Intro to Weblogs

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
• Brian Lamb's Intro to Weblogs

How does it differ from discussion boards?

Map of the Flickr Blogosphere - relations between individual content publishers in a larger organic network

• 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)

What good is a weblog?

• outboard brain D'Arcy Norman's weblog
• project communication Pachyderm Project Weblog
• social networking Links on darcynorman.net
• communities of practice Anthropology community resources
• conference sharing Museums and the Web 2005

Some example weblogs

• Campus Weblog Services
  • weblogs.ucalgary.ca - University of Calgary weblog service
  • UBC Weblogs
  • weblogs@upei.ca
  • EDUCAUSE weblogs
• Individual Weblogs
  • darcynorman.net - D'Arcy Norman's weblog (from the Learning Commons)
  • The Distant Librarian - Paul Pival's weblog (from the Library)
  • Logblog - Richard Zach's weblog (from Philosophy)
• Corporate Weblogs
  • Planet Sun (Sun Microsystems)
  • Microsft MSDN Blogs
  • Macromedia Blogs

Where can I get my own weblog?

• weblogs.ucalgary.ca - any member of the University of Calgary community can weblog here (free)
• EduBlogs.org - anyone, anywhere can weblog here (free)
• ourmedia.org - OurMedia.org - partnered with the Internet Archive (free)
• blogger.com - anyone, anywhere can weblog here (free)
• typepad.com - anyone, anywhere can weblog here (for a fee)