Ian took some time recently to talk with a local Patriots fan blog, PatsPulpit, to give folks up there a chance to get to know him before he ventures up there to cover training camp starting next week.

BTW, he’s wanting to hear from you about what you want to hear from him during SEC Media Days later on this week.

As people begin to talk about the feasibility of the dome and other projects, they may want to take a look at this story published by The Next American City about whether or not a city should take the leap into convention center expansion.

Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Smoot announced the unveiling of the county’s new website earlier today. According to the release, the new website was built entirely in-house by the Program Management Office of the county’s Information Technology department and is the first major upgrade in nearly twenty years. The site is currently under consideration for the Center of Digital Government “Best of the Web” award.

Screenshot: http://jeffconline.jccal.org/

It’s our intention to hold it this evening instead (Wednesday, July 15) starting at 6:30 p.m. CT. If you’ve got any ideas for topics for this evening, and your suggestion to the comments section below.

For those not familiar with #bhamchat, check out this explanation over on my Birmingham.

They’ve also wasted little time in setting up additional avenues through which the new organization can share information, including a new fan page on Facebook launched yesterday during the event.

Our reason for silence – the launching of the new WordCamp Birmingham website just in time to open registration (complete with an early bird discount) and announce a call for speakers and sponsors for September 26 & 27. We’re still wondering if Matt Mullenweg will choose to wear his black Terminal T while he’s presenting, but we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, head on over and check it out.

FYI, Social South also unveiled its site last week. The first edition of this social media conference will take place here in The Magic City on August 21 & 22. They’ve also announced an early bird registration fee.

The public comment period has been going on for some time now and the deadline is for your submission of comments considered in the document’s reworking. Doc’s Political Parlor is hosting the commenting period – click here to get started.

Doc also has some additional information about the goals of the exercise – and if you need incentive to check that link out, how about taking a look at the world’s largest constitution (that would be Alabama’s) digitally compared to the U.S. Constitution.