Blog for Thought

I was particularly interested in the readings about blogging ethics this week.  I think of blogs and blogging as a new kind of journalism (and if I recall correctly, I think journalists played a role in the development of blogs as a popular medium of expression, but please correct me if I'm mistaken!), and journalism adheres to ethical codes.  Thus, so should bloggers.  I think it's a simple matter of respect: if you want to be respected and widely-read, be it in print or as a blog, then conduct your writing in a way that commands respect.  We all laugh at tabloid newspapers because of their lack of credibility, and similarily we laugh at tabloid blogs or blogs that cannot support their claims.  Thus, The Ethical Blogger and A Blogger's Code of Ethics are a good set of guidelines that any blogger should follow.

I think having multiple authors is a great idea as long as everyone is willing and able to contribute to the blog on a regular basis.  Virginia Commonwealth University's Library Suggestion Blog is a good example of having multiple authors contribute to one blog, and I think a model example of how a suggestion blog should work (or, really, a good example of how a suggestion BOX should work).  Clearly someone (or multiple people) has put in the time to read the suggestions submitted by patrons and have directed the questions to the appropriate authorities, who in turn take the time to answer the questions.  Furthermore, this blog follows the standards as established by our authors this week: the blog is maintained, archived, updated frequently, and so on.  Perhaps the only thing it does not have is an "About Us" section, but hovering over the titles shows that they are links to the University's homepage and the University Library's homepage, which should help to answer this problem (and names and positions of the contributers are provided with each answer).

The best practices that I have seen on library blogs so far, or any blog for that matter, are the blogs that update frequently and honestly, post links to other sites of interest, and acknowledge sources for their info and their photos.  Consistent categories and/or tagging is also helpful for those who would rather skip to posts of interest rather that reading through all of them (though I would say that this is only necessary for blogs that have a wide range of topics that each have many posts related to them; otherwise, I think it's unecessary).  I don't think it was explicitly covered in any of the readings this week, but if it was I think it's good to mention anyway: blogs that are easy to read, navigate, and well-designed are the best blogs of all.  A pleasing colour scheme and layout can do wonders for any blog or any website.  A clear menu along the top of the page or on a sidebar at the top of the page are extremely helpful.