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Friday, February 15 2008

The Top 10 countdown in January 2008

1. Paris is still number one! Translated into 5 languages ( French- obviously- Enligh, Spanish, Italian, and German), it challenges preconceptions Europeans might have on France's relations with Europe, particularly in terms of multicultural heritage and complex politics.

2. Poetry, also translated into 5 Latin languages (Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, Italian) closely follows the Paris blog. Will it succeed in taking over the number one spot? The team is working hard to make it happen giving the latest on poetry today.

3. Eurotik, translated into 4 languages (French, English, German and Portuguese), brings together readers, from across Europe and the world, curious of Europe's sexy dimension. Have you ever heard of the "Zizi Academy" in Madrid?

4. Eurogeneration, translated into 4 languages (Italian, French, German and Spanish), makes us think of our own "Europeaness" and how others live it.

5. Sevilla's success is refreshing. It is translated into 4 languages (Spanish, English, French and German) and dedicated to European cinematographic news, it also reports on the EU Enlargement or the Bologna process.


6. Vilnius
7. Islam in Europa
8. Istanbul
9. coffeefactory
10. Strasbourg

Personal remark: the more linguistic version a blog has, the wider readership it reaches, the more traffic it makes...

Thursday, February 14 2008

News from the Babelblogosphere

Here is the latest on the cafebabel.com babelblogosphere:

Local offices
: The Amsterdam team is relaunching its blog! Welcome back guys and a big thanks to Thamar for making this happen. Their first post is about US Elections also translated into Dutch (don't forget to post the links in between the translations). The Berlin team is seriously activating its blog. Babelians in Berlin had initially launched the blog for its Babel Academy which was a very successful event bringing together lots of journalists from all over Europe. The team is now reporting on the Berlinale Film Festival . The newly established Lyon team is running its blog like champs as well, in both English and French. Stay tuned for the soon-to-be launched Warsaw blog.

Many thanks to all the teams who have contributed to the 7th cafebabel.com Birthday video!

NGOs
: The Ceres blog was launched by the NGO CERES. Stay tuned for more info on Cornwall, on the Coast of the UK, and its amazing scenery.

Individual blogs: welcome the new French blog Futurs européens à contre temps, a personal initiative, and Sotech, a blog on social technologies seen through European eyes, translated in English and Lithuanian.

New linguistic version: Football Province finally launched its English versions for all the football fans who didn't speak Lithuanian. GOOAAAAAAL!!

Most interactive post of the week: Turkey, the EU's safety belg for Clash of Civilizations on the Istanbul blog with more than 8 comments.

Most talked about: US elections have been a recurring theme with posts on ilike, Amsterdam and Kaczynski. You can also contribute to the forum discussion on "Who would you vote for?"

That's all for now. Remember to check out coffeefactory for news from the Community as well as http://wiki.cafebabel.com for useful tips. And don't hesitate using the bloggers@cafebabel.com (restricted email to babelbloggers only) to send out more news about your babelblogging activities.

Friday, February 1 2008

2007 Top 20 countdown

Cafebabel.com is proud to present the official 2007 Top 20 countdown. Meet the Babelian Movers & Shakers who rock our community daily lives. And stay tuned for many new babelblogs who will change your way of seeing Europe.


1 Eurotik was one of the first babelblogs launched by Prune Antoine, our beloved wicked French Editor. Her natural sensuality and taste for the opposit sex are a common feature in this blog seeking to convince readers that "Europeans do it better".  Among her most succesful posts, you will find crispy information on the latest sex school in London, the ultimate female sexe fragrance or spray-on condom. Translated from French to German, English and Portuguese, Eurotik's subtil but juicy perspective on our most animal instintcs was noticed by the Deutsche-Welle news Agency which nomminated Prune's blog for the Blog Wurst Award. Prune's closest accomplice, Emilie Desassis, aka La Fraise, currently in charge of the English version, promised to rival Eurotik with a new version of her current blog: http://strawberryredux.hautetfort.com/.

