Blogging November 7, 2006 Milne Library Room 104 Instructor: Kate Pitcher

What do these three people have in common?

Trent Lott Talking Points Memo

Monica Lewinsky The Drudge Report

Dan Rather Power Line

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 person’s blog.  Create and post to a blog.

Blogging: An Introduction  What  Who  How  Why

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

What makes up a blog? Some common components:  Dated entries/posts  Permalinks  Blogroll (links to other blogs)  Syndicated content  Comments  Archives

A Short History…  Originated as “lists of links”  Became personal journals  Justin Hall’s “Links from the Underground” may be the first weblog (1994)Links from the Underground  In 1997, Dave Winer created to share technology issues with friends and colleagues  Jorn Barger coined the term weblog in 1997 with his site,

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

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 degrees source: Rainie, Lee. “Memo: the state of blogging”. Pew Internet & American Life Project, January February

Who reads blogs?  27% of Internet users read blogs as of November that’s 32 million people!  greater-than-average growth of readers among women, minorities, and those between the ages of  tend to be young, male, well-educated and veteran Internet users source: Rainie, Lee. “Memo: the state of blogging”. Pew Internet & American Life Project, January February

The Pew Internet & American Life Project 27% 7% Source: Rainie, Lee. “The state of blogging”. The Pew Internet & American Life Project.. 2 June

Why the growth?  culture of sharing on the Internet  ease of use

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 February

How does one syndicate a blog to readers? Using RSS technology! R eally S imple S yndication

Blog Today’s post RSS Feed Feeds into an aggregator or Newsreader Subscribers Archived posts How RSS Feeds work…

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

How does one create a blog?  Free software  Most websites will host your blog on their server  Few HTML editing skills required  Easily updated

Creating a weblog…  Blogger  Movable Type  LiveJournal  Radio Userland  Pitas  Slash  WordPress

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

Blog tools… LiveJournal  joining the site is free  will host your blog on their server

Blog tools… WordPress  free  customize the look of your blog  host your blog on their server  no need to learn HTML

Tips for a successful blog…  know your purpose and focus  simplicity  update regularly  links  syndicated content  publicity

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)

Blogs in the classroom  Why?  When?  How?

Blog post…

Student responds to post…

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

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

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: Infotrac Onefile. Gale Group Databases. 23 September 2004.

Teaching Blogs How do we do it?  Webquests  Hands-on activities  Active learning

Ingredients…  Assignments  Learning outcomes  Design of activities  Guided practice in class  Assessment