KenyaUnlimited » Vol.1- Issue 5

Vol.1- Issue 5

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Newsletter: Vol. 1 / Issue 5
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In this issue:

1. Welcome

2. Membership Status

3. New Admin Members

4. KUL Site Additions
ï¿½ New Logo
ï¿½ Open Blog
ï¿½ Calendar
ï¿½ Chat
ï¿½ Dynamic front page

5. KBW Membersï¿½ Google email group

6. Future projects

7. And Finally

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1. Welcome
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Greetings from the Kenyan Blogs Webring (KBW) Team. We hope that this newsletter finds you well. An extra big welcome to many of you for whom this will be the first KBW newsletter you will have received. We use these periodic newsletters to pass information to the whole webring as well as to give you an opportunity to send your thoughts to us. KBW has been going through a busy time as we work on various projects to take the webring forward. It has been a time of growth and expansion. KBW continues to welcome new members passing two significant milestones since our last newsletter. We welcome two new members to the admin team.

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2. Membership Status
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On August 5, 2005, (exactly one month after our 1st birthday) KBW membership reached the 100 member milestone. We recognise that this achievement would not have been possible without all your support and we are extremely grateful. At present we have 120 active members and we would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to all who are new. We hope that you enjoy the KBW experience and we look forward to interacting with you. There are currently 25 prospective members who have registered to join the webring.

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3. New Admin Members
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It seems like only yesterday when many of our members jokingly but accurately noted that our admin team was made up of members whose usernames started with the letter M. We are pleased to announce that since then our knowledge of the alphabet has expanded and to reflect this we introduce not one but two new admin members Afromusing and Nicholas Gichu . Read their admin profiles .

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4. KenyaUnlimited.com redesign and additions
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a. New Logo
As part of a wider site redesign KenyaUnlimited has a new professionally designed logo. The design work was done by The Open Artist. Please visit his site and say hello. We have had numerous discussions over the imagery and its representations. Some of us feel it resembles a fiery flame, a symbol perhaps of the force that keeps us blogging? Others state that it reminds of a shipï¿½s sail, an equally fitting symbol as it signifies the freedom and the borderless nature of blogging. We would be glad to hear your views on the logo.

b. Open blog
Introducing a new concept in Kenyan blogging we have developed the Open Blog. The Open Blog is an experimental blog featuring contributions from the members of the Kenyan Blogs Webring. Any member of the webring can register and post on anything. You can cross post items you have posted elsewhere. You can raise issues that you may not feel comfortable raising on personal blogs, you can use the Open Blog to widen the debate on issue you feel important. Through these contributions to the Open Blog we should be able to track and trace issues that are or relevance to the Kenyan blogosphere or being debated in the wider Kenyan blogosphere. Please go ahead and register and get posting!

c. Calendar
We have launched an online KenyaUnlimited calendar. We would like to have a complete calendar with the birthdays of all our members. If you would like to feature on the calendar please email us your birthday (day and month only not the year). Please be sure to include a link to your in the email as well as how you would like your name to appear in the calendar.

d. Chat
We have launched the official KBW chat room. Join us whenever you can for informal, lightweight discussion. We are looking for a name for the chat room. Please send us your suggestions! The chat room is currently operating under the name “kelele” if you can think of a better or alternative name let us know!

e. Dynamic front page
The front page of the KenyaUnlimited website now displays the latest posts from KBW blogs. You no longer have to guess if the blogs you like to read have been updated. Check out KenyaUnlimited and you get a list of all the latest posts from the most recently updated blogs. (Of course you can also have a look to see your own latest post scrolling away!)

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5. KBW Membersï¿½ Google email group
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We are in the process of setting up a Google email group for KBW members which we will use as our main method for email communication from now on. As members of KBW we have automatically added you to the email group. You should be able to receive the emails we send without any further action on your part. However you maybe asked by Google to confirm your email address before you join the email group. If so please confirm your email address as soon as possible to ensure you receive the latest webring information. We will use the email list primarily to send you the KBW newsletter a few times each year. No one else has access to your email and contact details. If you have any questions or queries about this contact us.

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6. Future projects
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Here are some of the projects we are working on that we plan to complete in the near future:

a.) The KenyaUnlimited web forum ï¿½ another method through which we can interact with each other.
b.) A comprehensive member survey
c.) KBW button incorporating the webring code which we can use on our websites.
d.) help files on a wide range of blogging issues. We are currently planning help files on:
- How to add the webring code to blogger blogs
- How to add a statistics programme to your blog and how you can use the statistics
- Staying motivated in the blogging game
- Netiquette (the protocol and manners that regulate web interaction)

If you can help us with any of these help files or have any suggestions on which help files we can include please send us an email and let us know.

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7. and finally
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We urge to tell your family and friends about blogging. Tell them about KBW. Letï¿½s get Kenyans blogging! Do you know any Kenyan bloggers out there that havenï¿½t joined? Tell them about us. Get them to join. This ring is as much yours as it is ours. Any ideas for improvements, any suggestions, any changes you would like to see? If you are having any trouble with the webring code or need help with your template. Please contact us on admin@kenyaunlimited.com or send us a message using our contact form and we shall endeavour to assist you.

Best wishes,
Kenyan Blog Webring Team
Vol. 1 / Issue 5

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Kenyan Blogs Webring - Bringing Kenyan Bloggers together
Newsletter: Vol. 1 / Issue 5
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