coffeefactory - BabelBlogs

Cost of Life Day

OLé — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:47:00 +02:00

***'EU Debate On the Ground' sends 4 journalists 3 days to 1***

European city for on-scene reporting and a live debate.

At this year’s summer Babelackademy the local teams decided to contribute to the mission with a “Cityblog on the ground”. Each local team will write about the topic of the live debate. We kick off with the Cost of Life Day...

The first "EU Debate On the Ground" takes place from October 22nd to 25th in Tallinn and the debate will be on the EURO (Estonia is expected to change its currency soon).

How is the EURO treated in your country? Is it a curse or a blessing? Germans like to pay everything in cash - their relation to money is very physical (due to the 1920s hyperinflation?). The French never have more than a couple of Euros in their pockets - they prefer paying by credit card. The most counterfeit, false money circulates in Eastern Europe, where even some 300 € notes have been spotted. There are lots of ways to attack the issue, especially living the credit crunch

The Cafebabel Cost of Life Day: where do you get most for your €? (photo: Mario's Planet/flickr)

This could also be the moment to realize the cafebabel Cost of Life Day, which was voted best European wide project at the Babelackademy.

The Cost of Life Day means: Each city sends out a team that shops, eats and does the same things on the same day in Europe. Then we compare: where is life the most/least expensive.

The handsome reward besides lots of glory and babelfame will be the insertion of your article in the EUDOG dossier of the magazine.
Let’s brainstorm together! If you have an idea, tell us in the comments section.

Ole (the community guy)
ole@cafebabel.com

The Top 10 countdown in January 2008

Vané — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:02:00 +01:00

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...

News from the Babelblogosphere

Tava — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +01:00

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.

2007 Top 20 countdown

Vané — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:49:00 +01:00

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 B ucharest 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

The latest topics on the Babelforums

Vané — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:52:00 +01:00

The Babelforums are picking up pace with new topics and on-going active ones. The objective of the Babelforum is to allow Europeans to discuss European issues in their native language or in a language they feel comfortable in- other than English. Our mutilingual team in Brussels regularly skims through the different discussions and spreads interesting comments posted from one linguistic version to another. But we still need your linguistic skills to translate some of the topics, ideally in all 7 cafebabel.com languages. So if you're interested in getting involved as a moderator or translator, please contact me at v.witkowski@cafebabel.com.

In the meantime, take a look at all the topics waiting for you to share your thoughts, ideas, frustrations or support!

In Italian:
Violenza tra bande a Parigi Now in Italian! (Also in French)
L'UNIVERSITÀ ITALIANA È DAVVERO COSÌ IN CRISI?
Ri-Scoprendo le biblioteche a traverso Internet. (Also in English, Spanish, French and German)

In Spanish:
¿Legalización completa de las drogas? (Also in English )
¿Un himno sin letra = Un país sin identidad? (Also in English)
La Reforma del Tratado...¿A quién le importa!? (Also in English)
Reforma europea universitaria: BOLONIA (Also in English)

In English:
US Elections forum
Theater, Movies and Concerts First topic: Is Marion Cotillard the new Juliette Binoche?
Towards a citizens-politicians divorce . First topic: Naples like Pakistan? (Also in Italian)
A place for inspiration. Would you choose the European cafe? (Also in Spanish)
Brussels or Strasbourg - where should our parliament be? (Also in Spanish)
Men should have the same paternity rights as women! (Also in Spanish, French and German)
Breaking the myth of wanting kids (Also in French, Spanish, German and Italian)

In French:
Le mariage homosexuel affecte-t-il les hétérosexuels ? (Also in Spanish and in English)
Nationalismes . First topic: Kosovo (Also in Spanish)
Vers la banalisation du sexe ?
Etudier à Bucarest (Also in English, Italian and Spanish)

In Polish:
Polacy w Londynie
Polacy w Paryżu
W domu czy poza domem?

The best way to run your Babel blog

Vané — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:56:00 +01:00

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 V ilnius, 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 (Barcelona, Football 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 voice. Berlin, 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 readership. Create 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 Paris, Vilnius 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 Eurogeneration, Poetry 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!