2 Paris is the 2007 big surprise. After years of dormant Babelian activities, it took Jean-Sébastien Lefèvbre (yes, Lefèvbre is spellt with a "b"), more commonly known as Jean-Seb, little convincing to take over the ambitious project of leading the Paris local office. Freshly "erasmused" in Warsaw, Jean-Seb has been running the Paris blog with more than 20 young Europeans who contribute and translate the blog into French, English, German, French and Italian. In addition to its vibrant look on Europe, far from French stereotypes, the Paris blog is one of the most well-designed blogs, regularly using videos and other smart widgets. Mastering the networking opportunities the Babel community offers, the Paris team has launched a  joint section with the Bucharest team, namely the Bucharest-Paris café, a series of exchanged articles translated and posted on each other's respective blogs.


3 Eurogeneration: forget about generation X or Jpod generation! They're completely passé. The Erasmus generation is what makes the world go round. Adriano Farano's inspiration stems from his own Erasmus but mostly post-Eramus experience which lead him, with a bunch of other from students from Sciences Po Strasbourg, to create cafebabel.com and contribute to the emergence of a European Public Opinion. Giving a face and explaining the Eurogeneration way of life, with a lot of Napolitan touch, is what this blog is best at doing. 

4 Poetry is the living proof that lyrics are still hip. Launched by Fernando Navarro, the Spanish Editor of cafebabel.com, poetry.cafebabel.com is a big surprise to many for its intrinsic and political perspective on poetry. Poetry lovers go out across Europe to report on the lastest inspired Poets who deserve transeuropean attention or simply those who create the new era of a romantic Europe.

5 Vilnius in the top 5 is not a surprise. I first met Dionizas, the current  Vilnius team leader, at the Paris Babel Academy in 2005. Since then, Vilnius team members have been increasingly involved in the making of the cafebabel.com network and today's e-community. Also unforgettable, is Erika's enthousiasm and smile. The Vilnius blog is one of the best designed babelblogs with regular updates on Lithuanian perspective on Europe or the latest issues that are debated in cafés.

6 Coffeefactory provides you with information on the latest happening within the community and how it works and how to get involved, from call for articles to babelblog tips. The blog also centralizes the best of your contributions by publishing each month the Top 10 countdown, the latest of what the local teams are achieving on the Babelforums and at local level. The blog is run by the cafebabel.com team, from Brussels, Paris and Warsaw.

7 Sevilla is a young and dynamic team giving us an overview on political and cultural issues from a Southern European window.




8
Istanbul lead by Özcan, our most recent and furthest down South recruits, is one of the most debated and controversials blogs. Check it out if you want to learn more about how Turks see Europe.

9 Budapest informs you on the latest events in this charming city, and the relationship of Hungary with its european neighbours. It has 3 linguistic versions which each have their own  editorial line. A bit out of the cafebabel.com tradition, but working nonetheless.

10 Strasbourg gives a unique perspective on the European Parliament monthly sessions and life to one of our favorite European cities as it represents the historical craddle of cafebabel.com. Founded in 2001, cafebabel.com is the baby of a mix of Erasmus and local students who were attending at the time Sciences Po Strasbourg.


11 Bruxelles, the new European "D.C" is animated by one of the oldest local teams of the network and currently experimenting a new form of editorial input via the publications of articles by journalists students.

12 Linea draws Europe in all its forms. Images speak more than words, you'll see.

13 Islam in Europa opens a discussion on the role of Islam in European societies.

14 Streets of Europe makes us travel and dream away through beautiful pictures, in different European cities, from Strasbourg to Istanbul and Stockholm to Sevilla.

15 Bucharest publishes cultural, social, political posts, and more,  in English, Spanish but also in Rumanian. It runs similarly to the Budapest blog with 3 linguistic versions, each having their own editorial line.

16 Kaczynski is run by a committed Babelian, Piotr Kaczynski, who co-founded Babel Polska and also helped create the Polish linguistic version in 2006. His blog is provoking and perfect for those who love to debate.
 
17 Mêlée ouverte was created during the Rugby final by Greg Tardy who tells you everything about rugby, its values, its History, environment, personalities, and funny sagas.

18 Zinc de l'europe gives us every week a very personal view on European issues, with a sarcasm and wit.

19 Wide Angle is a travelling diary written by a Polish and dedicated young Babelian woman currently living in Dubai.

20 lisboa was created by the portuguese team and coments the national political and social scene and the influence of Europe on it.

