#3 - Hey you (yes YOU), start a Blog
Now that you’ve done some exploring around this website and learned some more about our emphasis on Lifelong Learning, it’s time to start messing around with these web 2.0 technologies. Today you'll set up your very own personal blog - this is where you'll record your thoughts on Learning 2.0 discoveries and the exercises you take part in.
Your Learning 2.0 Blog should be set up using Blogger, a popular free online blog hosting service that is extremely easy to use. How easy? It's so easy that the Learning 2.0 Team figured it out - this blog you're looking at is also on Blogger (look at the blog URL - it starts with http://kcls27things.blogspot.com).
Now to the big question - what possible use could a blog be in the KCLS work environment? Listen to this week's podcast for one great idea - David talks to Zina Stockinger about her blogging experience at the Woodinville Library.
Click the Play button above
to hear this week's Podcast (2:49)
Now get to it...
Discovery Exercise: Get yourself a blog and start blogging
- Go to the Blogger website: www.blogger.com
(this will open in a separate window). - Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on
'Create Your Blog Now' - This is what you'll see:
You'll need to set up a Google Account to use Blogger - follow the instructions and click 'continue.'
Some notes:
- Feel free to use your KCLS email address for this sign-up.
- Your display name does not have to be your real name - yes, you can go anonymous. The Learning 2.0 Team are the only staff members who need to know your true identity (and we'll ask for it later this week). - Name your blog.
This is what you'll see:
Your blog title? Be as creative as you like - remember, noone but the Learning 2.0 Team will know who you are.
Your blog URL? The easier to remember, the better. And WRITE THIS DOWN... - Select a Template.
This is what you'll see:
There are plenty of options - go for the look that's right (yes, I'm quoting an 80's Jordache Jeans slogan). The blog you're reading now is using the Thisaway template. - Author and publish your first blog posting. This is the fun part - just click on the 'start posting' link and go...
What do you write about? Try something on the theme of Learning 2.0. What do you hope to learn from the program? What do you think about Lifelong Learning? What's more likely - you completing all 27 Things to earn an MP3 player or the Mariners making the playoffs?
The Learning 2.0 Team will be reading your blogs regularly and we'll ask you to send us your blog URL in tomorrow's lesson.
But how do you get back to your blog, to add future postings?
- Go to your blog
(we, for example, go to http://kcls27things.blogspot.com) - Look to the top right corner of the screen and click on the 'Sign In' link
(If you've forgotten your blog URL, head to www.blogger.com and continue with the next step) - Look to the top right corner of the screen and click on the 'New Blogger' link
- Log in with your Username and Password (these will be tied to the Google account you set up a few minutes ago)
- Find your blog on the 'Dashboard' and click on it's 'New Post' link
- Blog away...
Should you run into problems and/or would like more information about blogs and using Blogger , take a look at Blogger’s Quick Tutorial - just keep clicking on the 'continue' buttons at the end of next screen to keep going...
Next up: Tracking your progress, permanent blog URLs and comments
21 comments:
Hi there
Lesson 3 was a learning experience and also fun. Thank you
I admit that I was resistant to the notion of personal blogging (refer to my blog for background), but I have enjoyed this. The Google and Blogger accounts were easy to set up, and editing posts is straightforward.
Whew--this took me a lot longer than I expected! I created the template and title but my image did not download. I will try again later.....
A good experience.
What does "Posts (Atom)" refer to?
The Atom posts are just a way of formatting the posts so that they can be machine readable and easily read by all types of other programs, including RSS readers.
Here's the link to the Blogger help page:
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42014&query=atom&topic=&type=f
truly like the blogger functions :)
Hey that was fun! But I sure wish I could type faster...
Hmmm. I was right in the middle of starting my blog, when it told me there was a blogger error and that an engineer was being notified. I wonder if there's too many of us KCLSers... However, it is letting me post under the name that I used to sign up. So, maybe I sort of have an account?
