⚠️This post first appeared on my old blog, BlogTyme, on Dec. 5, 2004. I posted it here to keep my archive complete.
I love to read; however, I must admit that I am often disappointed when I read technology-related books. It’s not that the author did a poor job writing the book. The problem is that technology books become outdated quickly. There’s nothing more frustrating than using a book to learn a software program, only to find that the software pictured in the book looks nothing like what you see on your computer, or that new features have been added since the book was written. This is the problem I encounter when I want to refer someone to a book on blogging. It’s outdated.
Thinking about this problem, I came up with a solution: a book that is periodically updated. The only way I could think of to do this is by having the book online.
Then it began to make sense. A blog is an online journal. Why not place the book online using blog software? If it’s periodically updated, then it’s very similar to a blog with archives. It’s searchable, which I think will appeal to readers. If the book is online, it can be much more comprehensive than a paperbound book, because a large printed book can be intimidating and expensive. Online, the size of the book isn’t readily seen, and the chapter listing would look like a blogroll.
At this point, the wheels of my mind started spinning. If the book is updated periodically, anyone could easily receive updates via RSS. If they’re receiving updates through RSS, perhaps they’d also be interested in blog-related news, like software updates. A separate feed could be made for that. Then another thought hit me: wouldn’t it be great if users could add feedback? I realize that one person’s opinion isn’t necessarily the right one. Perhaps by reading the book, viewers could meet new people and network among themselves.
Then it hit me again. How wonderful it would be to include podcasting in this book. How many companies could benefit from releasing audio files on their blogs? Podcasting is becoming quite popular, and there are many instances where a voice message would be much more effective than text. Having the book online makes the options endless because the book can evolve as blogging evolves. A book about blogging in a blog. I like the way that sounds.
The book will be released under a Creative Commons license. It’s a massive task, one I look forward to accomplishing.
Edit Oct 13, 2025: I did not finish this. I later posted that it would make RSS bloated, as there wasn’t a good way to sort information in an RSS feed at the time.
