Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program Weblogs 101: What You Need to Know...
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Transcript of Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program Weblogs 101: What You Need to Know...
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Weblogs 101: What You Need to Know
About Blogging
Terence K. Huwe | Lincoln CushingInstitute of Industrial Relations
University of California, Berkeley
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Part One: The Big Picture
• Terry Will Cover:– Blogging as a new information management tool
– Focus on the question, “What for?”
– Blogging and organizations
– Applications with broad relevance
– Some guiding reference principles, based on life in the Web era
– How the IIR Library developed its Blog
– Q&A, Short Break
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Part Two: Blogging Nuts and Bolts
• Lincoln will cover:– Weblog “How To’s”– Using Radio Userland to start Blogging– XML and HTML in Blogging design– Desktop Clients– Other software for Blogging in brief– Blogging plug-ins and cool applications– Q&A and wrap up
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Blogging is “Hip High Tech”
• Internet Librarian ’03 had a full track on Blogging, and it was a hit
• Computers in Libraries ’04 repeated the blogging emphasis
• Librarians look at Blogs and see potential• Fast movement of content to the Web, without
touching a server—what’s not to like?• The platform is ideal for topically focused sites
you can build on the fly and maintain fairly easily
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Two Value Points
• Speed:– Using Rich Site Summary (RSS) to build a
“breaking news” resource (RadioUserland)
• Easy Web Publishing and Archiving:– Take a topic, build a resource that has longer
term value, including news and locally authored stories, Web links and articles
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
How Relevant is the Blogosphere?
• Can this self-publishing platform become a money maker?
• Can it become part of a stable Web-based service?
• Will it morph into something different?
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Blogging And Organizations
• Information management platforms are only useful if they meet the needs of users in the local information ecology
• Information professionals who are interested in Blogging need to survey the information ecology, and plan strategic services that Blogging can provide
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Academic and Public Organizations
• Quick alerts to patrons, students and faculty• News aggregation that is pertinent to communities
of scholars or civic life• Easy (though limited) repository management of
past discussion threads, documents and Web links• Ability to add search features for your Blog• Blogging can be a very useful add-on to robust
Web sites—but probably can’t replace them
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Corporate Environments
• Michael Angeles, Information Architect at Lucent Technologies:
– “Weblogs are increasingly important as parts of the overall information architecture and ecology” --Computers in Libraries, March 2004
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Strategic Blogging in Firms
• Verizon tracks competitors with RSS
• Daimler/Chrysler uses Blogs to monitor production/quality problems
• A large insurer relies on Blogs to keep track of discussion threads about client needs—helping the sales force remember past lessons
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
The Blog as “Knowledge Log”
• Blogging can be a form of “guerrilla IA”– Employees can post anything they wish (within
the cultural rules of the firm)– Employees can take a good idea and run with it– Librarians, with knowledge of metadata, CMS
and other skills, can turn a Blog into a useful element within the overall information ecology
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Perceptions of Blogging Are Evolving
• Deloitte: “Bridging the gaps between people and systems depends on first creating the conditions that allow people to participate in KM locally rather than enforcing technology-based KM policies. These local activities are bridged in loosely coupled Knowledge Networks.”
• Forrester: “Organizations have begun to move away from single-solution KM packages.”
