Some Good Ideas Coming out of BlogNashville

Mark Glaser at Online Journalism Review posted a good summery of BlogNashville. I wanted to highlight a couple of the good ideas he mentioned

Full-time local TV station bloggers.

The first of which is Brittney Gilbert who writes the blog Nashville Is Talking for WKRN-TV Channel 2. There are many people who work in TV who blog, but apparently she's the first to actually receive a check for sitting at a computer and blogging. Oddly, Mark couldn't find a link to the blog from anywhere on the station's main WKRN.com Web site. Nevertheless, I think we'll see more and more "official bloggers" rise up covering events, people, and places for local TV stations. In particular, there is a lot of potential -- in my mind -- for using weblogs as a tool to increase the rate that information flows between the public and the local news station. For example, say a local TV station has a "coolest places to go in the town" segment. What better way to find these places then to have a blog that asks the public where they are? Anyhow, mark my words: the more open the blog, the more encouragement the blog gives for visitors to contribute to the converstation, the more successful the blog will be.

Anonymous Blogs in Totalitarian Countries

Glasner cites the non-profit blog Spirit of America as an example of using blogs to encourage free speech in countries where freedom of thought and speech is non-existenant. Harvard's Berkmanites and a whole slew of tech activists have founded a similar program called Global Voices.

MSM Seeking Expert Blogs

I meantioned a similiar idea to Dan Gillmor at SWSWi. Apparently, Public Radio International is planning to launch a new show with Christopher Lydon that brings the bloggers to large audience. However, this isn't an "inside blogs" type show, and THANK ALLAH!!!! The show's producer isn't interested in a show about blogging. Rather, they hope to find bloggers who have deep knowledge or expertise on a subject that is currently in the news. You can already find the show's blog here.

Anyhow, just my thoughts... be sure to read the rest of Glaser's article here.