Caver Blogs

[Leitmotiv]

Are they any blogs out there that focus on caving (and are done by NSS members)?

I'm looking into the possibility of doing one and am looking for do's and don'ts.

[Leclused]

In Europe a lot of grotto's have their blog. The one of my club is http://scavalon.blogspot.com

Do's :
- Keep your blog active, but not to active. If my club has several reports in the pipeline we schedule them in time
- photo's make a reports lively but don't overdo. In small articles two or three photo's will do. If you want to show more add a link to a photo-page (picassa fe)
- add link to other blogs
- add usefull links for cavers (weather, traffic, maps, other grotto websites...)
- allow remarks on reports (but don't expect too much from it)
- you can add your grotto agenda to your blog so that other cavers can see what your grotto is planning
- video clips are mostly appriciated but are a lot of work
- Earn some money with your blog with small adds but don't overdo.
- try to make your blog to be a caver-portal

Don'ts
- Do not use your blog to post personal communication between members. Fe don't make plans about trips. you can use a agenda for that
-

Hope this helps a bit.

[Leitmotiv]

Thanks for the tips. What do you mean by caver-portal?

I am considering video, but I've never ever, ever ever ever made a video for the internet.

As an American I'm concerned about giving too much info away that reveals cave locations. So editing the videos will be necessary. If I do a blog, I plan to take stills from the video to make into pictures for the blog.

Ads would great if I could make a little money. Of course moderation is key.

[Leclused]

By caver-portal I mean the starting point for cavers in their search for cave related info on the web. For that we've foreseen the most intersting links for cavers in Belgium.

[Scott McCrea]

http://cavingnews.com/
http://onrappel.blogspot.com/
http://caveworthy.blogspot.com/ (mine)
http://tritrogs.blogspot.com/

IMO, the best blogs are the ones that regularly post content. I have trouble with this.

[jeffkruse]

My blog is http://thekrusechronicles.blogspot.com/ It's half about caves in Puerto Rico.

[Leitmotiv]

Those are great examples. One of my concerns is that I intend (and should expect) to have noncaver traffic to the site. I want to post stuff on caves, maybe even sensitive caves, but not give away locations. So obviously, no pictures that give locational clues. For my region this may even mean the different kinds of vegetation because I live on a border between desert and forest. No video stills with me looking at my GPS with a coordinate. No names of mountains, etc...

[cavingnews]

Thanks for mentioning cavingnews.com Scott.

While it's probably a little different that your average blog, with nearly 900 posts in the 21 months its been around, it still follows many of the suggestions outlined. Although every day is probably excessive for most blogs, I would have to agree that keeping up a steady post frequency is extremely important.

As for being affiliated with the NSS, Caving News goes so far as to have agreement with the NSS to promote each other and share content.

Speaking of promotion, if you do end up starting a blog, let us know and we'll write a post about it.

[trogman]

Those are great examples. One of my concerns is that I intend (and should expect) to have noncaver traffic to the site. I want to post stuff on caves, maybe even sensitive caves, but not give away locations. So obviously, no pictures that give locational clues. For my region this may even mean the different kinds of vegetation because I live on a border between desert and forest. No video stills with me looking at my GPS with a coordinate. No names of mountains, etc...

OK, so I don't know much about blogging, but I did want to comment on this: I saw on the news yesterday where they were able to locate the McAfee guy through a photo that was taken of him. The photo had location info embedded in it because it was taken with a cell phone that had GPS capabilities. I don't know if that would apply in this case, but I thought I'd mention it.

Trogman

[Leitmotiv]

Does the layman or even average person have the capability to look at photos like this and determine the embedded info?

[Bob Thrun]

Does the layman or even average person have the capability to look at photos like this and determine the embedded info?

Easy. Many cameras (most? all?) put a hidden block of EXIF information in JPEG files. This includes all the camera settings including GPS if that feature is turned on. The values are rational binary numbers so you just about need a computer program to view them. I use Irfanview (free and very good) to view images. Once an image is loaded, it takes one click to view file information and one more click to view the EXIF info. You can search for EXIF editor and find some more specialized programs.

The whole idea of EXIF and IPTC headers is to have photo info kept in the file so it does not get lost.

[Leitmotiv]

okay thanks for the info.

It feels like if I go through with this, that I will be entering into a world with no clear boundaries on what not to do. It will be my personal blog about caving, but operating under the expectations established by the NSS. But at the same time, I understand that we are entering a time when cave information is becoming more and more available on the internet. So the time has come not to further retreat into our fortresses of secrecy, but to come out and educate the public on the proper ways to go caving. To let them know why they should care about caves. To raise awareness about the contents of the cave they might not have been paying attention to. Yeah locations will still be secret on the blog, but I can't expect that to last forever.

I guess in my own little way, such a blog that I'm currently considering, will be my effort to educate the local public on why they should care and the manner in which to do so.

[Leitmotiv]

Does the layman or even average person have the capability to look at photos like this and determine the embedded info?

Easy. Many cameras (most? all?) put a hidden block of EXIF information in JPEG files. This includes all the camera settings including GPS if that feature is turned on. The values are rational binary numbers so you just about need a computer program to view them. I use Irfanview (free and very good) to view images. Once an image is loaded, it takes one click to view file information and one more click to view the EXIF info. You can search for EXIF editor and find some more specialized programs.

The whole idea of EXIF and IPTC headers is to have photo info kept in the file so it does not get lost.

One more question. Does this information change if the image is embedded in a pdf file? Or what if there was no cell reception at the time the picture was taken?

[captnemo]

One more question. Does this information change if the image is embedded in a pdf file? Or what if there was no cell reception at the time the picture was taken?

Depends, most PDF creation software resizes the images and in the process strips out the exif info, but not always, Cell reception should make no difference at all, as gps relies on satellite not cell, though some programs require both before writing the location info to the picture.

My blog isn't strictly caving but it can be filtered to show cave related posts
http://thecaptainnemo.wordpress.com/category/travel/caving

[NZcaver]

For what it's worth, when I first got my smartphone I made sure it was set not to embed GPS data in photos or videos. The GPS receiver only comes on when I'm using maps or the GPS status app. I just quickly skimmed through the properties for hundreds of my cellphone photos, and sure enough there is no location field in any of them and the "GPS altitude" field is always zero. But hey - for those who don't understand their phone settings or are content to share everything regardless, embedded cave location information (outside the cave) could be a concern.

Another option is to Google "remove EXIF data" and you will find a variety of programs out there to strip the extra data out. You could also put the image on screen, hit the print screen button on the keyboard, and viola! You have a new (lower quality) image saved on the computer devoid of the original EXIF data.