5 key points for effective Baha’i bloggers

Baha’i bloggers, podcasters and other internet users in England had a series of excellent meetings with Thane Terrill, a member of the Baha’i Internet Agency, this weekend. Thane flew in from New York on Friday and immediately set to work. He met with National Assembly representatives on Friday afternoon, with young Baha’i bloggers/podcasters or wannabes on Friday evening. Saturday he travelled up to Birmingham and met with Baha’is there. This morning he returned to London.

Erica Leith (George Ronald), Paddy Vickers (Warwick Baha’i Bookshop), Alfred Sharpe (Baha’i Books UK)

Thane met with Baha’i publishers this morning, including Erica Leith from George Ronald, Paddy Vickers from Warwick Baha’i Bookshop (famous for the Warwick series of leaflets about different aspects of the Baha’i Faith), and Alfred Sharpe from Baha’i Books UK. He also met with the UK Baha’i Service for the Visually Impaired, and with quite a large group of Baha’is interested in using the internet for Baha’i purposes.

Fidelma Meehan (NSA), Oliver Christopherson (Services for the Visually Impaired), Rob Weinberg (NSA)

The Baha’i Internet Agency was appointed by the Universal House of Justice to advise Baha’i institutions and individuals about the use of the internet and has put out some very useful materials. There are extracts from the Baha’i scriptures highlighting the spiritual principles that apply to blogging, podcasting and use of the internet generally. The BIA also have some very useful technical advice about podcasting, search engine optimization and so on.

Thane made five key points for all Baha’i bloggers and podcasters:

1. The “killer app” on the internet is people - that’s all of us. The internet is about creating new kinds of relationships between people.

2. Good content is king. Internet users will forgive a lot of faults provided the content (written, audio or visual) is good.

3. The “power of crowds” is the great new model of knowledge development and sharing on the internet. Anyone can help generate and add to the content on the internet; many eyes will see what’s up on the internet and inaccuracies can quickly be corrected.The internet itself connects up people and knowledge in ways that were impossible pre-internet.

4. The internet creates a level playing field for all content generators. The Baha’i community has as much power on the internet as the Vatican. Anyone can put content up on the internet at relatively low cost and it will be as accessible to readers as content put up by large corporations or other organizations. We may not be able to afford to make satellite TV broadcasts, but almost anyone can make a short video and put it on YouTube or create a podcast for people to download.

5. We can, will and should make mistakes. The internet allows us to make mistakes and correct them without costing millions.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, internet, blogging, podcasting, publishing

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