Anybody who has heard of blogging has heard of "live blogging" or the act in which someone blogs about an event as it happens. During the 2004 General Election in the United States, the Democratic Convention made history by inviting a bunch of well known bloggers to "live blog" the happenings at the convention. Of course there is more to live blogging than simply recording events as they happen.

For example:

10:01 AM: Teacher Talks

10:15 AM: Teacher Calls for Questions

10:15 AM: Susie raises her hand to answer the teacher's question.

Is pretty boring right?

On the other hand:

"Here I sit. It's only a minute after ten in the morning and the teacher is droning on about something. I know I thought that live blogging this class could be interesting, but so far not much has been going on. From the looks of things too many of my classmates did too much partying over the weekend.

10:15: The teacher just asked if any of us had any questions and, of course, Susie suck up has raised her hand. With any luck, Susie will monopolize the teacher's attention for another twenty minutes or so until we can get out of here without a homework assignment."

Is far more interesting. Are you interested in live blogging? Here are a few hints to help you out:

1. Use blogging software that will let you save your work offline, like Firefox's Performing. This way you wont' have to worry if the internet connection at your event is less than spectacular. This will also let you have a back up of your work if the connection stops working altogether!

2. If you are live blogging a conference or a multiple day event, decide before the start of the event which parts of the event that you will be participating in. This way you can let your readers know ahead of time which things you will and will not be writing about and you won't have to worry about disappointing any readers.

3. It's always a good idea to put a disclaimer on your blog for the day that says something along the lines of "I'm live blogging today, so please do not expect my posts to be perfect. They will be posted without being proofread or checked for errors or typos. Have fun!" This way your readers will understand why your posts contain errors they would not usually contain.

4. If you can, get to the event early so you can pick the location that will work best for you. You want to be in the action but you also want a small amount of distance so that you can report objectively on what is happening. You also want to be able to take some photos of the event to post while things are happening.

Live blogging takes some practice. If you are a slow typist or are overly concerned with errors and typos, live blogging is something you might not be interested in. It can be a great way, however to include your readers in the different events that you attend.

Interesting links:

Micro Blog

Micro Blogging Sites

Micro Blog FAQ

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