Comments on: Group Writing Project or Blog Carnival Debate: What’s the Difference?

By: The Second Soup to Nuts Progressive Dinner Blog Carnival } Group Writing Projects

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:30:10 +0000

[...] already discussed how a blog carnival isn’t a group writing project, so why the blog carnival announcement? I thought it would be fun to try something a little [...]

By: Jacob Share

Jacob Share — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:58:45 +0000

Isabella, like you say – there are carnivals and there are carnivals.

The ones that continue to generate participation do so for two reasons in my opinion:

1)Their topics are so wide open that almost anyone can find a way to submit a link

2)The carnival hosts promote and otherwise go out of their way to create a success, like you did with the Progressive Dinner Carnival that I participated in or like when you add in links as you describe above.

Exceptional carnival hosts aside, the average group writing project is more exciting than the average blog carnival, which will just be coming back around soon anyway so why hustle to get your entry in now?

By: isabella mori

isabella mori — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:33:08 +0000

ooops, that was meant to say, “talkING”.

By: isabella mori

isabella mori — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:32:01 +0000

thanks, jacob, for talk about this topic!

one difference, in my mind, is that a good group writing project is just that: a group writes together on a certain topic.

re blog carnivals: well, there’s blog carnivals and there’s blog carnivals. i’m not terribly enamoured with the ones that just grab the code from blog carnival and post it. there are others, though, that put a lot of work into it. often, the carnival against sexual violence is of that sort. not surprisingly, those carnivals also provide long-lasting visitor links (as opposed to just technorati juice). i run three carnivals among those lines: the carnival of eating disorders, the buddhist carnival, and then a carnival that showcases canadian bloggers, canada 9-5. in those carnivals, i also often include blogs that weren’t submitted, simply because they add to the content.

By: Jacob Share

Jacob Share — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:16:12 +0000

Yes Em, that is a major difference but it’s not just the recurring, it’s the recurring *theme*.

I like blog carnivals but I have to admit, repeating the same topic over and over gets boring and ultimately people don’t take it seriously, they just send along any old article to grab a free link that barely anyone will click on anyway.

Also, blog carnivals rarely have prizes.

By: Em Dy

Em Dy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:09:34 +0000

Thanks for sharing this. I’ve always been confused about which is which. So the difference lies really in how many times it’s run?

By: Jacob Share

Jacob Share — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:28:17 +0000

Robert- although it’s not clear from my definition, I don’t think you’re running a carnival. Every group writing project of yours has a different theme while carnivals have recurring themes. ‘What I learned from…’ is way too general to be called a theme IMHO.

Jacob- that’s too bad but I’m not too surprised in hindsight. Your 1st project was an amazing accomplishment, and I suppose your participants weren’t ready to go again so quick. I’d recommend trying to replicate your own success next time :)

By: Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:22:56 +0000

The second group contest I had didn’t go off as expected so so much for that. I think you have outlined it well :)

By: Robert Hruzek

Robert Hruzek — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:08:43 +0000

I’ve always wondered that myself. I host the “What I Learned From…” writing project which recurs like clockwork every month. But there’s no prizes, since we are a blog with that certain ze ne se quois (which is French for blog with no budget).

From your definition, I’m running a carnival. But what if you’re afraid of clowns?