How Many J-Bloggers Does it Take to Change a LightBulb?

31. Jan, 2009 Comments

japansoc6

Tonight (or today, if you were in Japan), fifteen J-bloggers gathered together in the same room, and nothing imploded. Well, that’s probably because it was all virtual. We set up a conference via eduFire, and talked about Blogging, J-blogging, collaboration, and gave each other a lot of good advice. Here’s a list of our attendees, some text on what we talked about, as well as some more pictures. I highly recommend you give these folks a look!

(definitely let me know if I missed someone, and really sorry if I did!)

japansoc11

Tae Kim doing some talking

japansoc31

Louis from Xorsyt is surprised!

I do wish I got more screenshots, but I imagine some of the other attendees did as well, so if you check out their blogs I’m sure you’ll see some more (perhaps?).

We talked about all sorts of fascinating J-blogger related things. We’ll be doing more guest posting on each others’ blogs, start up a collaborative Japan-related podcast, work together more, and try to meet up at least once a month. It’ll be like a Cabal, but not as evil and shadowy :)

What do you want to see from the j-blogging community? Any specific collaborative efforts? I want to know your ideas on what can make the community better! Perhaps these ideas from Yonasu can kick off the brain grapes.

Anyways, a big thank you to those who attended (bloggers and blog readers alike), it was a ton of fun, and I look forward to more collaboration together in the future!

Related posts:

  1. Godzilla has a Blog (and more!)

Twitter Digg Delicious Stumbleupon Technorati Facebook Email
News, Tofugu News


  • should be sleeping to browsing around till I get sleepy.

    I had a great time guys, looking forward tot his being a monthly linkup!
  • Yea, it was a great Saturday evening. Btw, it's pronounced "exorcist". Does it have anything to do with Japan? Nope, but that's the name I have went by for over 10 years now. Geeky computer meaning.

    Can't wait for the next one! Thanks again Koichi.
  • That's like mine, "GoddessCarlie" - it's just been like that since I started out on the net. I wont say what my first domain name was, I can see now why my mum was a bit concerned about the name...
  • I too had a great time and look forward to the next one!
  • I personally think Tofugu should have a proper blogroll with other, non-Tofugu staff related blogs. You do mention other blogs all the time (this post is a good example), and you have the resources and stuff, but nothing beats the old-fashioned blogroll for forming chains of like-minded blogs. After all, chances are high that if someone's reading your blog, they'll be interested and willing to check out a different blog about a similar subject. Yonasu suggested something similar, using banners of other blogs.

    Never underestimate the power... of free advertising.

    This idea is a little more extreme, but you could do something like an "überblog." In other words, someone could create one main site that pulls from a group of blogs and automatically updates whenever one of its member-blogs updates. Each member-blog would remain an individual entity completely. On the uberblog each blog would be filed into a specific category along with similar ones (language learning, travel, teaching experiences, etc). Then, advertise the uberblog on your own blogs so that readers can be directed to it. It'd be like a phone directory. Any blog could join, provided it was about Japan. It would be a one-stop shop for all your Japan blogging needs.

    That would make the community very tight indeed. You could have forums, too.

    Or, you could just make like a Wordpress blog, give anyone who wanted to posting abilities, and let them run hog wild posting trackback links whenever they write a blogpost. It'd be sloppier, but it'd be cheaper.

    It's an interesting idea, at least.

    As for the bloggers themselves, you should make a facebook group if you don't have one already.

    I'll reply to my own post if I think of anything else.
  • Really enjoyed the conference and am really hyped about pushing this community thing further.

    It's not an "uberblog", but the "Big Japan Blog RSS Feed" is worth a look: http://blog.japansoc.com/latest/ . As for a blog that anybody can can join and write on, you're describing the JapanSoc Community blog here: http://blog.japansoc.com/
  • See? My idea was so awesome, it's already been done.

    Still, I wonder if it would be worthwhile to make a site that combines the two. Like the RSS feed, but with more live community.

