This document provides an overview of blogs, including: - A brief history of blogging from its origins in online diaries to the development of template-based blog platforms. - The typical elements of a blog like banners, profiles, archives of past posts, and comment sections. - Different uses of blogs such as personal blogs, corporate communications, political campaigns, and academic/library blogs. - Search tools for finding blogs and tips for creating a successful blog regularly posting and engaging readers. - Pros and cons of blogging like its ease and low cost versus the challenge of maintaining frequent, high-quality posts.

1. E-toys IS20090 Week 3 Blogs Diarmuid Stokes

2. What we’ll cover today What is a blog History of blogging Elements of a blog How Blogs are being used Searching Blogs Tips for successful Blogging Pros and Cons of Blogging

3. What is a Blog? A blog (a contraction of the term " Web log ") is a web site, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. (Wikipedia) Weblogs typically describe a personal diary, kept on the Web, which can be edited by an end-user with few web publication skills. (Kwai Fun IP & Wagner) 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.(Oxford English Dictionary)

4. Just an introduction!

5. History of Blogging Elements of protoblogs could be seen in online resources such as Usenet , Bulletin Boards and Online Diaries We b Log First used by Jorn Barger in 1997 to describe his new website . This was later contracted to the now familiar Blog by Peter Merholz The idea of Blogs continued to grow in popularity over the next year but remained a niche idea as they remained a manually created web sites.

6. History of Blogging (cont.) To become mainstream blogging had to become easier. Open Diary launched in October 1998, Live Journal Started in March 1999, Pitas.com in July 1999 and Blogger in August 1999 These services made the creation of a blog easier, by the use of templates, etc. This led to an increase in the number of blogs and this in turn led to an increase in the number of blog providers.

8. Self-hosted blog software While Blogger and other web based blogging services developed, there also developed alongside them server based blogging services. This was software that you installed on a server and maintained yourself. Examples include Wordpress. This software allowed the user complete control over the blog, but required much higher IT knowhow to get the most out of the software.

9. Growth of Blogosphere

11. What Makes a Blog? What do you think are the main elements of a blog?

12. Banner “ About Us” profile Anatomy of a Blog

13. Contact details

14. Relevant links Link List Archive of previous post

15. Label Cloud

16. Subscription options

17. Statistics tracking

18. Anatomy of a Blog post Date of post Title of post Post Post created by ... And time Comments by Readers Labels to allow people to find posts of interest

19. How Blogs are being used. Blogs are used in variety of different fields Personal Professional/Corporate Politics News Academic Blogs Library

20. Personal Blogging This was the original use of blogs. Anybody with a point of view could freely express their opinions and get feedback. The Newbrowne Blog , Xbox 4 Nappy Rash , Lowering my cholesterol All due to individual’s enthusiasm. Can be for any topic. Bloggers are not concerned by number of readers. Its all down to the bloggers enthusiasm. Blogs can come and go very quickly. Who’s going to read it and why?

21. Corporate blogs These can be used by companies for internal communication or as a communication channel with the external public. Internal blogs promote open communication between staff, encourage participation, break down the hierarchy, and help create a sense of community. External corporate blogs are more casual than traditional forms of company release but still are trying to do the same job. They can be viewed as more informal and can at times offer a more honest and direct view than traditional communication channels. Nevertheless, they remain public relations tools. Google Blog , Dell or Boeing

22. Politicians’ Blogs Like Corporate blogs these blogs have a message to get across and are becoming much more important tools in modern politics. Very Important in the last US Election Barack Obama Irish politicians rarely seem to blog, but there are exceptions. The Byrne Blog , Members of the public have also created notable blogs on politics as well, however this can have repercussions.

23. This Blog entry was created by Mohammed Raji

25. News Newspapers see this as an additional route to talking to its readers. It can be quicker and more immediate and also get instant feeedback. The Irish Times has On the record Television news is also doing the same. Stories are put on the blog. People can still read news when no tv near. The comments can then be fed back into the news process. ABC News

26. Academic Blogs Many academics have started to blog regularly. In the early days blogs regarded with suspicion. Not viewed as academic or serious. As blogs became more mainstream this has changed. Blog them out of the stone age , Gil Troy

27. Library and information Studies Blogs have proven to be very popular in the library and information studies world. Libraries have seen this as a cheap and effective way of communicating with the public. Blogs can either be about the physical library and how to access the library or can be subject based. UCD Library Blogs

28. Library and information Studies As well as libraries people have used the interactivity and immediacy of blogs to create discussions on various areas information studies People like Michael Stephens and Michael Casey have used blogging very successfully to raise their profile and to get people talking about various issues

29. Searching for Blogs When blogs started out people tried to keep track of blogs by using directories, such as Eatonweb . These were manually updated by enthusiasts. Growth of the Blogosphere meant that limits were quickly reached. Today there is no single search engine for the blogosphere. Examples include Technorati , Google Blog Search

30. What do all of these have in common?

31. Development of Blogging The now familiar blog continues, but we are now beginning to see new variations Microblogging users to write brief text updates (usually 140 characters).These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, MP3 or the web. Twitter or Tumblr Lifestreaming is an online record of a person's daily activities, either via direct video feed or via aggregating the person's online content such as blog posts, social network updates, and online photos. Soup

32. Twitter

33. To Tweet or not to Tweet! Not to tweet! Who wants to read about somebody about to have lunch Doesn’t look interesting Who can say anything in 140 characters No context to the information coming at you Non stop flood of information

34. To Tweet! Follow interesting people (family and celebrities) Get Information quickly Don’t need to go on the web. Good place to ask questions and get answers Very simple to use Twitter Highlights Get out of Jail Iranian elections To Tweet or not to Tweet!

35. (Some) Tips for successful Blogging Write about something that you know/love Blog consistency Keep it simple Use Tags encourage readers to subscribe. Offer a range of subscription options interact with other bloggers/link to other blogs as often as possible use pictures whenever possible Consider joining up with someone. Allow comments

36. Pros/Cons of Blogging Pros Its quick and easy Its cheap (free) Informal/fun Easy to engage with an audience Become part of a community

37. Pros/Cons of Blogging Cons Frequent posts expected How much do you really have to say Easy to start, hard to keep going Can be too open/casual

38. At the end of this Module your blog should have the following elements Link list (Today) Archive (Today) Visitor tracking (Today) Search Box (Today) Word/Label Cloud (Today) Plus other activities after future lectures

39. Exercise for lecture 3 Write a 200 word blog post on your experience of creating your blog and adding posts to it.