Blogs  / Blogger / gadgets / other services

Class 7

 

PDF Handout:  class07_blogs.pdf (500kb)

Assignment 6:  assignment_06_class07_blog.pdf (500kb)

(documents open in a new window)

 

A New Way of Publishing and Distributing Information

Many early Web pages were static, with no way for users to add to or interact with the information. Blogs are an easy way for anyone to publish content. Because they automatically generate an RSS or Atom feed, it is easy to share this information. Blogs also allow “comments”, which sometimes generate more information that the Blog post itself.

 

Blogs

The word “blog” is a shortened form of “weblog” which came from “Web Log”.

A blog is commonly referred to as an online diary or journal, although a blog can be used to post information on any topic by any individual or organization. Blogs are:

 

•    New way of publishing / writing to the Web / can publish with your phone also

·         New way of distributing information (syndication)

·         New way of facilitating communication / socialization

·         New way to conduct business:  marketing / advertising / customer support

·         Available to anyone: free and easy to use

·         Can publish any type of content (photos, video, audio, documents)

 

Blogs have the following features in common:

·         the main unit of information is called a “post” – blogs are centered around the posts

·         the posts are organized in reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry appearing at the top

·         each post has a date and timestamp to indicate when the post was published to the blog

·         each post has a “permalink” or unique URL

·         each post has a title or header which identifies it

·         tags can be associated with each post

·         some blogs allow categories to be created as an additional means of organizing the posts

·         archives are automatically generated by the blog software

·         information can be accessed chronologically, by tag, by category or by search

·         people can comment on the posts

·         both the posts and the comments can be syndicated in a feed reader or via email

·         other bloggers can link to a post and be notified of the link using a trackback or backlink

·         can “ping” a directory service to notify them that there has been an update and to index the newest entry

·         can contain links to websites and other blog of related interests – called “blogroll”

 

 

View some interesing blogging statistics:

 

  -http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/12/10/blogging-stats-facts-data/ 

 

 - http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/01/12/social-media-web-20-internet-numbers-stats/

 

 

 

Blogs are centered around "Posts"

 

screen shot from web20rodeo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will also look at gadgets or widgets that can be added to our blog

 - to provide additional functionality. organization, information

 - to help the user subscribe to the content

 

 - sharethis.com

 

 - addthis.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we will learn about :

  - A service that will promote your blog feed

 

 - the largest serach engine and directory for blogs

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Video: Blogs in Plain English - 3 min

 

 

 

 

Lecture Video #1: Blogs, Posts, Services, Gadgets- 12:00 min  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Short YouTube Videos from Blogger Help

 

 

How to create a blog with Blogger

 

 

Adding a Google gadget to your blog

 

 

Creating a blog list with Blogger

 

 

How to post to your blog from a cell phone 256447(bloggr)

 

 

How to follow a blog on Blogger

 

 

 

How to use a trackback 

 

 

 

There is an assignment attached at the top of this page 

 

You have two weeks to complete this assignment

 

Please post your assignment on the class collaboration page - Student_Blogs