special libraries association professional development program weblogs 101: what you need to know...

Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program

Weblogs 101: What You Need to Know

About Blogging

Terence K. Huwe | Lincoln CushingInstitute of Industrial Relations

University of California, Berkeley


Part One: The Big Picture

• Terry Will Cover:– Blogging as a new information management tool

– Focus on the question, “What for?”

– Blogging and organizations

– Applications with broad relevance

– Some guiding reference principles, based on life in the Web era

– How the IIR Library developed its Blog

– Q&A, Short Break


Part Two: Blogging Nuts and Bolts

• Lincoln will cover:– Weblog “How To’s”– Using Radio Userland to start Blogging– XML and HTML in Blogging design– Desktop Clients– Other software for Blogging in brief– Blogging plug-ins and cool applications– Q&A and wrap up


Blogging is “Hip High Tech”

• Internet Librarian ’03 had a full track on Blogging, and it was a hit

• Computers in Libraries ’04 repeated the blogging emphasis

• Librarians look at Blogs and see potential• Fast movement of content to the Web, without

touching a server—what’s not to like?• The platform is ideal for topically focused sites

you can build on the fly and maintain fairly easily


Two Value Points

• Speed:– Using Rich Site Summary (RSS) to build a

“breaking news” resource (RadioUserland)

• Easy Web Publishing and Archiving:– Take a topic, build a resource that has longer

term value, including news and locally authored stories, Web links and articles


How Relevant is the Blogosphere?

• Can this self-publishing platform become a money maker?

• Can it become part of a stable Web-based service?

• Will it morph into something different?


Blogging And Organizations

• Information management platforms are only useful if they meet the needs of users in the local information ecology

• Information professionals who are interested in Blogging need to survey the information ecology, and plan strategic services that Blogging can provide


Academic and Public Organizations

• Quick alerts to patrons, students and faculty• News aggregation that is pertinent to communities

of scholars or civic life• Easy (though limited) repository management of

past discussion threads, documents and Web links• Ability to add search features for your Blog• Blogging can be a very useful add-on to robust

Web sites—but probably can’t replace them


Corporate Environments

• Michael Angeles, Information Architect at Lucent Technologies:

– “Weblogs are increasingly important as parts of the overall information architecture and ecology” --Computers in Libraries, March 2004


Strategic Blogging in Firms

• Verizon tracks competitors with RSS

• Daimler/Chrysler uses Blogs to monitor production/quality problems

• A large insurer relies on Blogs to keep track of discussion threads about client needs—helping the sales force remember past lessons


The Blog as “Knowledge Log”

• Blogging can be a form of “guerrilla IA”– Employees can post anything they wish (within

the cultural rules of the firm)– Employees can take a good idea and run with it– Librarians, with knowledge of metadata, CMS

and other skills, can turn a Blog into a useful element within the overall information ecology


Perceptions of Blogging Are Evolving

• Deloitte: “Bridging the gaps between people and systems depends on first creating the conditions that allow people to participate in KM locally rather than enforcing technology-based KM policies. These local activities are bridged in loosely coupled Knowledge Networks.”

• Forrester: “Organizations have begun to move away from single-solution KM packages.”


Important Considerations

• Centralize Blogging—with a Blog master– Keeping tabs on what’s published

• Decentralized Blogging– maximizes employee freedom of speech– “Bottom Up” IA solution, driven by users

• Mediated Blogging– —hybrid, some control, but a “light touch”


Key Value Points for Firms

• Blogs can help foster “Communities of Practice”

• Blogs can help leverage expertise by improving its findability

• People can “watch” what others “publish” on their Blogs—sparking creativity


In Today’s Firms, Relationships and Information Use Are Deeply Entwined


Some New Examples of the Corporate Information Ecology


Blogging Activities with Broad Relevance

• Quick and easy Web posting

• Reference Blogging—publishing a highly polished, thorough Blog on a specific topics

• RSS—Rich Site Summary– Aggregating both news and internal

information

• Archiving


Blogging As A Reference Tool

• As a technology that derives from the lifespan of the Web, it’s best seen in tandem with more “solid” resources

