All About Blogs

1
All About Blogs

• a Randall Library Workshop
• October 2005
• presented by Elizabeth Peterson

2
All About Blogs

• So what is it about blogs, anyway?

Its a noun!
Its a verb!
3
All About Blogs

• Google
• blog 481,000,000 hits
• blogosphere 17,900,000 hits
• Lexis-Nexis
• Over 1,000 articles in last six months

4
All About Blogs

• has ignited a massive debate among his former
  loyalists, especially in the blogosphere
• it's the online sphere that could pose the
  biggest troubles for the president and his
  nominee.
• The Baltimore Sun, Oct. 16, 2005

5
All About Blogs

• Is it journalism?
• Is it personal?
• Information may appear in traditional news
  outlets and on personal web pages

6
All About Blogs
Blog web log blog A website powered by
software that simplifies publishing, organizing,
and syndicating Web content. Karen G.
Schneider, Free-Range Librarian
7
All About Blogs
Blog Frequency, Brevity and
Personality. Evan Williams
8
All About Blogs

• Personal
• Commercial
• Professional
• Political
• Internal communication

9
All About Blogs
Blogosphere the collective term encompassing
all weblogs or blogs as a community or social
network Wikipedia.com
10
All About Blogs

• Blogosphere
• Many weblogs are densely interconnected
  bloggers read others' blogs, link to them,
  reference them in their own writing, and post
  comments on each others' blogs
• Wikipedia.com

11
All About Blogs

• Blogosphere
• Because of this, the interconnected blogs have
  grown their own culture.
• Wikipedia.com

12
All About Blogs

• History
• Early 1990s
• usenets, email lists, bulletin boards, Internet
  forums
• online diaries, personal webpages

13
All About Blogs

• History
• late-1990s
• Blogging software created
• No html required
• Upload content from any computer with web access

14
All About Blogs
Influence

• breaking, shaping, spinning the news
• warblogs
• political candidates
• eyewitness testimony
• acknowledged by mainstream journalism courses

15
All About Blogs
Examples

• PostSecret
• http//postsecret.blogspot.com/

16
All About Blogs
Examples

• Technorati-Most Popular
• http//www.technorati.com/pop/

17
All About Blogs
Examples

• Instapundit.com
• http//instapundit.com/

18
All About Blogs
Examples

• AndrewSullivan.com
• http//www.andrewsullivan.com

19
All About Blogs
Examples

• UThink at UMN
• http//blog.lib.umn.edu/

20
All About Blogs
Examples

• Julie/Julia Project
• http//blogs.salon.com/0001399/
• link

21
All About Blogs
FAQs

• Are they searchable?
• Are they research?
• How do you evaluate them?
• How do you cite them?
• Are there directories?
• How can I start my own?

22
All About Blogs
Finding Blogs, Managing Content

• Google
• (example dogs blog)
• Directories
• Technorati
• http//www.technorati.com
• Bloglines
• http//www.bloglines.com

23
All About Blogs
Evaluation

• Who is the author?
• authority legitimacy
• Content
• tone, bias, references/links, readability
• Verify with other sources

24
All About Blogs

• Start Your Own
• Blogger
• http//www.blogger.com/

25
All About Blogs

• Questions?
• Thank you!
• Elizabeth Peterson
• Public Services Librarian
• Randall Library, UNCW
• petersone_at_uncw.edu