webmail.aol.com (it'd been in beta until now).

It has some new features, including some tweaks to the design and a full formatting toolbar (which is new, at least for Firefox browsers, I'm not sure if IE had it).

One of the new features is the ability to post the content of an e-mail directly to your blog via Blog This -- it's very similar to the "Blog about this entry" feature in Journals (which I've mentioned before). It works like this:

1. As you're reading an e-mail in Webmail, if you want to post it to your Journal, click the "Action" drop-down menu in the mail, and choose Blog This:

   

2. This will open up a very familiar-looking Add an Entry page. Edit as needed, pick which one of your Journals you want it to publish to (via the drop-down menu -- you also have the option to create a new Journal on-the-fly), then click Save at the bottom:

   

3. There is no Step 3.

It's pretty convenient -- it's also kind of another sneaky way to kind of get to multi-author blogging (the other being the Moblogging Beta). Both of these methods involve contributors sending e-mail to specific addresses -- in the moblogging beta, they're sending it directly to your blog's special e-mail address. With Blog This, they're sending it to your e-mail address, and you can act as editor/moderator.

Both of these methods are workarounds until we get full group blogging (not sure when that will be).

How did I get started on this? Oh yeah, Will at AOL Pictures came up with a way to use AOL Webmail and its AOL Pictures integration to post nicely-formatted photo entries to your AOL Journal.

You basically just send yourself e-mail, check it in Webmail, and post it to your Journal using Webmail's "Blog This." Check out his step-by-step instructions.

[Journaler Pharmolo reminds me to remind you that this particular gimmick only works with U.S. Journals and Webmail right now.]

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: aol pictures, aol webmail, aol journals, aol journals how to

Blogging the Mumbai Bombings

So, four days after the first anniversary of the July 7th London attacks, we have another series of simultaneous transit bombings, this time in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), India.

Over 150 people have been killed, with hundreds more injured.

Maybe it's terror fatigue, or maybe it's because it's happening half a world away from us over here, but I don't see a full-court press on this attack in the U.S. media.

Fortunately, you don't have to listen to me whine about it -- as with most things online, you can find your own information about what you're interested in.

The news Web sites are all carrying the story as front page news (for example, AOL News, BBC News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC).

Looking at blogs and social media, Metroblogging Mumbai is group-blogging the story (their sister blog in Pakistan, Metroblogging Karachi, sends its support -- I'd linked them back in October, after the South Asia Earthquake).

Also, here's the Mumbai bombing entry in WikiNews. If you're familiar with Wikipedia, which is a group encyclopedia that anyone can add content to, WikiNews applies a similar model to the news.

(In wikis, you're relying on lots and lots of interested people to contribute, edit and police content, instead of small group of editors. Consequently, their coverage can be a lot broader than a standard encyclopedia, though there are challenges, especially when it comes to controversial topics.)

Here are some additional search results for "Mumbai Bombings":

* Google News
* Technorati
* Sphere
* Feedster

(FYI, there's isn't a lot of discussion of the bombings that I could find in AOL Journals right now.)

Best wishes and support to the victims of this bombing and all terrorist attacks.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: mumbai bombings

Warning: Bad Writing Ahead

So, now that this morning's rostering nastiness is out of the way -- on the way in, I heard on NPR's Morning Edition (it was one of those "wacky news" bits they put on the half hour) that the winners of this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest have been announced.

The contest is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who, besides coining the phrases "the great unwashed" and "The pen is mightier than the sword," is also credited for writing perhaps one of the worst opening sentences in all of literature.

You may have heard of it -- his novel Paul Clifford starts with, "It was a dark and stormy night," which by itself isn't so bad. However, it goes on, and on, and on:

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

To honor his memory, the contest asks writers to send in their best efforts at the worst possible opening sentence.

The contest spans many genres and subcategories -- see the full winners list to see all the honorable and dishonorable mentions.

Personally, I think they missed a golden opportunity to draw from an actual work published in 2006; here's the potentially award-winning entry:

"No one noticed the rock."

*** Editor Joe immediately ducks and moves to cover. ***

(Of course, that's the opening sentence to blogger John's The Ghost Brigades, available at fine bookstores everywhere in the 'verse and known space.)

