j's scratchpad

Jessica Baumgart
Harvard University’s Office of News and Public Affairs
j’s scratchpad: MAHSLIN: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jkbaumga/stories/storyReader$3925.

The World as a Blog: Manila (http://manila.userland.com/), Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/), TypePad (http://www.typepad.com/), Blogware (http://www.blogware.com/), Frassle (http://frassle.net/), and Yahoo! 360 (http://360.yahoo.com/).

This blog, j’s scratchpad, runs on Manila. You are looking at an item in the stories section, a place usually reserved for longer posts. The front page of my blog is at http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jkbaumga/.

Librarians should care about blogs for at least two big reasons: blogs are a great communication tool for both internal and external purposes and blogs are sources of information.

I. What is a weblog?

• Definitions vary

• Blog software enables easy updating of Web pages, bloggers don’t necessarily have to know HTML
• There are many different kinds of blogs, different kinds of platforms for blogging
• Can blog on the Web, on an intranet, on your desktop, etc.
• Examples:
  • ResourceShelf: Rowland Institute at Harvard Library Blog: Science Library Pad: beSpacific: LISNews: SLA PAM Division Blog: Confessions of a Science Librarian: Christina’s LIS Rant: The Health Informatics Blog: Women’s Health News: IUSM PDA Information: Hospital library advocacy: Portals and KM: blog (http://www.library.northwestern.edu/news/), which appears on the library’s homepage (http://www.library.northwestern.edu/)

  • Yale’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library (http://www.med.yale.edu/library/) provides a feed for its newsletter
• Communication tool among staff members
  • EMU Reference Desk: Notes & Queries: more blogs: Library Weblogs  http://puck.emeraldinsight.com/vl=317972…
    linker?ini=emerald&reqidx=/cw/mcb/01435124/v25n4/s3/p183) takes a scholarly look at fifty-five library blogs.
• Science Libraries, Science Librarians, Scientists
  • Some internal blogging, but not too much

  • External blogs are easier for us to find
  • Issues with certified storage devices, like lab notebooks
  • Garrett will address more science blogging
• Medical Libraries, Medical Librarians, Doctors
  • Issues with patient confidentiality
  • The public interpreting info on a weblog as medical advice
  • Doctors expressing their opinions
  • The Blesius Blog (http://www.blesius.org/blog/) by Carl Blesius, a dermatologist
  • medmusings by Enoch Choi (http://www.enochchoi.com/thoughts/), an urgent care doctor
  • Kevin, MD (http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/) and Straight from the Doc  http://www.straightfromthedoc.com/), by a primary care physician
  • Health Science Libraries Health News: Family Medicine Notes (http://www.docnotes.net/) by a family physician
  • BloggerCon: Weblogs and Medicine: RSS: Atom: Differences: Manila aggregator: Bloglines: My Yahoo!: My Harvard: An Introduction to RSS Feeds: Feeds department: RSS Feed bibliography: Review of aggregators for the PC: Review of Mac aggregators: List of aggregators via Wikipedia: Feedster: Technorati: Daypop: Share Your OPML: Blogwise’s list of blogs: Open Directory Project’s list of LIS weblogs: LIS Feeds: Feed Burner: picking blog software: Pluck: Onfolio: Flickr: Furl: 
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