Note: We have been experimenting with the Policy Bloggers Network concept for the last few months, and have crystallised it more now. We have archived the existing content and are still updating some links to the Policy Bloggers Network 2010 launch

As experienced bloggers know, blogging is about ‘decentralised community’ i.e. over time the bloggers who are passionate about a specific topic, form an informal network with other bloggers who are covering the same space.  I have been interested in Tech Policy (blogging since 2005 mainly covering the Open ecosystem for Web and Mobility) and have covered Tech policy as part of my own blog (OpenGardens). I have also been a member of the Carnival of the mobilists, which is a successful decentralised network of bloggers in the mobility space (explained below). Our goal is to create a similar decentralised network of bloggers in the policy space (initially focused on the EU). By ‘decentralised’ I mean it is not a ‘portal’. We also have the support of the EIF (Electronic Internet Foundation) which we means we get a lot more leverage for our views in Brussels.

What is a blog carnival?

A blog carnival can be compared to a real life carnival – which goes from site (blog) to site (blog) every week – amongst a set of blogs which are related. In our case, we will have a fortnightly carnival.

An example explains this best: Suppose Ajit, Simon and John each have blogs in this a space

Now, on ‘Fortnight one’ supposing the carnival is on Simon’s blog on a specific date (Monday).
The cutoff date is Sunday night before the date.  On that day(or before), we all submit one entry to Simon chooses the best entries edits it and creates a blog post as a synopsis for the best thinking and links to the posts themselves. Everyone else then links back to Simon’s blog from their own blog

The next fortnight, the process repeats at someone else’s blog (ex John’s blog or Ajit’s blog)
This simple activity has a number of unique advantages including

• Blogging is long tail and incestuous. By that I mean it matters more that your blogs are followed within your own peer group than in general blogosphere by Joe public. A carnival creates a simple decentralised community i.e. a virtual network of blogs with entries linked by a common theme
• Every participant is motivated. They get back links. They get peer visibility. They get blog traffic
• It is an open ecosystem.
• Anyone can join at any time – there is no compulsion to post every fortnight.
• Within a broad remit (and in some cases, in context of specific events), there is no specific topic (so can be any post within a broad set of topics as listed below in the tech policy space). As long as there is a good enough ecosystem each week, it works fine.
• It becomes best of breed since people will submit their best entries to get best exposure
• It leverages the way Google and other search engines works. From a Google perspective, not all inbound links are equal. Ideally the site linking in matters a lot. Not only should it have a high page rank (ideally) but it should be on the same subject. Hence, sites selling cars which link to auto insurance sites is good but sites selling organic food linking to Motor insurance is not (and that’s why ‘link farms’ don’t work)
• It raises exposure in one’s peer group – which is what most people want rather than to Joe Public i.e. wider blogosphere

What you have to do

• Every fortnight, submit a post to the host
• When the carnival is published, you link back to it from your blog (this week’s Policy bloggers network carnival is at  Simon’s blog etc etc ).
• Also, at some point you can host the carnival (which is beneficial to your blog due to the incoming traffic)
• At some point, we may have meetings and events in Brussels
• We will be multilingual (We can use online translators where needed)
• You can invite other bloggers
• The site is http://www.policybloggersnetwork.com/. We are updating the content currently. However, note that it will be a set of links, profiles and summaries only i.e. the content will be hosted on your site (as per a decentralized network)
• Our first online event is aligned to EIF’s 10th birthday when we will get a chance to post questions to the Commissioner on the Digital Agenda.
• We are aligned to EIF but still independent i.e. it is a chance for the views to be heard by MEPs and we also benefit from EIF events coverage by aligning with them

Next steps:

• If you are interested, please email me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com
• Our first event will be based on the new EU Digital Agenda where you have a chance to ask questions to the commissioner. So, essentially you will host these questions on your blog, email it to us and we will link back to you. We will consolidate these questions to the commissioner as well. I will send more details on this event next week.
• You can send us a bio, profile and a picture and we will update it on the Policy bloggers site
• I am also looking for hosts for subsequent events. Please email me if you are interested.

Topics we cover:

1)  Patents
2)  Innovation
3)  Collaboration
4)  Citizens participation + eGov
5)  Copyright and DRM (ex three strikes bill
6)  Measuring impact of social media on government
7)  Privacy
8 )  Recession (overcoming through tech – ex broadband)
9)  Cybersecurity  [online safety / protection of minors]
10) Government 20
11) DNA databases
12) Future of the Internet
13) Standards
14) 2025 – society/Youth etc
15) Liberation of data (make data available from governments)
16) Transparency (Government)
17) e-identity
18) Cyber Threats
19) Governance and self governance
20) Education and R and D (Related to tech) [Skills - IT skills /localized skills/ R+D / IT supporting education]
21) Digital inclusion [Rural -urban/ aging populations]
22) Evolution of the network
23) SMEs and small businesses
24) Cloud
25) Smart grids
26) IT for carbon trading
27) intellectual property
28) IGF internet governance forum
29) network access
30) net neutrality
31) Human rights