Adjusting the user interface to give users a view of what’s going on in a blogosphere is what we’ve been thinking about in the last few weeks.What sorts of data are automatically generated as entries are added or commented on? Are those data useful in “seeing” NSDL’s blogs change over time? The short answer is that only some of it is enlightening and all of it is hard to envision in dynamic displays before there is significant traffic in the blogs. The prototype treemap of audience blog discussions looks flat because audiences are currently inactive.

Renaming the former “Editors Blog,” “Observation Tower” is an example of more accurately characterizing a space meant to elevate certain blog discussions for users to get a high level view of what might be of particular interest.