Blog
Definition
A blog or weblog is a web-based application where authors write regularly some articles such as in a journal or diary. Entries are displayed in reverse chronological order.
- Types of blogs
- Typical single user blogs (see below)
- Embedded blogs in portals (e.g. in C3MS, [[LMS] or CMS systems
- Collective blogs, e.g. news engines or the default module displayed in a 3CMS
Architecture of a typical single-user blog
Generally a weblog is composed by different elements:
Articles
A weblog engine enables the possibility to enter a new article via a web form. User can write a title, an excerpt and the body of the article. He can also choose the categories in wich he will fill the new article. The user can always modify or edit the previous articles. The visitors can post comments to articles.
Each article (or post) is generally composed by different elements:
- Title
- Date of writing/posting
- Author
- Content
- Permalink of the article, i.e. the URL of the full article.
Most better blogs also include:
- Categorie(s)
- Number of comments plus a links to open them. Note however, that due to spamming problems, many bloggers have commenting disabled.
- Trackback (and/or number of trackbacks), i.e. links to other sites that refer to this entry
Main page
- Recent Articles (main block)
The main page displays the most recent articles sorted into a reverse chronological order. A variant or similar application are news engines where only the trailers of articles are displayed.
- Sidemenu
Generally, depending on the layout choosen, we can find several navigational links:
- monthly archives
- category archives
- search form
- blogroll (a list of blogs that the author reads)
- Sometimes RSS feeds from other blogs (usually just the title)
- An "RSS" button that provides the URL of the blog's RSS export(s).
- A button that lists blogs that link to this blog (e.g. via Technorati search
How To / Installation
If you have a hosting, you can install a standalone plateform (we have dressed a small list of the most important Open Source blogging tools). You can also open a blog without any installation. You can find a lot of commercial solutions (Google is your friend).
Popular open source softwares
- WordPress: based on PHP/MySQL is one of the best blog engines. The new version of WordPress integrates a small CMS
- MU WordPress: based on WordPress this version enhance some functionalities. The administrators can create more blogs with one installation. WordPress permits to have only one blog at time
- TextPattern: based on PHP/MySQL
- DotClear: french blog engine
- b2evolution: like MU WordPress
- Nucleus: multi-blog-CMS like MU WordPress (PHP/MySQL)
- Roller Weblogger: like MU WordPress but based on Java
Search engines
- Traditional search engines like Google web search rather do a bad job with blogs (since blogs are focused on what is new and not contents that are referred to by many sites over a very long times). Therefore rather use specialized services like:
- Technorati, see Wikipedia:Technorati
- Feedster, see Wikipedia:Feedster
- Goggle Blog Search
Educational Usages
- A blog as a bloc notes
- A blog as a (class or project) management tool
- A blog as a collaborative tool
- A blog as a news tool
- A blog as a website
Articles and resources
Introductions etc
- Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson!, Education world article.
- Selingo, Jeffrey (2004), In the Classroom, Web Logs Are the New Bulletin Boards, The New York Times, Aug 19, 2004. HTML
Academic and/or research
- Farmer, J. (2004). Communication dynamics: Discussion boards, weblogs and the development of communities of inquiry in online learning environments. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 274-283). Perth, 5-8 December. HTML - [http://ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/pdf/farmer.pdf PDF
- Fiedler, S. (2003). Personal webpublishing as a refective conversational tool for self-organized learning. In T. D. Burg, BlogTalks. (pp. 190-216). Vienna, Austria. PDF
- Ganely, Barbara, Blogging as a Dynamic, Transformative Medium in an American Liberal Arts Classroom, WORD