The Complex Christ

Game Over//US Release//Adjust Your Links

I'm pleased to be able to announce that The Complex Christ is now going to be released properly in the US. Thank God. No more trips to the post office to mail them over! And no more customs delays! I'll post a purchase link when I have one.

It's going to be re-named Signs of Emergence, and come out under an imprint of the good people at Baker books.

For lots of reasons I'm going to be quitting this blog. I need a rest, the design is tired too, plus I need some time to work on some other writing projects and some time while some things emerge post-Vaux. I also wanted a new Typepad root to hang a load of other blogs off.

So for those of you who like to continue journeying with me, I'll eventually be blogging here at http://kester.typepad.com/signs
The site is almost finished, but, as I said, I'm going to have a break for a bit and start posting proper around Christmas. I'll let people know somehow.
Until then, I'll be keeping an eye on this blog and replying to comments etc.

Thanks to everyone who's kept it interesting. It's Game Over for now. Hope we'll catch up soon ;-)

Peace,

Technorati Tags: Baker, Signs of Emergence, The Complex Christ

One Day in History | "A Day of No Particular Significance"

History Matters, along with the National Trust and a bunch of other UK organizations have put together 'One Day in History'.

The idea is simple: on October 17th you log on to the History Matters Website and upload your 'blog' diary of that day. These mass entries will then be collated and kept as a permanent record in the British Library of a snap-shot of an ordinary day in the UK in 2006. Why Tuesday October 17th? For no reason. It is 'a day of no particular significance'. Why do it? Because history matters. And this is one way in which the distributed nature of the web can be harnessed, and it's temporal nature bypassed. These 'Mass Observations' have been collected in the UK since 1937 (and are currently archived at the University of Surrey) , but this is a unique way of taking them to a totally new dimension.

Pepys will be rejoicing...

Sign up now.

Technorati Tags: History Matters, London, Pepys

Two Links

Gareth Higgins has started blogging. Working at the front line of Northern Irish peace with Zero28, film critic, author, PhD and lecturer... This is going to be someone worth book-marking.

CoComment is a great site I've started using, having seen Andrew Jones doing so. It allows you to track blog comments / conversations really easily - something that is going to be very useful.

Wise Words | Dost Thou Blog Too Much? (2)

In response to the previous post, a link from Daniel to a wonderful cartoon at 'Gaping Void':

Mike commented on the last post that we all just need RSS readers. I don't think the volume of information is the problem; I do think this cartoon is right on the money.

It reminds me of the story of two Hindu women who tried to get round their alms giving obligation by simply giving alms to each other, back and forth... And 'became a well so bitter that no one could drink from it.'

The problem has gone beyond dealing with information, but the massive volume of guff, and the incestuous insularity of a lot of it.

It seems to me that there is a whole lot of posting, and not a lot of reading/reflecting. Everyone gabs on about this great Emerging Church 'conversation' when it often really feels like a small room full of people all talking at once. Posting less means we shut up for a bit and let others talk, let words sink in and let proper content get some air to breathe. This is what you do in a conversation: speak a bit, listen a lot, reflect and respond. I think we need some more of that. [So now I'll shut up.]

Technorati Tags: Blogs, cartoons

Wise Words ¦ Dost Thou Blog Too Much?

Wise words from Eric Kintz on why frequent blog-posting is unhealthy. Discussed here on TSK.

In summary:

#1 Traffic is generated by participating in the community; not daily posting
#2 Traffic is irrelevant to your blog’s success anyway
#3 Loyal readers coming back daily to check your posts is so Web 1.0
#4 Frequent posting is actually starting to have a negative impact on loyalty
#5 Frequent posting keeps key senior executives and thought leaders out of the blogosphere
#6 Frequent posting drives poor content quality
#7 Frequent posting threatens the credibility of the blogosphere
#8 Frequent posting will push corporate bloggers into the hands of PR agencies
#9 Frequent posting creates the equivalent of a blogging landfill
#10 I love my family too much

Certainly confirms how I've been thinking recently, and clearly how others have been too. I think we're entering the 'norming' phase of the blog revolution. Thank goodness.