How it started?  AnonyMoses will tell you the Legend of the Piedmont Bloggers if you have a few minutes and an abiding appreciation for complicated sentence structure:

"...And sure as eggs is eggs, their vision became reality, and their reality drew crafty and deipnosophical blogsmiths from throughout the land...which of course ends at Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee. Some carpooled from our beloved capital, Raleigh, wherefrom my own grandparents hailed. Others came from that great center of culture, and home to America's first public university, Chapel Hill. And yet others came from lowly Charlotte, home of NASCAR and ketchup consumption...."

How it ended?  It hasn't yet... the analysis and awe are just now boiling over.

N&R reporter Mark Binker has broken bloggers into categories that could only be created by a guy who sits on both sides of the fence at the same time.  Mark gives us his take on how he perceives that traditional media types "are viewed by writers and lurkers in the blogsphere"  It took six categories to finally pigeon-hole everyone.

Author and former N&R columnist Jerry Bledsoe was in attendance asking "what is a blogroll" in preparation for what I am confident will result in him starting to actually post on a weblog that he says he has owned for a couple of years.  It was interesting to have him in a room heavily occupied by so many N&R folks given the recent history of the two entities.

Cori Dauber of at RantingProfs was glad she came.  She says the conference was worth the drive and was most happy to "hear how folks are trying to harness the medium of blogging in all sorts of creative ways." 

In the "creative ways" vein, I really want to talk to the woman who is planning to start an old house fixing blog - did anyone get her name, url of email? - or would she, herself please contact me - I am most interested in helping with such a project.

Non-blogger but pot-stirrer-none-the-less Brad Krantz was a pleasant addition.  Playing the devil's advocate he posed a question to the room that finally started people talking out of turn during the second session, and I paraphrase... very loosely: "If blogging is on the same plane as journalism, bloggers would get paid like journalists".  From what I hear of a journalist's salary... I, as a blogger, am not real far off the pay scale, Brad.

Sally Greene, City Councilwoman from Chapel Hill was typing away during the whole affair and offers this account of the sessions.  Great insights Sally, both during the conference and in your almost-like-being-there subsequent posting.

Jay Ovittore echoes a sentiment held by many others, including me:  "I didn't know what was going to happen when I arrived this morning. I know this conference was an overall success."

Cone provides a wrap-up, as is his way.

I'm sure others will have something to say about what occured this morning after they have taken their naps and begun to practice what bloggers in attendence explicitly preached against,... "Don't drink and blog"... but for now...

The morning was gratifying.  The talent in the room could not have been more impressive.  Thanks to everyone for coming and we will do it again.  My blog roll will swell over the next couple of days.

************

Tony (Plutonium) Patterson over at Half-Life and Times has regrets about the conference, but they are the good kind.

6:36:04 PM     comments to the above post so far, join in.   Trackbacks

From everything I have heard and read so far, Guilford County Schools busing woes were caused by Murphy's Law*  "If it can go wrong... it will."  And it did, and it continues to do so.

I will bet you the cost of a school bus that no one loses their job over the whole fiasco despite the fact that the school board insists that running our schools is just like running a business.

If a business had lost as many customers in a two week period as GCS's transportation department has lost loyal bus riders since the start of school, that business would have seen to it that a employee or managerial head or two would roll out the front door.

When the dust settles on this thing (N&R), we may find that it was all really just part of the plan to reduce transportation costs for our school system.  With reduced ridership comes lower costs.

************

*Editing note - I get my laws and principles confused and originally attributed Murphy's Law to the Peter Principal, that's why I have a big brother in Louisville to keep me straight - see comment below.

6:59:54 AM     comments to the above post so far, join in.   Trackbacks