Blogging is an art form that is attempted by many and perfected by very few. Twin Cities Spark exists for only one reason: to Spotlight local Bloggers who have mastered their trade.

My profile appeared in February. I talk about how I got started in cityblogging, a little about my process, what other local blogs I like, what’s great about the Twin Cities, and a tidbit of advice for new bloggers.

Twin Cities Spark is the local arm of a national effort, and it’s staffed by freelance writer and editor Sara Duane. (Sara, by the way, is everywhere on the Twin Cities web. You’ve probably read her and you don’t even know it.) My thanks to Sara for reaching out.

“Points and badges are an incentive to get out to more and more places,” says Erica Mauter, a Minneapolis urban-culture expert at cinna.mn and fresh.mn. “It’s like putting new patches on your backpack or earning merit badges.”

Unfortunately, the link to this article at twincities.com is already dead and you have to pay for the text-only archive, but you may be able to access the Google cache of the article. Kaeti Hinck, the star of the photo in the article, snagged this photo of the print edition.

Many thanks to PiPress tech writer Julio Ojeda-Zapata for including me in his story.

UPDATE: A copy of the print article has been archived online at scribd.

Ten Money Questions for Erica Mauter

Julio Ojeda-Zapata, in his latest Maynard Institute column, broke down the behind-the-scenes-in-plain-view goings on at the MPR Ethics in Online Journalism forum that Greg and I liveblogged for Ye Olde Metblog.