LIBR 246-04/13 Web 2.0 (Spring 2010)

February 9 - 15

• Learning Objectives
• Lecture
• Readings
• Examples
• Things to Do
  

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of the week, you should:

1. Have a general understanding of the technical principles behind the way blogs work

2. Have a firm grasp of blogging terminology.

3. Understand how blogs create community and why people blog.

4. Be familiar with the various ways that libraries are using blogs and blogging software.

5. Identify characteristics of successful library blogs.

6. Identify some strategies for developing a successful blog.

 

Lecture

Quicktime video (18 minutes) Please ignore the mention I make at the end of the lecture of a first paper -- this was from a previous semester.

Slides (PDF)

Transcript (PDF)

 

Readings

Farkas, Chapters 2 & 3
Efimova, L. et al. (2005). "Finding 'the life between buildings': An approach for defining a weblog community." AOIR Internet Research 6.0: Internet Generations, Chicago, 2005.
Schnell, E. (2007). "Is Blogging Scholarly Communication?" The Medium is the Message.
Martin, M. (2007). "Getting Started with Blogging." Bamboo Project Blog. (visit some of the links that you think might be useful)
Clasper, E. (2007). "My Story About Telling Stories." Library Revolution.
Library Garden. (2007). "Top Ten Tips for a Successful Team Blog."
Streight, S. E. (2007). “20 Reasons a Business Should NOT Blog.” Vaspers the Grate.
Blyberg, J. (2005). “Lessons Learned: AADL 3.0.” blyberg.net.
King, D. L. (2007). “Valuing Users by Allowing Comments.” davidleeking.com.
Farkas, M. (2008). "Our New Website is a Blog." American Libraries, 39(9), 45.
Groom, J. (2009). "Create your own LibGuides with Wordpress." bavatuesdays.

Examples

Take a look at some of these successul blogs and think about what makes them so successful.

1. librarian.net

2. The Librarian in Black

3. ACRLog

4. Tame the Web

5. Read/Write Web

6. Seth Godin's Blog

7. Gizmodo

 

Public Libraries

Ann Arbor District Library AXIS Blog

Ann Arbor District Library Director's Blog

Brooklyn Book Talk

Dover Public Library

Genre X from the Oak Park Public Library

Marin County Free Library Blog

MADreads from the Madison Public Library

St. Joseph County Public Library Blog

Shelf Talk from the Seattle Public Library

 

Academic Libraries

Binghamton University Science Library Blog

Book reMarks from Virginia Commonwealth University

Dusty Shelves from the University of Wyoming

Kansas State University Library Blogs

Reference at Newman Library

Ohio University Libraries Business Blog

TIS Lab from the University of Texas

Virginia Commonwealth University Library Suggestion Blog

 

School Libraries

Miss O's School Library

Gargoyles Loose in the Library

You can find many other examples of library blogs at the Blogging Libraries Wiki.

 

Things to Do

1. Complete Exercise 2 (due February 13)

2. Write at least one blog posts on one (or more) of the following topics (due February 13):

1. How do you think blogging will contribute to your learning in this class?

2. How do you think community forms in the "blogosphere?"

3. What impact has blogging had on professional and scholarly communication?

4. Discuss your thoughts on the use of blog software as a content management system.

5. What are some of the things libraries should consider before starting a blog?

6. Describe your impressions of the successful blogs you looked at above.

3. Write a blog post that includes a brief description of an article, technology, blog post, or other interesting resource outside of the classwork you've found that's related to that week's topic. Be sure to include a link to the resource (due February 13).

4. Comment on at least two other people's blog posts (due Februrary 15).