Week 3: Bloggity bobbity boo

Week's Readings

I began this week's readings with Blogging Strategy 101: a Primer and was happy to discover an article that ennumerates the many benefits to be had by blogging in the corporate environment (i.e. as a public relations forum that helps to facilitate not only the promotion of goods/services, but could also prove useful in 'lead generation' or identification of future business opportunities through the blog's discussion capabilities). The particular content of this article struck home with me because I am currently working in the private sector and we have recently been discussing possibilities for innovative ways to utilize our web presence to both inform potential clients of all we offer/the types of projects we have done in the past and to be able to provide a forum for the beginning of future business relationships in a way we have not explored in the past. Don't get me wrong....many of our clients are library and/or information management directors and the articles about libray blogs have also provided some interesting and useful insights.

On that note, I will shift gears slightly and delve into one of this week's articles that concentrates on blogs for use in a library setting: Karen Schneider's The Ethical Blogger which brings up some interesting points about librarians having to be careful what is posted in a library blog. With such new and exciting technology that allows us immediate gratification, that is to say instantaneous publishing of information, it can be easy to forget that a blog is just that - published material...available to the world at the click or two of a mouse. While it is important to keep in mind those tenets of librarianship we all hold so dear (as Schneider put it, "being the standard bearers for accurate, unbiased information") perhaps a best practice for libraries who decide to implement blogs as part of their web presence and service delivery would be to have blog use go hand in hand with a publishing review process (i.e. content to be read by at least one other colleague before pulishing). Or, at the very least, the development of a blogging policy and/or guidelines (as suggested in the previous article) would be wise.

Finally, I found Jakob Nielson's Weblog Usability: Top Ten Design Mistakes article an entertaining read. I have to admit, though he does make some valid points about certain faux pas in the blogosphere, I think some of them are more damning in certain contexts, like a library blog, for instance. I imagine Nielson was going for a wide, general audience, but I think some categorization of his top ten would be an interesting way to slice the article. So, for fun I present you with three categories:

Libray Blog no-nos

• nondescript posting titles (I mean, come on....we're librarians!)
• links don't say where they go (nothing like giving a vague answer to a reference question)
• calendar is the only navigation (can we say cross-reference?)
• Mixing topics (the cataloguer/classifier in me weeps)

Personal Blog no-nos

• I don't really think there are any. It's your personal blog, I say do whatcha want.

Business Blog no-nos

• no author biographies/photos (in this context read: 'about us.' neglecting the inclusion of such content would just be poor business practices...how do you expect to attract business if you don't tell them who you are?)
• non-descript posting titles (as important as in a library blog...you want them to know what you're telking about, right?)
• links don't say where they go (perhaps not as important as in library blogs, but this is just a pet peeve of mine)
• classic hits are buried (you're probably going to want your best work/articles, etc. highlighted and easily retrievable)
• calendar is only navigation (yup, that's annoying)
• irregular publishing frequency (probably not paramount to ensure precisely timed publishing, but it's definitely important to remain current)
• mixing topics (may be difficult to avoid in a business context)
• forgetting that you write for your future boss (or future client...audience is always key)
• having a domain name owned by a weblog service (just looks unprofessional)

Case Studies

Just a few brief thoughts about this week's blog case studies.

• Lamson Library blog has a really sharp format and visual design, but after my initial impression I found myself wondering if 'older posts' and 'newer posts' were their only form of navgation?
• The Mabry online blog was a really innovative use of the forum provided by blog technology. I think having access to teacher's insider info on the topics they teach would be huge for students. Unfortunately, as they acknowledge, they downfall of this blog is also navigation. Their intro text says, amusingly, "Regrettably, at the present time, this list can not be accurately
  alphabetized. (The reason is long, ugly, and complex--trust me!)" Hahaha.
• Finally, I am all for libraries who use blogs as a platform for interacting with their YA patrons...I had entertained the idea of being either a children's or youth librarian before my current career fell into my lap. So, needless to say I think the SJCPL Game Blog is a great way of doing just that....plus the bloggers themselves are pretty entertaining (and probably huge nerds like me).

Until next week.....