Vanessa Witkowski and Tavana Livardjani



Friday, January 11 2008

The best way to run your Babel blog

When cafebabel.com embarked in the blogosphere adventure in 2007, and developed its own babelblog platform, none of us had really blogged before. We were mere spectators, at best punctual commentators of other blogs. 56 blogs later and lots of entries posted, the mysteries of blogging are gradually dissolving. In addition, communicating with each other is now easy. I'm only a click away from Istanbul or Vilnius, the Eurotik scene, or from Chris' thoughts on whether his girlfriend should keep in touch with her Ex or not.

But communicating with the outside world- non Babel World - will be the 2008 challenge. Each single blog on cafebabel.com has the means and opportunity to become a world class reporter or opinion-maker. Blogs are voices. Your babelblog is YOUR voice. Each voice has a different tone, a different accent and, most importantly, a different opinion. So make it your own.

Personalize your blog

Let's focus on the tone of your "voice". The minute we click on your blog, our eyes take a quick glance at the general design and the pictures that make it unique. If you keep the same cafebabel.com frame- which many of you still do (BarcelonaFootball Province, les politiques linguistiques, just to name a few...)- you give the impression that your voice conforms to a single tune. Take a minute to choose a banner that fits your voiceBerlin, Bruxelles, Bucharest
Linéa or Mêlée ouverte, are great examples of creativity.

Nothing better than the real thing

Show yourself! Posting your profile on the blog, allows the reader to see who you are. You can also grab your video camera, your mp3 recorder, and show us where you live and what's going on in your area. If you don't have a camera, post videos from youtube that complement your editorial content. Conventional pictures will also do the trick- so use and abuse (see post on "Post pictures on Blogs!").

Organise your thoughts

Well-tagged posts enable your blog to be easily identified by our readership when using the search engine. Otherwise your blog will be forever lost in the babelblogosphere. It is also important that you customize your sections: "Who I am"/ "Who we are", "Best of My blog". You name it.  This frame will give the reader easy access to your stream of thoughts or to your valuable information. By ticking the "selected entry" box, the entry you select will be posted in a sidebar section called "last entries". The reader can then easily identify your favourite entries. See the Budapest blog for instance, that has, in addition to the latest entries, the "calendar tool".  The date where you published entries appear in red with a link to the posted item.

Reach to the outside world

Links, links and links. 2008, will be the year of the links! Publish links of other blogs or websites that appeal to you or are related to your blog's editorial content.  Your blog has to become a gold mine of information to your readershipCreate partnerships with other organisations who are inclined to support your blog. You can then have a special section for partner logos. Take a look at the ParisVilnius or Istanbul blog. Vilnius posted all the links of cafebabel.com city blogs as well as 3 partner logos. Reaching to the outside world will enable you to recruit new contributors or translators if your blog is run in several languages. This is how Nabeelah became a special guest on Lumière and the Darkness or how EurogenerationPoetry and Eurotik manage to be translated in several languages. Surfing on non-babelblogs will open new doors of opportunities in terms of readership and even inspiration. This being said, commenting on other babelblogs is also very welcomed. It allows you to get to know other Babelians, at least virtually for now, bringing a sense of community to babelbloggers. See for instance, the Athens blog, that attracts, on average, more than 20 comments per post. Or Blog-Europe-des-villages which has posted a reaction responding to a eumiro entry. If you want to entice us it's very simple: send an email to all the bloggers at bloggers@cafebabel.com.

http://wiki.cafebabel.com

Mark this page in your "favourites"! You can find and rediscover the tips mentioned in this post on this wiki page, regularly updated by all of you. Share your knowledge with the community by contributing to its content. For those who understand French, take a look at the dotclear information.

If you don't blog, go offline

I know this might sound cruel, but think about the rest of the babelbloggers! Readers who click on inactive blogs will be less inclined to come back. If you're too busy, if you have exams, or if you just don't feel like blogging, you can deactivate your blog temporarily. The same is true for the linguistic versions that still have no posts.

Best wishes for 2008, and may the babelforce be with you!

Monday, October 8 2007

Join the Blog Action Day on 15th October

2007 Blog Action Day will be on the environment. So far more than 6000 blogs all around the world will write about environmental issues to raise awareness. This is a great opportunity for Babelbloggers to not only join a great cause but also reach out to the blogosphere community made of more than 4 million bloggers who have increasing influence in politics.

