A blog has many uses and what has that got to do with me seeing Bizet's Carmen this Friday?
In April this year I went to London for the Blogging4Business Conference and was delighted to find out that companies are using blogs in a myriad of ways. A City law firm uses blogs for case management because it makes it easier for everyone to keep up to speed as the blog is a repository of all the information on a case. Parts of the blog are shared with the client and used for communication instead of emails. The blog is archived for future reference and is a resource for trainees. They can study how cases progressed, how and why decisions were arrived at and the case conclusion.
Quite a few conference delegates attended because they were thinking of starting company blogs. Microsoft staff were there in force and reported that they encourage all their staff to blog with the one stipulation of "Don't do anything stupid." They found blog useful for keeping the world up to date on what they are doing and planning and responding to problems. Other companies suggested that it was best to treat blogging in the same way as other public communication e.g. press releases, speaking at conferences or writing papers. The idea being that staff whom you could trust to participate in these activities will apply the normal common sense rules in relation to company business when blogging. However, they also cautioned that to have a successful blog, responsibility for it should be given to those who have a real passion for carrying it forward.
Since then I have seen blogs used to organise weddings and family events. They are terrific for project management. One of the plus points on using a blog in this way is that it is obvious who is making a contribution or submitting good ideas. Trawling the blogs may become the thing to do prior to pitching for a pay rise or doing staff evaluations. Tagging will render that an easy thing to do.
On PR Blog Jots I learned that PRSA Internationaland UGA-Connect conferences successfully used blogs to manage their events and kept people at home informed by updating the blogs and included tweets from Twitter and pictures from Flickrs. During a conference a blog is an information hub for a conference delegates and afterwards great for posting podcasts of debates and speeches.
Last Saturday, I read Arts Reporter Ben Hoyle's piece in The Times on the ENO Carmen blog. This production has received some bad reviews. Sally Potter, the Director wrote on her blog
"The truth must be faced: my production of Carmen has infuriated many of the established opera critics. There have been some very positive exceptions, but nevertheless, there is a group who have responded negatively, with varying degrees of derision and nastiness, and in some cases, a willful misinterpretation of the concept, design and staging."
Through the blog, which is written by cast and crew, they believe they have reached out to the paying public.
I am impressed with this blog, beautifully designed and so many contributors and the fact that people can write their own reviews. This is very brave thing to do as Tenor Julian Gavin points out on his blog
"Sure! there have been a range of audience views expressed on the web site which is great, but I do suspect that an opportunity to feed back such as this is more likely to provide a forum for negative views. I suspect that the majority that have enjoyed the show are more likely to go away and tell their friends. Well at least I hope that they do!"
It is possible to listen to the music from the blog. I am so taken with the whole story of this production that I feel the urge to go and see it. Checking on the tickets for the last night I see that there is one little pink space and two blue ones still available. The two blue ones are not together and are in fact on either side of the audience. So will I see Bizet's Carmen on Friday? I'm not sure. Maybe I will meet you HERE.