Those 30 articles are an endless source of inspiration for any content producer, no matter the niche/industry/speciality. Here are some examples:

1. Do you write about books or movies? You can create a new section on your site/blog, containing special reviews where you’ll not only analyse the pieces’ artistic merits, but also their compliance (or lack thereof) to human rights.
2. Article 23 is perfect for sites on business, entrepreneurship, jobs and careers. Article 24 must be taken into consideration as well. Article 4 applies to more extreme cases, but I’ve managed to use it at Human Rights – Article 4.
3. To create fictional pieces, look at Article 20’s 2nd item. What if your characters were forced to belong to an association? What’s this association about and why don’t they want to be part of it? Who forced them into joining it? This could generate novels, short films/videos, comics…
4. If you moderate a forum about education, Article 26 can be a great object of debate, especially because of its 3rd item. In many countries, parents choices are limited by laws that restrict homeschooling, use of religious symbols etc. How do your forum’s members feel about it?

It took me only a few minutes to come up with the ideas above, and the list could go on and on. Now it’s your turn: read The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and let it stimulate your creativity. Of course, results will be even better if your creations help raise awareness on human rights.

By the way, this post is meant to show that I do support human rights. I’m blogging about this topic today because it’s Human Rights Day. But make no mistake: everyday is a good day to support this cause.

A note to Twitter users: please add the hashtag #HRD to your tweets on Human Rights Day. Thank you!

Today I won’t try to offer you original content creation ideas. Instead, I’ll simply ask you to participate of the collective efforts to spread the word on AIDS related topics.

Please, don’t let this date pass unnoticed. You don’t have to do anything complex nor sophisticated—unless you can and want, of course. However, in case you don’t have much time and/or ideas, don’t let these little issues discourage you. All you have to do is produce a simple piece of content showing that you support AIDS related causes, such as:

• The fight against AIDS discrimination
• AIDS prevention (differences between effective and non-effective methods)
• Raising awareness on AIDS transmission/symptoms/treatment
• The AIDS crisis in Africa
• AIDS charities
• AIDS orphans

You can use any type of content, including but not limited to:

• Blog posts
• Site articles
• Visual arts (drawing, painting, digital art, photography, photo manipulation…)
• Short videos
• Podcasts
• Webcomics
• Microblogging (at Twitter you should use the tag #WAD08)

Looking for AIDS related resources?

• Bloggers Unite could be your starting point (mainly for U.S. residents).
• As always, Wikipedia is your friend. You’d better read the AIDS Wikipedia page written in your country’s language, so you can increase you chances of finding information and links that are truly relevant to your nation.
• For a more global approach, go to World AIDS Campaign, which is available in several languages.

Thank you for taking action on World AIDS Day.

You do not have to own a blog or site to participate. All you have to do is subscribe to Litemind’s newsletter. After you do it, you’ll receive instructions on how to submit your tip. Hurry up, because the deadline for all entries is November 27th, 2008 (-12 GMT).

Almost forgot to mention it: there will be $800 in prizes for the best tips. Hopefully, this little detail will give you additional motivation to take part in this group writing project.

So, let’s assume that you have some (or several) goals.They may be personal, professional, artistic… it doesn’t matter much. Nor does it matter if you’re on your way to reach them or not. What I propose is that you think about your goals and see them as sources of inspiration to create new content for your blog or site.

Suggestions on how to take inspiration from your goals

1. Many people find it difficult to pick a niche to write about. Even when they are told to think about topics they’re familiar with and/or they particularly care for, they still have a hard time deciding what to choose. If that’s your case, think about your goals.

>> Have you decided to lose weight? I guess you spend quite some time researching diets, exercises, medical advice and the such. Couldn’t you turn your knowledge and personal experience into content? Yes, you probably could. For instance: if you can draw, why don’t you create a comic strip on a character who wants to lose weight? What if said character was an overweight superhero (as opposed to the typically muscle-bound ones)?

2. If you have ever reached a goal, first of all, congratulations! Now, use it to help your site’s visitors. Break your success story down into several small steps and teach your readers how to get there.

>> This is what thousands of books and blogs are about. The authors achieved some important things in life and then decided to tell their readers how to do the same. This content creation model can be replicated ad infinitum because it relies on an individual’s authority. If she has first-hand experience in an area, she deserves the audience’s respect.

