Week 2: Resistance is Futile The Blog

Borgs...Blogs...same difference. They're taking over...!

Four years ago, most people would have given you a blank look if asked about blogs. Today it's a mainstream global phenomenon.

“A new blog is created every second. There are more than 900,000 blog posts a day. Some two million blogs are updated every week. At this point, I think it's safe to say that blogs are here to stay. As any journalist, politician, or business executive will tell you, a world inhabited by content-producing ordinary people--also known as bloggers--means big changes. That's soon to be true for educators, as well.” (Richardson, 2005)

And that was 4 years ago! Technorati's 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report indicates that:

• 346 million people read blogs worldwide,
• 77% of active Internet users read blogs,
• 58% of U.S. bloggers are OVER THE AGE 35!
• blogs are "here to stay: Bloggers have been at it an average of three years and are collectively creating close to one million posts every day. Blogs have representation in top-10 web site lists across all key categories, and have become integral to the media ecosystem."

So what is a blog? The term is actually a contraction of "Web log." It is essentially a website where entries are created in a journal/newsletter style and displayed in reverse chronological order. This website is a blog. Most blogs combine text, images, links, and other media related to its topic. The capability for readers to express comments is an important interactive part of most blogs. (Remember, to leave a comment, simply click on the "Post a Comment" link found at the bottom of each post. For more information, refer back to last week's post and read its Trek 3).

Trek 1: Watch this brief video for an introduction to blogs:




Trek 2: Read Blogger's Tutorial. Once finished, go ahead and click on the blue button "Create A Blog" to set-up your own personal blog; it can be about a hobby, work, your life, or even your Web 2.0 thoughts and discoveries. 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.

Creating a blog using Blogger takes just three steps:

1. Create an account
2. Name your blog
3. Choose your template

Be sure to save your login, password, and blog address in that Word doc. table you created last week!!!


Trek 3: Play around and create your first post, edit, or customize your blog:

• Go to http://www.blogger.com/ and login.
  
• Hit the Customize link found in the upper right-hand corner.
  
• Next, click on the appropriate left-hand tab (Posting, Settings, or Layout).
  Notice the links below the tabs will change depending on which tab you selected.

To simply view your blog:

• Your blog address is http://(xxxx).blogspot.com
  (xxxx)= the unique name you entered in Step 2.
  
  

Trek 4: Educational Applications...

• UThink These blogs are "available to the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Minnesota, and are intended to support teaching and learning, scholarly communication, and individual expression for the U of M community."
• Comment Press, an open source theme for a blogging engine that allows readers to comment paragraph by paragraph in the margins of a text.
• Web 2.0 in Schools "These findings are exciting because they signal the timely, if not prescient, nature of the Standards for the 21st Century Learner."
• Chronicle News Blog Blog from the Chronicle of Higher Education
  
  

Trek 5: Write a Comment below about how you might be able to use blogs in your area of work. Or, if you created a blog, include your blog's URL.


Works Cited

Read, B. (2007, September 28). Marginally better: software uses side notes to turn books into
discussions. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A23.

Richardson, W. (2005, October). Blog revolution. Technology & Learning, 26(3), 48.


The voyage continues February 2nd with "Shields Up! Rrrrrred Alert! RSS Alert Systems"