But it also means that I get more mails and more inquiries about issues. Could I spend my 'blogging time' for the most part on writing posts in the past, no longer. 50% of that time is spend on answering mails and doing research or looking for "stuff" to answer those mails. That's fine too, but while I spend more and more time doing rules, the blog isn't updated. My daily post goal hasn't been met in the last four weeks. Can't see any change in that, unless I accept to spend even more time behind a keyboard.
I've been pestering people I know at the ISAF office, for a link on the rules pages of their website. And been answered they would do it, but it hasn't happened as of yet.. I'm low on the totem-pole, understandable. If it does eventually happen, traffic will increase even more.
One of the things I need, is some sort of introductory page telling visitors what they can find and how. Instead of going trough 200+ post individually. I need to have a more friendly way, to have them navigate trough. I've already made a small start by a couple of directory pages and a page with all posts, searchable by tags. Perhaps I need a directory structure for different topics on the main page. Perhaps I need to increase tags for each post. I'll have a look around how other bloggers deal with this issue.
Some new projects/ideas:
- Pay some attention on 'people skills' in the protest-room, maybe even do something with 'role-playing'
- Talk about my IU-seminar experiences.
- Invite PC-members to write about interesting cases they come across this summer. That means YOU!
- Translate some of the Dutch appeals into English and publish them.
- Do a couple of "back posts" drawing attention to posts I've done in the first couple of months.
- Protest questions and exercises,
- Umpire Calls,
- Links to websites and interesting articles I come across,
- A few editorials.
Jos,
ReplyDeleteWould a useful strategy to reduce your workload be to post some topics in a forum like Yachts and Yachting Racing Rules, where they could be self-managing, so you did not have to edit responses, and copy or link to relevant posts?
Hi Jos, I'm following your work on this blog and find it very interesting and helpful.
ReplyDeleteEvery bit of new info I can get my hand on is more than welcome, since I believe everybody can learn RRS by heart, but only a few can add a "personal touch" to it and interpret it in a right way, serving the competitors.
It is hard to learn how to umpire correctly without any guidance or practical experience, therefore the learning curve is steep.
I'm attending an IU seminar in June, so any information or experience originating from a similar event would be useful, since I do not know what to expect.
I've been to an IJ seminar in November and all of the attendees said, the format of the seminar and exam were something they've not seen before, which added a bit to the confusion and distraction.
I find umpiring interesting and stimulating most of the times, but as I've seen, not two situations are the same, so there's always room for improvement, additional skills and fine-tuning of the procedures.
Since there is no "final knowledge" of umpiring, do you have any suggestion on how to prepare on such an event?
To Brass; I'm currently following a couple of threads and commenting on them to see how this goes.
ReplyDeleteMight be an option.
To Andraz; I'm preparing a post about my experiences at my own seminar. I'll try to include some tips for preparation.
You can start by reading the IU manual front to cover.
Hi Jos!
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I find easy and accessible is the basic literature, so I've read and re-read it many times. RRS, case book, call book, judge and umpire manuals. Also quick calls from the ISAF site.
I'm preparing presentations and guides for other local umpires on how to position the boats, how to communicate etc. Practical things, those you cannot learn from books and since match races are not that common in my area, it serves as a preparation for those rare occasions when you actually serve as an umpire.
Thanks, eager to see what the seminar looks like. :)