3. This one works better for people who produce fresh content on a continuous basis. Pick an ongoing goal of yours — one that you know your audience would be interested in — and create several pieces of content to help your visitors follow your progress.

>> Say you’re a teacher who blogs about education and you decided to try a different pedagogic method in your classes. In case you still haven’t, tell your readers about your plans and what you want to achieve, i. e., which improvements you expect from your students and how you’re going to evaluate them (only by their grades? Or by other means?). This can be the beginning of an article series. You may publish new posts whenever you have some news about your experiments or you may set an update schedule (Bi-monthly updates? Revisions every six weeks? Quarterly summaries?). Alternatively, you can create a separated page on your blog and keep all things related to your goal there.

4. What if you fail to reach a goal? Well, you can always turn your failure into something more productive. Don’t be afraid to share your less positive experiences with your visitors. They will relate to your feelings; what no one can relate to is a perfect being.

>> Have you ever created a video that you expected to become a YouTube hit, only to find out later that no one cared for it? Now it may be time to poke some fun at yourself: make a humorous video that teaches how to be ignored by viewers. Show how pretentious you were — don’t be ashamed — , describe that big plan that looked too good to go wrong and display the poor view count that made you get back to your senses. You may either end it all with a (mock?) moral lesson or just announce that you haven’t dropped your YouTube domination plans.

The publication of this post will help me achieve part of a goal that I discussed in my previous post: recycling my own promises to create new content. If you want to see me reach the full goal, subscribe to Abaminds and read the next articles.

I told you it was quick and easy.

All right, one paragraph may not be enough for you. So I’m going to elaborate a bit on this suggestion.

Here at Abaminds I often claim that I’ll get back to certain subjects in the future. See, for instance, my articles How To Get Ideas From 66 Lists – Part 3 and Write About Your Blogging Goals For 2008.

Well, the truth is that I still haven’t gotten back to the topics mentioned on those posts. Now, am I entitled to complain about lack of inspiration to update this blog? Of course not! I told you, my dear readers, that I’d write more about several subjects and by doing this I’ve generated expectations. It’s my duty to meet said expectations by creating the content you’ve been waiting for. And this is what I’ll be doing in the weeks to come, as you’ll see when you subscribe to my feed.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t you think it’s time to do something about this? Instead of saying that you can’t think of any new content ideas, see what you can achieve by working on those old things that you’ve promised to your visitors. In other words: recycle your promises by turning them into fresh articles, expanded sections, new illustrations, follow-up videos and so on. Your own ideas are there, just waiting to be acted upon. Don’t waste them.

Is this suggestion of any use to you? Can you think of nice ways to resurrect long forgotten site ideas? Leave a comment and share your tips.

I won’t submit an entry to this group writing project because this is too personal for my taste. The idea is wonderful, but I don’t like writing about myself (not when personal matters are involved anyway). Still, I strongly recommend that you try to participate if you have the time. The topic is very, very inspiring. Read Iain’s own mission statement to see an example of a well-structured piece inspired by the contest’s topic.

I will write more on this subject in the future, suggesting several ways to turn mission statements into sources of inspiration for your content. Subscribe to Abaminds to make sure that you won’t miss that article.

I first met her via MyBlogLog. Her experiences are rather different from those reported by other bloggers in the meta-blogging niche, as she applies problogging techniques to a personal, freely hosted blog. This fact plus her cool MyBlogLog profile made me curious about her and soon I realised she would be a great interviewee. Refreshing points of view, a deep love for music and a pleasant friendliness are among the traits that make Raivyn a person who deserves to become more known.

Her main blogs are Idiot’s Guide to Blogging (meta-blogging) and Kaleidoscopic Reverie (personal). She also keeps a profile at MySpace.

IMPORTANT: Raivyn invites you all to visit Rock Against Domestic Abuse of NY. And so do I.

Now, onto the interview:

INSPIRATION

- Where do your ideas come from?

Everything! I have a very active mind, so something as simple as washing dishes can inspire a song or insightful blog post.

- “Kaleidoscopic Reverie” and “Idiot’s Guide to Blogging” are cool blog names. Where did you take them from?

Kaleidoscopic Reverie came from a weird dream I had in which I was trapped in a room full of mirrors, and then everything just kind of melted together. That dream inspired a lot of my creations.

