metablog

Happy New Year, and happy new Ravenna Blog!

January 1, 2012 By Rebecca 2 Comments

Welcome to 2012!

And welcome to a redesigned Ravenna Blog!

Everything is still in pretty much the same place as it was in 2011, but with a more polished look…and TABS. Oh, how we have longed for those tabs.

There are also a few new features down the road — a community forum, for example — to look foward to a bit later in the new year. Keep an eye peeled for those.

All of these improvements are made possible by our sponsors, whose financial support helps pay for the technology (and the childcare) required. THANK YOU.

And YOU, dear neighbor. Thank you for visiting, thank you for reading, and thank you for sending in your questions and concerns. We hope you’ve resolved to do do more of the same in 2012.

Happy New Everything!

Filed Under: metablog

Upcoming post idea and comments

August 18, 2010 By Rebecca 10 Comments

ARRRRRRR

Two metablog topics for this post: one of which NEEDS your input, and one of which is ABOUT your input.

Ravenna’s Blogs

I’ve been slowly compiling a list of blogs written in/around the Ravenna area. Most of them are listed in the Blogroll on the right side of the page (scroll down, scroll down). But I’d like to do a series of posts that promote them a little better than that.

If there are any local-to-Ravenna blogs that you follow, or even write yourself, and you would like to see them in a future “Ravenna’s Blogs” post, shoot me an email with the link(s). The subject matter is incidental — it’s just nice to see what your neighbors are passionate about*.

Ravenna Blog’s Comments

I would LOVE to see more of you commenting on posts. And by more, I mean some. But I think the absence of comments is much more the blog’s fault than yours.

When I’m at someone else’s site and want to leave a comment, and I end up having to register at that specific site just to leave my one comment, I am about 100 times more likely to just say nothing and move on.

Unfortunately for me (and you), that’s exactly the comment system I’m using right now.

In the coming days, I’ll be playing around with different WordPress comment plugins to make post conversation easier. The one I’m likely to use is the one that My Green Lake and the Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog are using, which allows users to login with existing accounts (ex. facebook, twitter, Yahoo ID).

This switch-over may mean that old comments and logins are lost, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

There’s also a new comment-inducing technique I’m going to start trying:

What do you think about the Ravenna Blog switching to a new comment plugin? Would an easier login system make you more likely to leave a comment on a blog post? Leave a comment below!

_________________

*So far, mostly food. SCORE.

Filed Under: metablog Tagged With: blogs in Ravenna, Ravenna Blog, Seattle

OMG we’re TWO!

August 10, 2010 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

The Ravenna Blog is TWO years old!

Technically, this happened on August 8th, but I didn’t notice until today. I have been spending most of my online time these days reading HyperlocalBlogger and migraine entries on medical sites (I believe those two are unrelated).

There have also been lapses and sputters in our coverage of Ravenna related events, so I don’t feel as thought it’s been a FULL two years of blogging, but celebrating the anniversary of the first post feels right.

There shan’t be a party, and NO GIFTS, PLEASE, but I have a few gifts (thanks) of my own to dole out (in no particular order):

THANKS to We [Heart] Food for finding us in the early days and making the blog’s first comment,
THANKS to Annie Price and Glenn Roberts for being our first interviewees,
THANKS to Amy, Susie, Hanna, Mai and PATTY for their hyper-hyperlocal support,
THANKS to the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association for their substantial online presence, and to Jim O’Halloran for his emails,
THANKS to those of you who have send in questions and topics for us to blog about (KEEP IT UP),
and thank YOU for reading this!

________________

Some old, notable posts to peruse:

Welcome to the Ravenna Blog! (August 8, 2008) The first post!
You may now commence the fun. (September 9, 2008) Official dedication of the new playground at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center.
Neighborhood 911 (October 15, 2008) Fire at a multi-unit building. I’ve made the decision to not report on all the fire and police stuff that goes on (important stuff, yes, but not the kind of blog I’m going for here), but when you see a house ON FIRE a couple blocks from your house, you go check it out, right?
Ravenna: Now with twice the blogging (at least) (February 24, 2009) Ravenna Nation joins the hyperlocal blog community. RN ran on the Neighborlogs blog platform and was set up to be a much more open and collaborative way of blogging about the neighborhood. I wrote a bit for it, as did others. But, sadly, RN is no more. [The twitter feed is still around, frozen in time, and, creepily enough, the last tweets had to do with the blood found in Ravenna Park while Maurice Clemmons was still at large.]
The REAL Ravenna Blog – if only (August 25, 2009) Oh My God Seattle (now Berlin) wrote a hyperlocal blog parody, and used Ravenna as the neighborhood. I laughed and laughed.
Mission Statements (April 13, 2010) Mission statements for the blog as well as a good list of the local blogs ’round here that I follow (and you should, too).
Busy Weekend – Athletic Edition (April 29, 2010) Post about events around here and the UW (Friday Night Lights, Opening Day, Windermere Cup). Really, just an excuse to post that picture of the Elvis Boat the Bremerton Yacht Club made.
Twitter Feed Round-Up (May 22, 2010) The first. I do more tweeting than I thought I would (life with a toddler makes it easier to bang out 140 characters than blog posts), so these are my attempts to bring non-tweeters up to speed (with the least perishable tweets, anyway).
Restaurant Inspection Round-Up REDO (May 31, 2010) A retraction post, of sorts. Deciding to rank restaurants based on my faulty perception of how the King County scores said inspections caught Chris’ (We [Heart] Food) eye, and he called me on it. Never again!
June 9, 2010. My Green Lake and I badger a poor woman into starting a Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog. She hasn’t been the same since.
Low flyers in Bryant? (June 16, 2010) Karen in Bryant submitted a question about a low flying plane over her house, and I was able to answer it! Well, tell her who to call to report it, anyway.
Uniformed Help on the Viaduct Detour Route (June 17, 2010) First reader submitted picture and tip!
Yoga on the Patio: Interview with Annie Price of RTPB (June 30, 2010) First interview! Thanks again, Annie!
July 2010. Yeah, the whole month was notable, primarily for all the Sisleyville posts. Co-interviewed Glenn Roberts (with Roosiehood), co-posted a letter (with Roosiehood) for readers to send off to City Councilmembers, live-tweeted two City Council meetings…goodness.

