1. Blog and Wiki Basics Mini-Session A3 - PSLA Conference April 13, 2007 Gail Junion-Metz

2. Blog Facts Every day 12,000 new blogs are ‘born’ 64% of bloggers blog to share their knowledge or skills with others 54% haven’t published in any other medium 46% of women, 54% of men create blogs

3. What is a Blog? A weblog (often shortened to blog, but often spelled as two words - web log) is a web-based publication that contains periodically updated content (sometimes diary-like) often in reverse chronological order

4. Blog Evolution Initially a blog was a record/log of a person’s “web travels” Blogs then became online journals / diaries Now blogs are used for a wide variety of purposes

5. Types of Blogs Personal Topical News / Events Organizational Collaborative Educational / CorporateEducational Media

6. Blog Terminology Blogger – person who maintains a blog Blogging – the act of creating a blog Blogroll – a list of other blogs Blogosphere – the world of blogs Aggregator / RSS Feed – how blog content gets updated in real timeRSS Feed Post – content added to a blog

7. Why Create a Blog? Kids / teens / teachers love them! They’re fast / easy for busy folks to read They keep folks up-to-date on things going on at the library (or on new books, reviews of books…and lots more!)

8. Why Create a Blog? They’re simple to create and update They’re cheap (free - $40 per year) Staff don’t need to know HTML or FTP Takes the workload off your Webmaster Lets interested staff get involved Can use it for communicating internally with staff and externally with parents

9. Creating a Simple Blog 1. Connect to Blogger www.blogger.comwww.blogger.com

10. Creating a Simple Blog 2. Create an Account

11. Creating a Simple Blog 3. Name Your Blog

12. Creating a Simple Blog 4. Choose a Template

13. Creating a Simple Blog 4. Create your Blog

14. Blog Websites / Software Blogger Blogware Class Blogmeister Live Journal Moveable Type TypePad WordPress Xanga Blogger Blogware Class Blogmeister Live Journal Moveable Type TypePad WordPress Xanga

15. Is it a Blog or a Website? Permalinks (links to posts in weblogs)Permalinks Comments (readers can comment on posts)Comments Blogroll (list of other related blogs)Blogroll Categories (posts arranged into categories)Categories Archives (older posts sorted into folders)Archives

16. How Libraries Use Blogs Library News Marin Co. Free Library Blog Marin Co. Free Library Blog Reference St. Joseph Co PL Blog St. Joseph Co PL Blog Book Discussions Roselle PL – Blogger Book Club Roselle PL – Blogger Book Club

17. How Libraries Use Blogs Teens Framingham PL – Teen Blogmatic Framingham PL – Teen Blogmatic

18. How Librarians Use Blogs Online Reference Digital Reference Digital Reference Information Literacy Information Literacy Land of Confusion Information Literacy Land of Confusion New Technologies The Shifted Librarian The Shifted Librarian

19. How Librarians Use Blogs Tech Services Catalogablog Catalogablog Books for Kids Kids Lit Kids Lit

20. Blog Search Tools Blog Search Blog Search Engine Blogdigger Blogwise Bloogz Feedster IceRocket Technorati Blog SearchBlog Search Blog Search Engine Blogdigger Blogwise Bloogz Feedster IceRocket Technorati Blog Search

21. Once You Have a Blog… Teach staff to add posts & archive posts Teach them what your Blog contains Teach kids about Blog search tools Make staff/students aware of your Blog –Write about it in your newsletter / newspaper –Add the URL to sigfiles / printed lib. pubs –Hold classes for staff/students on blog basics

22. Once You Have a Blog… Add links to Blog search tools to your Website Add links to popular topical blogs to your Website (or even better to a Blog!)

23. What is a Wiki? Wiki is the Hawaiian word for “quick” Term coined by programmer Ward Cunningham in 1995 It’s a web-based collaborative tool It lets lots of folks add to and edit Wiki content

24. Wiki Principles Anyone can change anything – both reading and editing are possible (and encouraged) No individual page ownership or authoring - community owned / created Rarely organized by chronology (unlike blogs) – organized by topic

25. Wikipedia A collaborative ‘encyclopedia’ created by multiple content creators

26. Wikipedia 5 million articles in over 200 languages 11 th most visited site on the web No ads, non-profit Problems –Lack of authority –Lack of citations –Hard to evaluate accuracy –Inconsistent quality –‘Vandals’

27. Why Create a Wiki? Very easy to add / edit content Cheap to create (free - $50 per year) Folks can correct errors, add comments to existing text Content in searchable

28. Wiki Websites / Software MediaWiki TiddlyWiki Wet Paint WikiWikiWeb WikiaMediaWiki TiddlyWiki Wet Paint WikiWikiWeb Wikia

29. How Libraries Can Use Wikis Library Conferences ALA Conference 2006 Wiki ALA Conference 2006 Wiki Collaborative Projects IPL Teen Poetry Wiki IPL Teen Poetry Wiki Group Book Reviews / Discussions Princeton PL – Book Lovers Wiki Princeton PL – Book Lovers Wiki

30. How Libraries Can Use Wikis Professional Discussions Teen Lib Wiki Teen Lib Wiki Online Topical ‘Clearinghouses’ Library Instruction Wiki Library Instruction Wiki Focus on ‘Local Interest’ Topics Hershey Information Wiki Hershey Information Wiki

31. Once You Have a Wiki… Teach folks to add & edit Wiki content Add links to popular Wikis to your website Make folks aware of your Wiki –Write about it in your newsletter / newspaper –Add the URL to sigfiles / printed lib. pubs –Hold classes for students/staff on Wiki basics

32. You can download this PowerPoint at http://www.iage.com/PAblogwiki.ppt

33. Gail Junion-Metz Information Age Consultants 310 North Bridge Street DeWitt, MI 48820 (517) 668-2130 gail@iage.com