nairobi ilri-wle: blogging for impact
DESCRIPTION
Blogging for Impact - learn how to blog for impact using examples from WLE's Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog, advise on blog content from Susan MacMillan of ILRI and on using social media to promote blog posts from Tezira Lore of ILRI.TRANSCRIPT
Blogging for Impact
Why Blog?“A new paradigm of research communications has grown up – one that de-emphasizes the traditional journals route, and re-prioritizes faster, real-time academic communication in which blogs play a critical intermediate role.
They link to research reports and articles on the one hand, and they are linked to from Twitter, Facebook and Google+ news-streams and communities.
So in research terms blogging is quite simply, one of the most important things that an academic should be doing right now”
-London School of Economics Blog
Water Land and Ecosystem Vision:A world in which agriculture thrives within vibrant ecosystems, where communities have higher incomes, improved food security and the ability to continuously improve their lives
Blogs create a dialogue
AgEco Blog
• Discussion
• Knowledge sharing
• Partnership
engagement
“Scalar Disconnect” Paper Downloads
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Downloads
Before Blog
680
After Blog
Why blog?
TestimonialsFrom Bloggers
3,479 people from 67 countries have visited my blog. The AgEco blog has brought in a lot of new voices that you would not have had in IWMI if you were just talking to yourself. The blog by Stephen Carr has had more than 800 views in just one week!
– Aditi Mukherji, ICIMOD
“If I put my research on the Agriculture and Ecosystems blog, I am contacted more often by people interested in my research”- IWMI India
From a commenter:
If I were not a professor here at ISU I would come and work for you - I just read the Ag and Ecosystems Blog you posted and went on to send it to students in my class on Resources of Developing Countries.
Creating a Community
WLE Partners
Local NGOs & research orgs
Universities
Ministries
Journalist/Media
Who: Writing workshops
Field visits
Blog Themed Months
Thru:
Theme Months• Past:
– Ecosystem Services– Landscapes
• This year:– Resilience (May)– Family Farming (June)– Rural/Urban Myths (Sept)– RRR (Oct)
• Suggest a theme!
Types of Blog Posts
• Opinion pieces
• Critical reflections/analysis from events/fieldwork
• Reviews of recently published journal articles or books
How to write a good blog post
• 3 Main Points
• Introductory Paragraph
• Short sentences/paragraphs
• Evidence
• Limit scientific jargon
How to design, and extend,great content experience:
A culinary, somewhat cautionary, taleWater, Lands and Ecosystems-ILRI Blogging Workshop
ILRI Nairobi 21 March 2014
Susan MacMillan ILRI Public Awareness
Prepare 6 ingredients
• Branding
•Appetizing
•Digestible
•Nourishing
•Mobile
•Lasting
Branding
Make itBRANDED
•Colour
•Pictures
•Style guide
•Blog guidelines
•Categories/tags
•Workflows
Appetizing
Make itAPPETIZING
• Pretty setting
• Tasty nibbles
• Pithy headlines
• Arresting pictures
• Engaging captions
• Punchy quotes
• ‘Display text’
• Spot colour
Digestible
Make itDIGESTIBLE
•Arresting facts
•Memorable quotes
•Trenchant summaries
•Embedded videos
•Witty remarks
•(Parenthetical remarks)
•Symmetries / Poetries
• Jargon/acronym free
Nourishing
Make itNOURISHING
•Tell stories•State facts•Read others•Link others•Quote others•Credit others•Make it personal•Make it new•End it well
Mobile
Make itMOBILE
•iPads / Tablets
•iPhones
•Smart phones
•Dumb phones
•Websites
•Radio / TV
Lasting
Make itLASTING
•Tumblr
•Google+
•Website
•Enews
•Storify
•RebelMouse
Acknowledgments
•ILRI KMIS / Angela Nekessa, Ben Hack
•ILRI bloggers / Paul Karaimu
•CGIAR, WLE / Abby Waldorf
THANK YOU
The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.
better lives through livestock
ilri.org
Exercise: Intro Paragraph
• Saturday March 22nd is World Water Day on Water and Energy
Key Kenya Facts• More than 75% of Kenya is dryland• Energy comes from Uganda which comes
from the Nile
Using social media to promote blog posts
Tezira Lore
http://aghealth.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/food-safety-on-the-agenda-at-fara-meeting-on-agriculture-in-africa
As a reader: Use sharing buttons
Connect your blog to social networking sites
In Wordpress, go to Settings >> Sharing
Impact
Wider reach
Can engage with different audiences
Ripple effect (content goes "viral")
Discussion
• When you visit a blog, what information are you looking for?
• How do you cope in areas with poor internet connectivity?
• What do you think about creating a section of the blog on Africa?
Contact Us
ILRI Clippings/ILRI News:
Susan Macmillan
Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog:
Abby Waldorf