Posted by Newsboy 1965 at 6/29/07 3:46 p.m.

Nightly "Hang With P-I Staffers' cocktail hours around the Sound might be a good start. :)

Seriously, I think that would be a good idea. We could all drink, set up our laptops and converse with one another via blog from four feet away.

Posted by D.J. McLeod at 6/29/07 4:39 p.m.

How is a newspaper, the structure of any news organization, different from a bunch of writers working separately? How is the world changing? What is the point of the Big Blog, to bridge that gap? To discuss it? To drive the flow one way or another? To explore or suggest or observe or report? All of the above?

However brittle it may be becoming, the dailies still seem to have a edge of journalistic integrity that we still trust and I think striking a balance between that and the individual writer's voice while interacting with the public is important, and that listening to each other and reacting to each other is important in keeping that integrity. Keeping up journalistic standards should remain a high priority, and a dialogue about exactly what that means would be incredibly valuable, in an age where anyone can publish. But I think that candor and transparency would be a very welcome change- not only in discussing the news, but in discussing how that news is gathered and disseminated, and how we as a culture and a community are acting and interacting, real-time.

I'd like to be able to go to a place where information is well-researched and placed where people could engage in intelligent discussion about that information, expanding it. I'm less likely to speak up or dissent if the whole discussion is just going to disintegrate into namecalling. That said, I'd hate to see comments censored, so I think the tone has to begin in the original posts. You've got quite a task ahead of you. This should be interesting to watch.

Posted by Lele McLeod at 6/29/07 6:31 p.m.

Hi Monica,

I'm not sure that I have advice for you, but I am very excited about this new project! I agree that you should have P-I staff laptop happy hours (at McLeod Residence -- we have free wi-fi, you know), and I agree with Tamara that well-researched news and intelligent conversation is something that we readers would be glad to have. Personally, I get most of my local blog news from Seattle Metblogs and am also (a bit ashamed to be) a regular reader of the Seattle livejournal, even though it's full of snarks. I do adore the hilariousness of the SLOG, but I think that too many contributors and too many posts make it hard to find the worthwhile bits. Ah, that's just my two cents. Let's chat more about this over lunch!

Posted by Will in Seattle at 6/30/07 10:55 p.m.

I think we could meet in different chocolate and coffee places around Seattle. First stop is Theo's Chocolate in Fremont, of course. Then that chocolate place on Capitol Hill.

Posted by unregistered user at 7/2/07 10:39 a.m.

How about blog addresses in the 'ears' of the pages.

I'd love for the P-I to put URLs at the bottom of each story for further information or the original source as the Daily Telegraph does but larger than 2 point font though, bold italics best.

Also since Brian Chin is the most stable, serious person in the P-I blog world, he should be leading an overall guide to the day's blogs, or week's as the case may be.

And since we are usually reading the newspaper and don't have a computer, nor an ISP account at home for later thought, a quarter page (heavily cross referenced in blogs) every two weeks of locations of public terminals (Libraries, coffee shops, laundromats etc. etc.) with etiquette, "don't save at work" etc. would be much more useful than the self-promotion adverts you print.

And do it in Spanish too. Maybe Chinese and Japanese for far-off potential visitors to Boeing country and for when they are here.

We will still ignore the indulgent, badly written blogs (no rating system on part of the readers? Self-indulgent 12345, Well written (diction, style) 12345.

Posted by bobh at 7/3/07 11:35 a.m.

No idea what "unregistered user" above is talking about.

Anyway, how many more blogs does the P-I (or for that matter the world) need? Why will your regurgitation of the same old links and news be any different?

How about blogs where people have some expertise in what they're talking about?

Posted by unregistered user at 7/3/07 12:42 p.m.

I'd like to see some funny/creative, newsy stories or takes on the news - you should steal someone like Barnett at the Stranger, Judd at the Times, Anderson at the Weekly, etc., who know the town; also, just more humor generally: it makes me chuckle just to think that nobody tells the news better than the fake newsie Jon Stewart!

Posted by marileev at 7/3/07 12:47 p.m.

Monica,

Congrats on the new blog. I think some things I enjoyed about NetNative were some of the tidbits on the web you shared, especially local companies and bloggers. For your "Big Blog" project I'd like to see that carried through. Bobh has a great idea, regular guest bloggers each week would bring something fresh.

You say you'll this new blog will be focused on news and city culture, but having comments from those "in the scene" would help build cross conversations.

Enjoy your vacation!

--Marilee V.

Posted by Playboy Buddy at 7/3/07 1:10 p.m.

The one thing you do not want to do is become the Slog, or at least not to the extent the Slog is the Slog: the staff obviously spends so much time blogging that there's hardly anything worth reading in the Stranger's newspaper and at its Online site as well. I don't bother with either anymore, and just read Slog. That's a self-defeating effort.

Posted by unregistered user at 7/14/07 2:25 p.m.

Peoples news.
_drew

Posted by yutup at 5/26/08 9:13 a.m.

youtube
Great job! You're an inspiration to those who never say die