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: dark and stormy night, Bulwer-Lytton, John Scalzi, The Ghost Brigades

CLEARED: Problems Viewing Other People's Journals

Hi all -- as I posted in the Journals Message Board, the server admins report that the rostering problem we'd been experiencing has been fixed, so you should be able to see other people's Journals normally now.

As I wrote previously, the rostering problem meant that you would get a blue screen error when you tried to view someone else's Journal while you were signed in (either using the AOL software, or signed in via a standalone Web browser, like when you're checking AOL Webmail or working with your Journal outside the AOL client software).

It was a little frustrating when I was first reporting the problem, since some folks saw the problem and others didn't. Fortunately, Journal Product Manager Susan pointed out the fact that she was only seeing the problem when she was signed in, which helped confirm that it was the same rostering problem that was impacting other products, as well as giving us our workaround (which was to view other people's Journals while not signed in).

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks -- Joe
Tags: AOL Journals, Journals Rostering, AOL Journals Status

7/11: 10:49am -- Problems Viewing Other People's Journals

Hi all -- looks like there's a rostering problem that's impacting Journals -- you can see and edit your own Journal, but you'll hit the blue error screen when you try to view someone else's Journal while you're signed in (via either the AOL software or a standalone browser.)

 

A temporary workaround to view other people's Journals is to use a standalone browser and NOT be signed in -- you can use a standalone, external version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, which comes with your PC; click Start > Programs > Internet Explorer. Just don't sign in, and you should be able to see other people's Journals.

The tech folks tell me that one of the rostering machines went sour this morning (rostering controls who can and can't see something, like the people who are allowed to read your private Journal) and they've got a bunch of people working on it.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, Journals Rostering, AOL Journals Status

Blogging to the Flock

Hi all -- hope you had a good weekend. Saw a blogging item in local fishwrap on Sunday -- it was a Washington Post article entitled, 'Cyber-Savvy Pastors Blog When the Spirit Moves Them.'

The article was about how some technically-proficient pastors are reaching out to their congregations and communities via blogs.

Why blogs? Pretty much for the same reasons that people of all collars blog: Blogs are great for maintaining contact with people on an ongoing basis. Ministers are able to extend their relationships throughout the week (so not just on Sundays).

Plus, the conversational nature of blogs also gives the opportunity for
spiritual leaders to give folks a look behind the pulpit, and to personalize themselves and their message (not to mention let
congregants participate), in a way that a weekly sermon may not.

Of course, let's not forget that blogs are a way to reach out to young folks who do seemingly everything via their online social networks.

Just as pastors and ministers seek the benefits of blogs, so too do they face some of the challenges; take this quote:

Bailey said building a successful blog is not as easy as posting church newsletters and Sunday sermons under a clever domain name.

"The most common temptation is when you don't know what to write about, and you see that bulletin sitting on your desk," he said. "People are not interested in blogs that are PR announcements. It needs to be the personal voice of an individual."

Yes, even those who are blogging to save souls may need to struggle with writers' block from time to time.

Thanks -- Joe

Introducing Journals Editor Jeff (With His Editor's Picks for 7/7)

Hi folks -- please give a warm Journals welcome to
Journals Editor Jeff, who will be helping me
do what we do over here. (Which, if you didn't know,
is pretty much encouraging people to blog; highlighting the blogs of
AOL Journalers and AIM Bloggers; and talking about stuff that's going
on in the big ole sphere o' blogs, including stuff that affects all of
us bloggers.)

Here he is, as seen in his new
Journal, PixelPusher:

Jeff's been working in the Community
group for about a year. You may also know him as the "straight guy" in
his and Kenny's Straighten
Out column (which they promise they will turn into a blog
someday).

Recently, he's been familiarizing himself
with the AOL Journals landscape, so we got to the point where we wanted
to introduce Jeff to you with his Editor's
Picks for 7/7.

With Jeff on board, that
will give us some opportunities to find new ways to feature interesting
and noteworthy AOL Journals and AIM Blogs, taking advantage of all the
neat Web 2.0 technologies and the wisdom of crowds and the long tail
and all the other current social media buzzwords out
there.

Please say hi to Jeff in his Pixel Pusher
blog, and check out his featured
picks for this week.

Thanks --
Joe

Tags: AOL
Journals, Journals Editor Jeff, Editor's
Picks