Why did this happen? I don’t know, other than I answered a call for help in the form of a client who wanted me to explore this ‘new’ medium back then. And I followed it up with curiosity and exploration and today I’m a published author and expert in my own particular field because I answered that call.

Have you thought about blogging but wondered if it is really worth it? If you’re looking at it from a monetary value, then I would say not, only from personal experience. Don’t get me wrong, there are people earning but I really feel a very large percentage of people blogging are doing it for other reasons. Like being able to express themselves and their thoughts and share them with others of a like-mind. Like keeping in touch with family and friends. For testing out ideas. To be controversial. To attract attention. To get known. There are many, many reasons why people blog.

I have a daughter who was offered a job because of her blog. She writes about her studies in the equestrian industry and her posts were found by a college seeking to develop an equestrian studies course. Everywhere they looked online they kept finding her posts and the information she gave was valuable and along the lines of what they wanted for their course. So they contacted her and offered her a teaching job – she accepted. How many people have you heard of who have been offered paid work because of their blog? Blogs are a great way to demonstrate your expertise in a topic.

Recently Aussie Bloggers celebrated their 6 month anniversary and we look forward to celebrating our first year and far beyond. Although I wasn’t there at the beginning I did join only a few weeks after they started up and have witnessed the growth of the group during that time.

It is wonderful to be able to mix and mingle with such a diverse group of people who have a wide range of interests and reasons for blogging, but we’re all united in that one thing – blogging, irrespective of the software platforms we choose or the reasons we write. And together we achieve great things, learning from one another and improving our overall experience of blogging. Why don’t you join us?

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Yes, now you can detail the horror on board a plane featuring an instant quote from a horrified, terrified, or just plain upset passenger! Their quote will always describe the exact emotion that they, along with all their fellow passengers, were feeling in the cabin.

You even get a photo of a real airplane – some of them have even flown! These photos are perfect to go along with your story, no matter what airline it affects and what type of airplane which the “instant” tragedy befell. (Well, you know that the public really doesn’t care if the pictured plane doesn’t match the details – the horror is enough! )

In case you were wondering, The Lazy Journalist’s Plane Story Generator was created a few years back by Snoskred, who is an avid fan of aviation along with her Other Half. And, yes, this was the inspiration behind the tremendously popular Lazy Blogger’s Post Generator.

Just as an example of what kind of heart-wrenching story you can “write” with The Lazy Journalist’s Plane Story Generator, here you go -

Flight Goes Horribly Wrong

Foreign passengers told of their dread aboard a Melbourne bound Ansett flight which was strong armed to return to Darwin yesterday due to running out of Kath & Kim episodes.

Some passengers were disappointed that the 247 passengers were told few details of the unpleasant incident.

They said the plane “Flew slowly with the engines screaming like Shannon Noll trying to sing” before turning around.

As a precaution, fire trucks were on standby when the BAe PA-31 landed.

Passenger Mr Tahiti last night was still recovering from the ordeal.

“It’s a good thing I was wearing the brown underwear”, the passenger said.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and try your hand at the challenging field of aviation journalism – and do just a little bit less work than the real journos do – by using The Lazy Journalist’s Plane Story Generator! You know you want to.

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This was the first blogger meetup I’ve attended. There have been Adelaide blogger meetups organised and I’ve never been able to make one for various reasons which makes me feel a bit guilty.

The cold and wet weather kept a lot of people home but there were about eight of us and it was good to meet some other bloggers face-to-face. There was a familiar face as I’d met one of the bloggers at Web Directions South last year. A big crew of Perth people go all the way to Sydney for this conference, and it sounds like they will do so again this year – with a couple of them to present.

But, back to the blogger meetup.

I felt a bit awkward at first because I wasn’t sure what to say and the others knew each other so I initially felt like I’d joined in on a conversation that had already started at a party. But once I got over my initial shyness and once I asked if anyone watches Dexter the conversation went from there. At that stage I’d nearly finished watching season 2 and now I have. I’ve finished the rollercoaster ride Gary! Anyone who’s watches season 2 of Dexter will know what this means.

Just before I had to leave (to put my boy to bed) I passed around a piece of paper to get the URLs of the blogger’s blogs to have a look. They were, Gary Barber – Man with No Blog, Al – My name is Al, Simone – Enjoy Perth, Bret – Free beer, Teresa – ChiBits, and a couple of people left before I got their blog addresses.