Join the Blog Action Day on 15th October

Vané — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:41:00 +02:00

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".

How to translate a topic on the forum and why.

Did — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:39:00 +02:00

In order to build a European Public opinion, we need to discuss local, regional or international issues at transeuropean level. This is why we created the babelforums with a special tool to translate the first posts of a discussion.

How do you translate?

1) First of all, you need to register on www.cafebabel.com: Go to “Sign up” above at the right hand side. You create a personalized profile. If you are already registered, just sign in.

2) Ask for special powers to witkowski@cafebabel.com. Vaness will provide you with the necessary authorizations to translate directly online. 3) Click on the forum.

4) Click on “Translate this discussion”.

5) Select a version already available in “Translate from the following language”.

6) Then, choose carefully below the “Language” in which you are going to write.

7) Translate! Make sure to include whatever picture or link was included in the original version. It is also very important to include the author of the original post as well as a link to his/ her profile.

8) For safety measures, we encourage you to copy/paste your translation on a word doc…  9) Save your work by clicking on “Create topic”.

10) Congratulations and many thanks for your contribution!

Make sure your blog uploads fast!

amelieee — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:26:00 +02:00

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!

The new generation of Babel Forums: It's the Final Countdown!

Vané — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:17:00 +02:00

(credit photo: Erika)

Cafebabel.com will be launching its new online forums in the next couple of days! Babel Forums were uniquely designed to enable you to discuss trans-european issues with interactive, spontaneous, and fun-to-use tools. Relying on a network of multilingual moderators, each forum will address issues related to the editorial content but will also be reactive to hot current affairs thanks to our network journalists across Europe.

If you have ideas of topics you would like to discuss on the new generation of Babel Forums, please post your suggestions below or send an email to Vanessa at witkowski@cafebabel.com. If you are interested in moderating online discussions, please send me an email as well.

May the forums be with you!

Vanessa

Launch of Babelblog Working Group- Sign in!

Vané — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:11:00 +02:00

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

Post Pictures on blogs!

Vané — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:29:00 +02:00

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.

Looking forward to seeing LOTS of pictures!!

Beso,

Vanessa

(credit photo: Whissquissos/ Flickr)

Post your members' profiles on your blog!

Vané — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:30:00 +02:00

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

About tagging on cafebabel.com

Simon — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:37:00 +02:00

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.

Online support for bloggers

Simon — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:56:00 +02:00

Running a blog is simple, but it's not necessarily easy at first sight ... To help you get your blog started there are several tools :

http://doc.dotclear.net/2.0/usage

That's the documentation of the blog plateform. Unfortunately, it's in French, but it will provide your with useful tips to get started. An English version is under translation.
Then, please visit this page as well (you have to register with your login & pw to access to it):

http://wiki.cafebabel.com/index.php?title=Accueil

There are important tips about getting started, running a multilingual blog, and cafebabel.com tags.

Finally, if you have the smallest, tiniest, question, please do not hesitate to use this site :

http://flyspray.cafebabel.com

You have to login as well. It's a live "Frequently asked questions" tool.
You'll see all the questions that have been asked, and see the answer that has been given... If you don't find your answer, and that you haven't found it the documentation, the wiki, or elsewhere, and then click on "Add a new task"... Fill in the summary & and details (leave the rest as it is) with your question... And come back a few hours later to see the answer (and all users will share the benefits of your question, so don't be shy.

Any doubt, remark ? Please comment.

Blogs Launched !

Simon — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:24:00 +02:00

It's about time...

If you have applied for a blog, it's time to launch it !

Please get in touch with Nuala (info[at]cafebabel.com) to start publishing !

We'll update the list as it grows !

Soon coming, a subhomepage dedicated to the blogs, with an access from cafebabel.com homepage !

