English: Drawing of Jonathan Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Some folks obsess on numbers; some way too much.
Some even write to score numbers.
That’s fine. To each his/her own.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to see that folks are visiting the blog, but I’ve moved on from the “obsessed by numbers phase”. In my first year or two of writing the blog… oh, yes; I was so there… but not now.
These days I’m more of the “build it and they will come” philosophy… not that “they” will come to each and every post, but… at least to some. It might be that the philosophy ranks something along the lines of a “Johnny Appleseed” mentality of blogging… setting seedlings along the way, and then moving on to another day and another topic… finding the most satisfaction in feeling contributions were something of content… something of substance… something of value… and hopefully, something that will endure. I’ve written about my desire for the longevity of content before, and I might do so again. Nonetheless, different people have different philosophies as to why they write, and that’s part of mine. Ultimately, really… I gain little to nothing – materially speaking – from it… and that’s really o.k. To be honest, if anything material is gained from these efforts, it shouldn’t be surprising that I turn it around and put it right back into “the cycle” to do more for the “propagation” of history.
Still, once in a while, someone taps me on the shoulder, and points to a “planting”… or a few… to let me know that a it has developed into something greater than a seedling. Of course, as the “seeder”/writer, I can’t help but be excited that the seedling grew and that someone took note, and took time to let me know.
Last night, I received an email from Steven Smith, the Chair of the Darien 150th Commemoration Committee…
We are planning an epic event this year that involves a variety of activities that include a lecture series, town festival, living history encampment, educational activities for our students, and a small museum in the town’s civic center. We came across your incredible article. We would like to make Elizabeth Geary’s story a part of our museum.
Steven is referring to my post, “Georgia on my mind… and a different sort of Southern Unionist“, which appeared on January 18. Of course, I’m only to happy to help, and conveyed that in a response email this morning. What a rewarding treat!
First and foremost, I’m thankful that the story of the Geary family gains traction… well, frankly… it gets on the radar altogether. After combing through 55 pages of the Claims Commission application, I developed a story that made for (what I thought) was a good post. Apart from the claim itself, I found nothing of detail about the family and their part in the story of the burning of Darien. So, really… the story emerged from raw content. It received comments, for which I was appreciative, and then I moved on, on another day, to another post. But then… this! It’s great to think that my post – only secondary in overall importance to the larger part of this – brought the story of one family’s experiences to the attention of another, especially when the commemoration of the event is coming up this year, and that person has a significant part in making the event worthwhile.
To me, this is a significant part of what makes blogging rewarding. It’s effective propagation of a thing two of the things (history… and, of course, writing about history) that I love doing, very much.
Cenantua's Blog 
Steve G
February 28, 2013
As one who has only been blogging for a little over a year, I am still “all about the numbers”. You have to have readers to share your findings with! My biggest thrill, however, is to have one of my posts show up in a keyword search. Most of my posts are on the obscure, and it is neat to find someone is looking for that information. I might not have helped them but, then again, I might have. I do look forward to the day that, like you, numbers will hold little value, but I can be assured that my posts are contributing to someones understanding of the conflict or helping them find something about a family member. I do like your “seedlings” analogy. I think that is what most of us are striving for. It may not grow today, but tommorow…
Robert Moore
March 1, 2013
At the start-up, I was the same way. I also recall the challenge to see how many days straight I could go, entering a post every day. Of course, I started blogging as part of a hypertext theory course… so I was looking for the impact of different strategies. Thanks for commenting, Steve.
Vince (Lancaster at War)
March 1, 2013
I’ve been thinking about this recently, too, as I consider possible “seedlings” in the community whose Civil War experiences I’ve been blogging about. People researching family history love the content, and looking back at the web searches that lead to my page I can only imagine the surprise when people see a treasure trove of information about a great-great-great-grandfather.
However, I’ve been getting less traction or response from local institutions and the local community than what I would expect. It seems to be a little harder than I expected to get the “seeds” of content to grow into parts of interpretive projects using a formula of blogging plus a little social media plus targeted emails. Published articles/books and relationships still seem to dominate in terms of importance. How have you interacted with museums or historical societies that should be interested in your blog content?
Although I enjoy the process of writing a blog post much more than writing an article or book (mostly for the instant gratification of publishing a blog post), I suspect the optimal mix of my time if I wanted to maximize my impact on “getting things on the radar” would involve less blogging and an occasional book or article.
Robert Moore
March 1, 2013
You raise a good point, Vince. A blog allows room to “stretch out” and be a bit more casual, but the blog isn’t quite enough. There’s the sense (at least in me) that a follow-up requirement is to publish a book. As you suggest, it does seem that books still dominate (a more serious acknowledgement of the level of content mastered, perhaps), most especially on the local level. That may also be because blog content is rather disconnected with itself. It doesn’t flow in the traditional style with which we are most familiar. Content is scattered and does not have one consistent flow. Reading blog posts can also be inconsistent and disconnected from the completeness of a message.
Though I write a good deal about Unionism in the Valley, I think my local interactions in the Valley (at least regarding Unionism, specifically) have been nominal (though slowly expanding). It’s just where things are (and not being my full-time job… that’s part of the reason), and I acknowledge that. As for the book about Unionism in the Valley, that’s underway as we speak. I think it is necessary to take the topic “over the top”, on the local level… and perhaps beyond.
I believe you are also right about time spent. The more time I spend blogging, the less I tend to spend writing on the book. That said, however, I’m trying to figure out how both the book and blog can work together… one complementing the other. At the same time, I like to share content that might not necessarily appear in the blog as it will in the book. I need to be selective on content as to be sure not to compromise the book.
I’m not sure about the “ripple” ability of an article anymore, however. Depending on the magazine in which it’s printed… the article has a lifespan that doesn’t quite match that seen in a blog post.
Vince
March 1, 2013
Yeah, writing a blog post is fun. A book sounds like work.
I wish there were a way of better organizing posts to navigate through a blog, especially since some blogs like mine have a roughly chronological structure. I guess I should just create a navigation page with links to all the posts on one page so that people can see all (or a subset) of the posts in one place.
Maybe in a couple years (or maybe I’m missing it now), there will be a way of converting a blog into more of an online exhibit that visitors can navigate through chronologically, geographically, biographically, or topically.
Robert Moore
March 2, 2013
It’s (content structure) something I often think about, and is a major downside to blogging. I’m using my Southern Unionists Chronicles site for improved navigation through all that I’ve written about Southern Unionists.