Blog, Bog, Smog… What is It? June Hsiao Liebert CIO and Lecturer The University of Texas School of Law Kristina L. Niedringhaus Electronic Services Librarian Texas Wesleyan Law Library SWALL/HALL Annual Meeting, March 27, 2004
So what is a blog anyway? Blog (blôg): n. “…software that a person can use to create a type of website that consists primarily of templates and text that is easily posted to the site. It’s easy to use, so you don’t have to take a class in FrontPage, DreamWeaver or learn any programming languages.” Brenda Howard “…a website you can update as easily as you can send an .” Ernie Svenson “…a website you can update as easily as you can send an .” Ernie Svenson ( v. 1.to maintain a blog; 2.to post something to a blog
What do you need to blog? Hosted Hosted –Blogger/Blogspot –Typepad Desktop Desktop –Radio UserLand Server Server –PMachine –Moveable Type
Popularity of Law Blogs Web Site Owner Number of Lawyers URL Links to Website per Google Covington & Burling Covington & Burling Vinson & Elkins Vinson & Elkins Gray Cary Gray Cary Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Kirkpatrick & Lockhart King and Spaulding King and Spaulding Ernie the Attorney Ernie the Attorney 1 com/ / com/ / 1560 From
Lists of Law-Related Blogs Blawg.org Blawg.org The Blawg Ring The Blawg Ring Lawblogs.com Lawblogs.com Blawgsearch Blawgsearch The Daily Whirl The Daily Whirl The Blogrunner Law Channel The Blogrunner Law Channel
Searching Blogs Daypop Daypop –Search 59,000 blogs –Word and news bursts Blogdex Blogdex –weblog diffusion index Blogsearchengine Blogsearchengine Google Google –Owns Blogger.com –Includes blogs within search results
BlogRunner Microcontent publishing or blog portal Microcontent publishing or blog portal Repackages and indexes blog content Repackages and indexes blog content –See law channel (left column) Blog search engine Blog search engine Revenue sharing scheme Revenue sharing scheme Released 10/20/2003 Released 10/20/2003
Blog Updates Via Bloglet - Bloglet - An subscription service for your blog An subscription service for your blog Single, daily with your blog updates is sent to readers Single, daily with your blog updates is sent to readers Readers self-subscribe to your update at Bloglet Readers self-subscribe to your update at Bloglet Blogger - allows you to send an to one address, which can be a mailing list Blogger - allows you to send an to one address, which can be a mailing list
RSS Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication Form of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) Form of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) Looks like HTML Looks like HTML See sample at: See sample at: Blogs can easily produce RSS also Blogs can easily produce RSS also
News Aggregators Easy way to read several blogs/news feeds at once Easy way to read several blogs/news feeds at once News or RSS Readers News or RSS Readers – – – – –More readers at:
Contact Us Kris Niedringhaus Kris Niedringhaus –Texas Wesleyan Law Library – June Liebert June Liebert –The University of Texas School of Law –