This will be the third Hay Festival where blogging has been part of the experience for me.  I thought I’d share a little bit about how micro-publishing from a field in Wales works where the phone reception is flaky and the wifi can be a bit hit and miss.  There’s essentially two parts to this post; the what and the how.

The Content

It’s a cliché it’s true, but the content is king.  The main objective is to review sessions from the Festival and it makes sense to get the posts out while they are fresh and whilst there is an interested audience that didn’t make it into the tent.  That usually means writing up the post immediately after the event.  In many cases I’ll publish a review within an hour or less of the session, but there are occasions with back to back sessions, or nearer the end of the day when a pint of cider intervenes, it will be the day after.   Although I might attend more than two sessions in a day I’ll seldom post on more than two, this isn’t the Guardian …er Telegraph after all.

I’ll also do the odd post on the weather, the quirkiness of the festival or some such spurious observation.

The Technology

The how isn’t always as straightforward as it might be.  In 2008 I lugged a heavy laptop around (I’d done the same the previous year whilst I was writing my book – sadly nothing literary).  Last year I use the super compact, but slow, Sony Vaio P (above) , a bit like a widescreen netbook.  Using the WordPress app on my iPhone I was also able to publish photographs as soon as I’d taken them.

This year it’s the iPhone again but partnered with an iPad on site (the Vaio P died) and probably a laptop back at the ranch.  I’ll also be carrying a mifi (personal wifi) as backup on site but mainly because the ranch that will be home this year has no internet.

Geeky innit?