The above crew weren’t the only bloggers I met during my week in Perth. Cellobella from Red Sultana met us on Saturday morning, also in Northbridge. It was lovely to meet her, have a coffee, watch my son (the photographer) take a heap of photos of us and everyone else in the establishment, and talk blogging and other things. I haven’t yet tried the no-knead bread but I want to give it a go.

If I had the money, it would be great to travel and incorporate blogger meetups around Australia and the rest of the world into part of the travelling. It would be good fun, provide blog fodder, and you could find out the good shopping spots from a local before you arrived rather than on your last day.

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Many companies, organisations, managers and designers recognise the importance of testing new ideas on users and customers before putting them into practice. Unfortunately user-testing is often bypassed with the excuse that there is insufficient time or money. Even worse, some designers think they know their client’s or employer’s customers well enough that they don’t need to bother asking them.

The fact is that it is simply not possible to read the minds of the potentially vast range of users and customers that a web, print or industrial designer, architect, engineer or other design professional has to develop a product or installation for.

Usability Challenge 2008 raises awareness of the importance of user and customer testing by saying “Hey, we’re customers … we’re suffering from bad design decisions … and we’re going to let you know about it”. But it’s more than simply complaining about being on the receiving end of bad design decisions and process. It’s rising up to the challenge to invent a better solution and suggesting it to a company or organisation.

This year’s Usability Challenge is being held on 1 August so if you want to get involved then quickly pick one of the many design frustrations you face daily, come up with a way to fix it and then write to the offending company and let them know!

Hopefully through this united effort we can ensure that user testing is integrated into all design projects, be it designing websites, supermarkets, ATMs, movie ticket queues, elevators, pay parking machines or toasters.

For my contribution to the Usability Challenge this year I think I’ll be writing to the ANZ bank with some suggestions on how they could improve some of their online loan application forms as well as fixing their Canberra Centre branch because currently from the seating area you can’t see the numbers of most of the desks in the branch – a bit of an oversight.

So head over to the Usability Challenge 2008 home page now and get involved!

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They also come in all different colours from green and gold, to the colours of the flag, and even black-and-white. Most of the images feature a map – some have Tasmania, some don’t, but can always add them back in, right?

As another part of the celebration of six months of existence, we present to you the Aussie Bloggers button collection, suitable for posting on your own site, but remember that you should host it on your own site, as displaying the images as hosted on here is considered hotlinking, and you might wind up facing a surprise.

To help you out with getting the images hosted on your own site, here are a couple of tutorials, the first designed for those with access to their own site’s FTP, and the second for those who don’t have access at all to upload files to their own blog (i.e. Blogger users) -

• How to upload files using FTP
• Host images online for free? Yes, you can!

Before showing the images, you can download all the images by simply saving this Zip file and choosing the one you want out of the selection.

And now, without further ado, here are the 29 buttons that make up the Aussie Bloggers button collection:

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Our moderators and administrators were given a short story, and asked to fill in the blanks. The results have been combined into The Lazy Bloggers Blog Post Generator.

I have seen it said around the web that a blogger should never write a blog post that apologises for not blogging – no matter how long it has been, no matter what happened to get in the way of blogging, you should return as if you never left. And now you don’t have to write the post – you can let the blog post generator do it for you. All you have to do is use the drop down boxes to choose the text you want, then click on the create your blog post button. Just like this -

Holy Snapping Duck Do! I just had a terrible scare when I thought I have not updated this since Hammertime was in the charts… You would not believe how hard it is being waited on hand and foot and generally lounging around. I prostrate myself in sorrow and beg thy forgiveness..

I am absolutely consumed with setting fire to people wearing Crocs watching Dexter just generally being a biatch to my local police, my day is a magical flight from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am putting money aside so I can run away. I need a nap.

I absolutely, positively promise to update at least once a week. Honestly! Don’t hold your breath though, you’re likely to turn blue..

So, let us know if you have any problems with using it, we have tested it across a large range of browsers but this is the first time it has been available to all and sundry.

I’ll be back later today with another post which gives you some new options for blog badges, and also with links to posts people wrote about us, so make sure to check in later – for now feel free to let your blog readers know about the generator. Enjoy!

