Blogging

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Blogging

• November 7, 2006
• Milne Library
• Room 104
• Instructor
• Kate Pitcher
• pitcher_at_geneseo.edu

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What do these three people have in common?
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Trent Lott

• Talking Points Memohttp//www.talkingpointsmemo.c
  om/

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Monica Lewinsky

• The Drudge Reporthttp//www.drudgereport.com/

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Dan Rather

• Power Linehttp//www.powerlineblog.com/

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Learning Outcomes

• Define a weblog (blog).
• Distinguish blogs from non-blog websites.
• Describe several key characteristics of blogs.
• Use specialized search engines or directories to
  locate blogs in a subject area.
• Post comments to another persons blog.
• Create and post to a blog.

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Blogging An Introduction

• What
• Who
• How
• Why

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What is a blog

• A weblog or (blog for short) is usually defined
  as
• A web page with dated entries, generally starting
  with the most current posts at the top and oldest
  at the bottom
• Collection of links and commentary
• An online journal

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What makes up a blog?

• Some common components
• Dated entries/posts
• Permalinks
• Blogroll (links to other blogs)
• Syndicated content
• Comments
• Archives

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A Short History

• Originated as lists of links
• Became personal journals
• Justin Halls Links from the Underground may be
  the first weblog (1994)
• In 1997, Dave Winer created www.scripting.com to
  share technology issues with friends and
  colleagues
• Jorn Barger coined the term weblog in 1997 with
  his site, http//www.robotwisdom.com

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A Short History

• The act of creating a website to solely direct
  users to other websites was unusual at the time
• In 1999 the first batch of automated tools to
  create and update weblogs were released
• Pitas and Blogger were released in 1999
• Growth took off!
• First conference devoted to blogging was held in
  Austin, Texas in 2000

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Who are these bloggers?

• Did you know
• 57 of blog creators are male
• 48 are under 30 years old
• 82 have been online 6 years or more
• 39 have college or graduate degreessource
  Rainie, Lee. Memo the state of blogging.
• Pew Internet American Life Project, January
  2005.10 February 2005http//www.pewinternet.org/
  PPF/r/144/report_display.asp

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Who reads blogs?

• 27 of Internet users read blogs as of November
  2004 -- thats 32 million people!
• greater-than-average growth of readers among
  women, minorities, and those between the ages of
  30-49
• tend to be young, male, well-educatedand veteran
  Internet users
• source Rainie, Lee. Memo the state of
  blogging.
• Pew Internet American Life Project, January
  2005.10 February 2005http//www.pewinternet.org/
  PPF/r/144/report_display.asp

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The Pew Internet American Life Project
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Source Rainie, Lee. The state of blogging.
The Pew Internet American Life Project.
. 2 June
2005.
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Why the growth?

• culture of sharing on the Internet
• ease of use

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Why read a Blog?

• Currency
• Relevancy
• Focus
• Free flow and exchange of ideas
• Connections
• Trends
• Marketing
• Siemens, George. The Art of Blogging.
  elearnspace.org 1 December 2002. 5 February
  2004 http//www.elearnspace.org/Articles/blogging
  _part_1.htm.

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How does one syndicate a blog to readers?

• Using RSS technology!
• Really Simple Syndication

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How RSS Feeds work
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Why use RSS Feeds?

• Content is easily disseminated via headlines
• Users go to one source -- their newsreader or
  aggregator -- to read all their RSS feeds
• Current awareness service potential

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How does one create a blog?

• Free software
• Most websites will host your blog on their server
• Few HTML editing skills required
• Easily updated

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Creating a weblog

• Blogger www.blogger.com
• Movable Type www.movabletype.org
• LiveJournal www.livejournal.com
• Radio Userland http//radio.userland.com
• Pitas www.pitas.com
• Slash www.slashcode.com
• WordPress http//wordpress.com

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Blog tools

• Blogger
• free
• ease of use
• web site will host your blog(no need to put blog
  on your own server)
• no prior knowledge of HTML or CSS
• tutorials available

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Blog tools

• LiveJournal
• joining the site is free
• will host your blog on their server

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Blog tools

• WordPress
• free
• customize the look of your blog
• host your blog on their server
• no need to learn HTML

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Tips for a successful blog

• know your purpose and focus
• simplicity
• update regularly
• links
• syndicated content
• publicity

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Why should we care about blogs?

• Information dissemination
• Abandonment by youth of traditional media outlets
• Grassroots journalism or citizen journalists
• Interactive capabilities
• Use as critical thinking tools in classroom
• Disruptive technology (Hiler, 2002)

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Blogs in the classroom

• Why?
• When?
• How?

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Blog post
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Student responds to post
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Blogs as critical thinking tools

• Interpersonal communication
• Social interaction
• Facilitates active learning
• Engagement with material
• Reflection and analysis
• Fosters teaching and learning
• Opportunities for feedback

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Critical Thinking

• Shortly after I began producing Rebecca's Pocket
  I noticed two side effects I had not expected.
  First, I discovered my own interests. I thought I
  knew what I was interested in, but after linking
  stories for a few months I could see that I was
  much more interested in science, archaeology, and
  issues of injustice than I had realized. More
  importantly, I began to value more highly my own
  point of view. In composing my link text every
  day I carefully considered my own opinions and
  ideas, and I began to feel that my perspective
  was unique and important
• -- Rebecca Blood, author of The Weblog Handbook

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Benefits of student blogging

• Subject-matter experts
• Ownership of their learning
• Participation and interaction with classmates
• Provides opportunities for diverse perspectives
• Ferdig, Richard E. and Kaye D. Trammell.
  Content delivery in the
• blogosphere. T H E Journal. February 2004
  12-16. Infotrac
• Onefile. Gale Group Databases. 23 September
  2004 .

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Teaching Blogs

• How do we do it?
• Webquests
• Hands-on activities
• Active learning

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Ingredients

• Assignments
• Learning outcomes
• Design of activities
• Guided practice in class
• Assessment