Transcript Blogging on Documents - CU Boulder Libraries

Blogging on Documents
Jennie Gerke
Five-State Government Documents Conference
University of Colorado at Boulder
Some definitions
Definition of weblog, from the Oxford English
Dictionary:
“A frequently updated web site consisting of
personal observations, excerpts from other
sources, etc., typically run by a single person,
and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an
online journal or diary.”
RSS (Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site
Summary or RDF Site Summary)
What this really means:
A RSS feed provides all the updated material
from a web site.
Why
The user:


The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports 57
million adults read blogs, or approximately 38% of Internet
users.
12 million adults have a blog, of those 54% are between
the ages of 18 and 29.
Documents:

Show documents are:
Timely: http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/2006/07/what-ishezbollah.html
Interesting:
http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/2006/05/squirrels-areomnivorous.html
Useful: http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/2006/01/taxforms.html
How
News reports
Fun factoids
Interesting historical material
Unusual documents
Reference Questions
Anything else?
A look at one blog’s postings
for May-July 2006
Serious news:


37 Government in the News (US, UN, Israel,
Colorado, Iran, IAEA)
2 new databases
Documents for fun:

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3 Documents and daily life (weather statistics, fire
maps, transportation information)
3 historical documents (Mr. Rogers, cold war bunkers,
and the Big Thompson Flood)
2 national holiday (July 4th and World Environment
Day)
3 Did you know? (Urban legends, squirrels are
omnivores, baby names)
Promotion
Put it on your web page:
http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/index.ht
m
Use in bibliographic instruction:
http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/2006/04/worldregional-geography.html
Get your web site indexed:


Blogger and many other blog software sites have a
relationship with a mainstream search engine.
Some will let you ping the site so the latest
information is available.
Use it…
Did it work?
Who links to you:


Technorati-http://www.technorati.com/
Google-http://www.google.com/
Who has tagged your blog:

http://del.icio.us/url/
Statistics:

Various free statistical counters are available,
such as Sitemeter or StatCounter
Various Blogs on Documents
Government Publications Library at University of
Colorado at Boulder:
http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/ (mixture of
state, federal, and international information)
Colorado State Library:
http://cospl.blogspot.com/ (Colorado information
only)
Free Government Information:
http://freegovinfo.info/ (discussion of issues in
government materials)
Let’s try it out!
Blogger: www.blogspot.com
RSS Feeders and aggregators:

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List of aggregators at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/rss/
Downloaded software: Mozzilla
On the web: Bloglines, Yahoo
Sent to you as email: Sqeet
Any others?
Citations:
“weblog,” Oxford English Dictionary Online, http://dictionary.oed.com/.
Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet’s New Storytellers. Pew Internet &
American Life Project,
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/186/report_display.asp.