• Web content in the form of IP-authenticated databases is a foundation upon which to build a reference Blog

• Reference-intensive Blogs build on digital libraries instead of duplicating them


The Best Reference Value of Blogs: RSS

• Blogging is a craft, often a labor of love

• The people who follow topics on their Blogs are often expert in the area they cover

• Newspapers and Blogs are a perfect fit for editors who want to publisher between editions


Comment on the Impact of Blogs on the Press:

• Jay Rosen, Chair of the Department of Journalism, NYU:

“The old system was, ‘Here’s our news; take it or leave it’…Now, sovereignty over the story is shifting.”

--New York Times, Thursday, April 1, 2004, p E3


Blogging Works Well in Conjunction With Related Web Pages

• It’s effective as a pipeline for email alerts to communities served by special librarians

• Other reference librarians can find and use a good blog on an ongoing basis

• The general public, citizen-researchers in particular, appreciate systematic, topical Blogging

• Blogging goes well with standard Web development


In Our Opinion, Blogs Go Together With Standard Web Development

• Quick and easy to aggregate news by topic

• Fair easy to create new commentary, opinion and stories

• Nice place to build Web links on the fly

• --But not necessarily easier than uploading HTML files, by conventional means, for complex pages


What We Did

• The Institute of Industrial Relations is a unique community

• Our Blog reflects our belief about what was needed locally

• We didn’t dive in over our heads, but got started quickly

• Here’s an overview—Lincoln will demonstrate nuts and bolts later


Recommendations for Special Librarians

• Become familiar with Blogging, or become a blogger—for fun and to hone tech skills

• Keep track what’s developing

• Monitor newspaper (and other media outlet) Blogging trends closely

• Recognize that much of Blogging may, over the long term, turn out to be ephemeral


If You Become A Blogger…

• Know your user population

• Keep it simple

• Be distinctive

• Share your personality, but keep it professional


Selected References--Kimberly Bridges, MLIS Student, Texas Women’s University

Carver, Blake. 2003. Is It Time to Get Blogging? Net Connect 128 (1): 30-32. In Academic

Search Premier [database online]. Accessed 29 October 03. Crawford, Walt. 2001. "'You Must Read This': Library Weblogs." American Libraries

32(October 2001): 74-76. Ernst, Warren. 2003. Building Blogs. PC Magazine 22 (11): 60-61. In Computer Source[database online]. Accessed 2 November 30.

Fichter, Darlene. 2001. Blogging Your Life Away. Online 25 (3): 68-71. In Academic Search

Premiere [database online]. Accessed 29 October 03. Fitzpatrick, Brad. 2001. DeadJournal.Com. Available from http://www.deadjournal.com/.

Accessed 14 November 03.

http://www.deadjournal.com/




Selected References, Continued

Miller, Ron. 2003. Blogging for Business. Econtent 26 (10): 30-34. In Computer

Source[database online]. Accessed 2 November 03. Oravec, Jo Ann. 2002. "Bookmarking the World: Weblog Applications in Education."

Journal ofAdolescent & Adult Literacy 45 (April 2002): 616-21. Porter, Paula. 2003. Weblogs Grow in Popularity. Design News 58 (16): 27-29. In

AcademicSearch Premiere [database online]. Accessed 28 October 03. Rapp, David. 2003. From Bulletin Boards to Blogs. Technology Review 106 (7): 88. In

AcademicSearch Premiere [database online]. Accessed 6 October 03. Thomsen, Elizabeth B. 2002. "Blogging, Anyone?" Collection Building 21, no. 2: 76-77.


What’s Next: Part II

• Questions?

• Short Break

• Lincoln will show you how we built our Blog


Weblogs 101: What You Need to Know

About Blogging

Terence K. Huwe | Lincoln CushingInstitute of Industrial Relations

University of California, Berkeley

special libraries association professional development program weblogs 101: what you need to know...

Documents

blog blogging

blogging terence

blogging nuts

berkeley slide

brief blogging plugins

blogging emphasis librarians

short break slide

web era