(Note: I wrote this post a full two weeks ago but never posted it. Now, I actually AM cleaning up links, videos and other messy stuff. However, you might be curious why there has been a little less activity on the RDC for the past few days…Well, wonder no more. Just read this post and you’ll understand. Spring Cleaning is icky. ~ RDK)
I have been a bona fide blogger for approximately seventeen months. Between the time I set up my first “Blogger” site called “Red Dirt Kelly” through today I have grown the project through three different platforms and four different structures.
Further, I’ve deployed 1.997 posts per day since I began for a total of 910. That calculation doesn’t include the four sitting in the “draft” status on my queue. My plan with our current “online magazine” (I’m trying to decide whether I want to change to that language…it was used in the introduction for our recent TV appearance) was right at that reported level of content.
I knew that if all the contributors split up the work, then we would only have to write 1-2 times per week. THAT part of the plan hasn’t panned out as well as I thought, but a fully operational volunteer blog with twelve people who are willing to write on a volunteer basis is tough to muster. I think about advertising all the time. I know that I personally would be more willing to write on a scheduled basis if I were being paid.
But aside from reflections about growing the RDC, I’ve been having thoughts about MAINTAINING the RDC. What do I mean by that?
Well, take for example this illustration: Yesterday I was perusing back through the content I’ve written and posted quite a while ago. I smiled when I saw a post I that had included a funny song from YouTube. That song was just so quirky to me I decided to rewatch the video. I was surprised, but not shocked, when I got this message:
“The Singing Nuns …”
This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement from claimants including:
- Web Sheriff
- SOFA Entertainment
- Web Sheriff
Sorry about that.
Oh, YouTube Sheriff, SOFA Entertainment and Web Sheriff Number Two, you’re not THAT sorry. You’re just doing your job according to the law.
But now I’m torn. Do I take that post down? Do I leave it just as it is for a message to any potential readers that should they wish to hear the song they may need to purchase it? Or, do I modify the post and put in a note about the video no longer being available?
WHAT type of maintenance is important for posterity? Should I set standards now? Should I confer with my other contributors to get their input? And, how do I feel about my own part in furthering information about a song through a video that was clearly outside of copyright law? Did I think about that when I used it? Not really. And, why is that I think so much more about the proper use of photographs when I think less about the use of videos?
I think part of my attitude toward video clips has to do with being a teacher for 16 years. I will use any media in any way to help make a point or teach a concept and most generally, I CAN use that media provided the clip is within a certain length and is used for teaching only. But, are blog posts teaching? Meh…maybe…but not really.
So, do I need to go back through 910 posts and double check: the hyperlinks (do they still work), the content utilized to make a point, the references that we may have missed when references a citation? What about all my photos? I took the majority of photos used on our blog…should I SAY this somewhere?
Probably. I’m really not interested in going back through each one and putting “copyright Red Dirt Chronicles.” That part is covered in our copyright notice. But maybe I should have done that when I built each post.
I think I DO need to do some Spring Cleaning on my blog. Who knows how many dust bunnies, spiders, mess and untidiness I might find!
If I don’t return in a few days, please send a search party…
[kelly]
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