Category: Irish Blogs

I’ve been blogging a while now (did a year’s worth of it in college before launching this iteration of kenmc.com back in October of last year) and I love it. Pure and simple.

I don’t claim to be any good at it, but I love it all the same, and that passion has spawned several other blogs since.

What I’m thinking, seen as Ireland has developed quite a nice blogging drive, quite evident since I’ve taken it up, and moreso through some of the ‘leaders’ for want of a better word, those blog evangelists if you will, is that we have a National Blogging Day. August 1st, just to throw it out there.

And on this day, everyone – everyone – writes a piece reflecting on their previous year’s blogging – how they’ve developed themselves, made articles, favourite snippets from the year, what they enjoy about blogging etc.
Nice way to chronicle the changing face of the Irish blogging community, would you think?

I’m getting some phone updates during the day from the IIA Congress… Is anyone actually blogging it? Or can it be done? Rumour has it there’s wireless access going…. 😉

Update: Michele is blogging from the Conference, while Aidan is filling me in via google talk 🙂

Some turnaround since yesterday – John‘s RoadDeaths.net has launched this morning and will be looking for community support and involvement. Hopefully the blogging community can help raise some awareness for the site and draw people’s attention to it and drive the point home about the carnage on our roads…

Following on from his excellent idea for this morning, John has already commenced work on establishing Road Deaths, a new service based off Google Maps for highlighting the locations of road deaths for the year across the country. Following the bank holiday weekend, the figures for those killed on the roads this year has risen to 140 and will inevitably break the 300 mark by the end of the year as current trends continue. I think this will be a great resource entirely and will hopefully highlight, at least via the web, the black spots around the country.

The site will initially concentrate on the year so far (2006) before working backwards in time. Bookmark it, keep an eye on it – I know I will.

…and I don’t mean tidying up the comedy, but Twenty Major came away with 3 awards at the Irish Blog Awards last night in Dublin scooping Best Blog Post, Most Humourous Post and Best Blog. There’s also a slide show doing the rounds on Flickr this morning with some snaps from last night.

All in all looks like a great night was had, with a bit of craic thrown in. Robin was also liveblogging the event and his coverage can be found here on Geared Up. Tom Raftery also picked up first place in the Technology category while The Community At Large scooped the Best Group Blog.

Other winners included ‘That Girl’ (Best Fictional Piece, Best Personal Blog), Kevin Breathnach (Best Comment), Sinead Gleeson (Best Arts & Culture Blog), Donncha O’Caiomh (Best Photoblog), Slugger O’Toole (Best Political Blog), An Timeall (Best Irish Language Blog) and Roger Galligan of IrishBlogs.ie for Best Contribution to the Irish Blogosphere

Letter To America should have a podcast up today sometime (thanks to Bernie Goldbach for the info)

Don’t forget folks, the Irish Blog Awards take place tonight honouring some of the country’s top bloggers and blogs.

The event kicks off in the Alexander Hotel in Dublin around 7pm and before the weekend there were 150+ people registered to attend which should make it a fantastic night for all involved. There’s a tech event which kicks off in a half hour or so (from 3pm) along with cocktails in the Cellar Bar in Merrion at 5pm. Might be a bit late to nab a tshirt for the event but if you’re involved or going along, best of luck to you!

There should be some live blogging done from the event as well so keep an eye on the awards site….

The final nominees have been released for the Irish Blog Awards with all categories (bar one or two) trimmed down to five nominated blogs. If you’ve got a few minutes to spare, take the time out to acknowledge some of the best blogs this country has to offer!

The final voting stage for the Irish Blog Awards kicks off this coming Monday as voting closed tonight with around 1,100 votes cast. Of course, the usual Irish trend of stuffing the ballot box stuck its ugly head above water and the number of legit votes is likely to drop according the Damien Mulley who will also announce the winner of the O2 goodies (i-mode phone) on the same day.

On another point of interest… whats with all the hype over i-mode? In fairness, its been around for years, YEARS, already and there isn’t anything spectacular that you can do with it anyway. Still, fair play to O2 for sponsoring the prizes and good luck to everyone chosen for Monday. Its been fun to be listed for a while 🙂

Whats all this? I take a day off and find people clambering for votes (vote Ken) in the Irish Blog Awards (where you can vote for me) and find that Damien Mulley has managed to get some O2 goodies which you can win (by voting for Ken) if you get yourself over to the voting website (where you can vote for me in the best technology blog category) and cast some votes (for me) before the initial round of voting (which includes casting a vote for Ken) closes today, Friday February 17th.