(Update - We seem to be having an issue with Internet Explorer browsers and the generator. We are trying to fix this issue, but while we do that, maybe you’d like to download another browser? Perhaps Firefox, Opera, or Flock? Because just quietly and in my opinion, Internet Explorer sucks. No other browser requires so much effort on the part of web designers to make things work with it. Including this blog, which actually has two sidebars, but can you see two? Not if you’re using IE, you can’t.)

(Update on the Update – we think the internet explorer problem is solved. But I still think you should get a different browser. I’m just sayin’.. )

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But it’s true! Every time I visit the Aussie Bloggers Forum I shake my head at all the people who twitter and stumble and friendfeed and plurk.

How do you find the time?!

I struggle just to keep up with my reader list – admittedly it is lengthy – and blog – which I try to do every day – or rather feel compelled to do every day.

To spend time following twitters and plurks and whatever else seems impossible!

I gather it results in more traffic to your blog. Does it? How much more traffic?

Does the time you spend twittering/plurking etc take time away from blogging or does it inspire you?

I’m a simple soul. I blog. I comment on other blogs. I work. I say hi to my kids on the way to the computer nook. I sleep.

For me, the joys of twitterhood and plurking are heights to which I can only imagine.

In a perfect life.

You know the one, where actual life doesn’t get in the way.

Yes I can feel my bum slipping…

What?

Oh I see. That’s middle aged spread is it?

*Zaphod: “Hand me the Rap Rod, Plate Captain!”
Waiter: “I’m sorry sir?”
Zaphod: “The phone, waiter, the phone. Gee, you guys are so unhip it’s a wonder your bums don’t fall off.”
Waiter: “Our whats, sir?”

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I was immediately drawn to her style of writing and her content and have stuck around ever since. About a year ago she stopped writing on her blog and I’m sure I’m not alone to have missed checking in. Recently, however, Loobylu started up again so I decided to ask the person behind Loobylu – Claire Robertson – to answer a few questions for me.

I really want to thank her for agreeing to this.

How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

I have been blogging since the end of 1999. I started because I was working in web design and playing with lots of ideas and things which would never suit any of our clients sites so I was publishing bits and pieces to my own website and the blog just became an extension of that – it was so wonderfully easy and satisfying to create a personal space on the web. I liked the control and the ease and instantaneous nature of web publishing. I liked the sudden community that popped up from all over the world and all the good feedback.

How did you come up with the name Loobylu?

I can’t really remember why I liked the name Loobylu. I was looking for something anonymous to blog under and searching through children’s rhymes. I have a notebook which has some of the alternatives jotted down and I look back and am amazed that the domain names were actually available for some of those words!

You had a break for a year or so recently after the birth of your second child. Did you miss blogging more than you thought you might?

No – in fact I missed it far less than I thought I would. Loobylu and being part of a blogging community seemed to have been a part of my identity for so long I thought I might suddenly feel all at sea but in fact it was just a kind of peaceful absence. It was nice not to have that buzz in my head all the time, I am sure you know what I mean; “oooh, I could blog that…” or “if I do this, it would be great to blog about” etc.

In the end I decided to start up again because I just suddenly felt like I had something to say again. I have come back with a different focus and I needed that time away for that to happen. It’s less about family detail now, and more about… well, anything but, really.

I love the illustrations you do on your blog. They are quirky and distinctively you. What do you use to create them?

I have been using a mixture of Photoshop and Illustrator for a long time – almost 12 years when I think about it. At the moment I think I am going through a bit of a style change – I am playing with lots of stuff away from the computer– using brushes and ink, spray paint and oils and so on.

Illustration by Claire Robertson

Slightly related to the last question, did you create the illustration (as seen below) on the Freelance Switch blog?

Freelance Switch website

No – that’s not me!

I asked this question because it really reminded me of Claire’s work. What do you think? See Claire’s folio.

You also do lots of other crafty things. What’s your favourite?

I guess making things with fabric. I haven’t done much in a while but there’s something very satisfying when making something for my children with fabric – toys and quilts and all the things which give them lots of pleasure. The craft blog community has been like a big lovely squishy family for me over the last five years. I wish I could keep producing lovely things at the rate so many of those fine bloggers do – it’s a true inspiration.

About two years you started the Kiddley.com website – a site for parents about activities and products etc for their kids. Are there any plans to resurrect this?

