First Names Only

For the same reason (world-wide access), last names of team members were not used. The name and address of the church are in the heading, so if anyone wants to contact individuals or the team, they can call or write to the church. We felt this provided a safety screen.

Comments welcome - sort of

We did not set the blog up to allow anonymous comments. Those who wanted to post a comment had to log on, and this was confusing to most people. At this point, we've changed it to allow anonymous comments. However, everyone needs to be aware that a blog is available to people world-wide which means not having to log on may increase the chance for comments inappropriate for our site.

Meanwhile, back home ...

Those at home seemed delighted to be able to follow our experiences on a daily basis. A counter in the left margin kept track of how many times the blog was opened and gave us an indication of how much interest it generated. More than 500 hits were tallied by the time we got home, which we think indicates that many people found this method of reporting interesting.

Voice Blogging

Information was dictated via voice mail to our Covenant contacts who transcribed it and posted to the blog. (We had a very dedicated, patient, and hard-working team at home!)

Next Time

On our next trip, we hope to have internet access so we can post text and pictures directly to the blog via a computer/laptop.

Posting Pictures to the Blog

Since we didn’t have a laptop or internet connection at our motel, we planned to e-mail text and pictures from Kinko’s to our Covenant contacts who would post it to the blog. Text presented no problem, but sending pictures proved difficult because of compatibility problems with Kinko’s equipment. Kinko’s clerks either didn’t know how to help or were busy with other customers. We only used Kinko’s three nights because of the expense (30 cents/minute) and because other team members had to wait for the e-mail process to be completed. Pictures were added after our return home.

Technical Help Required

It takes people highly trained in computers to set up an attractive blog, especially with all the links that were available on ours. We were fortunate to have two people who shared the set-up and posting work.