uh oh I may have started something.

[Irulan]

Background: my mom is 85, and has been a political activist her whole life, from integration and civil rights in the 50's and 60's, to women's issues and lesbian issues up until very recently. (I was at the '68 riots in Chicago, as a kid, with my parents among other events and my elder siblings attended the first integrated preschool in the nation...to give you an idea)
Until very recently she participated in the Raging Granny marches in SF. Even though she's getting up there, she's very interested in the world, and she is a writer to boot.

So, just for fun I sent her a link to this blog yesterday
http://margaretandhelen.com/about/

and today I'm getting emails about "how does a blog work" and "I must say it gave me a jiggle about doing something inventive -( that's cause I'm in a good, creative mood) with my political ramblings." and " I've often played with the idea of writing letters and answering them myself".

uh oh, what did I just sign myself up for? I think.

Anyone have an example of good simple blog so I can show her some?

[thekarens]

Can't help you with blogs, but I did want to say that I've never met your mother, but I still love her :-)

[luvmyguys]

I'd just go to either Wordpress or Blogger and just dive in with both feet. They're fairly simple to set up.

And I love that she is still so involved at 85! That is GREAT!

[OakLeaf]

What they said.

But here is the blog of a friend of mine, just as an example of a very simply laid out Blogspot blog. Charming and thoughtful stuff and he's a writer by profession, letting his hair down in his blog: http://hailwood1965.blogspot.com/

[shootingstar]

Maybe the best thing, lrulan, if you want to spend a couple hrs. (it will be that) is to set up a simple blog shell for her. Wordpress.com offers several different types of designs (they call them "themes"). Ignore the fee-based themes --there are free ones.

Does your mother use word processing software or entered information into a simple database? For the latter exposure, that makes the transition to blogging very easy.
I set up a blog for my partner. Now he does everything..but then he is technically oriented. He does his own web site (which I don't know how to do. I don't know html coding though I realize it's not hard.)

As for embedding photos --it's an extra step. But not hard. Show her later after she gets a few posts up.
Wordpress has other cool features --which I wouldn't allow oneself to get intimidated.

I would not recommend Facebook --I get the powerful feeling your mother has lots to say. Kudos to her, lrulan. And her audience would be more limited because it requires people to subscribe to Facebook. (And not everyone wants to). Whereas a blog on the open internet, makes it easier for anyone from anywhere with just Internet access to read stuff.

[Irulan]

uh Facebook as a blog..... that's so far off the radar I don't even get it, but thank you for the suggestion. Plus she has great difficulty with FB.

Thanks for the samples, those are perfect.
What about a sample that has an interactive quality to it?

I'm redoing my business site in WordPress so once that is done I'll have a clue about it.

Can't help you with blogs, but I did want to say that I've never met your mother, but I still love her :-)

You have no idea....growing up in the house I did, in the times I did. The true tales I could tell... and I probably have to some degree.

[Irulan]

I don't get tumblr.... one has to be logged in to find/read blogs?

[Irulan]

Every time I go to the tumblr home page, it asks me to create an account, can't see anything. :-(

[PamNY]

Your mom sounds great.

Here's an example of a well-done blog with tweets, photos, comments, etc. Not sure if that's what you mean by "interactive."

http://citybirder.blogspot.com/

Facebook might work to promote her blog.

[shootingstar]

I can only interpret "interactive" for blog technology:

*as having features allowing readers to communicate with the blogger in some way.. In addition to comments feature (for any blog), yes, wordpress.com have simple click features to "like", "rate" a blog post. One can also post simple polls...which I've done. Can get more complicated than necessary...

There are easy auto features also that don't require posting flickr, etc.....posting photos in a slideshow sequence,etc. That is interactive by allowing the reader to choose to click on a feature to enhance the reading experience.

Let us know how things progress, lrulan!