Introduction to Blogging

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Introduction to Blogging

• Vincci Kwong
• Reference/Instruction Librarian

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What is a Blog?

• A blog (or weblog) is a web site that
• is organized chronologically by date
• self-archives by date
• is updated somewhat regularly with relatively
  short entries
• includes links, more links, and still more links
• uses a unique URL (called a permalink) for each
  individual post
• uses blogging software

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Most Blogs

• are comprised of short posts
• allow readers to comment on each post
• display a calendar or a date list for accessing
  archives
• include a blogroll that lists the various sites
  that particular blogger reads
• provide an RSS feed that syndicates the
  content and lets you read posts in a separate
  reader called an aggregator

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Birth of blog

• Blog is short for weblog, a term coined by
  Jorn Bargerin 1997 and popularized by Cameron
  Barrettin 1999.
• Peter Merholz decided to pronounce the term
  wee-blog, which was eventually shortened to
  just blog.
• Bloggish sites existed long before 1999, but it
  was during this time that like sites were
  identified and collected in lists, patterns
  emerged, and the number of blog sites began to
  increase significantly.

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Growth of blog

• In 1999, a company called Pyra released
  Blogger, a service that let anyone publish a
  blog for free by typing in a box in their web
  browser.
• The blog movement started to grow, but September
  11, 2001, marked a tipping point.
• Scripting News
• Kottke.org
• Today, there could be as many as one million
  blogs using dozens of blogging products.

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Blog
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Not Blog
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Advantage of blogging

• Dont need to know HTML or any programming
  language
• Can update your site from anywhere
• Lets you concentrate on content, not the process
• Makes your site more dynamic!

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Why You Should Care about Blogs

• 1.They act as information filters to help you
  handle information overload.
• Help you keep current
• 2.They allow you to easily disseminate your own
  ideas, thoughts, or information.
• Including information related to your life, work,
  etc.
• Telling Your Story
• 3.Networking

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Finding and Searching Blogs

• Weblog specific search engines and/or directories
• Feedster
• http//www.feedster.com/
• Bloogz
• http//www.bloogz.com/
• Blogstreet
• http//www.blogstreet.com/
• Bloglines
• http//www.bloglines.com/
• ODP, Google (a few tips for using these)

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How to get my own blog?
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Place to get your blog

• Blogger
• http//www.blogger.com/start
• Xanga
• http//www.xanga.com/
• MSN Space
• http//spaces.msn.com/
• Blogstream
• http//www.blogstream.com/

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How to get your blog out there?

• A RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
• a very easy way to distribute your blog to
  readers
• How to put your blog out there to rich the
  audience?
• Submit your RSS feed to aggregator like Bloglines
  
• http//www.bloglines.com

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What is an aggregator?

• Also known as rss aggregator, news aggregator, or
  feed reader
• A software that uses web feed, e.g. RSS feed, to
  retrieve syndicated web content such as blogs,
  poadcasts, vlogs and mainstream mass media
  websites etc.

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Why an aggregator?

• Save time on checking out updates at different
  websites
• One-stop viewing of information
• Customized information
• Easily subscribe or unsubscribe from a feed
• Sharing of information

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Bloglines
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Look for your interests
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Subscribe to feed
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Listing of your subscribed feed
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Subscribe through RSS feed
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Read feed content