Using Murdoch Blogs

TLC277

Kathryn Greenhillhttp://blogs.murdoch.edu.au/kathryngreenhill

August 2008

About you

Outline•What are blogs?•Legal Terms and Conditions•Creative Commons and our blogs•What not to change•How to change the theme•How to upload a custom header image•How to change the sidebar•How to make a post•How to upload an image•How to embed media from elsewhere....•How to make a page•Decisions to make about your blog

Preconceptions

Blogs areBlather

about ...

Blogs are also

Conference site

http://datamining.it.uts.edu.au/conferences/wi08/?page_id=17

Curriculum vitae

• http://www.fionabradley.com/

e-book

• http://castleofotranto.blogspot.com/

Instead of powerpoint

• http://presentingblogs.wordpress.com/

Dictionary

• http://moneyterms.co.uk/

1. WHAT’S A BLOG ?

What’s a blog ?

• “ .... a website

Wikipedia entry, Blog(Accessed 7 July 2008 - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=223455162 )

What’s a blog ?

• “ .... a website, usually maintained by an individual,

Wikipedia entry, Blog(Accessed 7 July 2008 - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=223455162 )

What’s a blog ?

• “ .... a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Wikipedia entry, Blog(Accessed 7 July 2008 - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=223455162 )

What’s a blog ?

• “ .... a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.”

Wikipedia entry, Blog(Accessed 7 July 2008 - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=223455162 )

What’s a blog ?

• “ .... a website

Wikipedia entry, Blog(Accessed 7 July 2008 - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=223455162 )

1.2 ELEMENTS OF A TYPICAL BLOG

A blog is not a series of web pages

A blog is a database. Each post is a record.

Why do people blog in universities?

• Online “home”• Clarify thoughts• See progress through time.• Connect• Communicate• Converse• Claim ideas first• Part of network effect• Human voice

Blogging is often about•Reading•Commenting•Linking•Answering comments•Writing•Embedding from other sources•Communicating with other bloggers using other web media

...so blogging takes ...

Murdoch BlogsPilot project

http://blogs.murdoch.edu.au/yourblog

Software

Legal Terms and Conditions

Only post things you are have permission to.

Creative Commons

Why Creative Commons?

• Sometimes you *want* your content to be remixed and reused• Your content will possibly be remixed

and reused anyhow.• About sharing• About distribution

• Image of CC

Customising your blog

You don’t *have* to change anything

Start here ...

Customising your blog

What it does• Settings• Plugins• Users

Change the title and tagline

Customising your blog

How it looks• Themes• Sidebar and widgets

Themes

Themes

Over 80 themes to choose from

To activate a theme,just click on it.

Themes

• Look different to each other• Display different information

Features of Themes

Customisable header images

Sidebar(s)

Widgets

Pages and posts

How to make a post

Title

Wordprocessor style buttons

Add a link

Format text from your clipboard

Use HTML

Other things you can do

Categoriesand Tags

Save

Preview

Publish

Change publish date

Add an image

Add an image•Make sure you are legally

allowed to.

• Look for Creative Commons

Two ways

•1. Upload

•2. Link to a URL

Upload an image from your computer

Insert image from URL

Insert an image from URL

•1. Find your image and copy its *location*• This is not the same as the

URL in the address bar

Right click on the image

Firefox

Internet Explorer

Embed other media

eg.YouTube.com

Copy the embed code

Write a post and open the HTML tab

Paste in the embed code

Save and the post will look like this:

To write a Page

Manage and Comments

Decisions to make about your blog

• Define purpose• Define success• Time• Audience• Conversation• Comments

Decisions to make about your blog

• Voice• Image on header• Schedule• Name / tagline• Would you read your own blog?• Your privacy, others’ privacy

Image credits• Jelly Sandwich Heart (Blood Sugar Low?)

http://flickr.com/photos/fornal/363700193/ Uploaded on January 21, 2007 by Bob.Fornal

• Baby red http://flickr.com/photos/fofurasfelinas/9357496/ Uploaded on April 14, 2005 by fofurasfelinas

• tight curve http://flickr.com/photos/enigmatic/361525280/in/photostream/ Uploaded on January 18, 2007 by Bashed

• XML is colorful http://flickr.com/photos/willpate/63813414/ Uploaded on November 16, 2005 by Will Pate

• Great Flexibility ! http://flickr.com/photos/khalid-almasoud/474399662/ Uploaded on April 27, 2007 by khalid almasoud

• Time Warp http://www.flickr.com/photos/kt/314372109/ Uploaded to Flickr on December 5, 2006 by The Rocketeer