Welcome to the world of Blogging!

ASSAF blog training

Day 1: 13 August

Introduction to Blogs

What are blogs? Why and how should we use one?

Blogging

Blogging in Plain English

Video by:Lee LeFever, Commoncraft.com

Blogs in Plain EnglishKey points…

YOU = reporter + publisher

WHERE YOU CAN share your unique perspectives

With your OWN audience

Blogs enable two-way conversations

Blogs are EASY to use…

2 main features of a blog:

• TECHNOLOGY

• CONTENT

Here’s a contextual understanding…

So what’s the big deal?

Read / Write

• Sir Tim Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1990.

• The proposal was based on how to transfer information over the internet, using a point-and-click system.

Read / Write

Tim Berners Lee’s Web

It started with…READ ONLY

HTML

And then it became…READ-WRITE

READ-WRITE

Types of blogs…

A blog (a contraction of the term "weblog”) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries that provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries.

A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, webpages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

- ‘Blog’ on Wikipedia

Types of blogs… (content)

• Personal blog• Corporate blog (organisational)• By genre• By media type• By device

“… that provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries.”

Types of blogs… (bloggers)

“… maintained by an individual”

Collaborative blogs: many authors around a single theme.

Applications on the WWW…

A site WITH A BLOG

A site WITH A BLOG

Blog AS A WEBSITE

Blogging within a community

Blogging within a community

Blogging within a community

The good, the bad and the ugly…

Some ‘good’ examples…Popularity / Readers

Collaborative blogInternet pop cultureShort articles, interesting topics, lots of multimediaRated one of the most viewed blogs in the world

S.A. sports blog, also collaborativeRanked #1 on Amatomu+4million visitors in 1 month alone, from 209 countriesA recent post has 489 comments!

http://boingboing.net/

Some ‘good’ examples…Industry specific thought leaders

Eve Gray’s blog on Open Access Publishing.

Regular posts providing news and insight into her field of expertise.

http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/gray-area

http://www.plos.org/cms/blog

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a nonprofit organization working to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. Blog has regular updates and breaking news on the latest scientific research in these fields.

Is it fair to point out the bad and ugly?Because

my peas on toast might be your club sandwich…

So,just in case you’re not convinced…

Why Blog?Blogging facilitates conversations and creates relationships:

• Publish research findings that would be beneficial to the general public

• Record and archive of project progress from start to finish

• Gives a personal, ‘insiders’ view on the projects as they are rolled out: the successes and challenges, highs and lows

• Information exchange: plugging in to a community

• Allows you to garner internal and external support for projects

• Helps with accountability to donors/funders/partners

And the stats say it all…

Intro to the Assaf blog &

How to login

Front-end vs. Back-end

Front-end vs. Back-end

• The front-end of your website is what the public sees

Front-end vs. Back-endThe back-end of your website is what makes your website work

The back-end… manages the data on your site and controls the look of your siteis not visible to the public

Front-end vs. Back-endUsing the back-end, you can change:

• layout

• colors

• logo

• banner

• navigation

• content / information

Navigating the Back-end

Navigating the Back-endPosts

Create & Edit Blog Posts

Navigating the Back-endMedia

Add media (video, audio, pictures)

Navigating the Back-endLinks

Add and Edit links to websitesto be listed under the blogroll

Navigating the Back-endPages

Create and Edit pages(static content)

Navigating the Back-endComments

Unapprove, delete, edit and reply to comments

How to Access the Back-end

• Login in at: www.assaf-interactive.org.za/wp-admin

• Username: use the name in your email address for example: Thabo@assaf.org.za username: Thabo

• Password: changeme

Change Password

• Click on ‘Profile’ on the left-hand side• Scroll down and type your new password• Click ‘Update Profile’ to save your changes

Practical(15 minutes)

• Login to the back-end• Change your password

Strategic brainstorm

what should the ASSAf blog achieve?

What do you (organisationally speaking) look like?

… draw us a picture …

What do you write about?

Do you share information internally and/ or externally?

How are you connected to one another? To your network?

What do you do?

Do your processes and methodologies differ from one anothers?

I am your stakeholder. Who am I?Eg: readers/ contributors/ users/ policy makers?

… draw us a picture …

Why do I need this info?

How do I use your research?

How do you talk to them?

Am I a reader of your research and journals?

Do I contribute to your research and journals?

Do I promote your research?

Am I involved in your research process?

A gazillion objectives?Try to choose ONE

Find the most compelling reason for your blog

Hypothetically speaking, once you’re done, what will you have

achieved?

Will you have more members?

Will you have more funding and project opportunities?

Will you have more citations?

Will you have extended your global/ local network?

Will you have a closer, two-way relationship with your target audience?

Intro to pages

The differences between pages & posts

What is a Post?• Listed in reverse chronological order on

home page

• Also listed under Archives, Categories and Recent Posts

• Displayed in the RSS feed

• Can be assigned categories & tags

• Are dynamic, updated regularly

• Deliver current information

What is a Page?• Consist of static content

• Not listed by date

• Displayed in tabs at top of blog

• Do not use tags or categories

• Are consistent, content rarely changes

• Not displayed in RSS

• Can be organised in hierarchies

How to Create a Page• Click ‘Add New’ under the Pages tab

• Add page title

• Add page content

• Spell check!

• Save Draft

• Preview the draft

• Publish the page

Save Draft, Preview, Publish• Save Draft allows you to save a copy of

your work

• Preview allows you to view what your page will look like

- not viewable to the public

- uses temporary URL

• Publish makes your page public for everyone to see

How to Format a PageSpice up your page so it’s not too boring…• Add links

• Bold & italicise text

• Change text color

• Add media

• Change text size

but don’t go too crazy!

