blogUT vs. UpbeaT, ROUND 1, GO!

Over the past week, I've had the pleasure of msn-ing the two editors of blogUT. Julia, Lori and I chatted about life as bloggers. So from today till Friday, I'll post our conversation in trilogy. Here's installment 1. Watch as I leave in the middle and leave the co-editors to fend for themselves. Me: Julia = Yulya? Yulya: haha yeah it's my russian name Lori: lol Me: Do you speak Russian? Yulya: yup Me: Awesome. I wish I spoke Russian. Me: So. BlogUT. How did it come about? Yulya: JP founded it two years ago. It was mostly a way to connect all of the things going on around campus. Yulya: There is so much going on at U of T, but it's so hard to find out about it, and it's really easy to get lost. BlogUT was a way of addressing that. Me: How do you decide which events to post? Me: There are tons of stuff at events.utoronto.ca Lori: We post things that we think more people would be interested in Lori: rather than very specific things that only a few people would be interested in Yulya: a lot of the posts are also generated by our writers, and whta they are interested in Lori: We publish most things that they write Me: And is JP still contributing to blogUT? Yulya: He still contributes now and then and we consult him an many decisions, but I know his job is taking a lot of his time. Lori: He enjoys blogging though, so he continues to contribute Me: As both of you are full time students, and blogUT is an ec, it must be hard managing time and school work Lori: I am actually a part-time student this year, because I am on PEY (co-op) Lori: I'm not taking any courses Me: How do you juggle work-work, and extra-curricular work? Lori: Yeah, it's kind of irritating because whenever I have to do stuff on campus, I have to go at lunch since things are only open during the day Yulya: it must also be a bit difficult blogging about things of interest to the U of T community when you haven't been on campus in a while... things must not seem as relevant Lori: I actually have a lot of free time after work, so it's not really that difficult, although I am worried about what will happen in September Me: And Julia, how do you balance school with blogUT? Yulya: That's really a big problem. When I just joined, JP told me that hte most important thing was setting priorities, and I guess that goes for both BlogUT and school. There are some things that you just know won't get done, and you get as much as possible done other than that Me: Julia - do you find it difficult to find stuff to write about in the summer? Me: I know I rack my brain every week to come up with something. Lori: I try to keep in the loop by reading your blog, getting newsletters from Hart House, UTSU, etc. Me: Hah. Lori answered it, kinda. Yulya: Actually I've found it easier so far, since I find I'm not limited by having to blog about upcoming events, so I can do the posts I haven't had time for during the year Yulya: plus there's no school Me: (so sorry, gotta run out. Brb in 5, but if you could answer - Me: how did you decide to become editor Me: how is the blog different now Lori: I actually was a blogger for a year. At the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, I became the finance person, and then one of the editors at the time left in the middle of the year, so I took her place Lori: *was a writer Yulya: I've always loved editing and I've been considering it as a career option, so this was a great opportunity. Yulya: Every term the body of writers that actively contribute changes slightly, which means that the blog gets refocused to their interests Lori: I like writing blogs. I would be happy blogging for a living Yulya: Lori, I know you also have a couple of your own blogs. How is writing those different from BlogUT? Lori: The blogs I write for myself are mostly about what's going on in my life Lori: the blogs I write for blogUT are about things that UT students would be interested in Lori: What about you? Yulya: I get a chance to write about topics that don't fit into BlogUT, which is nice Lori: What is the most memorable blog you've written? Yulya: I think my favourite so far has been the post about the Distillery. It's my favourite place in Toronto, but not many people know about it. It was great being able to promote it. It also gave me an excuse to go there again Yulya: how about you? Lori: Yeah I liked that one Lori: Mine is the one about makeout spots Yulya: that's still one of our most popular articles Me: BACK Me: Crisis diverted. Me: My bad. Yulya: haha yay! Lori: Lol Lori: It was funny going to all the locations and thinking about the atmosphere and what you could do there Yulya: Haha Lori: and all the comments people wrote about their favorite locations Me: that was an awesome post. Though, I don't know how unpopulated those quiet spots are now. Me: ;D Lori: LOL Yulya: lol