BlogHer - blogher - Comments

Good post

jennyonthespot — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:09:37 -0600

So glad to see this here. It's great to have it laid out and be able to pass this on when asked about #momspotting :)

Thank you for the clear outline

juliaschrenkler — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:38:27 -0600

Thank you, Rita! I spotted a couple of momspotter tweets and appreciate reading your full overview. It is a very interesting communication experiment, and I'm glad you're transparent about it.

Some other thoughts on Family Connections

Rita Arens — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:45:24 -0600

Genie, Deb -- I get it. It's frustrating to see a project kick off regarding parenting when you don't have kids. Every parenting writer here at BlogHer was a woman first before she became a mommy. We haven't forgotten that experience.

I encourage you to follow the momspotters and Family Connections group anyway, because I've seen in the forum and in the tweets and posts that the conversation isn't just about parenting -- it's about communicating. Communicating with kids, certainly, but also communicating with significant others, friends, adult siblings, aging parents and other relatives. However, what you read and what you're interested in is totally your decision -- by all means, if you're not interested, don't follow. But please don't make that decision just because of the parenting tie-in without checking out what's being said first.

I'm excited about this project because it builds on BlogHer's mission to recognize the voices of female bloggers instead of just quoting the news media. While the news media brings a lot of research and high-quality journalism to the table, the face of publishing is changing. Individual voices are becoming more and more important to a well rounded story. Individual voices add authenticity, diversity, humor and personality that you just can't get exclusively quoting research and carefully composed statements to the media. Watching what our momspotters are interested in helps us identify trends before they are covered anywhere else. It gives us a true picture of reality for today's parents navigating in a digital world, and that's a subject that hasn't been covered yet on this scale anywhere else.

Rita Arens writes at Surrender Dorothy and BlogHer and is the editor of Sleep is for the Weak.

Thanks Rita! Following three other acts of community journalism

Lisa Stone — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:44:00 -0600

Thanks Rita! Following three other acts of community journalism in politics and body image (see list below), just two of the two dozen topics BlogHer asks 80 editors to cover, I am thrilled to welcome these excellent commentators and highly qualified bloggers --you included!--to help us examine parenting on the cutting edge of technology.

This is one crazy human laboratory, where it's quite a challenge to decide who in my family is the more interesting lab rat. Is it my nine-year-old, who has decided he doesn't need to learn to write by hand because he'll type the rest of his life? The thirteen-year-old who treats words and communications tools so casually that he's just lost his fourth cheapo cell phone? Or me, the 42-year-old who ponders whether to videotape a last message for her living will, just in case someone decides to keep (heaven forbid) a vegetable version of me on life support which I completely oppose?

And a sidenote: At a time when women are blogging about every topic imaginable, it has been a great source of frustration to me to see the degree to which women who blog about parenthood have been stereotyped and dismissed -- the term mommyblogger has been used to diminish both the creative skills and influence of this group. #momspotting should help put an end to that; these bloggers make me think as often as they make me laugh. And that is saying something.

Here's the list of recent BlogHer community journalism projects:

- Election 2008 | Voter Manifesto, led by our omnipartisan team of political bloggers with a little help from the likes of First Lady Michelle Obama and Carly Fiorina

- Health Care Reform, with the Sunlight Foundation and OpenCongress.org and these legislators (tune in to hear from New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand this week! And the latest on the Stupak Amendment from American Princess and Jill Miller Zimon

- Letter to My Body, the brainchild of Community Manager Denise Tanton and led by a cross-functional team of contributing editors on gender, feminism, body image, health and life

Lisa Stone BlogHer Co-founder Surfette BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers aren't! Follow our coverage of Politics & News.

I second that emotion...

debra roby — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:09:33 -0600

This program would be so much more meaningful if the explanation read:

Why are we doing this? We're interested in how normal moms WOMEN(or as normal as we bloggers can be) use technology to interact with their families AND THE WORLD TO MAKE THIER LIVES RICHER.

As it stands, I won't be paying attention much to the tags or the program.

