IntroToWeblogs

Weblogs

What is a weblog?

• a personal content management system
• a tool to foster and grow collaboration
• an easy way for individuals (and groups) to publish content without technical knowledge or experience
• conventional weblogs are hybrids of online journals and magazines - from one person's (or a small group's) perspective

How does it differ from discussion boards?

• Blogs may have longer posts, with more media. (for instance, raw preliminary data from my MSc thesis)
• Discussion boards are usually without a unifying direction - low signal:noise ratio
• Weblogs typically have a specific direction or focus (an individual's perspective and experience), and others are welcome to participate - high signal:noise ratio
• Weblogs form rich, deeply linked networks between trusted sources (individuals and groups)

Why blog?

• How changed my life for the better (Harold Jarche)
• Commonplace Book (Steve Johnson: The glass box and the commonplace book)
• The Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity - article by Martin Weller
• Students as creators and producers

What good is a weblog?

• outboard brain D'Arcy Norman's weblog
• collaborative and peer review - Giulia Forsythe
• project communication
• communities of practice Anthropology community resources
• conference sharing

Some example weblogs

• Course "motherblog" sites
  • Hamlet in the Humanities - English 203 @ UCalgary
  • DS106 - Digital Storytelling, via University of Mary Washington
  • Duke Humanities course on "viral narratives"
• Academics' blogs
  • Alec Couros
  • Ben Cowie - Snow and Science
  • Stephen Downes (and at Half an Hour)
  • George Siemens
  • Tony Bates
  • Gardner Campbell
• Individual Weblogs
  • darcynorman.net - D'Arcy Norman's weblog
  • The Distant Librarian - Paul Pival's weblog (from the Library)
  • Nancy White - Full Circle Associates
  • Logblog - Richard Zach's weblog (from Philosophy)
• Campus Weblog Services
  • UCalgaryBlogs.ca - University of Calgary weblog service
  • UBC Weblogs
  • UMWBlogs
• Corporate Weblogs
  • Planet Sun (Sun Microsystems)
  • Microsft MSDN Blogs
  • Adobe Blogs

Where can I get my own weblog?

• ucalgaryblogs.ca - any member of the University of Calgary community can weblog here (free)
• WordPress.com - free weblogs for anyone (free)
• EduBlogs.org - anyone, anywhere can weblog here (free)
• blogger.com - anyone, anywhere can weblog here (free)
• typepad.com - anyone, anywhere can weblog here (for a fee)