Here’s to two more! At least.

Filed Under: metablog Tagged With: blog birthday, they grow up so fast

Feel like sharing?

June 16, 2010 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

ARRRRRRR Going to that North Link Light Rail meeting tonight? Wanna share what you learned?

Go to Northeast District Council meetings? Would you like to tell others in the neighborhood what happened?

Been itching to write a weekly or monthly column on a neighborhood issue near and dear to your heart?

Wanna review that new Indian restaurant on 23rd and 65th?

Think on it, write about it, and let me know! I’d love to see more content on this site — wouldn’t you?

Send your thoughts and ideas to rebecca [at] ravennablog.com.

Filed Under: metablog

Who are YOU ignoring while you read this?

June 14, 2010 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

If you found your way here from Future Tense, HI THERE. My toddler is currently sitting on my lap watching Kittens Inspired By Kittens while I type this. He’s a big fan.

For the rest of you, yours truly went down to KUOW on Friday and got interviewed for John Moe’s show, Future Tense (program title of, “Daddy why do you love your iPhone more than me?“). And he linked to this blog from the program page. And the last post was all tweets! *shakes head in disgust*

And, for the record, I do not have an iPhone. But we did have an iPad in the house a week ago, and the toddler gave me a taste of my own medicine by hogging it the whole time. Message received!

Now, if you will excuse me, I’ve another interview to get to. This one is entitled, “Baby, why won’t you EVER let me finish my coffee?”

Filed Under: metablog

Mission Statements

April 13, 2010 By Rebecca 4 Comments

ARRRRRRR One of my goals with the Ravenna Blog is to keep things as local to Ravenna as possible.

[However, if I see President Obama walking down 15th Avenue NE eating frozen custard from Peaks, and I'm across the street (hopefully with my camera), heck YES, I'm going to write a post about that.]

There are a number of other NE Seattle blogs that can keep you and yours updated on the doings and transpirings of the greater NE Seattle area. Most of them also have Facebook and Twitter accounts, too.

Green Lake – My Green Lake
Maple Leaf – Maple Leaf Life
Maple Leaf, Northgate and more – The Maple Leafer
Lake City – Lake City Live
Laurelhurst – Laurelhurst Blog
Pinehurst – Pinehurst Community
Roosevelt – Roosevelt Neighborhood Association Blog (more active on Facebook)
Wedgwood and View Ridge – Wedgwood View
Northeast Seattle – Northeast Seattle Life

The Seattle P-I has a reader blog for North Seattle that anyone can write posts for.

KOMO TV has started their own “communities” pages. Northeast Seattle is currently represented by Green Lake KOMO, Lake City KOMO, North Seattle KOMO, University District KOMO, and View Ridge KOMO. And, apparently, they’re all on Facebook AND Twitter, too. Gotta hand it to that Kathi Goertzen for putting all that together. [I kid. It was really Dan Lewis.]

The Seattle Times has partnered with various blogs across the city to create the Seattle Networked News Initiative. I really like the Team Effort Journalism idea, but Northeast Seattle has no coverage in it whatsoever. Here’s a link to the description of the project, which also includes contact information.

I’m sure I’ve missed stuff (Crosscut?). Do let me know what it was, and I’ll update my list and blogroll.

I’m also not going to post something every day. For one, this ain’t Capitol Hill, or the U District. Things are a little quieter up here. For two, I want to stay excited about this little project and focus on churning out quality interesting stuff. I’m sure you want that, too. And, for three, it’s just me typing this thing. I’ve only got so many hands!

Lastly — for SURELY, this post has gone on long enough — I can only find so much fuel for this blog with my own eyes and ears. Ravenna Blog needs YOU.

Please contact me (rebecca [at] ravennablog.com) if you have news to share, neighborhood questions to ask, events to take part in, plants you’ve dug up and don’t want anymore,…whatever.

I look forward to serving you, dear reader, and the rest of Ravenna as best I can.

Filed Under: Events, metablog

All a twitter

April 11, 2010 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

Yes, yes, we’re on twitter now, too.

twitter.com/RavennaBlog

Don’t ever worry about us cloggin’ up yer feed. I’m thinking three tweets a day, TOPS, and usually to just plug a new post on the site.

Now, are there any other social networking and/or microblogging media we’re missing?

Filed Under: metablog

Ravenna Blog — now on facebook

April 8, 2010 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

ARRRRRRR What can I say? All the other kids were doing it.

Be a fan, won’t you?

Filed Under: metablog

The REAL Ravenna Blog — If Only

August 25, 2009 By Rebecca 2 Comments

It’s hard to pin down what exactly is going on over at Oh My God Seattle, but it’s all quite good. And that’s all that really matters.

For instance, there’s this take on hyperlocal blogging, set in our very own downtown commercial district (ha). His Bagel Oasis entry is spot on. Steven Blum does his homework.

Filed Under: metablog