Transcript Slide 1
Computers in Libraries Washington, DC The Blogging Explosion Libraries and Weblogs Darlene Fichter [email protected] University of Saskatchewan March 14, 2003 Overview What are blogs? A little history Blog dissection class Blogs & emergent information Blog features and software 10 ways to use a blog How to find out more What is it? Blog / Weblog is A web page containing brief entries arranged chronologically Can be like A journal or diary ‘What’s New’ page Interesting links page “To me, the blog concept is about three things: Frequency, Brevity, and Personality.” Evan Williams (creator of Blogger) Terminology Blogger – person who maintains a blog Blogging – the act of creating a blog Blogrolling – moving from blog to blog Blogrolodex – a listing of other blogs Blogorrhea – hundreds of posts per day about anything Blawgs, Klogs … See discussion of terminology on MetaFilter A peek at the past NCSA’s What’s New page June 1993 Netscape’s What’s New 1993-95 Librarians' Site du Jour – Jenny Levine, 1995 Dave Winer 1996 Cam World 1997 Created and coded by hand Simple chronological lists Librarian’s Site du Jour November 30, 1995 -You've used their publication manual, now visit their web site. Yes the American Psychological Association has launched PsychNET, with lots of good stuff for nonAPA members … http://www.jennyscybrary.com/1995/november.html Blogs today Range from the simple to the sophisticated Few features to chalk full on addons and little wizards Interesting and useful to mundane and completely irrelevant Blogging explosion 2000-2003 Tools that made it easy to publish No need to know HTML No need to know FTP Add / edit content anywhere, anytime Dozens of features – dynamic, quick and easy to develop Millions?? worldwide Can you guess what South American country is a hotbed for blogs? In the limelight Lots of media hype Google bought blogger Tripod, the Web publishing unit of Terra Lycos AOL is supposed to provide tools Dissecting a web log beSpacific.com Accurate, focused law and technology news www.bespacific.com Blog entry Other features Time stamp Comments Draft mode Timed release Blogging add-ons MyMediaList AudioBlogger & AudBlog set up a email subscribers option Blogarithm phone and leave audio clips Bloglet manage book, music lists blogs that changed each day Blogrolling Bookmarklet to add links Pop open the hood 3. Post and publish Feature rich blogs Powered by PHP, perl or some other scripting language and back-end database Two examples: Movable Type Pmachine Pluses Timely Get to the point Quick to skim “Human filter” Contextualized What’s “Hot” www.daypop.com Minuses ROT Redundant Obsolete Links expire Best before date! Trivia All posting the same stuff “my cat coughed up a fluff ball” Misinformation Rigor of validating information (rumor) varies greatly Bias Resource for emergent information Source for “emergent information” Many times daily Often before it hits the newsstands e.g. Viruses and hacks – slashdot Biz News – Jeremy Allaire’s Talks about the fact he is leaving Macromedia Nothing official on Macromedia site where it says he’s CTO Searching blogs Google indexes many Rise of “Google bombs” – a brilliant gag by Adam Mathes called his friend a “talentless hack” Directories at www.lights.com/weblogs Blogdex (MIT) http://blogdex.media.mit.edu Linkhype Popdex Ecosystem Daypop Waypath Blogwise – geographic categorical index Choosing a blogging solution Lots of options Dive in and try a few for free: Blogger, Onclave,Web Crimson Types of blogs Solo Community blogs Slashdot – news for nerds LISNews.com Hosted locally or remotely Hosted Antville Blogger LiveJournal Onclave Local Server PMachine Movable Type Grey Matter BlogComp http://www.urldir.com/bt/ Client solutions Clients FogCreek’s CityDesk, Windows http://www.fogcreek.com/CityDesk/ Eastgate’s Tinderbox, Macintosh http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/ Just a few of the factors Types of blog Features and functions Server platform Unix or Windows or MAC IT help Scripting languages Security and privacy Blogging Software for Intranet Applications. ONLINE, January 2003 10 ways to use blogs 1. New Stuff to Share Recommend internet sites & tools Promote it! 2. Marketing Promote library events and programs Let visitors subscribe via email Distribute headlines (RSS) My Pick: Announce movies, link to trailers, reviews Get interactive 3. Talk back Books you like Let users post reviews and comments 10 ways … 4. Staff development Fact sheets on new electronic resources Tips and tricks 5. Share knowledge - KM Best practices – “know-how” Use for a committee, enable the “comment feature” Presentation Blogging for Knowledge Exchange IT and budget crunch? 6. Automate Managing Links Track web site links under review for adding to catalog or best sites Tips: Enable the comment button. Choose a blog that archives by “topic” and use it for your links 10 ways … 7. Professional / personal development Reflective nature, adds focus 8. Résumé Professional blog Write about your interests and what you find interesting Solve email overload 9. Project Tracking and Management Provides a record in one place for a team of decisions, next steps Points for discussion or comment Be a leader 10. Community information Collect and syndicate local [city] news and events or university or college happenings Be everywhere. Blogging and libraries Lots of opportunities for libraries and librarians Lightweight content management solution Easy to publish Inexpensive (free) Multiple contributors Lighten web maintenance workload Library related blogs Gary Price – The ResourceShelf Jenny Levine - Shifted Librarian Jessamyn West - librarian.net Stephen Cohen – Librarystuff.net Complete List of Library blogs www.libdex.com/weblogs/ For fun type in “librarian” in Google Finding out more Weblogs Compendium Articles: Darlene Fichter - Blogging Your Life Away. ONLINE, May, 2001 Darlene Fichter. Blogging Software for Intranet Applications. ONLINE, January 2003 Thank you! Darlene Fichter [email protected] University of Saskatchewan Library