Jokes aside, its an honour to be named amongst your peers for anything at all so even seeing my own name (Ken McGuire, 😉 ) up on that list is good for me.

But, if you were to vote for Ken McGuire in the Best Technology Blog category then you could nab yourself.

Did I mention that you can vote for me in…… yeah yeah…..

Michele Neylon is calling for Irish bloggers who blog business, either for themselves or their company, ahead of the IIA blogging seminar in March. If you’ve got any experiences good or bad go give him a shout here.

So my own blog is listed in the Technology sector of the Irish Blog Awards as one of the initial nominations. Following a public vote, each of the categories for the Blog Awards will be whittled down to five entrants in each one. Thanks for continuing to take the time on reading Creative Imagination and, hopefully, the blog will be there again next year.

There’s some fantastic reads in the technology category including Dave’s Rants, Michele Neylon’s blog, Eirepreneur and Tom Raftery’s IT Views. Overall I think this is a fantastic move for the Irish blogging community on a whole and whatever about the awards themselves, it is certain to create a wealth of attention for everyone involved in blogging in Ireland.

March 8th (2-5pm):One of Ireland’s most respected and active bloggers, Michele Neylon will present a ½ day seminar, at the Hilton Hotel Charlemont Place, on everything you need to know about blogging. If you are a novice, a regular blogger wanting to improve what you do or interested in adding blogs to your company’s marketing mix then this is for you. Places are strictly limited to the first 30 people who book. The cost is €95 for non members and only €55 for IIA members. This event is expected to book our fast.

This seminar will cover the following areas:

· Wonderful World of Blogs (some introductory examples)

· What is a Blog?

· What are its uses?

· Technical Overview of what makes blogs work RSS feeds and all that stuff

· How to set up your own blog

· Blogging Pitfalls

· Commercial applications of blogging

· Can blogging win you business

· Search engines and blogs – will your content be found

· Monetizing your blog

· How to promote your blog

· Examples of how blogs can be done badly

· Excellent examples of blogs – globally and in Ireland

· Can blogging win you business

· Question and Answer session

Pity its limited to 30 seats… could be an extremely interesting day!

Update : You can pick up a podcast interview with Robert Scoble, conducted by Tom Raftery, by clicking here.

Reading a copy of this month’s ComputerScope magazine (and Technology Ireland magazine)… normally sits on the desk, does the rounds of the office, and then comes back to me so I can read my own copy… but this little article is of interest, to myself anyway – and to anyone reading this blog you should find it similar!

It goes..

THE opening address at the it@cork annual conference, on Wednesday 30 November in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork, will be given by Robert Scoble, techinal evangelist at Microsoft USA and one of the world’s best known bloggers.

Scoble, who will talk about ‘Blogging for Business’, has been widely credited with helping to create a slightly more positive perception of Microsoft, particularly amongst software developers who make up a large part of his audience. In addition to his opening address, he will discuss emerging trends in software at a technical forum in the afternoon and is due to attend an inaugural bloggers’ dinner in the evening. According to it@cork, the conference is now shaping up to be the largest ever gathering of Irish bloggers.

Speaking before the event, Scoble said that corporate blogging is changing how companies talk with their customers.

Do it wrong and you could end up with negative PR..

Do it right and you’ll have happier employees, better products, and more informed customers. It’ll be interesting to learn about the blogging that’s happening in Ireland and I’ll bring some of the top tips I’ve learnt working for Microsoft

The conference is divided into sessions on governance, standards and certification, looking backwards to the future, and growing Irish technology business. The speakers include author and management guru Charles Handy, Paul O’Callaghan (CIO at Pepsico), Michael Brophy (CEO of Certificiation Europe), Mike Stephenson (Computer Associates), Joe Gantley (Cork Airport Authority) and Dr Jim Mountjoy, founder of Euristix and a co-founder of Baltimore Technologies.

Anyone interested, head over to itcork.ie…

Pricing: Full conference fee is €275 for it@cork members, €375 for non-members. You can also attend the afternoon technical forum on a stand-alone basis for €125.