Week 2 (May 31 – Jun 7)

Learning 2.0 @ HKUST
Week 2 Activities: Blogging

We will look at blogs this week and let's begin blogging!

I. What is a blog?

A blog is a website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other materials such as graphics or video. Blog entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order so the most recent post appears first. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. (Wikipedia)

Let's look at this YouTube video: Blogs in Plain English



You will notice blogs everywhere. Since blogs are websites, you may not even realize that the site you’ve been visiting all along is a blog. Explore some blogs from Google and Yahoo to get some ideas:



When you start a blog, you need a blogging software, many are available for free on web.

Here are some examples:
Blogger, Wordpress, Pixnet







II. Why blogs are important for libraries?

1. Low cost or no cost way to promote library workshop and programs
2. Disseminate up-to-date information on library events and news
3. Blogs can be updated quickly and easily
4. Use blog as a channel to communicate with users
5. Keep up with professional news
6. Share information with other libraries and librarians to build community

III. Use of blogs in libraries (look at some examples):

Library news blogs
HKUST Library Blog


Subject/reference blogs
Ohio University Libraries Business Blog


Book clubs blogs
WPL Book Clubs


Reader advisory blogs
Book reviews from the Colorado College Library


Internal staff blogs
Reference at Newman Library



IV. Your turn:
It’s time to setup your blog to begin recording your thoughts, discoveries and exercises during this Learning 2.0 program. Please use Blogger, a popular free online blog hosting service that is very easy to use.

Creating a blog using Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/start) takes just a few steps:

1. Click "Create a blog" to set up an account, it will also set up a Google account for you. If you already have Google account, you can sign in to Blogger using your Google account. You can choose the language at the pull-down menu on top right hand corner.
   



2. Name your blog.



3. Select your template theme. You can customize your blog's layout with different gadgets (小工具).

More: Blogger’s Tutorial

If you already have a blog and would like to use it to track your progress during this program, feel free to do so!


V. Publish your first post:

Activity 1: Post your blog address and your name on the Comments field of this post.

Activity 2: Publish your first post, it should include:

• Introducing yourself, e.g. hobbies, like or dislike, etc...
• Sharing TWO of your favourite blogs and why do you like about them?

Once you’ve created your blog, some important things to note:

1. To add posts: The maintenance interface that you use to add posts, edit or change the step-up your blog is accessed online at http://www.blogger.com/ Be sure to write down your login and password.


2. To view your blog: Your blog address is http://(xxxx).blogspot.com, (xxxx)=the unique identifier you entered in Step 2. Be sure to write down your blog address.


3. Copyright issues and intellectual content also apply to blogs.


4. Respect other colleagues’ thoughts and comments, but feel free to disagree. That’s how discussions ensue and change happens!

VI. Micro-blogging

"Micro-blogging" has been very popular recently. Twitter and Weibo 微博 are typical micro-blogging sites. We will talk more about it in the social networking section.

Have fun!