UKOLN is supported by: Using Blogs Effectively Within Your Organisation: Introduction A Half-Day Workshop Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Resources bookmarked using ‘ mw2008-blog-workshop ' tag Mike Ellis Eduserv Bath, UK by-nc-sa

2 Contents Introduction About the Workshop Facilitators About the Workshop About You Overview of Key Blogging Concepts Case Studies Reasons For Having a Blog What are the Issues? Addressing the Issues Sharing Best Practices What Next? Introduction

3 About The Workshop Facilitators Brian Kelly: UK Web Focus: a national advisory post Long-standing Web evangelist (since Jan 1993) Based at UKOLN, University of Bath, with remit to advise HE/FE and cultural heritage sectors Interests include Web 2.0, standards, accessibility and overcoming institutional inertia Mike Ellis: Head of Web for the National Museum of Science and Industry for 7 years Now working at Eduserv, Bath Interests include user generated content, Web 2.0, ubiquitous computing & innovation and how to exploit these to gain maximum benefit for cultural institutions Introduction

4 About The Workshop By the end of the workshop you should: Be aware of key blogging concepts and tool Have learnt about ways in which blogs can be used within a library environment Have identified potential barriers to the deployment of blogs within an institution Have heard about and discussed strategies for overcoming barriers Have learnt about tools and techniques for measuring a blog’s impact and success. Have heard about and discussed best practices for developing a sustainable blogging service Have had the opportunity to make plans for launching or enhancing your blog service Introduction And have a set of materials & resources which you can use for in-house training purposes

5 Timetable Draft timetable: Introduction Case studies Why have a museum blog? Tea break What are the issues which need to be addressed? Addressing the issues Deployment strategies Sharing best practices Conclusions Note: Subject to change! Workshop is intended to be interactive Introduction

6 About You Please: Introduce yourself (your name, who you work for and what you do) Describe your interests in and experiences of blogs and blogging Say what you hope to gain from the workshop Introduction

7 Key Blog Concepts (1 of 5) What Is A Blog? A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Blogging Wikipedia definition Note that blog software can be used for other purposes (including building conventional Web sites). We will focus on conventional understanding of a blog. See also handout

8 Key Blog Concepts (2 of 5) Providing a Blog Blogs can be provided by: Installing software locally (open source or licensed) Using an externally hosted service (Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are popular) Using existing systems (e.g. a VLE, a CMS, etc.) which has blog functionality provided Using social networking services (e.g. Facebook, MySpace) which providing blogging or similar functionality Blogging

9 Key Blog Concepts (3 of 5) Reading Blogs Blog readers can: Visit a blog site (conventional approach) Use an RSS reader, which can be web-based (e.g. Bloglines, Google Reader, etc.) or a desktop RSS reader (e.g. Blogbridge) Via a blog aggregator – view posts from lots of blogs Use a mobile device (e.g. PDA, mobile phone, etc.) Have blog posts delivered using Blogging

10 Key Blog Concepts (4 of 5) Finding Blogs I find blog posts (including links to my posts) using: Technorati Google blogger web comments Blog directories Referrer links to my blog … Blogging Technorati is to the blogosphere what Google is to Web space

11 Key Blog Concepts (5 of 5) Since last year we now have ‘micro-blogs’: Form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually < 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including IM, SMS, or the Web Micro-blogging helps to focus on the question: is a blog a publishing or a communications tool? Twhirl Twitter app used at MW 2008

12 Questions Any questions or comments: About the workshop? About what a blog is and how blogs ‘work’?