Full Circle Associates

Elisa Camahort, one of the BlogHer organizers, posted this::

"In the wake of the BlogHer announcement, bloggers are stepping forward to sponsor those who would otherwise be unable to come

Bloggers rock! Seriously have you ever seen this at a conference before?

It all started with Nancy White in this post:

"Are you a student who really wants to come and can't afford to? I'm offering 2 scholarships that I'll pay for, plus if you can't afford a hotel, I'll find a home to take you in in the San Jose area. If you have a bloggership, you can use the $99 to offset your other costs. Email me (nancyw at fullcirc dot com) with your reason and how you will bring a fresh voice to the event. I'll make a decision by May 15th.

Are you a person who can afford to support the participation of another woman? I challenge you to make that offer. Find a voice who would otherwise be unrepresented. Find a way to help her come."

Then it continued in the comments section of this post:

Lisa Stone: Nancy, I'm in. Who else will join us?
Susan Mernit: Folks, count me in--I will contribute a registration fee for someone who cannot afford it, and host someone in my house...that second bedroom..

And who know how many others will chime in. This is on top of and in addition to our Blogherships for people who will live-blog sessions.

Have you seen this kind of community coming together to make a conference be 'all that it can be' before? I haven't.

Makes me proud to be a blogger."

I reposted the whole thing because sometimes people ask me about this "blogging" thing, and the "community" it might support. It is a different sort of community formation than I have experienced via the support of message boards. It is fluid, hard to describe, but definitely present. It can facilitate collaboration!