Blogging Best Practices

Web 2.0: Blogging and Blogging Best Practices Jennifer E. Graham http://jennimi.com

Overview:

Introduction

Definitions, a metaphor, and personal disclosure

Opportunities

Challenges

Best Practices

Resources

Conclusion

Questions, concerns, comments?

Blog is…

Short for “weblog”

“A type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order”. ( Wikipedia, 2006 )

Part of web 2.0, the collaborative or social web

Web 2.0 is kind of like… jazz

Personal disclosure:

“ Like rice and beans or peanut butter and jelly, librarians and blogs are a natural combination”. (Kenney and Stephens, 2005)

I have been blogging for over a year:

jennimi: ( http://jennimi.com/)

Library Matters : ( http://informationavigation.wordpress.com/)

Web two point… Oh Boy! Easy! Free! Yes! I have things to say! Participating not just observing We are learning from each other! Making connections

Opportunities:

Expanding the Information Commons

Meeting students where they are

Building and maintaining connections

Exploring alternatives in scholarly publication

Explore and promote Information Literacy Competency Standards

Know, Access, Evaluate, Use, Ethical/Legal ( ACRL, 2006 )

Opportunities: who?

Anyone:

Students, scholars, librarians

Practitioners, committees, conferences

Organizations, researchers, journalists

Corporations....

Shared interests

Anonymous or identified

What?

Critique

Discussion

Humor

Personal experiences and preferences

Reviews, news, announcements

Art

Grey literature

Research

Ideas

When?

When a person or group could benefit from an accessible communication source that doesn’t take a lot of $ or time to set up

When subject matter might work well using pseudonyms

Librarians: committees, conferences, collaborations across different colleges

Anytime, just need an Internet connection and a computer

Where?

From anywhere

Some even using phones – “moblogging”

Colleges and universities

Libraries

A student’s dorm or apartment

Why?

Reasons as diverse as are people, but for our purposes:

Large class or sensitive subject

Connect, discuss, share

Model scholarly behavior

Meeting our students in their space

Keeping ourselves in tune with emerging technologies

Showcase our contributions

How?

Go to:

WordPress.com or Blogger.com

Follow the simple instructions for signing up, you’re blogging!

Examples:

Librarian:

Michael Stephens’ Tame the Web

http://tametheweb.com

Instructor:

Alex Halavais’ Introduction to Interactive Communication , Quinnipiac University

http://501.halavais.net/

Library Science Instructor:

Amanda Etches-Johnson’s LIS 757: Social Software and Libraries , University of Western Ontario

http://www.mlis757. blogwithoutalibrary .net/

Challenges:

A few questions

Web two point… uh oh! Theft of ideas Flaming I don’t think they understood me Nobody is reading my blog I can’t keep up with this! I didn’t mean to say that

Best Practices: Safety

Yes, it’s out there for good.

Ask, “What if someone finds this piece 5 years from now”? (Richardson, 2006, p.12)

Personal information

Pseudonym or no?

Best Practices: Getting started

Define purpose

Write “About” statement

Instructors: lay the ground rules up front as you would in a course syllabus

Choose template

Explore dashboard/control panel

Set privacy settings

Best Practices: Customs

Edit, proofread, spellcheck, edit

Share your process

Cite sources

Linking (called a “trackback”)

Conventional citation

Share resources, blogroll

Content vs. frequency

In doubt? Use draft mode (but don’t get stuck there)

Best Practices: Customs cont’d:

Tag posts using technorati

Or del.icio.us

Use hotlink in post

Best Practices: Social

Visit and comment on other blogs

Respond to comments

Mediate discussion

Walk away, let it go, ignore

Respect - in-person or online

Resources:

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

My top five on del.icio.us

http://del.icio.us/jennimi/bestpracticestop5

References:

ACRL. (2006, July 10, 2006). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved July 14, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.htm

Allen, W. J. (2006). Blogs and blogging in education. Retrieved September 1, 2006, from http://connect.educause.edu/node/2156

Etches-Johnson, A. (2006). LIS 757: Social software & libraries. Retrieved September 1, 2006, from http://www.mlis757.blogwithoutalibrary.net/

Glogoff, S. (2006). Instructional blogging on campus: Identifying best practices. Campus Technology Retrieved September 1, 2006, from http://syllabus.com/article.asp?id=11311

References cont’d:

Holley, R. P. (2006). The ethics of scholarly research and the Internet: Issues of publication, privacy, and the right to speak. Journal of Information Ethics, 15 (1), 27-34.