90 Minute Blogs Part 1: The Bloggening

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90 Minute BlogsPart 1 The Bloggening

• GaCOMO 2005David Free
• Jennifer Link
• October 13, 2005

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Overview

• General Blogging
• Blogging In Libraries
• Creating Blogs
• General RSS
• Subscribing To Websites Via RSS

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Whats A Blog?

• Formatted website used for communication,
  community.
• Posts on a common webpage usually in reverse
  chronological order.
• Typically accessible by any Internet
  user.Source Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  Weblog)

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Whats A Blog?

• Late 2004/ Early 2005
• 8 million Americans created blogs
• Readership up 58 in 2004
• 27 of Internet users read blogs
• 12 of Internet users comment on blogsSource
  Pew Internet and American Life Project State of
  Blogging Report (http//www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/
  144/report_display.asp )

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Anatomy Of A Blog

• Common features
• Time/date stamp
• Comments
• Permalinks
• Archives
• Blogroll
• Peter Scotts Library Blog (blog.xrefer.com)
• TechnoBiblio (www.technobiblio.com)

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Types Of Weblogs

• Personal
• Topical/ Niche
• News
• Political
• Corporate
• Audio/ MP3/ Photo

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Blog Search Tools

• Search for weblogs or blog posts on specific
  topics
• Feedster www.feedster.com
• Google Blog Search - blogsearch.google.com

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Why Blog _at_ My Library?

• Online newsletter
• New acquisitions
• Upcoming programs
• Book discussions
• Target specific audiences
• Staff intranet
• Why would YOU blog?

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Library Sponsored Blogs

• Marketing/ TopicalAnn Arbor District Library -
  www.aadl.org
• Internal/ StaffGPC Libraries Internal Weblog
  gpcreference.blogspot.comSource Aaron Schmidt
  and Michael Stephens, Types of LibraryWeblogs
  (www.tametheweb.com/presentations/purdueblogs/Type
  sofLISWeblogs.pdf)

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Independent Library Blogs

• Front LineFeel-good Librarian -
  feelgoodlibrarian.typepad.com/feelgood_librarian
• Innovator/ CommentatorTame The Web -
  www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/Source Aaron
  Schmidt and Michael Stephens, Types of
  LibraryWeblogs (www.tametheweb.com/presentations
  /purdueblogs/TypesofLISWeblogs.pdf)

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Blogging Issues

• Keeping it fresh
• Communication medium vs. journalism
• Getting dooced
• Anonymity
• Tone
• Retractions and corrections

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Creating A Blog

• Free and pay online hosting sites
• Downloadable software (must have a web server!)
• Blogger www.blogger.com
• Lets make one now!

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Lets Take A Break!

• Questions?
• Comments?

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90 Minute BlogsPart 2 RSS-ified!

• GA/ COMO 2005David Free
• Jennifer Link
• October 13, 2005

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What is RSS?

• Really Simple Syndication
• Rich Site Summary
• RDF Site Summary
• A document specification for Web content that
  allows feed readers or aggregators to collect,
  organize, and present Web-based content.
• Huh?

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What is RSS?

• A way to make web content deliverable to and
  readable on the aggregator service of your choice

Content from all of those sites delivered to one
place
Your daughters blog
Netflix
slashdot.org
cnn.com
Jerzs Literacy Weblog
chronicle.com
SEC football
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What You Need

• An aggregator/reader account
• Bloglines www.bloglines.com
• FeedReader
• Pluck www.pluck.com
• My Yahoo my.yahoo.com
• Many others

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What You Need

• Feeds
• Look for

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What You Need

• Feeds, continued
• Search for feeds
• Feedfinder (from Feedster) feedfinder.feedster.co
  m
• Syndic8 www.syndic8.com
• RSS Locator www.rss-locator.com/search/search.php
  
• Daypop www.daypop.com
• Plazoo www.plazoo.com
• Search tool within your reader service

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What You Need

• How to subscribe to a feed
• Login to feed reader account.
• Right-click on feed button.
• Choose Copy Shortcut.
• Paste copied shortcut into feed reader.
• GPC Decatur Campus Library - gpcdecaturlrc.blogspo
  t.com
• 90 Minute Blogs - _______.blogspot.com

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What Can RSS Do For Me?

• For your library . . .
• Keep your patrons informed
• General announcements
• New acquisitions
• Upcoming programs
• Patron notifications
• Become more relevant
• Impress your patrons
• Impress other libraries

• Personally . . .
• Help you stay organized
• Help you keep up
• Save you time

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How to Create a Feed

• Have content to be syndicated (like a blog)
• Create the RSS file
• Automatic from some services
• DIY with instructions from Stephen Downes,
  tinyurl.com/5svrw
• Generate feeds for free
• Feedburner, www.feedburner.com
• IceRocket, rss.icerocket.com
• Validate your RSS file feedvalidator.org

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Thanks for attending!

• Question?
• Comments?
• David Free, dfree_at_gpc.edu
• Jennifer Link, jlink_at_gpc.edu