blog and wiki basics mini-session a3 - psla conference april 13, 2007 gail junion-metz
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Blog and Wiki Basics Mini-Session A3 - PSLA Conference April 13, 2007 Gail Junion-Metz. Blog Facts. Every day 12,000 new blogs are ‘born’ 64% of bloggers blog to share their knowledge or skills with others 54% haven’t published in any other medium - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Blog and Wiki Basics
Mini-Session A3 - PSLA Conference
April 13, 2007
Gail Junion-Metz
Blog Facts
• Every day 12,000 new blogs are ‘born’
• 64% of bloggers blog to share their knowledge or skills with others
• 54% haven’t published in any other medium
• 46% of women, 54% of men create blogs
What is a Blog?
A weblog (often shortened to blog, but often spelled as two words - web log) is a web-based publication that contains periodically updated content (sometimes diary-like) often in reverse chronological order
Blog Evolution
• Initially a blog was a record/log of a person’s “web travels”
• Blogs then became online journals / diaries
• Now blogs are used for a wide variety of purposes
Types of Blogs
• Personal• Topical• News / Events• Organizational• Collaborative• Educational / Corporate• Media
Blog Terminology
• Blogger – person who maintains a blog
• Blogging – the act of creating a blog• Blogroll – a list of other blogs• Blogosphere – the world of blogs• Aggregator / RSS Feed – how blog
content gets updated in real time• Post – content added to a blog
Why Create a Blog?
• Kids / teens / teachers love them!
• They’re fast / easy for busy folks to read
• They keep folks up-to-date on things going on at the library (or on new books, reviews of books…and lots more!)
Why Create a Blog?
• They’re simple to create and update• They’re cheap (free - $40 per year)• Staff don’t need to know HTML or FTP• Takes the workload off your Webmaster• Lets interested staff get involved• Can use it for communicating internally
with staff and externally with parents
Creating a Simple Blog
2. Create an Account
Creating a Simple Blog
3. Name Your Blog
Creating a Simple Blog
4. Choose a Template
Creating a Simple Blog
4. Create your Blog
Blog Websites / Software Blogger
BlogwareClass BlogmeisterLive JournalMoveable TypeTypePadWordPressXanga
Is it a Blog or a Website?• Permalinks (links to posts in weblogs)• Comments (readers can comment on
posts)• Blogroll (list of other related blogs)• Categories (posts arranged into
categories)• Archives (older posts sorted into
folders)
How Libraries Use Blogs• Library News
Marin Co. Free Library Blog• Reference
St. Joseph Co PL Blog• Book Discussions
Roselle PL – Blogger Book Club
How Librarians Use Blogs• Online Reference
Digital Reference
• Information LiteracyInformation Literacy Land of Confusion
• New TechnologiesThe Shifted Librarian
How Librarians Use Blogs
• Tech ServicesCatalogablog
• Books for KidsKids Lit
Blog Search Tools
Blog SearchBlog Search EngineBlogdiggerBlogwiseBloogzFeedsterIceRocket Technorati Blog Search
Once You Have a Blog…• Teach staff to add posts & archive posts• Teach them what your Blog contains• Teach kids about Blog search tools• Make staff/students aware of your Blog
– Write about it in your newsletter / newspaper– Add the URL to sigfiles / printed lib. pubs– Hold classes for staff/students on blog basics
Once You Have a Blog…• Add links to Blog search tools to
your Website
• Add links to popular topical blogs to your Website (or even better to a Blog!)
What is a Wiki?
• Wiki is the Hawaiian word for “quick”
• Term coined by programmer Ward Cunningham in 1995
• It’s a web-based collaborative tool
• It lets lots of folks add to and edit Wiki content
Wiki Principles
• Anyone can change anything – both reading and editing are possible (and encouraged)
• No individual page ownership or authoring - community owned / created
• Rarely organized by chronology (unlike blogs) – organized by topic
Wikipedia
• A collaborative ‘encyclopedia’ created by multiple content creators
Wikipedia
• 5 million articles in over 200 languages
• 11th most visited site on the web• No ads, non-profit• Problems
– Lack of authority– Lack of citations– Hard to evaluate accuracy– Inconsistent quality– ‘Vandals’
Why Create a Wiki?
• Very easy to add / edit content
• Cheap to create (free - $50 per year)
• Folks can correct errors, add comments to existing text
• Content in searchable
Wiki Websites / Software MediaWiki
TiddlyWikiWet PaintWikiWikiWebWikia
How Libraries Can Use Wikis• Library Conferences
ALA Conference 2006 Wiki
• Collaborative ProjectsIPL Teen Poetry Wiki
• Group Book Reviews / DiscussionsPrinceton PL – Book Lovers Wiki
How Libraries Can Use Wikis• Professional Discussions
Teen Lib Wiki
• Online Topical ‘Clearinghouses’Library Instruction Wiki
• Focus on ‘Local Interest’ Topics Hershey Information Wiki
Once You Have a Wiki…• Teach folks to add & edit Wiki content• Add links to popular Wikis to your
website• Make folks aware of your Wiki
– Write about it in your newsletter / newspaper– Add the URL to sigfiles / printed lib. pubs– Hold classes for students/staff on Wiki basics
You can download this PowerPoint athttp://www.iage.com/PAblogwiki.ppt
Gail Junion-MetzInformation Age Consultants
310 North Bridge StreetDeWitt, MI 48820(517) 668-2130