Task Force on Social Networking Software

Here’s an interesting post from about a month ago on A List Apart about writing for the web that got me thinking about blogging guidelines: why should online content be kept short and sweet? How long is too long for a blog post? Can you build a body without a heart?

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/revivinganorexicwebwriting

“As our culture becomes increasingly digital, the art forms that support it must be constructed with the same care, deliberateness, and gusto as our traditional media. Intelligent content is the literature of our time.”

Though one may not necessarily agree that all web content should be beautiful lengthy prose (Personally, I do not have enough time or attention span for that!), the author makes an interesting distinction between ad copy & intelligent content, and suggests creators of web content be more conscious writers. But this also begs the question…if more web writing was ‘intelligent content’ instead of babbling advertising copy, would users have more of an attention span & desire to read longer entries?

Anonymous comments, pseudononymous blogging…is anyone taking responsibility for what they post online?

Check out Walt Crawford’s column in the 2007 July/Aug issue of EContent for musings on the unintended consequences of easy econtent creation.

The social networking survey of MLA members was a huge success. 495 responses were received and the task force is currently analyzing the data. We will release our findings in the near future.

The task force has also begun a social networking wiki to document information associated with this task force’s charge. The wiki will be released in early autumn and will continue to grow and evolve over time. The first release will focus on blogs and include sections on general guidelines, platform options, best practices, links to professional blogs, and MLA Style Guide information.

Please come back to this blog for updates or subscribe using your RSS Reader.

Questions, comments, or suggestions can be sent to bart@virginia.edu