Whither the o-log?
Had a great chat today about the potential uses and abuses of weblogs for small nonprofits and grassroots organizers. A couple key points:

Most people have no idea what a 'weblog' (or worse, 'blog') is. This is not news. What I hadn't fully grasped is that, for those few members of society who have an idea what such a thing might be, ideas of 'what-I-ate-for-breakfast' and 'picture-of-my-cat' predominate. Naturally, people with such an understanding think you're crazy if you suggest that weblog technology could be helpful with their serious work. Maybe another moniker along the lines of k-log is in order? Either way, this is an issue to keep in mind when spreading the gospel.

Second point: weblog-type functionality serves a crucial role in helping uninformed visitors assess the vitality of a website, and by extension the project represented by the site. A great static site might have been built 4 years ago and left to languish, but a simply designed site that features regular updates on the activities of the project proves that the lights are on and somebody's home. Given that there are way more projects happening than I can ever be aware of, much less participate in, I am much more likely to look closer if I can be confident that there's something going on worth my while. Before weblog tools started to take over the web, these functions were often served by publicly accessible archives of an email list, but putting regular updates directly on the website reduces the effort required of the visitor and gives a project a better opportunity to craft the messages.
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