j's scratchpad

10/21/04, posted by j

Jessica Baumgart
Harvard University’s Office of News and Public Affairs
j’s scratchpad
Special Libraries Association Boston Chapter
Saturday, October 30, 2004

Notes from the other presenters

This presentation is on the Web at: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jkbaumga/stories/storyReader$1871.

Notes from the other presenters are at: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jkbaumga/stories/storyReader$2047.

The World as a Blog

My experience with blogging: I’ve been blogging since April 2003 and now blog on nine blogs, including five collaborative blogs, four publc blogs, and five secret blogs. These blogs run on three platforms: Manila, Blogger, and Frassle. This blog 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 elsewhere.

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, etc.

II. How do People Use Blogs?

• Why blog:
  • Communication
  • Knowledge management
  • Annotated list of links
  • Networking, fostering community
  • Sharing sources
  • Easy to archive and retrieve material
• Why read blogs
  • News

  • Professional development
    • ResourceShelf

    • beSpacific
  • Be/stay informed
  • Get someone else’s personal perspective, view of the world
  • Time management
    • Portals and KM

III. What Libraries, Academia, Legal Professionals, and Corporations are doing with Blogs

• Libraries
  • Inform library users
    • The Olin Library has a blog, which appears on the library’s homepage

    • Rowland Institute Library Blog
    • Park Library News
  • Communication tool among staff members
    • Need2Know: Current information for staff of the Business Information Desk, RMIT University Library
  • Reach out to the company’s clients
    • The Christian Science Monitory’s Liblog

    • MassLive hosts weblogs and points to local bloggers
  • more blogs
  • Library Weblogs takes a scholarly look at fifty-five library blogs.
• Academia
  • Professors
    • Law & Entreprenuership News by University of Wisconsin Law School professor Gordon Smith and many law students

    • Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig
  • Blogs for classes
    • Harvard Law School LLM Classes of 2003 and 2004 and admitted students

    • 050 CELOP
    • Sex Tutorial Weblog for Biology 95hfi
  • Students
    • Harvard’s blogs
    • Simmons College Blogs
    • University of Wisconsin Medical School student organizations
    • Ryan Overbey
    • Jay McCarthy learning foreign languages
• Law libraries, firms, and lawyers
  • WisBlawg

  • Ernie the Attorney
• Corporations and businesses
  • Marketing, reaching clients
    • Dysart & Jones Associates

    • Forrester
  • More corporations are encouraging blogging
  • Seems popular in the tech sector
  • Jonathan Schwartz, president of Sun Microsystems

IV. Feeds and Aggregators

• Many blogs and Web sites distribute content using a feed
  • Examples: this blog, news sources, comic strips, buoys, weather, etc.
• Two kinds of feeds: RSS and Atom
  • Differences
• Aggregators read feeds
• Many kinds of aggregators
  • My Manila aggregator

  • A Frassle aggregator
• The difference between reading a feed and a site
• Can route feeds to Web sites
• Learn more about RSS
  • An Introduction to RSS Feeds

  • My Feeds department
  • RSS Feed bibliography
• Learn more about aggregators
  • Review of aggregators for the PC

  • Review of Mac aggregators
  • List of aggregators via Wikipedia

V. How to Find Blogs and Feeds

• Some general Internet search engines
  • For a specific feed, try looking for the title and add feeds or RSS or a similar term to the search query.
• Special search engines targeted toward blogs and feeds
  • Feedster

  • Technorati
  • Daypop
  • Share Your OPML
• Directories
  • Blogwise’s list of blogs

  • Open Directory Project’s list of LIS weblogs
• Professional colleagues
• Other blogs
  • Blogrolls

  • Several sources say Business Blog Consulting is a good place to find business blogs
  • LIS Feeds (feeds from sources about library and information science)
• Third-party solutions
  • Create a feed for something without one

  • Feedster offers that service
  • Feed Burner
  • Many others
  • Keep copyright and licensing issues in mind

VI. How to Start Blogging

• Think about what you want to blog/need from a blog and select appropriate software for the task.
  • This is not necessarily easy. It’s similar to picking library automation software or an archiving system.
  • Blog platforms may be similar, but they aren’t the same.
  • More details about picking blog software
• Take some time to really learn about the system you choose.
• Find out your support options: discussion list, superusers, help desk, etc.
• Market your blog
• Start casting those bottles into the ocean (I’m being figurative here. I’m not advocating for pollution.)

VII. Collaborative Blogging

• Multiple people can contribute to a blog

• Works well for projects with multiple contributors
• Like all group projects, people need buy-in and encouragement

VIII. Blogging on Multiple Blogs

• What goes where?

• Posting the same item in multiple places
• Managing multiple blogs

IX. Blogs at Harvard

• Weblogs at Harvard Law, the Harvard blog host
• Thursday Meetings at Berkman a group for bloggers and those interested in blogging
  • Yahoo! Group
• Directory of Harvard-hosted weblogs
• Support
  • Howtos and Helps

  • Weblog Support Discussion List (Yahoo! Group)

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