Arctic Bay (Apr 03/06) - It all started with a link. In his random online journeys, Clare Kines stumbled upon a blog, or online journal, called "Bootstrap Analysis."

Clare Kines blogs on his laptop at his home/bed and breakfast in Arctic Bay. Kines has put together a list of Nunavummiut bloggers called "Nunavut Blogs!" - photo courtesy of Clare Kines

"I found it entertaining and informative, so I started reading more and more," he said.

Then he clicked on a link to another blog, and then to another, and so on.

Soon enough, Kines was blogging himself, writing almost every day about his life in Arctic Bay, where he has lived for seven years.

As he wrote, Kines discovered a few rare gems amongst the world of online writers - other Nunavummiut bloggers. This discovery prompted Kines to create a blogroll, an online list of Nunavut blogs called, well, "Nunavut Blogs!"

"There was always a lot of interest in Northern blogs," he said, referring to the number of "hits," or visitors the online journals receive. "But it was hard to find them."

Kines hoped to create a hub where people could find all the Nunavut blogs that update regularly in one place. Right now, Kines' blogroll contains eight blogs, including his own.

"Nunavut Blogs!" contains a number of voices, many of them fairly new to Nunavut.

Nunablog, for example, chronicles the lives of two teachers in an anonymous Nunavut community, making sense of their new lives while musing on global politics. Meanwhile, Shock Trauma follows the life of flight nurse and author Pat Jensen as she works (and fights) through the creative process.

Kines said "Jesse of the North" is the only Inuk blog on the list, something he hopes will changes as broadband Internet comes North.

Kines' own blog is called the "House & other Musings." He has used it to follow his business project: the building of a bed and breakfast in Arctic Bay.

He said the project has been an amazing, if expensive, learning project.

"Twelve months ago, I couldn't spell carpenter. Now I are one," he joked.