Come On

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Come OnLets Blog!

• Lloyd Borrett
• www.borrett.id.auWednesday, 6th October 2004

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Agenda

• Whats a blog?
• Why blog?
• Building your blog
• Melb PC member blogs
• What is RSS?
• What are news aggregators?
• Summary
• Questions and answers

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Whats a blog?
Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au
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Whats a blog?
This is not a blog!
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Whats a blog?
This is also not a blog!
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Definitions

• weblog
• weblogs are frequently updated web pages
  structured chronologically newest items usually
  listed first often contain links to other web
  sites along with personal commentary
• blog
• short form of weblog sometimes used to
  distinguish between the definition of a weblog as
  a list of links and more personal blogs
• blog, blogging
• v. to create, write, or publish a weblog or blog
• blogger
• person who blogs, a weblog editor

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http//www.lazygnome.net/
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http//www.cookingforengineers.com/
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http//www.powazek.com/justathought/
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http//j-walkblog.com/blog/index
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http//pbase.com/jwalk
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http//slashdot.org/
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http//www.microsoft-watch.com/
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Anatomy of a blog
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Anatomy of a blog 2
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Anatomy of a blog 3
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Types of blogs
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http//www.google.com/googleblog/
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www.markcarey.com/googleguy-says/
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http//www.markme.com/cantrel/
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http//blogs.msdn.com/bloggers.aspx
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http//msdn.microsoft.com/blogs/ericr/
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Why blog?
Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au
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Popular view of blogs

• Radically cool
• Unique to the Web
• Democratising/socially transformative
• Interlinked a blog is part of the Blogosphere
• Knowledge creating
• A spreading influential movement with an
  illustrious future

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Blogs vs. e-mail

• A mailing-list is also a great place for
  community discussion, but flames and noise can be
  a problem
• Spam is making e-mailless and less valuable
• E-mail can complement blogs
• Blogging via e-mail
• Mailing-list to weblog gateways
• Comment notification via e-mail

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Blogs vs. newsgroups

• Threaded newsgroups and web forums are a great
  place for community discussions, but flames and
  noise can drive people away
• Blogs provide an opt-in model you only read,
  subscribe and link to blogs you like
• Forums can complement blogs a threaded forum
  could be used for blog comments

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Blogs vs. web pages

• Project and group web pages always seem to grow
  stale
• Generally speaking, web pages are static and
  difficult to update
• This is true even in a web savvy group with great
  web design/editing tools
• Blogs are easy to keep up to date and require no
  special publishing tools
• Blogs replace home pages

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Blogs vs. Wikis

• Wikis provide
• A collaborative space for a community
• Anybody can edit or add any page via web
  interface
• Super simple syntax means no need for knowledge
  of HTML
• Wikis can function as blogs and can produce RSS
  feeds
• Wikis and blogs are easily integrated

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Blogging is cool

• Easy publishing
• Community formation
• Aggregation

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Blog as community

• Its this multitude of separate sites that
  gives the weblog community model its strength.
  Because a person has control over his own piece
  of community landscape, he feels a powerful
  ownership of his space thats lacking in
  traditional community sites.
• Design For Community, Derek Powazekhttp//www.pow
  azek.com/

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Blogging is easy

• Building a blog is as easy assurfing the web
• You dont have to learn HTML
• An e-mail can become a web page
• And it is FREE!

So setup a blog as apersonal or business web
site
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Requirements to blog

• Access to the Internet
• Time to write
• Something to say?

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Building your blog
Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au
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What you need to blog?

• Hosted
• Blogger / Blogspot www.blogger.com
• Typepad www.typepad.com
• Desktop
• Radio UserLand radio.userland.com
• Server
• Moveable Type www.movabletype.org
• PHP Nuke phpnuke.org
• WordPress wordpress.org

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Hosted blog basic
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Setup your blog / web sitein 5 minutes using
Blogger
www.blogger.com
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http//www.blogger.com/start
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Create a Blogger account
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Name your blog
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Choose a template
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Creating your blog
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Your blog created!
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Create a blog post
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Basic blog example
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http//www.lisa-aus.blogspot.com
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http//ash-nallawalla.blogspot.com/
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Hosted blog advanced
AdvancedBlogSetup
Web site index.htmlBlog blog.html
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Advanced blog setup
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Set up your own blog using Bloggerby Lloyd
Borrett

• PrintPC Update, August 2004
• OnlinePC Update web site
• Download1.2 Mb Adobe PDF fileat
  www.borrett.id.au

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Melb PC members Blogger based advanced blogs
Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au
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http//member.melbpc.org.au/digimage/blog.html
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http//member.melbpc.org.au/jnoonan/index.html
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http//member.melbpc.org.au/sapsford/blog.html
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http//member.melbpc.org.au/ssbag/index.html
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http//blog.worsleypress.com/
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http//www.borrett.id.au/insight/lrb-blog.htm
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What is RSS?

• Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au

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RSS feeds

• Rich Site Summary orReally Simple Syndication
• Form of XML(eXtensible Markup Language)
• Looks like HTML
• Most blogs produce RSS feeds
• Other web sites can produce RSS also

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RSS as a communication tool

• A user that can read RSS-distributed content can
  use the content on a different site
• Syndicated content includes such data as
• news feeds, events listings, news stories,
  headlines, project updates, excerpts from
  discussion forums or even corporate information
• Atom feeds are anewer version of RSS

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What to look for
Syndicate this Site
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What arenews aggregators?
Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au
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What are news aggregators?

• News aggregators read RSS site feeds
• Software
• Web based e.g. Bloglines
• Client based e.g. Awasu, NewsGator
• Subscribe to sites by adding feeds
• Saves time
• Content is syndicated into one place

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http//www.bloglines.com/myblogs
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NewsGator

• Runs in Microsoft Outlook

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Awasu
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Awasu
www.awasu.com

• FREE US25

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Summary
Consider becoming a blog publisher Do become a
blog reader
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BlogAddictionUp 376

• Atlanta, Georgia The Center for Disease Control
  reports a sharp rise in the number of reported
  blog addicts in 2004.
• Symptoms include absenteeism, compulsive
  posting, and a sense that life events are not
  real unless blogged. In addition to new clinical
  treatments you can consult your local Bloggers
  Anonymous.

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BloggerDivorceRates Higher
First we had blog marriages. Now the waveof
divorce. Time spent online taken away from
marital relationships. Less sex. Less
conversation. Less intimacy. Less romance.
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Wife Wins Joint Weblog In Divorce Court

• Husband gets kids

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QuestionsandAnswers

• Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au

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Recommended Resources

• www.blogger.com
• PC Update How To Article
• August 2004 edition
• www.borrett.id.au

www.awasu.com
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Thank You

• Lloyd Borrettwww.borrett.id.au