Wednesday, March 12, 2008

What a blog might be used for

A town council (or committee of any organization) might publish minutes of meetings, announcements of upcoming meetings or events, as well as encouraging others to volunteer or assist in various ways. Brainstorming ideas or explaining problems can be included.

Detailed press release type messages can be made available. Contact information of volunteer coordinators could be listed. Input from the public can be requested.

A charitable organization might solicit donations and a PayPal link could be permanently displayed on the page. Other permanent information such as contact info of the blog editors, committee members, the stated purpose of the organization - any of this type info might be attached in sidebars. Blogger.com calls them "Page Elements" and a list of possibilities is supplied, including:

Link List
Add a collection of relevant sites. Link to the County Health Department, local school sites, media, state government, etc.

Picture
Add a picture from your computer or from somewhere else on the web.

Slideshow
Add a slideshow of photos of your town and its people.

Poll
Survey your visitors by adding a poll to your blog.

HTML/JavaScript
Add third-party functionality or other code to your blog.

Video Bar
Display clips from YouTube and Google Video for your readers to watch without leaving the page.