    And my comment about the blogroll still stands.
  • I don't think Tofugu really needs a blogroll, talking about other blogs in posts is worth much more than a single text link. The thing about blogrolls is that you have no idea what to expect when you click on a link, since there's no description or anything, it's just there to show your appreciation of other authors. I do have a blogroll, but it's not really generating a lot of traffic, if I were to mention a blog in a post, it would generate a lot more. But yeah, if you really took the time to write good descriptions to your list, it would most certainly generate more clicks. That's why banners would be better, since it'll show you a little bit of what you can expect, and you assure the reader that their clicking on something that is very much related to your own blog.
    But even a blogroll does bring the community together, even if it's just by a little bit.

    A Facebook group is a good idea I guess, is someone making it? ^^
  • And it shall be done!

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64118716814

    All you Jbloggers come and join in the Facebook Fun! Woo!
  • Hey Egmont, thank you for the suggestions. I used to have a blogroll, back in the day. I agree it's good to have to kind of shout out to friends / bloggers, etc., but back when I was doing it I found that people who weren't on it got a bit upset or jealous, so I figured I'd take it down completely to keep everyone moderately happy, rather than on the polar ends of happiness. So, to make up for it I try to mention people in articles, etc., - anyways, maybe not the best reason, but there's my reasoning :)
  • Yeah, I guess that would kind of suck.

    I noticed that you have a list of the people who attended the conference on the JBloggers page. That's a good way of making a blogroll-like list, and as long as you only select people who have attended the conferences, you could avoid any hurt feelings, because you have no control over who attends and who doesn't. So, no worries.

    I like the flickr widget, too. If you wanted to take it a step further, you could make a place for bloggers to put photos so it's a little more organized, but it's alright how it is now.

    The first time I went to Japan, I had a new camera and I left the Macro mode on the WHOLE TIME without realizing it, and when I flew back home to Hawaii and put them on my computer, I found out that all of my beautiful pictures were blurry. So, seeing amateur pictures is nice, as I don't have any of my own to look at. :(
  • Great conference all! Hope to be doing it again soon ^^

    Now, bed... *yawns*
  • Facebook User
    I wanted to join but I signed up on eduFire too late apparently to be able to enter the room. Sadness :( Even though I'm a rather lazy blogger...
  • Thanks for leading this Kiochi. It was great fun and I learned a lot! Looking forward to the next one!
  • Great conference well worth the lack of sleep.
  • Thanks again for hosting the conference Koichi. It's great to see everyone so enthused about promoting each other and all of the great Japan content on the web.
  • JuJuPanda
    What would I like to see from the J-blogging community? That's a tough question. I didn't even know that a J-blogging community necessarily existed and came together (kind of noobish of me, I'm sorry D: ! ) So what I'd like to see is uh...more collaborations, links to one another, working together on future projects, and I think forums are a really, really good idea. Especially in linking j-bloggers to one another. Right now I'm just an on looker, and I look at a few different J-blogs every now and then. Thanks for the links to the other blogs, Tofugu! I promise I won't forget you. :P

    I've always wanted to participate in J-blogging (didn't even know that was a term till today either), especially from what I've seen on website and youtube and the like. I always make excuses like I'm too young or I don't have time, but next year when I go to Waseda I guess I'll have to pitch in and blog a little bit. : )
  • pancho1402
    need more godzilla posts
  • Wow, this is pretty cool! Should do it soon with some Spanish bloggers :-). Thanks for the idea.
  • Way to not invite me. :(
  • I'll invite you to the group so you don't miss the next one - sorry that I
    missed you, pretty tough to find everyone to invite :(
  • pikachuchutrain
    GASP!!
    The TAE KIM?!!
    COOL! I wonder what he's like.
    he helped me a lot.
  • mountaincritter
    Oh to have been a fly on that wall....
  • kirin
    why ain't Danny Choo, 3Yen, Japan Probe, Japanator, Kirainet, Japansugoi, Tokyo Mango and the other big blogs there?
  • Danny Choo couldn't make it, I forgot to invite 3Yen (whoops, note for next
    time), and the others didn't want to go, I suppose. Maybe next time :)
blog comments powered by Disqus