Very important: when you do post an entry on the environment, remember to tag it with "Blog Action Day".

Monday, July 16 2007

Make sure your blog uploads fast!

You might consider some aspects of maintenance, such as the speed of uploading your BabeBlog. You do want it to be quick and flashy, don’t you? Now keep in mind that all photos must be in size of 200 x 120 pixel. There are many ways to make you blog and images web friendly. Usually you have to download a program for resizing photos. Use either a Photoshop or an ACDSee program, or one of the many other programs for resizing and resuming you might already have on your computer. I would suggest a short free download program, offered by Microsoft, the Image Resizer here Or using one of Microsoft Picture Library or Photo Editor that come with the Microsoft Office kit. Once you find this little „doodle” program that should be within you Office programs, just pick your image, click Edit, then Edit picture and Resize. Choose and adjust the 200 x 120 pixel photo size! Then click Save for your new image. Resizing an image does not affect the quality of your picture; just make sure you maintain the same resolution and just work with the pixel dimensions instead. This way you will have a decent sized image that can be posted on your blog and downloaded fast.

Other hints for better usage and maintenance of your BabelBlog will be posted soon!

A big hug for all Babelians and keep up the good work!

Friday, June 22 2007

Launch of Babelblog Working Group- Sign in!

Following the Babel International General Assembly in Paris, café babel is launching the first Babel Working Group (WG), composed of seven members- one for each café babel language (French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan or Polish)

The Babelblog Working Group. will be in charge of viewing blog applications (flooding, as I type,) according to criteria set by its members. The WG will also be responsible for identifying challenges related to the blog community and ensuring its fruitful development. The WG will work hand in hand with the café babel team based in Paris, Brussels and Warsaw and be requested to participate in regular meetings in Paris or via conference calls. It is important for members to be multilingual, teamspirited, have a thorough understanding of the café babel vision and interested/ knowledgeable in blogs as a form of media.

Should you be interested in joining the Babelblog WG, please send your application to blog@cafebabel.com, with contact details, motivation, whether you wish to be a coordinator and your availability.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Vanessa

Wednesday, June 13 2007

Post Pictures on blogs!

Dear All,

Now that the community is finally launched (a big thanks to Adriano, Simon and Oxys for making this happen!!) we need to give it some colours! Pictures add meaning to a blog in a way words can't. So don't hesitate to use pictures as much as you can- they attract the eye and often make it easier for the reader to understand the overall topic of a post or article.

I was asked by Alessandro (Budapest Blog) what the policy was on posting pictures in terms of copyrights.

You usually need to pay for posting a picture. This is why cafebabel.com is using flickers, a photo-sharing website most of you know by now, where you have the possibility of using pictures for free.

It's simple to use:

  • go to the "advanced search" section
  • make sure you tick the box "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed photos"
  • once you've posted the picture, you need to put into brackets (credit photo: Author/Flickr). If the author has not left his/ her name, you simply publish his login. If you want an exemple go check out Prune's Eurotik blog.

If it's through another search engine, you need to contact the photographer and ask him or her if you can use their picture for free. Another option would be to go on Natalia's streets of Europe! If you have other ideas, please feel free to share!

No matter what, you need to upload the picture in the media manager to be able to download it onto your entry.

caf_.jpg

Looking forward to seeing LOTS of pictures!!

Beso,

Vanessa

(credit photo: Whissquissos/ Flickr)

Wednesday, June 6 2007

Post your members' profiles on your blog!

Blog Users, it's important that you publish on your blog your profile and those of your blog members. The objective is to personalise as much as possible the community by giving a face and a name to those who are making it grow. This is especially true for the city and translation blogs who generally work with an armada of volunteers.

If you want to see an example, look at the Brussels blog: http://bruxelles.cafebabel.com

Please click here to see how you can do it, under "Publish Profiles on your blog" section.

Looking forward to seeing TONS of faces on your blogs!!!!!!

Vané

Friday, May 4 2007

About tagging on cafebabel.com

Blog users, there are some important information on Tags & babelblogs to pick here

Please visit it !

cafebabel.com readers, to understand the future website, and understand how it wil be an integrated partipatory magazine, with the help (among of other things of tags), visit this page as well.

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