Week 3: Content Creation – Blogging
Updated: 4 January 2010 |Learning Objectives
By the end of this week, you will:
- understand the technical principles behind the way blogs work.
- have formed ideas about best practices in the use of blogs and blogging in libraries and other information organizations.
- have explored library blog “success stories” and be able to explain your own ideas about what constitutes a successful blog.
Readings
- Anatomy of a Blog (read 2.2 to 2.9)
- Weblogs: Learning in Public, Jill Walker [pdf]
- Is Blogging Scholarly Communication? Eric Schnell
- Intuitive Revelations: The Ubiquitous Reference Model, Brian Mathews
- Why Doesn’t Anyone Comment on Your Blog? Lindy Dreyer and Maddie Grant
- 15 Companies that Really Get Corporate Blogging, Josh Catone
- My Story about Telling Stories, Emily Clasper
Case Studies
The following case studies provide examples of ways in which blogs are being used in libraries. Spend some time exploring a few of these case studies, think about what makes them work, and post your thoughts & reactions to your blog.
- Ann Arbor District Library Director’s Blog
- Seattle Public Library Shelf Talk
- Madison Public Library MADreads
- St. Joseph County Public Library GameBlog
- Virginia Commonwealth University – Library Suggestion Blog
- Kansas State University Library Blogs
- University of Wyoming Dusty Shelves
Things to do this week
- View this week’s slideshow, which will be posted to the blog.
- Read the articles and explore the case studies for this week and post your thoughts & comments to your blog. The deadline to get at least one blog post up is noon, Friday. Remember to check out your classmates’ posts too and respond (where appropriate) in the comments.
- Those of you who have not had much exposure to blogs might want to check out Technorati, a blog search engine and general barometer for what’s going on in the blogosphere. Use Technorati to find a few blogs and navigate around them, noting some of the differences in features, design, content, style, etc. Also this blog terminology glossary might be helpful.
- Explore some of the blog software options listed in this Wikipedia article. Think about the differences between different blog software tools (user-hosted and developer-hosted) as well as some of the implications of using these tools in a library setting. For example: if you worked in a library that was considering starting a blog, how would you go about evaluating and choosing the right tool? Post your ideas to your blog.
- Think about how would you define a successful blog. What can libraries learn from corporate blogging strategies? (the Catone article might provide some fodder here). Share your thoughts on this question on your blog.
Posts