The Book of Blogs – if we build it…

I’m using this blog entry to add a bit more meat to the bones of a recent idea.

After the success of people contributing to a crowdsourced list of great bloggers (just scroll down a bit), I thought the next natural extension was to create a crowdsourced book made up of ‘blogs’.

The broad idea is to reach 100 pages + of content collected from a  multitude of contributors from across the HR twitterverse. I read so many great pieces each day I thought it would be fun to collaborate to create a ‘work’ and I think technology now makes this possible.

My best guess at the moment is approximately 30 contributors giving 1.5 blogs each of 3 pages each = 135 pages of awesomeness.

The rules/guidelines/principles  for anyone interested in contributing are below –

  • It must be your own work
  • You can contribute one, two or three articles. No more.
  • They can be new material or your favourite old blogs. Just enjoy writing about things you are passionate about
  • It must be loosely connected to business or HR
  • You don’t have to be a regular blogger
  • You can be as provocative as you like, but anything offensive won’t make the cut
  • It isn’t for advertising a product, it is for sharing ideas
  • I hope (and expect) that we don’t have a cut to make
  • I’m expecting the average blog to be about 1000 words long – a bit longer or shorter is fine, but I won’t publish a paragraph or a treatise – unless they are really good 😉

The book will be published electronically and for a grand price of free. It is about sharing knowledge, showcasing some great work and not about making money. It’s about giving people a chance to express and challenge. It’s about creating.

If you are interested please let me know, we hit 19 contributors in the first day (and I launched by random tweet over the weekend).

If you are signed up then just get writing. I’m hoping to set up the process for collation in the next week, collate blogs over the next month and publish within the next two months.

If something is worth doing it is worth doing quickly.

Hope to hear from you – and I’m accepting proposals for titles too

If you would like to know what exceptional company you are in then the following people are contributing so far

  1. @simonheath1 – Simon Heath
  2. @Projectlibero – Jon Bartlett
  3. @TimScottHR – Tim Scott
  4. @HR_Gem – Gemma Reucroft
  5. @OD_optimist – Meg Peppin
  6. @dougshaw1 – Doug Shaw
  7. @LadyLoki – Niki Rosenbaum
  8. @ruchikaabrol – Ruchika
  9. @Malcolmlouth – Malcolm Louth
  10. @StephenTovey13 – Stephen Tovey
  11. @paperclipgirl – Louisa de Lange
  12. @Jawaddell – Julie Waddell
  13. @HRManNZ – Richard Westney
  14. @sterling_amanda – Amanda Sterling
  15. @Jsarahwatshr – Jane Watson
  16. @ Kate GL – Kate Griffiths-Lambeth
  17. @KingfisherCoach – Ian Pettigrew
  18. @conmossy – Conor Moss
  19. @dds180 – me
  20. @bphilp – Bob Philpin
  21. @fourgroups – Four Groups
  22. @sukhpabial – Sukh Pabial
  23. @verawoodhead – Vera Woodhead
  24. @myhr_nz    – Jason Ennor
  25. @Joolztybura – Julia Tybura
  26. @BenMorton2 – Ben Morton
  27. Ian Davidson
  28. @ariadneassoc – Simon Jones
  29. @octopusHR – David Richter
  30. @MrAirmiles – Jose Franca
  31. @MorrisElise – Elise Morris
  32. @sineadcarville – Sinead Carville
  33. @engagingemma – Emma Lloyd
  34. @kat_hounsell – Kat Hounsell

Come join us,

Dave

PS Somebody asked me who the audience is, for anyone who has watched Field of Dreams, sometimes you just build something in the faith that people will come

16 responses

  1. Morning Dave, would love to be involved… let me know what the next steps are…

    Like

    1. That’s great news. I will add you to the list of contributors and then publish a ‘next steps’ blog post.

      Like

  2. Hi Dave,

    I’d also love to be involved – what a brilliant idea. You can have a look at my blog – http://www.benmortonleadership.com to see if you think my posts would be suitable. The VUCA Leadership one is one of my favourites and also my most popular.
    Hope to hear from you soon,
    Ben

    Like

    1. Hi Ben, it would be great to have you involved…adding you to the list…NOW. Dave

      Like

  3. Cave,
    I would like to “join”. I write blog posts on reward/compensation & benefits

    Like

    1. Sounds great, although whilst I may be dark and mysterious (possibly empty inside) please don’t call me Cave. Are you on Twitter as well Ian?

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  4. Hi David – I’d like to be in too – how are we dividing up topics so we don’t just all blog on the same thing?

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    1. Hi Simon, that’s fantastic, I’ll add you to the list. The plan is to let people blog on whatever they like, I’ll then broadly reorder them into sections. If we end up with lots on the same topic then I’m reasonably sure they will be with different angles and styles. Time will tell, but that is one of the interesting things about experiments! David

      Like

  5. Hi David
    I would love to be involved 😉
    Look forward to next steps!
    Cheers
    Elise
    @morriselise

    Like

    1. 😉 That’s great. We have a platform now, so if you get writing you can either send me a blog or send me your email address and you can upload it directly (very simple process). I look forward to reading it.

      Like

    2. This is shaping up very well ..

      Like

  6. Amanda Arrowsmith Avatar
    Amanda Arrowsmith

    Hey David – I’d like to be involved too if there is still room for one more – Amanda (@Pontecarloblue)

    Like

    1. I never hit a limit, I simply surpass expectations 😉 Get writing! Let me know when you have some content and I’ll tell you how to upload it. Dave

      Like

  7. […] Things you need to know – new things are here… read on….don’t think you’ve seen it all before. There are some decisions to be made and you need to be aware of them – even if you don’t want to have a say. If you haven’t seen any of the blogs regarding this before I’d suggest you start here https://ddsouzadotcom.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/the-book-of-blogs-if-we-build-it/ […]

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  8. […] HR/OD Twitter community I noticed a Tweet from @dds180 (David D’Souza)  about crowdsourcing a Book of Blogs and a call for […]

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  9. […] talking about David D’Souza’ s curation of  HR thinkers and contributors through the  Book of Blogs. ( Second Edition available here […]

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About the author

Sophia Bennett is an art historian and freelance writer with a passion for exploring the intersections between nature, symbolism, and artistic expression. With a background in Renaissance and modern art, Sophia enjoys uncovering the hidden meanings behind iconic works and sharing her insights with art lovers of all levels.

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