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Welcome

Blogs: an introduction

A blog (a combination of web and log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and usually displayed with the newest post first.

  • Blogs are free, interactive, personal web pages.
  • They can be used by individuals or groups.
  • They can contain text entries, photos, videos, and hyperlinks.
  • Microblogs are blogs that allow users to send only brief text updates, photos or audio clips.

"The one thing which is most important to my professional life is my blog ... I feel it is good because it gives enquirers a good idea of who I am, allows me to publicise myself in a way I control, and I enjoy being able to help others. 1"

Blog features

  • Main posts: these usually appear down the centre of the blog - this is the core part of the blog.
  • RSS feed icon: this is how you know that you can set up a feed from the blog. You can often set up feeds to either the main posts, the comments, or both.
  • Tags: categorisation of the main posts in different subject areas.
  • Calendar: guides you as to when posts have been made.
  • Blogroll: links to other useful, related websites, blogs or wikis.
  • Comments: where people reading your blog can comment on posts you've made. Comments can be moderated or not moderated.

For an example, see Library Matters, the Library news blog for GCU students:

Reference
1.
Ruth Filery-Travis (PhD Student, Archaeology) Research Information Network (2011) Social Media: A guide for researchers, p28.

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PILOT - New Technologies by Marion Kelt, GCU, Imperial College, London and East Midlands Research Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://cuba.coventry.ac.uk/emrsg/units/dissemination/