Creating blogs with Blogger.com

[First posted at RamblingLibrarian]
UPDATE - See New Blogger Features (Dec 2006) + updated post (26 May 2008).

Due to repeated requests for the screenshots in creating blogs with Blogger.com, I've gotten over my procrastination and posted them in the blog. Yeah, I should've done it earlier... well, better late than never. The steps and screens are correct as of 1st Nov 2006 (once Blogger.com cuts over to the new Blogger Beta version, the features and interface might have changed).

Click on the images for the larger-sized screen-shots:

Step 1 - Blogger - Login/ Create Blog

This is where you you create a blog, or login to your Blogger account - Blogger.com (additional notes in Flickr.com - click here)

Blogger - Step 1 in Creating An Account

You are required to choose a User Name for your blogger account. Blogger uses Image Verification rather than Email Verification in accepting accounts. The email you enter is for things like "password reminder" rather than for creating an account with Blogger. If your preferred User Name has been taken, you'd be required to enter an alternative. Your User Name does not necessarily have to be your Blog Name or Display Name (i.e. you may wish to choose something totally unrelated to your blog name for additional security).

Blogger - Step 2: Name your blog

Here, you're required to enter a Title for your blog and the blog URL (these can be changed later; for the URL it will be subject to availability, so it's best to choose wisely at this stage). The Word Verification is a feature for blogger to ensure it's a human being that's creating an account, rather than an automatic program (spambot).

Blogger - Step 3: Choose a template

Click on any of the design. Tip -- you can always choose a new template, so simply choose anyone to proceed and complete your registration/ blog creation process. My observation is that most "Blogger newbies" spend way too much time at this stage, and adds unnecessary delay in registering the blog.

Blogger - After Step 3

You're almost there...

Blogger - Confirmation of new blog

Congratulations! You now have a blog. But you if you try to visit your blog URL, you'll get a 404 Page Not Found message. Don't worry -- you see your blog once you publish at least one post. Which is why blogger will bring you directly to...

Blogger - Create/ Publish Post

This is where you create a new post. It's almost like composing and sending an email. More explanatory notes are at the Flickr.com image - click here)

Technorati Tags: blogger, blog tutorial

Links & References for LAS Blog course, Jul/ Aug 2006 (Part 2)

[This post continues from Part 1. It will be updated up till the 2nd run of the LAS blog course on 4th Aug '06]

Selected introductory readings:

• Soliciting for ideas on how the Library can reach out to people who find it physically inconvenient to get to the library (via High Browse Online)
  
• Ebay will use tagging to help it get organized (via Library Journal Blog - LJ Tech Blog)
• The Power of Blogs - (Another LJ blog article, with a few related topics in the post. As you read the post, reflect upon the tone and writing style of the post, i.e. similarities/ differences to the print version of Library Journal. Of particular interest is the post's mention about cashless payment in libraries, i.e. did you find that useful? Would something like that be published in the typical print journal?)
• Portrait of a Blogger: Under 30 and Sociable - WashingtonPost.com article commenting on a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project: "More than half of bloggers are younger than 30, and a majority use their blogs as a mode of creative expression, the survey found. Money-making possibilities motivate only 15 percent of bloggers, and most blog on a variety of topics, with 11 percent focusing on politics."
• Technorati.com screencast - Quicktime Movie on the newly unveiled (Jul 2006) Technorati website. Includes an overview of the features and services.
• Laptops give hope to homeless (Wired News) - How blogs are used by the homeless to reach out and express themselves (via Blogger Buzz)
  

Selected Library Associations with blogs:

• Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Blog [note: The funny thing is that they don't seem to have RSS feed, no permalinks, no comment feature... more of a website if you ask me]
• School Library Association UK
  
• Special Library Association - Sub Sahara Africa Chapter
• Cincinnati Law Library Blog
• Public Library Association (US) blog
  
• List of predominently US-centric library associations' blogs - via BlogWithoutALibrary Wiki
• [This space is reserved for Library Association of Singapore] Singapore Libraries Bulletin Blog (Library Association of Singapore)
  

Singapore Library Blogs (for public access)

• High Browse Online (book blog, Public Library Services)
• ASK! (Advisory & Enquiry blog, Public Library Services)
• Programmes @ 100 Victoria (Programmes blog, National Library)
• Digi.Talk (e-resources blog from Digital Library Services, NLB)
• Readers' Choice (book blog, Ngee Ann Polytechnic Library)
• [This space is reserved for Library Association of Singapore] Singapore Libraries Bulletin Blog (Library Association of Singapore)

