Friday, February 10, 2006

Secret Teneife Gets IBSN

Stop the presses for this announcement of grand importance. Secret Tenerife has today obtained it's very own Internet Blog Serial Number, hereinafter known as its IBSN.

The matter first came to my attention through Victor Ruiz' blog, Linotipo, which links to the site where you can register and obtain your IBSN. The site also explains, in English, the how and why the project was born on February 2nd, 2006.

Oh, but choices, choices ...

What IBSN number should one select?

In the end, I decided to use the same formula that Miguel Acín Garro used at Taller. That is, the first eight numerals correspond to the date of the first post on the blog - its effective date of birth - in the case of Secret Tenerife, February 5, 2004. The less said the better about last two digits, the year of mine.

I suppose this is, in part, a protest. It is also a bit of fun, but I also feel that it could have it's legitimate uses.

If, as Victor Ruiz suggests, the initiative is going to be a success, then (using the date numbering formula above), readers could become familiar with the concept, which gives a blog a little credibility by showing the longevity of your work.

(I'm not sure what the longevity of the blogger imparts!)

Beyond that, you can make other uses up as you go along. Maybe coding the IBSN into some place in the META tags of your blog will allow you to track something or other, if only to see where your pages are being ripped off elsewhere!