Presentation: Blogging for Academics

As the token techie in my immediate vicinity in the University, I took it upon myself to expose my fellow students to the wonderful world of social software. I love it so. Yes, so much that I talk about it incessantly (from BBC 2 documentaries [forthcoming] to Women's Hour, to The Guardian).

I gave the SPIES group a presentation yesterday on the joys of Blogging. By jove, I think they got it!

Covered the following in PP slides (forgot you can't upload docs to Blogger):

• What is a weblog? (using quotes from the OED [password/subscription required], Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English [via Dictionary.com] and the old faithful Wikipedia.
• Examples of weblogs (Group blogs: TerraNova (with comments), Boing Boing (no comments), Media@LSE Group weblog (one primary poster, David Brake); Solo blogs: Bruce Landon's Social Psychology weblog (for students, primarily links), my password-protected blog with categories, this blog)
• What you can do with blogs: Write
• "write every day" says Rowena Murray's How to Write a Thesis
• Keep notes for yourself
• Collect your formal thoughts
• What you can do with blogs: File
• Keep your thoughts in categories for easy recall
• Keep your important documents in virtual form for peace of mind
• Organise your links and journal articles in categories you select
• Access it anywhere there's an internet connection!
  
• What you can do with blogs: Resource collection
• East to organise and add to
• Keep links, articles and inspirational material in one place
• Link out to places/people you wish to remember again
• What you can do with blogs: Collaborate
  
• a persistent, live, online forum for collaborators to collect their thoughts, resources and ideas
• use blogrolls to your best advantage!
• who's reading your blog? what do they know about your subject? maybe they'd be good partners for future research?
• What you can do with blogs: Feedback
• get comments and suggestions from readers
• use comments as a stimulus for discussion
• keep all responses in one place in categories you select for future reference
• Security issues: password protection, taking the blog off the directory, don't tell anyone, turn off comments or turn them on for special people
• Types of blogging software (TypePad, Blogger)
• Demo: How to set up, post hyperlink, upload and generally manipulate your blog
  

Now there are at least three more blogs in the blogosphere, but don't expect to see them on the tops of blog league tables; no these bloggers will be password-protecting their thoughts and inspirations, and using the software as a digital organiser rather than an outreach.

I am rather proud of myself.