List of babelblogs

Simon — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:59:00 +02:00

Here's the list of the first babelblogs, update on may 14th :

http://belarus.cafebabel.com

http://budapest.cafebabel.com

http://paris.cafebabel.com

http://europa-auf-deutsch.cafebabel.com

http://eurotopia.cafebabel.com

http://tallinn.cafebabel.com

http://leblogduneufmai.cafebabel.com

http://coffeefactory.cafebabel.com

http://cochonpolitikon.cafebabel.com

http://bruxelles.cafebabel.com

http://traduttoritaliani.cafebabel.com

http://strasbourg.cafebabel.com

http://eurotik.cafebabel.com

http://linea.cafebabel.com

http://streetsofeurope.cafebabel.com

http://chrisblogs.cafebabel.com

http://kaczynski.cafebabel.com

http://spaceuropeans.cafebabel.com

http://amsterdam.cafebabel.com

http://stockholm.cafebabel.com

http://gatonegro.cafebabel.com

http://islamineuropa.cafebabel.com

http://vilnius.cafebabel.com

http://europefrombelow.cafebabel.com

http://city.cafebabel.com

http://bucharest.cafebabel.com

http://imagineeurope.cafebabel.com

These blogs were launched to test the platform.

For all of you who are expecting a blog (local offices, translators, images, thematic blogs, etc..), we'll now wait for around a week, to get the "profile" of the community, and to automatise the creation of the blogs, and write some documentation...

Basically, you can start writing your posts, because within a week, you'll be starting to post...

Testing babelblogs !

Simon — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:22:00 +02:00

Testing is undergoing on babelblogs !

If you want to have a first glance look at these two tests :

Brussels local office blog

Le blog du neuf mai

It's just a start... More changes to come soon.

If you want to participate in testing (and you already have applied for a blog, let us know...)

Comment the Local team blog guidelines

n.morgan — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:59:00 +01:00

Each local team of cafebabel.com currently has a local page to present its members, its activities, partners, etc: http://cafebabel.com/en/infos/networks.asp

We all know the limits of this page, it's not so visible, the url is long and clumsy, the tool is not very adaptable...etc

So the local blogs that you have been talking about and waiting for are now finally on their way!

cityname.cafebabel.com

we'll soon have a visual for you of the blog design, but at the same time we need to crack on with agreeing on what the local blogs are actually for, and what content will be in them.
The 'euroboard' of cafebabel.com has been asked to comment on the local blog guidelines that we proposed. I've integrated the comments to the attached blog guidelines.
Some questions remain:

local blogs will be updated regularly, and easily, as every local team member will have access to the blog. No need to pass by 'Paris' to upload a photo! What kind of rythym do you imagine your blog will have? Do you forsee any problems with keeping it updated?

How can we ensure that the local blog network remains, well, a network and not a grouping of individual cities?
How will you manage the mix of 'editorial' content and 'communication' content?

Let's continue the discussion here on coffee factory!

All other comments on blogs can be sent to blog@cafebabel.com

New feature : cafebabel.com will soon have blogs!

Simon — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:22:00 +01:00

The first step a of the community will be the launch of blogs on cafebabel.com

Individuals will be able to have a their own transnatational multilingual blog. As we are not a blog platform though, not everyone will be able to have a blog.

Babelians will have to follow some rules to start up their blogs. We'de like to know what you think of these guidelines (attached to this post as well) to create a blog on cafebabel.com.

Please make comments...

coffeefactory - BabelBlogs

Cost of Life Day

'EU Debate On the Ground' sends 4 journalists 3 days to 1

European city for on-scene reporting and a live debate.

The Top 10 countdown in January 2008

News from the Babelblogosphere

2007 Top 20 countdown

The latest topics on the Babelforums

The best way to run your Babel blog

Join the Blog Action Day on 15th October

How to translate a topic on the forum and why.

Make sure your blog uploads fast!

The new generation of Babel Forums: It's the Final Countdown!

Launch of Babelblog Working Group- Sign in!

Post Pictures on blogs!

Post your members' profiles on your blog!

About tagging on cafebabel.com

Online support for bloggers

Blogs Launched !

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