Idiot’s Guide to Blogging was a little more straight-forward. I received an email a few months back from a new blogger who called himself “an idiot when it comes to blogging” and was looking for advice. You can figure it out from there.

- At Kaleidoscopic Reverie you sometimes respond to memes like Manic Monday and Friday Fill-Ins. Are you easily inspired by those? Or do you use them just as fillers when you can’t (or don’t want to) write about anything else?

Both. I think memes are a great way to start off the day and get the mind working, and yes, when lacking inspiration. They’re also a great way to connect with bloggers I would not have met anywhere else.

BLOGGING

- How hard is it to find the time and inspiration needed to update all of your blogs?

Inspiration is fairly easy to come by, but time is a big problem. I’ve lost count of the number of times I had to write a post in advance so I could do everything else I had planned for the week. Posting can be a heavy burden some days, but I love to blog and don’t dare give it up.

- How do off-line issues affect your online activities?

It can be rough sometimes.. I don’t always have the time or energy to log on for days, even weeks. Lately I’ve been wrapped up in the music thing- my boys consume a LOT of my time!

- What’s your favourite blog platform: Blogger, MySpace or TypePad?

A lot of people will disagree with me, but I’d say it’s a toss-up between Blogger and TypePad.. I love the versatility of Blogger, but TypePad has the little extras I prefer for an informative blog. It depends on the type of blog, really.

- What is it like to be part of a group blog like 99 Bloggers?

I’m honored to have been invited to join a group blog like this. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to contribute lately because of my current jobs and projects, but that will be changing soon enough. I can’t wait to get posting.

- Kaleidoscopic Reverie is a personal blog. However, it contains features that are more typical of pro and semi-pro blogs (e. g. ads, links to directories, subscriptions powered by FeedBurner). Why?

One day I found that my blog had a pretty high page rank for being a personal diary, so why not profit from that feat? If I can get paid for just being myself, I’ll take that opportunity.

- Could Idiot’s Guide to Blogging be viewed as a consequence of your problogging experiments at Kaleidoscopic Reverie?

Definitely, I learned a lot from KR.

- What are your plans for Idiot’s Guide to Blogging? Would you like to become one of the big players in the meta-blogging niche?

Right now, I’m just trying to create a helpful resource for bloggers. While it would be cool to be a popular blogger in my niche, I’m not going to spend all my days typing away at the computer when I’ve got several other dreams to chase. A career in the music industry is number one on my list, blogging comes second. It’s all about priorities.

- You’ve been trying several traffic generation methods, such as traffic exchanges, blog communities (like MyBlogLog) and even webrings. By your experience, what are the most — and the least — effective ones?

The most effective by far would be the blog communities. There is so much potential in social media websites like MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog. I believe that anyone with a great blog and networking skills can use those sites to quickly become a top blogger in his or her niche.

The least effective would definitely be the traffic exchanges. They are a great way for new bloggers to generate traffic and get their names out there in the blogosphere, but they don’t guarantee repeat visits and prove to be useless later on down the road for anything other than a link in the blog directory. Traffic exchanges are also a Terms of Service violation for several affiliate programs, including Google AdSense.

- Many probloggers and wannabes have a strong prejudice against personal blogs. Owning 3 blogs that fall under the “personal” category, how do you feel about that?

Honestly, I don’t care. They are entitled to their opinions and I’m entitled to mine. I’m just doing what I find to be fun, and judging by the outcome, I must be doing something right.

MUSIC

- You’re a huge music lover. Do you listen to music while writing your blog posts?

Always. Times when I’m not listening to music are pretty rare.

- When will you have a blog entirely devoted to music?

This is something that has been on my mind for the past couple years now.. I’m not sure why I never went through with it. As of right now, I don’t really have the time to take on another project like that, but you just never know what the future holds..

- Have you ever thought about writing and/or performing theme songs for your blogs?

No, but that’s an interesting idea.

LIFE

- You are involved in Rock Against Domestic Abuse: New York. How important is this event to you? What are the staff’s perspectives regarding expansion and future outcomes?

