In a few months from now the CPH127-community will have 1 year anniversary. Since the very beginning we aimed for a broad approach to design, innovation and leadership. I think we succeeded, didn’t we?
But one of the problems I think al great weblogs are facing is the hidden content. Every weblog has a achieve-section but how often do YOU really use this section?
The reason why I’m asking this is because I recently got an e-mail from one of the readers of CPH127 – he asked me if I could help him finding a post from last spring about Doblins 10 types of Innovation. I did of course find it but it raised a question in my mind about starting reposting some of the old “stuff” – would that be a good idea or is it only me that has the need to refresh my mind sometimes?
Or is their another format who could make it as a catch-up?
Please let me know?
5 comments so far
One approach maybe, which is highly subjective of course, is to maintain a separate list of landmark/key posts, say the top 10. That way they are always visible to users ie. Below the Newsletter email section have your top ten best posts.
I agree, old content is indeed hidden. Most people tend to search the archives or use category searches to get to posts related to what they want to read more about. For example if I wanted to read all that you had related to graphic design, I’d search there.
Simon’s suggestion is a good one - only issue I foresee is that just because the blog lists some posts as the top 10 - people will keep clicking only those - so it will still keep most other content hidden.
Good question you ask Hans - I cannot think of an answer! I guess the search function needs to be strong enough.
I’ve noticed that in the last two weeks, since I’ve not been able to visit daily, I felt (though it is irrational) that I probably missed a lot here on CPH127.
One of the things another blogger does, which could be a possibility, is to organize some of the ‘best posts’ by category.
You can see this on http://www.plasticbag.org/
Another suggestion, though it might require considerable tweaking, is the NYTimes “most emailed articles”.
But the way I tend to set about catching up on things to read when I’ve been away for some time, is to go through the recent comments list, figuring that those were the most pospular.
I like the idea of a “top 10″ — right now I feature a section on the pernanent right nav of my blog as “fave posts” which serves this same purpose.
I also like the “most emailed” post idea.
But yes, as Naina suggests, this is still limiting the selection to a few. So how to bring up others?
Related posts might work well — so that when a new post relates to an older one, links to those are featured below in a separate section. This is nice because it provides context.
Another idea: bringing back posts to the main page with updated commentary — such as “this has been popular with readers who have emailed us” and possibly updated links or even comments from your readers. This way posts gain more depth to them over time.
Hope that’s helpful. 
Here’s an extension of the top 10 idea…within the ten, create a set of random “blast from the past” posts, maybe 2 or 3. That way you create a good mix, without impacting too much on screen real estate. And as we know, much of what we come across on the web is based on serendipity