UKOLN is supported by:

Introduction To Blogs And Social Networks For Heritage Organisations:

Introduction To The WorkshopBrian Kelly

UKOLN

University of Bath

Bath, UK

B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/events/blogs-social-networks-2008-11/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/events/blogs-social-networks-2008-11/

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

Resources bookmarked using ‘asva-2008-blog-workshop' tag Resources bookmarked using ‘asva-2008-blog-workshop' tag

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Contents

Introduction• About the Workshop Facilitator• About the Workshop• About You• Overview of Key Blogging Concepts

Case Study

Reasons For Having a Blog

Beyond Blogs

What are the Issues and Barriers?

Addressing the Issues

Sharing Best Practices

What Next?

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About The Workshop Facilitator

Brian Kelly:• UK Web Focus: a national advisory post• Long-standing Web evangelist (since Jan 1993)• Based at UKOLN, University of Bath, with remit to

advise HE/FE and cultural heritage sectors• Interests include Web 2.0, standards, accessibility and

overcoming institutional inertia• Facilitator of blog workshops on Using Blogs

Effectively Within Your Organisation at Museum & Web 2008 and Using Blogs Effectively Within Your Library at ILI 2007 conferences

• Current holder of IWR Information Professional of the Year award

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About The Workshop

By the end of the workshop you should:• Be aware of key blogging concepts and tool• Have learnt about ways in which blogs can be used

within a library environment • Have identified potential barriers to the deployment of

blogs within an institution • Have heard about and discussed strategies for

overcoming barriers• Have learnt about tools and techniques for measuring a

blog’s impact and success. • Have heard about and discussed best practices for

developing a sustainable blogging service• Have had the opportunity to make plans for launching or

enhancing your blog service

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And have a set of materials & resources which you can use for in-house training purposes

And have a set of materials & resources which you can use for in-house training purposes

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Timetable

Draft timetable:• Introduction• Case studies• Why have a blog for your heritage organisation?• Tea break• What are the issues which need to be addressed?• Addressing the issues• Deployment strategies• Sharing best practices• Conclusions

Note:• Subject to change!• Workshop is intended to be interactive

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About You

Please:• Introduce yourself (your name, who you

work for and what you do)• Describe your interests in and

experiences of blogs and blogging, social networks etc.

• Say what you hope to gain from the workshop

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Key Blog Concepts (1 of 4)

What Is A Blog?A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

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Wikipedia definitionWikipedia definition

Note that blog software can be used for other purposes (including building conventional Web sites). We will focus on conventional understanding of a blog.

Note that blog software can be used for other purposes (including building conventional Web sites). We will focus on conventional understanding of a blog.

See also handoutSee also handout

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Key Blog Concepts (2 of 4)

Providing a Blog

Blogs can be provided by:• Installing software locally (open source or

licensed)• Using an externally hosted service (Blogger.com

and Wordpress.com are popular)• Using existing systems (e.g. a VLE, a CMS, etc.)

which has blog functionality provided• Using social networking services (e.g. Facebook,

MySpace) which providing blogging or similar functionality

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Key Blog Concepts (3 of 4)

Reading Blogs

Blog readers can:• Visit a blog site (conventional approach)• Use an RSS reader, which can be web-based

(e.g. Bloglines, Google Reader, etc.) or a desktop RSS reader (e.g. Blogbridge)

• Via a blog aggregator – view posts from lots of blogs

• Use a mobile device (e.g. PDA, mobile phone, etc.)

• Have blog posts delivered using email

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Key Blog Concepts (4 of 4)

Finding Blogs

I find blog posts (including links to my posts) using:

• Technorati • Google blogger web

comments• Blog directories• Referrer links to my

blog• …

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Technorati is to the blogosphere what Google is to Web spaceTechnorati is to the blogosphere what Google is to Web space

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Questions

Any questions or comments:• About the workshop?• About what a blog is and how blogs ‘work’?

Note a summary of blog concepts is given in the UKOLN briefing document no. 2 on “An Introduction To Blogs”See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/documents/briefing-2/>

Note a summary of blog concepts is given in the UKOLN briefing document no. 2 on “An Introduction To Blogs”See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/documents/briefing-2/>