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Important Considerations
• Centralize Blogging—with a Blog master– Keeping tabs on what’s published
• Decentralized Blogging– maximizes employee freedom of speech– “Bottom Up” IA solution, driven by users
• Mediated Blogging– —hybrid, some control, but a “light touch”
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Key Value Points for Firms
• Blogs can help foster “Communities of Practice”
• Blogs can help leverage expertise by improving its findability
• People can “watch” what others “publish” on their Blogs—sparking creativity
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
In Today’s Firms, Relationships and Information Use Are Deeply Entwined
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Some New Examples of the Corporate Information Ecology
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Blogging Activities with Broad Relevance
• Quick and easy Web posting
• Reference Blogging—publishing a highly polished, thorough Blog on a specific topics
• RSS—Rich Site Summary– Aggregating both news and internal
information
• Archiving
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Blogging As A Reference Tool
• As a technology that derives from the lifespan of the Web, it’s best seen in tandem with more “solid” resources
• Web content in the form of IP-authenticated databases is a foundation upon which to build a reference Blog
• Reference-intensive Blogs build on digital libraries instead of duplicating them
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
The Best Reference Value of Blogs: RSS
• Blogging is a craft, often a labor of love
• The people who follow topics on their Blogs are often expert in the area they cover
• Newspapers and Blogs are a perfect fit for editors who want to publisher between editions
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Comment on the Impact of Blogs on the Press:
• Jay Rosen, Chair of the Department of Journalism, NYU:
“The old system was, ‘Here’s our news; take it or leave it’…Now, sovereignty over the story is shifting.”
--New York Times, Thursday, April 1, 2004, p E3
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Blogging Works Well in Conjunction With Related Web Pages
• It’s effective as a pipeline for email alerts to communities served by special librarians
• Other reference librarians can find and use a good blog on an ongoing basis
• The general public, citizen-researchers in particular, appreciate systematic, topical Blogging
• Blogging goes well with standard Web development
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
In Our Opinion, Blogs Go Together With Standard Web Development
• Quick and easy to aggregate news by topic
• Fair easy to create new commentary, opinion and stories
• Nice place to build Web links on the fly
• --But not necessarily easier than uploading HTML files, by conventional means, for complex pages
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
What We Did
• The Institute of Industrial Relations is a unique community
• Our Blog reflects our belief about what was needed locally
• We didn’t dive in over our heads, but got started quickly
• Here’s an overview—Lincoln will demonstrate nuts and bolts later
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Recommendations for Special Librarians
• Become familiar with Blogging, or become a blogger—for fun and to hone tech skills
• Keep track what’s developing
• Monitor newspaper (and other media outlet) Blogging trends closely
• Recognize that much of Blogging may, over the long term, turn out to be ephemeral
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
If You Become A Blogger…
• Know your user population
• Keep it simple
• Be distinctive
• Share your personality, but keep it professional
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Selected References--Kimberly Bridges, MLIS Student, Texas Women’s University
Carver, Blake. 2003. Is It Time to Get Blogging? Net Connect 128 (1): 30-32. In Academic
Search Premier [database online]. Accessed 29 October 03. Crawford, Walt. 2001. "'You Must Read This': Library Weblogs." American Libraries
32(October 2001): 74-76. Ernst, Warren. 2003. Building Blogs. PC Magazine 22 (11): 60-61. In Computer Source[database online]. Accessed 2 November 30.
Fichter, Darlene. 2001. Blogging Your Life Away. Online 25 (3): 68-71. In Academic Search
Premiere [database online]. Accessed 29 October 03. Fitzpatrick, Brad. 2001. DeadJournal.Com. Available from http://www.deadjournal.com/.
Accessed 14 November 03.
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
Selected References, Continued
Miller, Ron. 2003. Blogging for Business. Econtent 26 (10): 30-34. In Computer
Source[database online]. Accessed 2 November 03. Oravec, Jo Ann. 2002. "Bookmarking the World: Weblog Applications in Education."
Journal ofAdolescent & Adult Literacy 45 (April 2002): 616-21. Porter, Paula. 2003. Weblogs Grow in Popularity. Design News 58 (16): 27-29. In
AcademicSearch Premiere [database online]. Accessed 28 October 03. Rapp, David. 2003. From Bulletin Boards to Blogs. Technology Review 106 (7): 88. In
AcademicSearch Premiere [database online]. Accessed 6 October 03. Thomsen, Elizabeth B. 2002. "Blogging, Anyone?" Collection Building 21, no. 2: 76-77.
Special Libraries Association Professional Development Program
What’s Next: Part II
• Questions?
• Short Break
• Lincoln will show you how we built our Blog