Blogs & WikisA RRLC Pizza Workshopwith Kate Pitcher

November 12, 2007

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

Tonight’s Workshop Objectives: Define blogs & wikis Understand the difference between

blogs, wikis, and other websites Search for blogs & wikis Understand what RSS is and learn

how to subscribe to RSS feeds Create a blog Create a wiki

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

What is all the hype about?

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Blogs“…online journals or websites where users can post commentary, links and news…”

“[Blogs] enable the rapid production and consumption of Web-based publications”

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Vocabulary to Learn… Permalink Blogroll Syndication RSS Tagging Ping Trackback

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

What makes a blog different? Dated entries (“posts”) Each “post” has a permanent webpage created

automatically (“permalink”) Links to favorite or recommended blogs

(“blogroll”) Content is syndicated to users (“RSS feed”) Readers can leave comments Posts are archived Ping search engines when you update your

blog

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Why a blog? Categorization of posts Tagging the content of posts No need to know HTML Role of hyperlink Interactivity with reader Frequency & currency of content Blogging community

St. Joseph County Public Library

Anatomy of a post…

SUNY Geneseo, Milne Library

Clicking on Comments in the SJCPL Blog…

A comment left by a library patron on the Milne Library News blog…

Integrate & collaborate with your campus courseware or portal….

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

BLOG ACTIVITY #1

What makes a blog different from a webpage?

Compare the following three sites:

Politico http://www.politico.com Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.comInstapundit http://www.instapundit.com

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Where can I find blogs? Google Blog Search

http://search.blogger.com/ Blogarama

http://www.blogarama.com/ Technorati

http://technorati.com IceRocket

http://www.icerocket.com/ Blog Search Engine

http://www.blogsearchengine.com/

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

BLOG ACTIVITY #2Use a search engine to find a

blog on the topic of…

Library 2.0

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Some statistics… 150 blogs in the late 1990s¹ 4.12 million blogs in 2003¹ 57 million Americans read blogs every

day³ 5% of Internet users use RSS aggregators

to get news² 8% of Internet users have created a blog

or web diary³Sources:¹ Trammell & Ferdig, 2004.

² Pew Internet & American Life Project, January 2005

³ Pew Internet & American Life Project, July 2006

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Why should your library have a blog?

News Current events Interaction with library patrons Market and promote different library services Easy to create, maintain and update No HTML skills necessary User feedback FREE!

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

What makes a successful blog? currency frequency relevance to library or patron’s needs well written interaction with patrons through comments know your purpose and focus simplicity lots of hyperlinks syndicate the content with an RSS feed publicize

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Tips for successful blogging… Collaborate Edit Policy Interaction Purpose

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Some library blogs… Ann Arbor District Libraryhttp://www.aadl.org/

Moraine Valley Community Collegehttp://www2.sls.lib.il.us/MVCC/librarynews/

Stark County Law Libraryhttp://temp.starklawlibrary.org/blog/

Georgia State University Library http://www.library.gsu.edu/news/index.asp?typeID=62

Waterboro Public Libraryhttp://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

What you need: Application

(many free services will host your blog: Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, etc. )

Commitment (“buy-in” from your contributors)

Technical support (at least one person who can fool with the code behind the application if you want to host it on your own server)

Training

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

Free blog applications Blogger http://www2.blogger.com/ WordPress http://wordpress.org/ LiveJournal http://www.livejournal.com/ Diaryland (hosted) http://www.diaryland.com/ Pitas (hosted) http://www.pitas.com Slash (open source app) http://www.slashcode.com Greymatter (open source app)

http://noahgrey.com/greysoft/ LifeType (open source app)

http://www.lifetype.net/

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Other blog applications (cost $$)

Movable Type ($) http://www.movabletype.org TypePad ($)

http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/index Radio Userland ($) http://radio.userland.com Manila ($) http://manila.userland.com/

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

BLOG ACTIVITY #3

Create your blog:1. Go to Blogger and create an

account2. Choose a URL for your blog.3. Pick a template.4. Write your first post!

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

What is RSS?

What in the heck is RSS??

Real Simple SyndicationRich Site Summary

RSS = XML code RSS is the language used to read headlines

(or “feeds”) from blogs or websites.htm = .rss

Graphics used to indicate RSS files

BlogBlog

Today’s postToday’s post Archived postsArchived posts

RSS FeedRSS Feed

Feeds into an aggregator or Newsreader

Feeds into an aggregator or Newsreader

Subscribers Subscribers

SubscribersSubscribers

SubscribersSubscribers

SubscribersSubscribers

How RSS Feeds work…

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

RSS Advantages visitors can access multiple sites without

having to go to each one subscribe to the RSS feeds of sites you like

and the content comes to you use a news aggregator to read the headlines

and links in one place do not need to give out your email address to

web sites to receive updates will need a aggregator to read content

Jardin, Xeni. “Why RSS is Everywhere.” Wired. April 2004.19 May 2004 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.04/start.html?pg=7.

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

How do I find RSS feeds?

Look for an icon marked XML or RSS on your favorite website or blog. It usually looks something like these

Do a search in Google or another search engine for rss feeds or your favorite subject followed by RSS

Use Feedster or another search engine specifically designed to find RSS feeds

Example of a website’s RSS Feeds directory

The Washington Post website:

RSS feeds are available for all sections of the newspaper

Example of XML code which makes up the Washington Post’s RSS feed for the headlines from their daily paper...

