blogs

Taking this week off.

...until wikis, all.

Seattle Public Library - (feeds for searches from the catalogue) 

The articles this week were a very good extension on the ideas presented in the previous readings. I was again struck by just how many uses their are for RSS feeds. As of last week I was starting to accept that they are in fact useful and maybe even that I liked using them. Now I'm being forced to take the next logical step by incorporating this technology with other tools were are being exposed to. I think there is a technical term for amalgamating all your online tools but I'm failing to think of it at the moment.

I hope everyone was able to enjoy their long weekend this week. I've always found it odd that people would celebrate Victoria Day with lots of drinking, given that it's a holiday based on a Queen who wasn't exactly known for excess. :P

First things first, my blog list: I don't visit a lot of blogs, so I don't feel I have many examples of blogs to share. The ones that I do visit are:

Many of this week's readings address ethical issues that need to be remembered when creating and evaluating blogs. Setting out these ethical pitfalls increases awareness, emphasizing the impact unethical blogging can have on such a wide audience. Perhaps naively, I was a little surprised at the implication that many bloggers don't take care in what they write. I would expect that, assuming there is no ulterior motive, the act of putting thoughts and ideas out on the web for everyone to read should encourage responsibility and increase quality.

Some comments on the case studies: 

It was interesting this week to read about what should and shouldn't be done with blogs. Reading about the web usibility and how to make an effective blog on the web. I thought it was interesting the different things that should be included on a blog that would entice a new user to read it and continue to do so. Such things as, creating a bio or including a picture, things that I would not have thought would be required on a blog. I think that my thinking of a blog has been clouded by my exposure to livejournal, which I only read to keep track of friends.

I know I've just broken the third of Jakob Nielsen's usability mistakes in my title, but I just watched Juno again and that quote came to mind...anyways....

This week, Scout's article, "101: a primer" demonstrates how blogs can work well for libraries. Scout shows that blogs can market your organization through personal experience and insight rather than advertising and PR.  For a library, this could mean marketing reference, new books, services, kids/teen rooms or market for/with the community.  Multi-authored blogs can be beneficial to the public because they can offer a variance of opinion, categories, writing styles and target different audiences.

I am really enjoying learning more about blogging, blogs, and bloggers.  Knowing a bit more about the ethics, standards, and expectations for bloggers makes me feel a bit better about blogs than I may have in the past, and finally allowed me to shed my concept of blogs as an online vanity journal.