Practical(30 minutes)

• Add content to the ‘Projects’ page• Create your project page

Writing blog posts

A step-by-step guide

Where to begin?

• Read blogs!

Next steps…

• Choose a topic: Remember your reader.

• Make a point. Stick to the point.

• Do your research / have some substantiating data, then link, link, link

• Encourage your readers to respond…

Now to the writing… • Typically an informal/personal tone

• The first line / first paragraph is key!

• Write a catchy headline / title

• Length: 250-300 words or maybe… not???

• In some cases, uses bullet points and lists

• Link, link, link! Remember to test the links.

• Do a spelling and grammar check! Read through it One.. More… Time…

And after…

• A picture (or video) tells a thousand words…

• Promote your blog

• Respond to comments

• How often do I post? The answer is: Quality above quantity!

Blog Case Studies1. The scepticalchymist

http://blogs.nature.com/thescepticalchymist/

Pros: • Short and to the point• ‘Newsy’ with some background info

Cons:• So few links!Lets see where the blogger could have added more links to the benefit of the reader

Blog Case Studies2. Gray Area

http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/gray-area/

Pros: • An interesting analysis that adds a different (local) view to a WHO announcement• Well researched and substantiated• Good headline

Cons:• Paragraphs and subheadings needed

The plan for innovation, IPR and public health is adopted at the WHO. How can this be reconciled with the IPR Act?

Blog Case Studies3. iCommons

http://icommons.org

Pros: • Announcing new research findings of interest to readers • Well structured• Interesting multimedia• Fantastic conversation! (see the 12 comments!)

Over the Top: The New (and Bigger) Cultural Industry in Brazil

Writing blog posts

PRACTICAL(30 mins)

Using the blog writing and style tips discussed here and drawing on our strategy discussion from earlier today, write your first blog entry.

Write about interesting new research, a development in your project, an announcement, or an ASSAF or industry event that has taken place recently. Choose a topic that is easy to write about, focus more on the blogging process than necessarily the content as yet.

This should be written in a Word document for now.

Key elements of a blogpost

Uploading your post

Key Elements of a blogpost

1. Format– Spice up the look of your post– Use bold, italics, text size, media, linking, etc.

2. Accessibility– Make your post accessible and easy to find– Use Tags and Categories

3. Interactive– Allow readers to comment on your posts

1. Format

Formatting your blogpost

Use bold, italics, text size etc., to… • Emphasize or highlight keywords or phrases• Identify subheadings

Use links to…• Put your story into the context of other stories, blog posts or comments that have

been written on the same subject• Give weight to your opinion by backing it up with additional sources

– instead of citing all the sources, or the entire text of another source, you refer to a little bit of it and then link to the the rest

• Help to better define or explain a word or concept

2. Accessibility

Making your blogpost accessible

Categories and Tags…

• Help to organise and share our info online• Make it easier to search and find topics of interest• Help with search engine optimisation• Help to structure and organise your blog for browsing

Categories vs. Tags

• Categories are an organizational tool, while tags are for item identification– Categories tell you where the post goes, tags tell you what’s in the post

• Posts can fall under one or two categories, but can have unlimited tags

What are categories?• Categories categorize broad themes of your blog

• Categories are best used to organise the major topics you write about

• Categories are persistent

• Categories always appear in the right sidebar

• Generate an RSS feed for each category– allows people follow a subset of your posts

What are tags?• Non-hierarchical keywords or terms assigned to

a piece of information

• This metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching

• Use tags to add specific keywords that elaborate on the subject of the post

– like the names of people, product or companies mentioned in the post, or descriptive topic names

that aren't categories – (e.g. “medicine", “hospitals" might be good tags for your

‘Health category’)

• Tags are chosen informally / personally by the item's creator

Using Categories & Tags together

• A small set of categories for browsing the key themes of your site

• A nice tag cloud that helps users browser your site more like a topical search -- using words that your users would know and be looking for

In the ideal scenario, to use tags and categories more effectively, you would have the following in place:

How to Add tags & categories to your post

3. Interactive

The importance of Comments• Blog comments are what make a blog interactive and

social

• People like to feel involved– blog comments allow readers to join in on the

conversation about a topic that interests them

• As the conversation builds, so will your relationship with your readers and so will your blog's popularity

• The most popular blogs have a very interactive community who voice their opinions on posts frequently

Get the most out of Comments• Encourage your readers to join in the

discussion and leave comments

• Respond promptly to the comments left by your readers to make them feel valued

• Just as you don't like to be ignored when you address someone in person, you don't want to ignore your readers when they address you through a blog comment

Practical(30 minutes)

• Format your blog post• Add relevant tags and categories

Blog content

So what do I write about?

* Brainstorming session *

Some ideas on…Creating content

Blogging should be fun!

• Theme days e.g. Friday Fact box, Weird and Wacky Wednesday, A scientific thought for the week ahead (published on a Monday)

• Characters e.g An agony aunt or uncle(s)…

• Media e.g. a podcast or photo story

• Curatorship/Resources e.g. 10 of the best, 5 tips, how to / toolkits

• Interviews e.g. Profile Q&As or even an organisation spotlight

• Competitions e.g. a blog duel!

Some ideas on…Managing content

• An editorial calendar linked to an editorial meeting

• List the announcements/happenings that you know will need to be made on the blog e.g. projects ending, research to be published, event announcements or feedback.

• Schedule who will be blogging and when for accountability

• This can be flexible (e.g. if there is breaking news) but at least gives you a schedule to work to.

• Make a list of potential stories, even if you can’t get to them now, you at least have a list of ideas for those ‘dry months’

BLOG CONTENT

Based on your projects - what do you think would work best for ASSAF????

Brainstorm