| [1 - Introduction] . . [2 - Exploring blogs & RSS] . . [3 - Culture & Community] . . [4 - Practical Ideas] . . (= 5 - Footnotes =) ~:~ [(or, word version 141.k)] . . [+ Live Interview at LearningTimes (login req'd)] . . [KnowledgeTree#5] . . | |
Grab your web browser and search for bloggers - there are far too many to choose from. (Between half and two million). When you find one, they’ll invariably have dozens of links to other bloggers too. Start with a collection, eg eLearn Space has a good list.
You can try a hosted free service such as blogger.com - recently acquired by google - LiveJournal, or xanga.com. You could upgrade one of these from free to pay. Blogger.com has recently upgraded its interface, aiming for a ‘dashboard’ style approach - and incidentally upgrading its approach to web standards too. Their site is now build in XHTML (the smooth new version of hypertext markup language), and they offer templates built by, for example, Jeffrey Zeldman.
Or you could get your own blogging software and host on your own server. WordPress and MovableType are two favourites. If you’re looking for the photo blogging experience, there’s buzznet.com, fotolog.net, or flickr.com. So much to choose from.
To take part in the RSS happening, you’ll need some kind of news reader - these can be standalone desktop software like an email client, web-based services, or some code that you plug into your own web page/server. Then you’ll need some ‘feeds’. You could start with the easy sign-in version at bloglines. One blogger describes how you can now get RSS feeds via your ‘MyYahoo!’ account.
Remember google’s Zeitgeist - the end-of-year report on which themes were most popular in which countries? Well people are now trying to predict themes as they happen. Because blog communities tend to recycle themes, ideas - and ‘memes’ - sites such as feedster.com, and technorati.com aim to give an overview of the thematic currents running through the blogging world. Blogroots.com provides a newsfeed letting you know when anyone blogs on the topic of blogging. Now that’s getting too self-referential isn’t it!?
Michael Chalk has been working as an adult language literacy teacher for over eight years. He is now working as Flexible Learning Co-ordinator at Preston Reservoir Adult Community Education (PRACE), and has participated in and led a number of projects such as the Flexible Learning Leaders program in 2003 when he researched open source software. Perhaps the most well known of Michael’s projects is "At the Beach" a fun and informative site for adult language and literacy students, built in collaboration with other teachers at PRACE.
| [1 - Introduction] . . [2 - Exploring blogs & RSS] . . [3 - Culture & Community] . . [4 - Practical Ideas] . . (= 5 - Footnotes =) ~:~ [(or, word version 141.k)] . . [+ Live Interview at LearningTimes (login req'd)] . . [KnowledgeTree#5] . . | |