After being prompted by D, I’ve signed up for Blogathon 2003. 24 hours of weblogging, raising money for charity (in my case, Amnesty International)! Of course, I won’t raise any money if I’m not sponsored…so won’t you be so kind as to sponsor me?
So what exactly is a “blogathon”?
First some terminology: “blog” is a shortened version of “weblog” which is a frequently updated personal website. Most blogs have date stamps on the entries, and consist of links and commentary.
Now, remember when you were in school and you would bowl for charity? And for every pin you knocked down you got, say, ten cents? Or run for a dollar a mile? During the Blogathon, people update their websites every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. For this, they collect sponsorships. Pledges can be a flat donation, or a certain amount for every hour the blogger manages to stay awake.
So how exactly does this work?
Easy: you sign up to sponsor a blogger. On July 26th, watch your blogger go for 24 hours straight. When the event is over, you’ll receive an email asking you to donate directly to the charity for which your participant was blogging.
Now, to see if I can pull an all-nighter — I haven’t done that in years…