I'm probably not interesting enough, but I could write one if you wanted material.

I don't know how to go about getting scholars or prominent people to write for BabelUp. I'd like to see it happen, but somehow I don't think Barack Obama would respond to our emails.

I certainly wouldn't say 'no' if you wanted to write one.  Basically you could just write a blog post and let me know when you've submitted it so I can promote it.

As far as getting other writers--I'm hoping someone knows someone who would do it.  If not I could ask around.  And if not then I'll probably get rid of the feature.

Even getting professors or grad students would be nice. I guess I could talk to Mr. Banai... (Brown teacher).

Give me a topic and I'll see if I can tap something out while I'm on break. That would give you filler at least.

Sure.  How about Indian sectarian violence and how it compares to Iraqi sectarian violence?  Or something like that having to do with India.

If you're still interested in an essay on sectarian violence, I can write something along those lines. In fact, I could even do a series, if you wanted something longer--for example, essays on sectarian violence in Iraq, India/Pakistan, the Balkans, the Pacific Rim (i.e. the Philippenes/Indonesia and the surrounding states) and Central Africa.

If you're interested that is.

That would be great.

I mean, right now, if anyone writes an interesting, opinionated, and substantial blog entry--meaning not a copy-paste from a class and not a re-report of the news--it will probably get featured.  Ideally I'd eventually like to have the featured article be based on the amount of recent favorites/kudos it gets, but that feature isn't used enough right now for that to work.

I think the lack of use is related to the lower amount of content that's been posted lately, which is understandable, when you consider that this is the holiday season and semester exams are either here or fast approaching for our student population, which is a majority. I think when we see more content in a month or so we'll start seeing more use of the kudos feature.

Which segment would you like to have first?

In fact, there's been more activity lately.  The problem, if there is one, is not that the site is getting less activity; I attribute it to both a lack of motivation to use the feature and the fact that the links blend in.  I might change the Kudo link to look like a +1 button at some point.

I'm curious what you think about Iraq right now, given the positive developments that have occurred recently in terms of the eventual conclusion of U.S. military operations there.