Blogs and RSS Blog Post #9

Image source: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/07/26/google-announces-blogger-dmca-improvements/

I've been using Blogger for 3 years now for the "Parkview Library" and still quip that my administrator is my only follower.  Thank goodness for LIBE 477 peers who have given me a broader "real" audience to write for - it makes one rise to the challenge.  I think I may have written in an early post that I chose Google's Blogger because my daughter's teacher was using it; thus, I thought it was sanctioned by the district and thought I'd give it a go.  While I enjoyed the writing and creativity, I soon realized it wasn't that easy to get readers!  Some of the grade 6/7'es would give it try if I found "cool" links and visuals for them to try, or newsworthy stories for their age group (stats reveal Edmodo defn/intro post got my biggest hits (50), then posts about issues of the heart and motivational stories about people like Terry Fox, Spencer West, trees and fungi talking, and cartoonist Jeff Smith (averaged close to 30) but most parents it seemed were too busy and Malakwa residents struggle with slow dial-up access, so not overly motivated to get online frequently.  Nevertheless, I can improve servicing my clients by running polls and asking for their suggestions of what to post about, and I believe slowly the blog will be frequented more.

William Kist's book (Socially Networked Classroom) makes a compelling argument for visuals in our writings and teachings.  While I was stumped for the longest time of how to embed YouTube clips that didn't scroll new clips once complete, after blogging tips 101 by Aaron Mueller, I finally could jazz up my posts with video & or music - a vast improvement not only for my readers (well boss Joan Chafe at least), but also for my own creative enjoyment.  Further, I became more comfortable of how to find out "how to" tips from the blogger question area, YouTube, and Google searches.  And in points of desperation, Aaron you've been fantastic help.  After our Twitter exploration, I believe a tweet would get me some quick tips too.

Overall, I still have much to learn about blogging both in terms of content and physical layout, but I will continue this communication medium both for my school and for my own professional networking.  Jessa Clark, new tech support volunteer, kindly walked us through wordpress at our Nov. 27th T-L meeting, so perhaps yet another blog genre awaits me.  With FOIPA looming over us, however, it will be interesting to see where educational blogging heads.  I can't foresee blogging stopping!

For example, though I jest that dear boss Joan is my only follower, my Parkview library shows 2448 page views and a solid 52 posts.  While "The Ardent Librarian" shows 530 page views and 22 posts.  A healthy start to Web 2.0 social media participation despite my Parkview Library clients not savvy with Web 2.0 apps and most, if none, not bloggers themselves.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)


Will Richardson entitles his chapter about the RSS tool as "The New Killer App for Educators" - so true.  It creates one-stop-shopping eliminating having to open blogs separately; instead, one goes to his or her favourite reader and "read[s] more content from more sources in less time" ... [you could] cancel subscriptions you have to paper versions of magazine and newspapers that come to your nondigital mailbox.  With RSS, you can create your own collections of news, and features that are personalized to your interests- what some people are calling "The Daily Me" (72).

Image source: http://pinterest.com/pin/109564203405054808/

Google reader has worked great for me as I can view it from any computer with internet connection (as compared to other aggregators where you have to download software to your computer) or from my iPhone - my daily reading when at appointments, waiting for a child to surface from activities, or simply for some downtime enjoyable reading.

Eventually I want to try what LIBE 477 peer Ben Koning did in his wiki which was to embed RSS lists into my T-L wiki and blogs (theses embeds include subscribe options) - that sounds like such an "ardent" librarian service for my clients.  Nevertheless, for now, I need to keep reading more blogs, subscribe to various RSS lists and develop a strong Diigo bookmarking blog list before I start recommending to others.  I will look back to Richardson's suggested criteria for vetting blogs (74) to become more proficient at weeding out the wheat from the chaff.  Also I will will use Twitter searches and recommendations.  Oh my, it will be like standing in the middle of Chapters asking myself, "where do I start?"

Image source: http://atechnologyjobisnoexcuse.com/tag/library/

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LIBE 477 Readings: Richardson: Chapters 2 & 5; Recommended: Berger & Trexler: Chapter 5 (pp. 105-109)