Introduction to Academic Blogging

Lisa Spiro

Digital Media Center, Rice U.

February 2009

http://flickr.com/photos/m-c/178734272/

My blogging experience

Launched blog to share research on project to remix my dissertation as digital scholarship

Expanded to explore emerging field “digital humanities”

http://digitalscholarship.wordpress.com

Using Blogs to Promote Research Programs

Comparative Media Studies at MIT: http://cms.mit.edu/

Home page showcases 5 recent blog posts by faculty & grad students

“Blogging has also deepened [grad students’] research, providing feedback on their arguments, connecting them to previously unknown authorities, and pushing them forward in ways that no thesis committee could match. Now all of our research teams are blogging not only about their own work but also about key developments in their fields.” (Henry Jenkins)

Using Blogs as Common Publishing Platform for the University: University of Mary Washington Blogs

Common blogging platform for university

1425 posts so far this month

Used for classes, personal reflection, online archives, etc. http://umwblogs.org/

Blogs as a Publishing Platform: Rice’s Catalyst Review

http://catalyst.rice.edu/

How to Use an Academic Blog

Offer commentary on current news of interest to the field: conferences, news reports, publications

Post research updates Facilitate class discussion Build a project portfolio Offer meditations on topics significant

to the field Provide food for thought/ Quotations Write collaboratively

http://umwblogs.org/support/ten-ways-to-use-umw-blogs/

Academic & Research Blogs at Rice

http://library.rice.edu/research/news-sources/academic-and-research-blogs

Why Blog

Communicate with the public; have a public voice

Explore ideas and get feedback on them Keep a research journal, a well of ideas from

which you can draw Increase your visibility Recruit new grad students & collaborators

Blogging Can Increase Your Visibility

Does blogging make you a better academic?

“Blogging makes me a better academic because it increases my visibility, name recognition and credibility among the public and among academics who read blogs (which are many more than one might think). It hones my public writing skills, allows me to test new ideas outside of formal publication and get feedback. It allows me to have a public voice consistently and persistently between formal publications. I can let people know what I'm working on, when the project will be finished and when it is released in a published form and so forth.” (April DeConick)

http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=11902&SnID=744291848

Disadvantages to Blogging

Time commitment Sharing ideas before they’re fully formed Blogging is typically not valued in tenure &

promotion (yet)

How to find blogs

Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com/ Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/blogs/

Blog directory; calculates simple “authority” rating based on # of blogs linking to your blog

Following links from other blogs or web sites Sign up for alerts for blogs that meet certain search

criteria, e.g. Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts

Anatomy of a Blog

Blogrolls Trackbacks Multimedia Content Links 1. Title of blog

2. Date of post3. Title of post4. Body of post5. Post author6. Time stamp, also the permalink for the post.7. Comments. 8. Trackback.9. Profile of the blogger10. Blogroll, a list of links to other blogs.

http://flickr.com/photos/lorda/119881961/

Blogrolls

Link to blogs that you read Signify your participation in a

community

Trackbacks

Alerts you when another blog post has linked to yours

Facilitate discussion Grounds the blog post in the

network of other posts

http://amandafrench.net/2009/02/16/facebook-terms-of-service-compared/

Embedding Multimedia

Embed video, images, audio, etc in blog post

Blog post can be much richer than paper--show not tell

http://blog.whitneyannetrettien.com/2009/02/early-modern-commonplacing-dada-cut-ups.html

Linking

Link to content that is referred to in post

Provides immediate access to works under discussion

http://savageminds.org/2009/02/04/learning-an-endangered-language/

Comments

Engage in discussion

Readers can offer immediate feedback

Foster transparency

http://www.lessig.org/blog/2009/02/on_the_farm_league_for_k_stree.html

Writing Successful Blog Posts

Know your audience. Write posts of use or interest to them.

Use snappy headlines so readers know what they’re getting (or are intrigued)

Blogs are typically more casual & conversational than academic writing. Use a personal voice.

Make it easy to skim your blog. Use subheads, lists, etc.

Don’t be sloppy. Spellcheck. Fact-check. Proofread. Incorporate visual content to liven things up.

Slow Blogging

Comparable to slow food--slow down, chew over ideas

Produce more meditative, carefully crafted pieces

“Blog to reflect, Tweet to connect.” (Barbara Ganley)

Example: http://bgblogging.wordpress.com/

Getting Started & Building an Audience

Find blogs to model yours on. Figure out what your niche is. What topics aren’t being

addressed? Choose a memorable title for your blog that summarizes

what it’s all about. Let people know about your blog:

Link to similar blog posts Email friends and colleagues Comment on other blogs--engage in the community

Write some high profile posts that are useful to your community, e.g. tutorials, synthesis of the year in your field, surprising research results, etc.

Hosted Blogging Services

Blogger LiveJournal TypePad Vox.com Wordpress.com

Note: Rice may provide a hosted blogging service starting this summer.

Why I Like WordPress.com Open source Free! Easy to use No ads (usually); looks professional Over 50 design templates Cool widgets: delicious, search, archive, etc. Excellent user support Nice tools for tracking blog stats High profile: registers blog with Google & Technorati Good spam prevention Bonus: created by former U of Houston student

Selecting a Design Theme for Your Blog

Via “Appearance” sidebar menu

Adding Widgets

Customize your blog Widgets allow you to:

Provide links to other sites Create a calendar or

tagcloud of your posts Show items you’ve

bookmarked through delicious

Show blog stats & much more

Configuring for Multiple Authors

Adding Links to Your Blogroll

Creating a Blog Post

Adding Media to Your Post

Tips for Writing Blog Posts in WordPress

Cutting and pasting from another web site often retains the formatting from that site

Tag and categorize your posts so that they are easier to find

If you’ve got a bad Internet connection, compose draft with word processing app

Viewing Stats

Understand how your blog is received.Select blog stats from Dashboard to see: # of views Refererrers Top posts Search terms Links followed

Promoting Your Blog

Through a FeedBurner account (http://feedburner.google.com), you can: Create an RSS feed for your blog (although most

blog platforms do that for you) Publicize your feed Collect & analyze stats Feature new posts on another web site

Creating an RSS Feed for Another Web Page

The Appeal of Blogging

“The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation.” (Andrew Sullivan, “Why I Blog”)

Resources

Bookmarks on blogging: http://www.diigo.com/user/lspiro/blogging http://www.diigo.com/user/lspiro/blogs

Find this presentation at Rice’s Digital Scholarship Archive, http://scholarship.rice.edu/