1. 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

2. 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 E-mail.” Ernie Svenson “…a website you can update as easily as you can send an E-mail.” Ernie Svenson (http://www.llrx.com/extras/ir36.htm) http://www.llrx.com/extras/ir36.htm v. 1.to maintain a blog; 2.to post something to a blog

6. What do you need to blog? Hosted Hosted –Blogger/Blogspot –Typepad Desktop Desktop –Radio UserLand Server Server –PMachine –Moveable Type

9. Popularity of Law Blogs Web Site Owner Number of Lawyers URL Links to Website per Google Covington & Burling Covington & Burling 500 http://www.cov.com 178 Vinson & Elkins Vinson & Elkins 860 http://www.velaw.com 268 Gray Cary Gray Cary 420 http://www.graycary.com 390 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Kirkpatrick & Lockhart 700 http://www.kl.comhttp://www.kl.com http://www.kl.com http://www.kl.com 221 King and Spaulding King and Spaulding 700 http://www.kslaw.com 124 Ernie the Attorney Ernie the Attorney 1 http://radio.weblogs. com/0104634/ http://radio.weblogs. com/0104634/ 1560 From http://www.llrx.com/features/lawyerweblogs.htmhttp://www.llrx.com/features/lawyerweblogs.htm

10. Lists of Law-Related Blogs Blawg.org http://www.blawg.org/ Blawg.org http://www.blawg.org/http://www.blawg.org/ The Blawg Ring http://www.geocities.com/blawgring/ The Blawg Ring http://www.geocities.com/blawgring/ http://www.geocities.com/blawgring/ Lawblogs.com http://www.lawblogs.com/ Lawblogs.com http://www.lawblogs.com/http://www.lawblogs.com/ Blawgsearch http://blawgs.detod.com/ Blawgsearch http://blawgs.detod.com/http://blawgs.detod.com/ The Daily Whirl http://www.dailywhirl.com/ The Daily Whirl http://www.dailywhirl.com/ http://www.dailywhirl.com/ The Blogrunner Law Channel http://www.blogrunner.com/ The Blogrunner Law Channel http://www.blogrunner.com/ http://www.blogrunner.com/

12. Searching Blogs Daypop http://www.daypop.com Daypop http://www.daypop.comhttp://www.daypop.com –Search 59,000 blogs –Word and news bursts Blogdex http://www.blogdex.com Blogdex http://www.blogdex.comhttp://www.blogdex.com –weblog diffusion index Blogsearchengine http://www.blogsearchengine.com/ Blogsearchengine http://www.blogsearchengine.com/ http://www.blogsearchengine.com/ Google Google –Owns Blogger.com –Includes blogs within search results

13. BlogRunner Microcontent publishing or blog portal Microcontent publishing or blog portal http://www.blogrunner.com/ http://www.blogrunner.com/ http://www.blogrunner.com/ 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

14. Blog Updates Via Email Bloglet - http://www.bloglet.com/ Bloglet - http://www.bloglet.com/http://www.bloglet.com/ An email subscription service for your blog An email subscription service for your blog Single, daily email with your blog updates is sent to readers Single, daily email 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 email to one address, which can be a mailing list Blogger - allows you to send an email to one address, which can be a mailing list

15. 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: http://www.utexas.edu/law/news/rss/law.rss See sample at: http://www.utexas.edu/law/news/rss/law.rss http://www.utexas.edu/law/news/rss/law.rss Blogs can easily produce RSS also Blogs can easily produce RSS also

16. 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 –http://www.amphetadesk http://www.amphetadesk –http://www.newsisfree.com http://www.newsisfree.com –http://www.newsgator.com http://www.newsgator.com –http://www.bloglines.com http://www.bloglines.com –More readers at: http://blogspace.com/rss/readers http://blogspace.com/rss/readers

19. Contact Us Kris Niedringhaus Kris Niedringhaus –Texas Wesleyan Law Library –kniedringhaus@law.txwes.edu kniedringhaus@law.txwes.edu –817.212.3810 June Liebert June Liebert –The University of Texas School of Law –jliebert@mail.law.utexas.edu jliebert@mail.law.utexas.edu –512.232.2736