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Introduction to Academic Blogging
Lisa Spiro
Digital Media Center, Rice U.
February 2009
http://flickr.com/photos/m-c/178734272/
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My blogging experience
Launched blog to share research on project to remix my dissertation as digital scholarship
Expanded to explore emerging field “digital humanities”
http://digitalscholarship.wordpress.com
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Using Blogs to Promote Research Programs
Comparative Media Studies at MIT: http://cms.mit.edu/
Home page showcases 5 recent blog posts by faculty & grad students
“Blogging has also deepened [grad students’] research, providing feedback on their arguments, connecting them to previously unknown authorities, and pushing them forward in ways that no thesis committee could match. Now all of our research teams are blogging not only about their own work but also about key developments in their fields.” (Henry Jenkins)
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Using Blogs as Common Publishing Platform for the University: University of Mary Washington Blogs
Common blogging platform for university
1425 posts so far this month
Used for classes, personal reflection, online archives, etc. http://umwblogs.org/
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Blogs as a Publishing Platform: Rice’s Catalyst Review
http://catalyst.rice.edu/
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How to Use an Academic Blog
Offer commentary on current news of interest to the field: conferences, news reports, publications
Post research updates Facilitate class discussion Build a project portfolio Offer meditations on topics significant
to the field Provide food for thought/ Quotations Write collaboratively
http://umwblogs.org/support/ten-ways-to-use-umw-blogs/
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Academic & Research Blogs at Rice
http://library.rice.edu/research/news-sources/academic-and-research-blogs
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Why Blog
Communicate with the public; have a public voice
Explore ideas and get feedback on them Keep a research journal, a well of ideas from
which you can draw Increase your visibility Recruit new grad students & collaborators
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Blogging Can Increase Your Visibility
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Does blogging make you a better academic?
“Blogging makes me a better academic because it increases my visibility, name recognition and credibility among the public and among academics who read blogs (which are many more than one might think). It hones my public writing skills, allows me to test new ideas outside of formal publication and get feedback. It allows me to have a public voice consistently and persistently between formal publications. I can let people know what I'm working on, when the project will be finished and when it is released in a published form and so forth.” (April DeConick)
http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=11902&SnID=744291848
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Disadvantages to Blogging
Time commitment Sharing ideas before they’re fully formed Blogging is typically not valued in tenure &
promotion (yet)
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How to find blogs
Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com/ Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/blogs/
Blog directory; calculates simple “authority” rating based on # of blogs linking to your blog
Following links from other blogs or web sites Sign up for alerts for blogs that meet certain search
criteria, e.g. Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts
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Anatomy of a Blog
Blogrolls Trackbacks Multimedia Content Links 1. Title of blog
2. Date of post3. Title of post4. Body of post5. Post author6. Time stamp, also the permalink for the post.7. Comments. 8. Trackback.9. Profile of the blogger10. Blogroll, a list of links to other blogs.
http://flickr.com/photos/lorda/119881961/
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Blogrolls
Link to blogs that you read Signify your participation in a
community
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Trackbacks
Alerts you when another blog post has linked to yours
Facilitate discussion Grounds the blog post in the
network of other posts
http://amandafrench.net/2009/02/16/facebook-terms-of-service-compared/
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Embedding Multimedia
Embed video, images, audio, etc in blog post
Blog post can be much richer than paper--show not tell
http://blog.whitneyannetrettien.com/2009/02/early-modern-commonplacing-dada-cut-ups.html
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Linking
Link to content that is referred to in post
Provides immediate access to works under discussion
http://savageminds.org/2009/02/04/learning-an-endangered-language/
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Comments
Engage in discussion
Readers can offer immediate feedback
Foster transparency
http://www.lessig.org/blog/2009/02/on_the_farm_league_for_k_stree.html
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Writing Successful Blog Posts
Know your audience. Write posts of use or interest to them.
Use snappy headlines so readers know what they’re getting (or are intrigued)
Blogs are typically more casual & conversational than academic writing. Use a personal voice.
Make it easy to skim your blog. Use subheads, lists, etc.
Don’t be sloppy. Spellcheck. Fact-check. Proofread. Incorporate visual content to liven things up.
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Slow Blogging
Comparable to slow food--slow down, chew over ideas
Produce more meditative, carefully crafted pieces
“Blog to reflect, Tweet to connect.” (Barbara Ganley)
Example: http://bgblogging.wordpress.com/
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Getting Started & Building an Audience
Find blogs to model yours on. Figure out what your niche is. What topics aren’t being
addressed? Choose a memorable title for your blog that summarizes
what it’s all about. Let people know about your blog:
Link to similar blog posts Email friends and colleagues Comment on other blogs--engage in the community
Write some high profile posts that are useful to your community, e.g. tutorials, synthesis of the year in your field, surprising research results, etc.
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Hosted Blogging Services
Blogger LiveJournal TypePad Vox.com Wordpress.com
Note: Rice may provide a hosted blogging service starting this summer.
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Why I Like WordPress.com Open source Free! Easy to use No ads (usually); looks professional Over 50 design templates Cool widgets: delicious, search, archive, etc. Excellent user support Nice tools for tracking blog stats High profile: registers blog with Google & Technorati Good spam prevention Bonus: created by former U of Houston student
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Selecting a Design Theme for Your Blog
Via “Appearance” sidebar menu
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Adding Widgets
Customize your blog Widgets allow you to:
Provide links to other sites Create a calendar or
tagcloud of your posts Show items you’ve
bookmarked through delicious
Show blog stats & much more
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Configuring for Multiple Authors
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Adding Links to Your Blogroll
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Creating a Blog Post
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Adding Media to Your Post
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Tips for Writing Blog Posts in WordPress
Cutting and pasting from another web site often retains the formatting from that site
Tag and categorize your posts so that they are easier to find
If you’ve got a bad Internet connection, compose draft with word processing app
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Viewing Stats
Understand how your blog is received.Select blog stats from Dashboard to see: # of views Refererrers Top posts Search terms Links followed
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Promoting Your Blog
Through a FeedBurner account (http://feedburner.google.com), you can: Create an RSS feed for your blog (although most
blog platforms do that for you) Publicize your feed Collect & analyze stats Feature new posts on another web site
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Creating an RSS Feed for Another Web Page
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The Appeal of Blogging
“The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation.” (Andrew Sullivan, “Why I Blog”)
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Resources
Bookmarks on blogging: http://www.diigo.com/user/lspiro/blogging http://www.diigo.com/user/lspiro/blogs
Find this presentation at Rice’s Digital Scholarship Archive, http://scholarship.rice.edu/