I think I was slightly insane when I started Kiddley. I put it down to “nesting” hormones as I was 37 or 38 weeks pregnant when we started it up. Some people do up a nursery, I start up a new kid-related blog. Nuts I tells ya. But no, there are no plans to start it up again – it was just too time consuming. It’s hard enough maintaining one blog and other creative pursuits let alone sweating over producing new content for that one. And it really was “producing” content. We had this idea that we would come up with the activities, do the activities with our kids, photograph or illustrate the activities and then write it all up in tutorial form.

I see you have a ukulele. I’m a bit partial to them myself. Do you play?

Not yet! I have been searching Youtube for “how to” clips – but right now I am concentrating on breathing down my daughter’s neck while she practises the piano. I am learning vicariously through her. I am really not musical at all but it would be fun to play something.

I can tell you Claire that learning to play the ukulele is pretty easy and very fun.

Go and visit Loobylu. Not only does she create some beautiful stuff, she manages to find other people’s great stuff as well.

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We’re apparently hosting the World Blog Awards in August… although where this comes from is a mystery… maybe it’s wishful thinking.

What’s not wishful thinking but in fact reality is the Edge of the Web Conference – November 6-7 – in Perth. It was announced at BarCamp and has a lot of people excited about it.

The Australian Web Industry Association is proud to announce that Perth, Western Australia will be getting it’s very own world-class web conference event: Edge of the Web 2008.

More details will be announced as they are confirmed, but mark 6-7 November in your calendar now. We have an exciting lineup of local, national and international speakers on both technical and business topics – including accessibility, usability, information architecture, code, marketing with social networks, and much, much more.

You might be wondering why I’m not more fulsome in my descriptions of BarCamp 2.0. Surely, you are thinking, Cellobella wouldn’t have missed such an exciting event on her doorstep? Surely she would have signed up at once! Surely such a blog savvy individual such as she would have been possibly even presenting!!

Well stop calling me Shirley.

Dear reader, I fully intended to go, I really did. I signed up on the wiki even. Not to present – there were plenty of others already lined up for that honour – but just to go and experience an unconference. Unfortunately I had a terrible cold and spent the day in bed feeling sorry for myself and making my family suffer.

I’m a terrible patient – especially when my plans are thwarted.

I lay there imagining Central TAFE full of excited geeky types… the nerdy ones with thick glasses and green or brown tee-shirts, baggy seated jeans… the oh-so-cool Web 3.0 types with funky hairstyles and skinny rectangular glasses (they all look like Elliot Spencer in my mind) … and the Bloggy types – harder to categorise – I’m thinking a cross between Bloggy Hell and Karen Cheng – or maybe Mad Goat Lady crossed with Rotto Bloggo?

They are all sharing ideas and coming up with amazing web business plans and getting very enthusiastic about the Edge of the Web conference in November.

And there are sandwiches…

Did you go? Am I close?

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You see, I’d put together a PowerPoint presentation for use when presenting at conferences but it recently occurred to me that I didn’t want to have any issues with using material I’d not paid for. Further, I wanted to turn the PPT presentation into a movie clip for Youtube, in the hope that it might attract some attention and become one of those ‘feel good’ viral emails that you see doing the rounds. I know that often that are PPS files that get sent around but I thought it would be good to have it up at Youtube too in case people start looking for it.

Anyway, I tried a few places I was told about but in the end decided doing a Google search might be as good as anything else and I was surprised by the number of royalty-free music sites that showed up. Guess I shouldn’t be really, should I?

Result is I did find some really good pieces and now have to make a decision as to which one I want to use. The site I really liked was Freeplaymusic.com because of the way it was set up, you could do searches on types of music and when you went into each category it told you the music mood, the instruments used, the style of music and the length of play – you can do a ‘preview’ before you download it to use it. However, it is important to read the Terms of Use before choosing a piece of music and it would seem that my planned use would require payment and I’m still to work out exactly what that amount would be.

Another site was Royalty Free Music and you can choose to subscribe or pay for a single track or purchase a library of tunes.

And then there was Music Bakery where you can pay once and use the piece forever and the price was very attractive.

It is important to note that ‘royalty-free’ does not mean FREE music, but music that is free of royalty charges for its continued use.

If you have a favourite place for downloading royalty-free music, I would love to hear about it!

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