Librarianship-related collaborative blogs (initiated in Singapore)

• Singapore Librarians for Empowerment & Advocacy for the Disabled - sgLEAD
• Asian Libraries - (a collaborative blog for practising librarians from Asia)

Flickr.com Demonstration

This was taken when the participants went for their teabreak:

Links & References for LAS Blog course, Jul/ Aug 2006

References for blog course for LAS: "Blogs, Tagging, RSS, Podcasts: Heresay, Hype, and Hogwash?" Jul/ Aug, 2006.

[NOTE: Part 2 continues here]

On blogs and stuff
- 10 points on Blogs & RSS
- Starting a new blog
- Using Bloglines (via Preetam)
- Using Flickr (via Preetam)
- Using Technorati Tags (via Preetam)
- Using PubSub (via Preetam)

Who's Blogging? (just a sample, mind you)
- Cherian George's Air-conditioned Nation
- Cherian George's Singapore: New Media, Politics & the Law
- Lawrence Lessig (Founder & Chairman of Creative Commons)
- Lam Chun See's Good Morning Yesterday (probably Singapore's oldest blogger!)
- Tan Tarn How (policy researcher with IPS)
- Matt Cutts (google employee)
* Librarians (see Liblogarians links in next section)

Selected links to blogs/ sites with feeds
- Audio feeds
- ASK! Blog (NLB's public library services Advisory & Enquiry weblog)
- Authors/ Publishers Blog
- AustralianBlogs + Australian Podcasts + News2.0
- BookBlogs
- Blog Timeline.SG ("A timeline of significant events in the Singapore blogosphere")
- Education
- Internet Archive
- Instructables
- Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD Blog)
- LibrariesInteract ("Blog central for libraries in Australia")
- Liblogarians - Singapore
- Liblogarians - USA
- Liblogarians - UK
- Liblogarians - Australia
- Law Blogs
- Library - HKUL
- Library - NYPL
- Library - NLB
- Library News/ Research
- Singapore Heritage feeds
- Tomorrow.sg
- Yesterday.sg
- Yahoo! Search Blog
(To view all my Bloglines Subscriptions, click here)

EXERCISES:
1) Inserting images for blog posts
Here are sample HTML codes. Copy and paste the codes to your blog post and see how they turn out (remember to replace the "*" portions with "<" and ">" respectively):

*a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinglibrarian/153598467" title="Photo Sharing"**img src="http://static.flickr.com/55/153598467_8fbb8d369c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Singapore Short Stories"**/a*

*a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinglibrarian/138240722/" **img src="http://static.flickr.com/53/138240722_375dcffdb4_m.jpg" width="240" height="222" alt="Macro_Orchid 0406"**/a*

*a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinglibrarian/131272959/"**img src="http://static.flickr.com/50/131272959_a5ab2f3210.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Mushroom 190406"**/a*

*a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinglibrarian/131915800/"**img src="http://static.flickr.com/56/131915800_be07f06f81.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="Oven Fresh Cookies - Macro"**/a*

*a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinglibrarian/138240721/"**img src="http://static.flickr.com/52/138240721_eaaf32f7ba.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="Macro_Gloxinia"**/a*

2) Group Activity - writing blog posts
- Try writing a blog post individually.
- Next try working together in groups of 2 or 3
- Consider a theme/ topic

Course for Library Association of Singapore: An introduction to Blogs and related technologies, and its applications in Libraries

As posted at the Library Association of Singapore calendar page:

Title:
Blogs, Tagging, RSS, Podcasts: Heresay, Hype, and Hogwash?
An introduction to Blogs and related technologies, and its applications in libraries

Conducted by : Mr Ivan Chew
Ivan holds a BSc (Econs) & a MSc. (Information Studies). His current job is to develop and manage the Adults & Young People's (AYP) services, working with a team of AYP librarians to look into collection, programmes and services in the public libraries. At last count, he has five blogs.