Lucien, I was also using blogger during the time your comment appeared and I think Blogger is just experiencing some temporary technical problems. You may have lost whatever work you were in the middle of. Just try again later.
I have a blog! This has been the most fun so far.
I've updated my placeholder and am beginning to get the hang of blogger software and features.
I may even be able to answer questions half-way intelligently.
I had trouble loading an image. Now I am wondering if I can go back and edit what I've already published and change everything else about my blog.
Yo...
Posting the photo was a bit of a learning experience but the Help Button really helped.
interstice voice,
Nothing you've added to your blogger profile or your blogs has to be permanent. You can delete, edit, add, change anything from your profile display name, the name of your blog, the URL of your blog, the picture associated with your profile, or pictures associated with you individual blog posts.
I got confused at first and thought that it wanted me to open up a google email account, but in the end I finally figured it out :) .
Ta neart lub i mbothar an tsaoil. Roughly...the road of life has many curves.
New experiences, more curves; the more the merrier.
I like the podcasts because people have different or preferred methods of learning. Keep up the good work!
Podcast Transcript #2
PODCAST 2 – BLOGGING
David: Hello Everyone, welcome to this week’s Learning Podcast. Now that you’ve taken the time to explore the Learning 2.0 Blog and Lifelong Learning, it’s time for you to create your own workspace to track your own progress. This fits in nicely with this week’s theme: Blogging. For the Learning 2.0 program, all participants must set up a personal Blog, using the free Blog’s posting service called Blogger. Setting up a Blog is remarkably easy and we’ve got instructions for you in today’s unit. A question you may be asking yourself is: “Why do I need to set up a Blog?” That’s a very good question. We want you to set up a Blog for the same reason we’ll ask you to set up other accounts. There’s really no better way to learn than by doing. Your Blog also serves another important role in the Learning 2.0 program… we’ll be asking you to reflect on your experiences completing the 27 different things. The Learning 2.0 team will then be checking in to read your Blog postings to find out what you are thinking and to respond to any questions or comments you have. And then there’s the case that KCLS will be Blogging to the public in the very near future. Our Blogging committee will be handling off recommendations to APT in the next few months, and will also be Blogging on the internet, using Blogs to keep staff better informed about what’s going on in the system.
I’m very happy to be joined today by Zina Stockinger . Zina is a supervising Library Assistant here at the Woodinville Library (and I say “here” because that’s where we are) … and she’s been using a Blog to communicate with her page staff for the last year. Hello Zina.
Zina: Hi David.
David: So Zina … tell us what you did.
Zina: Well, I had some questions from the staff about how we could better communicate with each other – the pages don’t see each other because their shifts just don’t coincide. So I decided a Blog might be a good way to do that and I set up a “Page Space” Blog on Blogger, and that way I just put up different things that are happening in the library … different procedures … sometimes library systems overview. And it’s just one place for all of the pages to go look and kind of stay up to date and it gives them a chance to comment to each other if there are ever any questions between people. And I just make it fun and light and put up pictures and try to make it pretty and it’s been really fun! I’ve gotten good comments from them.
David: So you’ve been able to send out fewer emails and have a central place for people to keep track of what’s been going on and a place where if they are out for a while they can search and find old entries?
Zina: Right … what I do is I go ahead and do a posting, it’s about as easy as doing an email, and then I also have it set so it sends an email message to each page staff member. So they get two opportunities to read it, but everything is archived on the Blog and it is searchable that way.
David: So basically what you are saying is that Blog’s are helping you communicate better with pages.
Zina: Yea .. it’s working great.
David: Awesome. Thanks very much Zina and thanks everyone for listening. Next week’s podcast will be posted a week from today. Thank you.
Zina: Thanks.
I'm a KCLS Librarian I Sub, and am just now jumping into all of this. My fear is that I'll like blogging so much that I'll lose track of time. Better set the timer right now...15 minutes max per day.
well, there it is, my blog--hanging out for all the world to see... immortalized in the web.
ooooh. scarrrry.
I love to blog. IT is a great way to keep track of life.
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