Rock Against Domestic Abuse: New York holds a very special place in my heart, as I’ve dealt with a lot of hardships as a child and young adult. As a member of the team, I hope to inspire those who are in situations that seem hopeless and maybe even save a few lives in the process. This is about reaching out to those who need help. As for the future, I’m not sure about what’s to come.. Right now we’re focused on planning this first event, and then once it’s over we’ll see where we can take it from there. Like with blogging, putting together such an event and building it takes time- you have to present your best, grow your contact list, get feedback, and improve on it.

- On your MyBlogLog profile you state that “there are more than enough sheep in this world.” How hard (or easy) was it for you to learn this?

It was very easy for me to learn. I have a supportive mother who taught me to be myself and follow my heart, despite what everyone else is doing. Over the years I found how important it is to lead your own life instead of following the crowd.. you’re not only happier, but you’re also in touch with who you really are and where you stand in life.

- On the same profile you say you are a philosopher. If you ever wrote a book about your own philosophical doctrine, how would it be like?

Pure contradiction. There are no set rules in life, only guidelines. Everything contradicts itself, there is always an exception to the rule, and anything is possible. Life is full of mind games, and in order to live to our full potential, we need to overcome the physical roadblocks and learn to think outside the box. We must live through others, but we must also live our own lives and learn from our mistakes. It’s kind of complicated, but simple to understand once you see the entire picture.

- Suppose you had a device that would allow you to be heard by 1/3 of the world’s population for 3 minutes. What would you say to all those people?

There will always be someone out there who wants to kick you down and trash talk you, and it’s your choice whether or not to let that affect your performance and outlook on life. Stay true to yourself and others, and follow your heart. It’s human nature to want to do good; it’s those who are insecure that show us otherwise. Do what’s right. This can apply to anything- daily life, politics, etc.

This huge group writing project is led by Vivien from Inspiration Bit and is co-hosted by several bloggers, including yours truly. Click here or here for more details.

Even if you decide not to submit any articles, I recommend that you track the Social Media Mega Project’s progress and results. By doing this you will certainly get several ideas not only on content creation but also on group activities.

The way you’ll have to approach it is even more inspiring: instead of posting an overall analysis of what you learned last year, you will pick a single post from each month you’d been blogging in 2007 and describe them. Do it until January 13th, 2008 and you’ll get some link love from Robert. UPDATE: Let Robert host your responses at his blog and you’ll get even more link love. Just make sure to read all the instructions first.

In the near future I will post here my own ideas on how to create content based on lessons you’ve learned. Make sure that you won’t miss those tips: click here to subscribe to Abaminds feed.

Interestingly, this reminds me of a previous post where I mentioned the results of a personality test. Compassion would be my strongest conviction, according to the report I got after answering all questions. I find it curious that I’m incidentally writing about this topic again.

Were this a personal, self-improvement or spiritual blog, I’d write a long article about compassion. Perhaps I’d already have written it by now, because this time of the year favours such topics. But due to Abaminds’ nature, I’m afraid that article would look too off-topic here.

This doesn’t mean that compassion-related subjects cannot be discussed in other niches. See, for instance, Tad’s post urging bloggers to treat their visitors like human beings, not numbers. Or Chris Garret’s recent article about respect (or lack thereof) in the blogosphere. And let’s not forget Isabella’s (successful) attempt to stablish connections between social media and compassion.

That being said, let me suggest some exercises that will help you use compassion as a source of content ideas:

1. Just like I did above, try to find relations between compassion and content produced in your niche. Use your own site’s content as an example if applicable. Then write about your discoveries and/or link to the sources.

2. Look up the word “compassion” on various dictionaries. Analyse the differences among the several descriptions. Do they seem to truly convey the word’s meaning? Or do they lack sensitivity? Would you be able to write a better definition for the term? These questions may be of special interest to those who play in niches like education, linguistics, philosophy and self-improvement.

3. If you can draw or paint, how would you portrait compassion? Try to illustrate it in such a way that most people looking at the finished image can quickly realise what it is about. Then show the image to as many people as possible, ask them what it conveys, take notes on their answers and report the result. How successful have you been in depicting compassion?

4. Save the suggestions above and only follow them some months from now. Or try them during the holiday season and repeat everything some months later. Do the time of the year influence your level of interest in compassion and/or the results you get when trying to create content about it?

Bonus tip: if you write a blog post about compassion before January 5th, 2008, don’t forget to submit it to Spread the Love NOW! Group Writing Project.

Merry Christmas!