Date/Time:
19 Jul 06, 2pm - 5pm (update: Additional run scheduled for 4 Aug 06)

Venue:
NLB Academy
Carnegie Room
Toa Payoh Community Library
Level 3, 6 Toa Payoh Central
Singapore 319191

Course Fees:
LAS Member: $50.00
Non-LAS Members : $60.00

Class size : 10 (min) - 24 (max)

Closing date : 12 Jul 2006

Outline of course:

1. "Blogs" in the Singapore context
2. Define & understand "blogging" terminologies
3. Examples of blogs in education and libraries
4. How does one create a blog? (Hands-on)
5. Introduction to blog-related resources for content creation and searching (RSS, flickr.com, podcasting, tagging/ folksonomy/ technorati.com, blog search engines etc)
6. Discussion of possible applications, legal and ethical issues in the context of libraries

You will have a hands-on experience on blogging.

How you will benefit

After attending the course, the participants will:
- have an overview of blogging
- understand more about RSS, podcasting
- learn how to use these new technologies to better serve your library users

Target Audience

All information services professionals with backgrounds in libraries

Source: las.org.sg/calendar.htm#BLOGS (last accessed 18 Jul 06)

MICA Innovation Fiesta 2006 - Basics of Podcasting Workshop

UPDATE - 18 Jul 06. Here's a podcast from one of the participant from the course: Mr. Philip Lim shares a story on a Customer Service encounter:

powered by ODEO

Links featured in the course:
1) Definition of Podcasting
- Ask A Ninja: Special Delivery 1 "What is Podcasting?"
- Definition from Wikipedia
- Definition from EatFeed.com
- TODAYonline ("What's all the podding fuss about?")

2) Selected podcasts
- Mr. Brown Show
- EatFeed.com
- BBC Radio (Step by Step guide to getting a podcast)
- Daily Breakfast with Fr. Roderick
- Health Promotion Board, Singapore
- Penguin Podcast
- Kevin Lim (on Flu wiki)

3) Other sites & links
- Planning your podcast recording session (Apple iLife GarageBand tutorial)
- Audacity (Open source audio-recording/ editing software)
- Studio.odeo.com (free podcasting hosting)
- Archive.Org (hosting of audio files, but no dedicated feed for the file)
- RamblingLibrarian podcast

**************************
[Original post]
I've been roped in to plan and conduct a podcasting workshop for the MICA Innovation Fiesta 2006.

See, Do, Hear: Knowing the Basics of PodCasting
18 July 2006
2.30pm – 5.00pm
Possibility Room, Level 5
National Library Board
100 Victoria Street
Singapore 188064

Listen to the spoken Introduction:

powered by ODEO

The Script:

Hello.
Welcome to the MICA Innovation Fiesta 2006 workshop titled "See, Do, Hear: Knowing the Basics of Podcasting".

You are now listening to a podcast. What better way to start a podcasting workshop by using a podcast, right?

My name is Ivan Chew. I'm with the National Library Board Singapore (NLB). In my 10 years with NLB, I've been assigned various roles: I've worked as a librarian at a community library; I've been involved in digital & web-based projects. I've managed a few libraries & was part of a team in upgrading one. Now I work with a team of librarians delivering Adult & Young Peoples' Services across our network of public libraries.

But what makes me qualified to conduct this workshop on podcasting? Well, in my personal capacity I have five blogs and one podcast (feed). I am not an expert on podcasting but rest assured I have enough to share for an introductory workshop. Besides, one point we're making here is that you don't have to be an "expert" to produce a podcast.

By the end of our three hour session, you'll be able to do or understand at least three things: One, explain to others what are podcasts. Two, know how to listen to podcasts. And three, understand how they are produced & the ways in which they can be delivered.

We will also discuss possible applications of podcasts. During the workshop we will be listening to a few selected ones. Basically, you'll see podcasting from both the consumer's and the producer's perspective.

Now here's the fun part -- we have a group activity to produce (or attempt to produce) a podcast episode. It sounds challenging but anyway, this IS the Innovation Fiesta afterall.

So let's innovate. Let's play!

Tag: podcasting

Intro to Blogs workshop, by Kevin Lim (Feb 06)

Kevin (theory.isthereason.com) posts his workshop content, including links to his presentation slides and PDF handouts. Summary of the outline posted in his blog:
- INTRODUCTION
- EXAMPLES OF SCHOLARLY BLOGS
- THE SOFT-SIDE OF BLOGGING
- THE HARD-SIDE OF BLOGGING
- WHAT IS RSS AND HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THEM?
- SIGNING UP WITH BLOGGER.COM
- GETTING STARTED WITH BLOGGING
- RELATED REFERENCES

Read his full post here.

Technorati Tags: Blog Workshop, Blog Course