At the recent INFORMS conference, a group of bloggORs (get it?) got together to discuss what sort of common activities we could do. While we all read each others work, and periodically repost each others work, for the most part we work alone. That is generally a good idea: we each have a style to our blog (I wouldn’t dare to talk about vampires, for instance, leaving that to the expert). But we are a community. I point to all the OR blogs I can find and provide a feed of the latest posts in my sidebar; we sit on panels together; there is the odd off-blog conversation about blogging and OR issues. How can we strengthen that community?
Inspired by the Carnival of Mathematics , the group decided it would be fun to have a monthly theme on which we could all write. All the resulting entries could then be collected at the end of the month. The INFORMS Blog was elected to be the coordinator of this activity, and has just announced the first monthly Blog Challenge:
Topic for December 2010: O.R. and the Holidays
Open to all bloggers! All you have to do is a write a post on your site on that topic then send the pointer to graphics@mail.informs.org. Given there are a couple dozen blogs in my “OR Blog Roll”, it would be great to get a big response to this. No prizes, but, as the announcement says:
What’s in it for the bloggers? Widespread fame by being listed on the INFORMS home page. Or at least a bump in readers and an increase in standing and influence in the operations research blogosphere.
Love it! Expect a post from IEOR Tools. Right now I’m not sure what it will be about but I have a couple of ideas brewing. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s posts.
I’ve finished writing mine and will soon be emailing it to INFORMS. Here’s a link: https://orbythebeach.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/the-joy-of-baking-optimally/
Broke down and did one: http://orinanobworld.blogspot.com/2010/12/or-and-parking.html