As promised, here is a guide to the Carnival of the Infosciences. I’m basing my model on the excellent Carnival of Personal Finance, so I will be co-opting (and indeed plagiarizing) its guidelines as appropriate. The following is subject to change as I get a better idea of what we need to be doing to make it work.
The Carnival of the Infosciences will be a weekly weblog post that endeavors to showcase the best posts in the blogosphere about topics related to the wide world of Library and Information Science.
Most carnivals are based primarily on submissions by the blog post authors themselves, fleshed out with the submissions of readers and the host. I hope to generate enough author interest to be able to follow this model, but who knows. If you write something that you’d like more people to see (or write a blog that you wish more people visited), this is a way to get your stuff out there.
Guidelines for Submission
If you are a blogger, publish your entries as you normally would, but submit the link to the article via the comment form. Submissions sent through the form will be forwarded to the current host, as the location for the Carnival travels from one site to another (just like a meatspace carnival).
If you would, please include the following in the email:
* The title of your entry.
* The URI (address) of your entry.
* A description or summary of the entry.
* Your name or other moniker by which you wish to be referenced.
The Carnival will be posted every Monday, so please submit before 6 PM Eastern Time on the Sunday prior.
The purpose of this is to showcase the panoply of great writing within the LIS blogosphere and to expose the world to as many LIS blogs as possible, so let’s limit submissions to one per weblog per week. Naturally, we’re looking for submissions containing original thought and opinions, rather than regurgitation and reiteration.
The week’s host has editorial control over what is included or not included, although I encourage a general atmosphere of inclusivity and diversity, where practicable.
In order to grow this concept, once the post goes up, I’ll be asking y’all to link back to it. That’s how we draw attention to it and give the idea legs.
Guidelines for Hosting
Here’s the one ground rule for hosting: in order to be a host, you must submit one post for inclusion. It’s that simple; submit once, permanent hosting qualification.
I will coordinate the hosting calendar. If you would like to host and have submitted an article at any point, then drop me a line via the contact form and I’ll add your site to the hosting list. If you’ve hosted and would like to host again, you simply go to the back of the line.
Here’s how I envision the hosting process. One week before your hosting date, you post to your blog soliciting submissions. You close submissions by 6 PM Sunday evening to give yourself time to put the post together. It is posted sometime on Monday (your hosting date). Your post includes not only the selected posts of the week, but a link to the next host. At that point, the next host opens the floor for submissions on his/her blog and the process continues.
The host has editorial control and can present links in whatever fashion preferred, but hosts should add some commentary to the links to encourage readers to follow the links. If you feel short on content, dig around on your own for some additional entries to include.
That should do for now. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact me.
