"We need both spaces: private ones, public ones and in-between ones.

This is about discussing how we can best use Internet resources for these various aims.
And to discern when when we're doing what."

It's been proposed that we keep a private space for the day-to-day business of our community life, and a public one for things of a deeper, discussion character. And the latter might go well on a blog.

As I see it, those situations occupy two of the cells in the matrix below.
There are the public and private arenas. On another dimension, there are the pragmatic and the philosophical.
I think it's possible to validly fill all four.
For example, we can have public events served well by a calendar.
And we can have discussions where we feel freer to speak when we know just who is within our walls.



The question of "the room we're in" is one that particularly interests me.

I believe it's important to think carefully about our audience before we construct a site or post to it. Today, I found a church web site in Melbourne which uploads its weekly news-sheet as a PDF. A convenient way to get its news out to everyone in the congregation - but also to everyone else! It included private phone numbers of church members.

There's also the boredom factor. If what we publish is partly in-house, partly of general interest, how do we manage the mix, so that there's always enough to attract the passer-by? The Salvation Army magazine, War Cry, tries to be a mix. Is it successful?