Debra A Stitch In Time Weight for Deb

Great program but...

theinadvertentgardener — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:05:01 -0600

When is this kind of work going to move beyond the parenting issue and to something relevant to those of us who don't have kids? It's a fascinating concept...but in execution is not really that interesting to me...even though I count members of the momspotting network in my network of social media and blog friends.

--- Genie, The Inadvertent Gardener

I'll be watching...

5m4m — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:25:47 -0600

Fun idea. I'll be watching the hashtag.

Susan (5 Minutes for Mom)

http://www.5minutesformom.com

http://twitter.com/5minutesformom

On Choreography & Judging

Sarah Granger — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:00:38 -0600

Maria - you hit the nail on the head there - I've been thinking a lot about the lack of flow in many of the programs with the new judging system too while watching the Grand Prix so far. I think the best choreographed programs make it flow, but I miss the long spirals from the days of Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen.

Jozet made a good point that spins are getting more (well-deserved) attention. And I think the new system downgrades appropriately for two-footed jumps and wrong-edge take-offs. Some skaters got away with too much in the past in that respect.

One more thing I didn't note in my post - some of the Olympic skaters are now on Twitter! So you can read about their reactions to their programs there. I've created Twitter lists on my @segsk8 account that follow them. As people qualify, I'll be adding them to my Olympians2010 list. For now, you can find some of them in my worldskaters list, along with past competitors and champions.

Yu-Na is just spellbinding.

Jozet at Halushki — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:22:52 -0600

She reallyputs the new judging system through its paces and proves that there's plenty of artistry to be found. I personally like the judging system because while big jumps score high, so do fabulous spins. Skaters are my daughter's age are watching the greats like Lucinda Ruh and spinning is becoming its own art form.

I saw Alexe Gilles for the first time, and I can't wait to see how she progresses.

But the skater who really knocked my socks off was Akiko Suziki. Her exhibition/gala program at NHK trophy was crazy amazing. First of all, who skates to wild, weird jazz like that? But Suzuki tore up the ice and has such passion and flare.

I love that skating has upped the ante so that it's not just 4 minutes of teeny-bopper jumping beans. Even triple axels don't guarantee a win. Speed, art, power, spinning, and jumping. And even footwork is exciting to watch!

I can't wait for the Olympics and I'm loving all the Grand Prix competitions leading up!

Halushki.com

So glad you are back!

Maria Niles — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:05:27 -0600

Glad you are back to guide us through skating season, Sarah. The recent skating I've seen leaves me not loving the new judging system - like gymnastics, it seems the emphasis is on elements that score difficulty points and the cohesion of the overall programs seems to have been lessened - so I look forward to your analysis guiding me as to what to look for.

BlogHer Contributing Editor PopConsumer Beyond Help

So excited!

beccalynn — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:45:45 -0600

Thanks so much Sarah for this detailed account of what to watch out for! Can't wait!!

We have a winner!

Jody DeVere -- Ask Patty — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:25:18 -0500

Congratulations to photoj for being randomly selected by random.org!

Please email your contact information to brandy@askpatty.com so she can send out your prize!

Jody DeVere
President & CEO
AskPatty.com, Inc.
www.askpatty.com
www.certifiedfemalefriendly.com
www.jodydevere.com

Winner?

CheekyJenny — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:17:30 -0500

Do we know who won?

Jenny

Check out the Twitter: www.twitter.com/JenniferM1702

Noo why did I have to find this on the 18th instead of the 17th?

Photoj — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:28:56 -0500

Anyway, I was going to say that this product definitely would be useful. I'm eventually going to be moving and ugh you never know what situation you're going to run into. I remember when I was traveling once and one state's rest area recycled water... seriously recycled. The toilet water was murky green and scary and probably illegal haha. Also forget those stupid automatic flushing toilets that always flush when you're not done giving you a shower. Ew. :-/

Such a wonderful idea!

CheekyJenny — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:41:25 -0500

I have been waiting for something that would take the terror out of camping and outdoor concerts with Port-a-Potties. Finally! Way to go, GoGirls!!!

Jenny

Check out the Twitter: www.twitter.com/JenniferM1702