UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA LIBRARIES

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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA LIBRARIES
Blogs The Next Killer App Shane Nackerud June
15, 2004
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The Agenda

• What is a blog?
• History of blogs
• Examples of blogs
• Blogging tools
• Blogs and academia
• Blogs and the University Libraries

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What is a Blog?

• A web page made up of usually short, frequently
  updated posts that are arranged chronologically
• Content and purposes of Blogs varies greatly
• links and commentary about other web sites
• news about a company/person/idea
• diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project
  updates, even fiction
• personalized and opinionated
• More than anything, blogs are an easy way to
  create web pages
• No need to know HTML, FTP, etc.

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Anatomy of a Blog
http//www.tarheelbloggers.org/thb/resources/blogg
ing101/parts.html
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A Brief History of Blogs

• In the strictest sense, a blog is someone's
  online record of the Web sites he or she visits
• Blogs have been around since the early days of
  the Internet
• Phrase weblog coined in 1997 by John Barger --
  http//www.robotwisdom.com/
• Early sites were link driven with commentary
  about the link
• Justins Links from the Underground (1994)--
  http//www.links.net/vita/web/original.html
• Not automated, must know HTML

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The Tipping Point

• 1999 both www.pitas.com and www.blogger.com
  begin to offer hosted blogging services
• Easy to use, easy to sign up, no knowledge of
  HTML necessary
• Numbers quickly go from thousands of blogs to
  millions
• Filter style to journal style

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Todays Blog Landscape

• 4.12 million blogs on hosted services
• 2.72 million have been abandoned
• Active blogs are updated on average once every 14
  days
• Only 50,000 of above are update daily
• 92.4 of bloggers are under 30, 56 are female
• Most blogs have between 25 - 250 readers
• The Blogging Iceberg -- http//www.perseus.com/blo
  gsurvey/thebloggingiceberg.html
• Pew Research Center Feb. 2004
• 2 7 of Internet users have own blog
• 2.5 million people
• http//www.imediaconnection.com/content/3162.asp

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Examples of Blogs

• Political Blogs
• InstaPundit http//instapundit.com/
• Talking Points Memo -- http//www.talkingpointsmem
  o.com/
• Blog for America http//blog.deanforamerica.com/
  
• Humor Blogs
• Dave Barry - http//weblog.herald.com/column/daveb
  arry/
• Sports and Entertainment Blogs
• Aarons Baseball Blog - http//aarongleeman.com/
• TwinsGeek http//www.twinsgeek.com/

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More Examples

• Multi author blogs -
• The Volokh Conspiracy - http//volokh.com/
• Technology blogs
• Slashdot - http//slashdot.org/
• Timely
• http//dear_raed.blogspot.com/
• Average Jo/Jane blogs
• The Bleat http//www.lileks.com/bleats/

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Blog Aggregators

• Blogs based on popularity
• Blogdex http//blogdex.net/
• Daypop http//www.daypop.com/
• Listing blogs by subject/language/country
• Blogwise http//www.blogwise.com/
• Eaton web http//portal.eatonweb.com/
• Blogarama http//www.blogarama.com/index.php

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Blogging Tools

• Hosted Services
• http//www.blogger.com/
• http//www.diaryland.com/
• http//www.livejournal.com/
• http//www.typepad.com
• http//blog.lib.umn.edu
• More
• Installed Services
• http//movabletype.org
• http//www.pmachine.com
• http//www.noahgrey.com/greysoft/
• http//www.blosxom.com/
• More

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RSS Aggregators

• FeedDemon
• http//www.feeddemon.com/feeddemon/index.asp
• AmphetaDesk
• http//www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/
• Bloglines
• http//www.bloglines.com/
• MyU portal?
• More -- http//email.about.com/od/rssreaderswin/

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More Blogging Tools

• Blogrolling http//www.blogrolling.com/
• Maintain links from your blog to other blogs
• Blo.gs - http//blo.gs/
• Helps you track blogs you are interested in
• MT-Plugins - http//mt-plugins.org/
• Tons of nifty plugins to expand MT
• More found at http//www.lights.com/weblogs/tools.
  html

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Blogs in Academia

• Class blogs
• http//tiestotheland.blog-city.com/
• http//rhet1101.blogspot.com/
• http//blog.lib.umn.edu/ratli008/summer04/
• Professor blogs
• Lawrence Lessig - http//www.lessig.org/
• Eugene Volokh - http//volokh.com/
• John Logie - http//www.logie.net/
• PZ Myers - http//pharyngula.org/
• Blogging Services
• Harvard http//blogs.law.harvard.edu/
• Grinnell College - http//www.grinnellplans.com/fa
  q.html
• Seton Hill University http//blogs.setonhill.edu
  /
• Stanford - http//www.stanford.edu/dept/itss/proje
  cts/blog/
• Student blogs
• Many, many

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Why Do Scholars Blog?

• Freedom of tone
• Speed
• Low cost
• Rapid publishing alternative
• Instant peer review
• More reach and bigger audience
• Communication and connection / exchange of ideas
• http//chronicle.com/free/v49/i39/39a01401.htm

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Blogs in Education

• The use of blogs helps students become
  subject-matter experts
• The use of blogs increases student interest and
  ownership in learning
• The use of blogs gives students legitimate
  chances to participate
• The use of blogs provides opportunities for
  diverse perspectives, both within and outside of
  the classroom
• Content Delivery in the 'Blogosphere by
  Richard E. Ferdig, Ph.D., and Kaye D. Trammell,
  University of Florida
• http//www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A4677.cfm
  
• Also check out http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine
  /3804773.stm

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Blogs at the University Libraries

• Foster scholarly communication
• Develop communities of interest
• Give students a voice, record that voice
• Defend and promote academic freedom

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Demonstrationhttp//blog.lib.umn.edu
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Who is with me?

• http//blog.lib.umn.edu/
• Movable Type
• Simple to create
• Simple to use

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Highlights

• The library blog system
• Contains no advertisements!
• Uses the Central Authentication Hub
• No messy username/password maintenance
• Easy access for students/faculty/staff
• Easy to post/edit web content without knowing
  HTML
• Allows us to aggregate and disseminate blog
  content
• Allows us to easily record the student, faculty,
  and staff experience at the university
• Allows for multiple blogs
• Allows for multiple authors
• Instantly could tie in to the MyU portal with RSS
• Makes use of one of the most popular blog
  software packages Movable Type