Discovery ResourcesChances are you’ve heard the term “blog” being used endlessly, but maybe you’re not quite sure what blogs are and how they work. This week we are going to become familiar with blogs and even start a blog yourself. Blogs are a form of online journal, where people post their thoughts, opinions, news, or other information. They can also be used to share pictures, video files, and other media. To learn more about what blogs are and why people use them, visit Blogger’s Quick Tour. For those who want more info about blogs, check out this Wikipedia article.
Perhaps you're wondering how blogging is relevant to libraries? Blogs are an increasingly popular means of sharing information and opinions. Many libraries use them to share information about library programs and services with their customers, and many people read blogs as an important source of news and information. Yet, it's not just about sharing information and thoughts. Blogging is also about inviting people to participate in the conversation by leaving comments.
By now, you’ve done some exploring around this website and understand how this program will work. It’s time to set up your very own personal blog to begin recording your thoughts, discoveries and exercises. For this program, I recommend that you use Blogger*, a popular free online blog hosting service that is extremely easy to use.
Creating a blog using Blogger takes just three steps:
- Create an account (view screenshot)
- Name your blog (view screenshot)
- Select your template. (view screenshot)
Once you’ve created your blog, here are two important things to know:
- To add posts: When you want to add posts, edit or change the set-up your blog, you need to log in at http://www.blogger.com/. Be sure to keep track of your login and password.
- To view your blog: Your blog address is http://(xxxx).blogspot.com, (xxxx)=the unique identifier you entered in Step 2. This is where people go to read your blog. Be sure to also write down your blog address.
- Freevlog’s Quicktime Tutorial: Setup a Free Blogger Blog
Note: Ignore the opening comments about downloading Firefox if your PC doesn’t have it. This will work in Explorer just fine. - Blogger: How to Start a Blog (Google video, at YouTube)
Discovery Exercise:
- Setup a blog for yourself through Blogger.
- Add a test post or two.
Note: Use one of your test posts to create an entry about the habits among the 7 and 1/2 lifelong learning habits that is easiest and hardest for you & why. - Have fun!!!!
IMPORTANT NOTE: How you choose to identify yourself on your blog is your choice. You can blog under a screen name, anonymously, or as yourself. In order to get credit for participating in the Learning 2.0 program -- and therefore qualify for the reward prize -- you have to send an email to Jerianne (jthompson@linebaugh.org) with your blog’s address. When you post a blog entry to complete a Discovery Exercise, please include an indication in the title of the blog post. For example: #3 Test Blog Entry. Your blog entries should be substantive to receive credit: try for at least 100 words (about the size of this paragraph).
You can write about other topics (besides the Learning 2.0 program) in your blog, if you like. But remember that your blog may be read by your coworkers, your supervisors, or even complete strangers. You may want to read this article - How to Blog Safely - which provides some helpful tips about how you can control the amount of information you reveal about yourself on your blog.
Discover More
From time to time, we will give you some “bonus” exercises. It is not required for you to complete these additional activities. But if the Discovery Exercises aren’t enough of a challenge for you…
Listed below are a few local blogs I discovered. Take some time to explore these blogs to see the variety of ways in which blogs are used. Can you find other local blogs to share?
- This Is
- James Walker Library (MTSU)
- Nashville Restaurants
- Nashville is Talking
- Knitting Betty
Here's another resource
Several of our Things feature videos by Common Craft, which give short, easy-to-understand explanations about various things. Here's there new Blogging in Plain English video:
* Use of Blogger is only a recommendation. If there is another blog hosting site that you are more comfortable with, please feel free to use it.
Portions of this entry were adapted from 10 Things at SPL.
3 comments:
Hey, look! Mel found some other local blogs! Go read her post to find out what and where they are.
Thanks for dropping by "This is Smyrna, TN.".
One of your coworkers asked this question:
How do you insert a link to a blog without adding the website info? I know how to copy and paste the URL to the blog site but don't know the other way where someone just clicks on the link without the website showing from a link.
Thought some of you might be interested in the answer:
To insert a link – that is, to make it so someone can click on the link to open the webpage - first you need to type in the text you want to be a link. Ex: the library’s website. Highlight that text ("the library’s website"), then click on the greenish globe button that’s on the toolbar above your text box. When you click that, it will open a box for you to enter the URL (http://www.linebaugh.org). Type or paste that in, and it will make your selected text a link to the website you want. To insert an image is a similar process. Put the cursor where you want the image to go, then click the image button. It will open a box that will allow you to insert an image, either uploading it from your computer or linking to it from another website. If you can’t tell what the buttons are for, you can hold your mouse arrow over the button for a second and it will tell you what the button is. For more information or to read how-to articles, check the Blogger Help page.
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