A few new bloggity things to try

Blogger just released the beta version (geek for "not ready for prime time) of an update that fairly significantly changes what we can do on the blog. I put two new elements up as a test: A poll and an ad. I'll see how they look/work for a week and then either take them down or see what we want to do with them.

The new version also allows one to add video clips and create podcasts. That opens the door to some very interesting clues. But then you have to look at faces like this one:



It also allows us to publish the blog in other languages, so if you really want to read in Català , български or Hindi, let me know. Talk about a way to keep the muggles at bay...

Another feature that has been there for some time but most folks don't know about is the site meter. If you scroll down to the bottom of the "sidebar" at the right, you will see a Sitemeter logo. Click on it and it will take you to the latest readership statistics for the blog. For instance, as of 11 p.m. Saturday, the site had received 9,215 visits (since the counter was added a year or so ago). We average 59 visits per day, you usually stay on the site about 4 mintues and we had 25 visitors on Saturday.

Some of those visitors are "spiders" or other robots that haunt the Web looking for sites to index. But we now have enough traffic to be a notable local blog. As my job has focused more on blogs I find it wonderful to be part of something useful to a group of people (and not part of the university).

As long as I'm blog-talking, I'll ask for another favor. I'm trying to put together a list of interesting Mid Missouri blogs. If you write one, read one or just know of one, please send me the URL or post it as a comment to this message.

Thanks,

Clyde