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Newsreaders Plug-ins (example: Sage ) Web-based (example: Bloglines) Standalone applications for your

desktop (example: FeedDemon)

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

RSS Newsreaders… Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com

FeedDemon http://www.feeddemon.com

NewsGator http://www.newsgator.com

Sage http://sage.mozdev.org/ (Firefox users)

FeedReader http://www.feedreader.com/

AmphetaDesk http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Library-related RSS Feeds Pubmed http://pmbrowser.info

Library Stuff http://www.librarystuff.net/index.rdf

LISNews http://www.lisnews.com/lisnews.rss

Library Jobs http://feedster.com/makerss.php?

Research Buzz http://www.researchbuzz.com/researchbuzz.rss

Resource Shelf http://www.resourceshelf.com/resourceshelf.xml

LISFeeds.com http://www.lisfeeds.com

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RSS ACTIVITY #11. Go to Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com2. Create an account.3. To subscribe to your own feed, you will need

to go to “Add Feeds” in the left sidebar.4. Type or copy & paste the URL of your blog

into the search box.5. Click on the checkbox next to your blog and

click Submit.6. You will notice your blog title show up in the

left sidebar. You are now subscribed to your own blog!

Wikis

Image courtesy of The Content Wrangler at : www.thecontentwrangler.com

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

What is a wiki? Collaborative website Users may edit, add content or

delete May be used as a repository,

discussion forum, or composition system

Low barrier to use

The best known example…

Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Example of a Wikipedia article

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

What makes a wiki different? Multiple users may edit content Searchable No formal HTML coding experience

needed Very similar to many content

management systems Upload documents and files

Anatomy of a wiki

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DC Comics Database Projecthttp://en.dcdatabaseproject.com/Main_Page

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

How does a wiki work? Most wikis either use a downloaded client on

your desktop or through a server; or are web-based through an Internet browser

Edit script sends a raw text file to your browser in an editable form, allowing you to modify the content of the page

Save clicking the button sends the modified text back to the wiki server, which replaces the existing text file with your changed version

When you request a wiki page, the script gathers the corresponding text file, changes its marked-up text into HTML, turns user-selected words into hyperlinks, inserts this information into a page template, and sends the result to your browser

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Useful features… Track recent changes to wiki

(RSS feeds can be incorporated so users can be notified immediately)

History of page revisions(With some wiki apps, you can revert back to a previous version of the wiki)

Accessibility of documents and information through a web-based browser

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Email notification of changes

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Some disadvantages…

Anyone (if you don’t require login) can contribute and edit documents

Must use special “wiki” editing syntax to make changes or contribute content – this can be cumbersome for some users to learn

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

WIKI ACTIVITY #1:

1. Go to https://my.pbwiki.com and register for a wiki account.

2. Next, go to the Workshop Wiki: http://librarysocialsoftware.pbwiki.com and login (password is rrlc).

3. Next, click on New Page and create your own wiki page. Give it a name.

4. Finally, add some text to your page. Make sure to include your name and your library.

RRLC Pizza Workshop

When to use a wikiCollaborate, create and store

Users

Groups

Easy

Create

WikiAdd

Content

DeleteEditWikis are …“topical;

carved from the inside out”

(M.C. Morgan, Bemidji State University,http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAndWiki.pl?WikiAndBlog

)

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

Library wiki examples

LIS Wiki http://liswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

Library Instruction Wiki http://instructionwiki.org/Sharing_resources

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

ALA Professional Tips Wiki http://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php/Main_Page

Ohio University Librarieshttp://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page

Milne Library WebDev Wikihttp://intranet.lib.geneseo.edu/webdevwiki/doku.php?id=home

Accidental Map Librarian Workshops (Boulder, CO) http://maplibraries.pbwiki.com/

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Why use a wiki in your library?

Document management (i.e. training documents, manuals, meeting minutes, etc.)

Archive Intranet Collaboration by many

(faculty, students, community users, etc.) Knowledge base Project management tool Staff internal communication

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

What you need: Application

(many free software apps: PBwiki, Wetpaint, MediaWiki, DokuWiki; just to name a few)

Commitment (“buy-in” from your contributors)

Technical support (at least one person who can fool with the code behind the application)

Training

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

Web-based Wiki tools (all free)

PBwiki http://pbwiki.com/ Wetpaint http://www.wetpaint.com SeedWiki http://www.seedwiki.com Wikia

http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

Wiki server software apps MediaWiki (open source) http://

www.mediawiki.org/ DokuWiki (free; open source)

http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:dokuwiki

TWiki (open source app) http://twiki.org

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

Blogs vs. Wikis: What should you use?

What do you want the software to do?

Is it for the public or internal use? What is the technology “aptitude” of

those you want involved?

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

When to use a blog: You need a tool for communication

purposes within a group “chronological; staying on top of

things”(M.C. Morgan, Bemidji State University,http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAndWiki.pl?WikiAndBlog)

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

When to use a wiki: You need a place to store and

collaborate on group documents “topical; carved from the inside out”

(M.C. Morgan, Bemidji State University,http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAndWiki.pl?WikiAndBlog)

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RRLC Pizza Workshop

1. Go pbwiki.com and log into your account.

2. Underneath the box for “Join a wiki”, click on the link for “Create a wiki”.

3. Create your own wiki!!

WIKI ACTIVITY #2

November 12, 2007

RRLC Pizza Workshop

Kate Pitcher

Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian Milne Library, Room 201ASUNY Geneseo

Contact Information:Email: pitcher@geneseo.eduPhone: (585) 245-5064Web: http://www.geneseo.edu/~pitcherAIM: beebugkate

This presentation is available at:http://librarysocialsoftware.pbwiki.com