Have had a look at the blogs of other Cam23 participants and was interested to see the variation not only in iGoogle and blog page design but more significantly in levels of experience of Web 2.0 technology from the beginner like myself to those already talking about things I have no concept of - Netvibe, Zotero and Mendeley - and those racing ahead to things much further on in the programme.
The questions I am thinking about at the moment are 1) How to find blogs worth following without spending an age? - in terms of personal / leisure interest blogs this could well be a matter of personal opinion whereas in terms of blogs on professional issues this should hopefully be a bit clearer - there are just so many out there ; 2) What are the copyright issues for blogs? - particularly with regard to using images - I assume these are the same as using them on any other web page ...
... and of course the value of commenting. This is an interesting topic and I think really boils down to what is actually said. If a genuine debate is opened up then great but posts of the type "Oh yeah, I agree" seem generally to be of little value though admittedly there may be some circumstances in which this is of use - getting a straw poll on an issue for example. In-depth posts, however, have to be inspired by the content of the blog and a desire to learn more or open up a debate. In order to do some of the Further Reading suggested by the 23 Things programme I, in true traditionalist style, printed some of it off. In these circumstances the comments (some of which were of little added value) were quite annoying as far more pages than I needed were printed. Is there a way of filtering the comments to only retain what you want when printing? Perhaps lacking in the spirit of the programme I haven't commented on anyone else's blog yet though can see this is easily done. I have become a follower of one blogger and may well be inspired to write a comment a blog writer will value at a later date.
23 Things - looking beyond the horizon
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Hello FMG24,
ReplyDeleteGood point about the 'oh yeah I agree' type comments but I think comments serve at least two purposes. Firstly one would hope that a discussion is started and others will engage. Secondly it's also a little bit about the blogger getting some sort of validation - yes you can look at page count, but just because someone has landed on your blog doesn't mean they've read your words. So there is something to be said for the 'Oh yeah I agree', although admittedly not so much for subsequent readers.
Sarah
I suppose one of the things about following someone else’s blog is that, unless there has been a specific reason for doing so initially such as it belonging to an existing friend, it really is a case of “wait and see” as to where it will eventually lead. Some I have followed in the past have taken some unusual and interesting turns. Others, it has become obvious, are mainly of interest to a specific niche only. As such, they reflect life in general.
ReplyDeleteHey there,
ReplyDeleteOn your question abut using images from blogs, the best thing is to check for the attribution, you can then follow the picture back to its source and cite it properly. The good folks at Creative Commons can help you find images and text you can adapt or use again: http://search.creativecommons.org/
Some blogs, mine included, have licensed their content for reuse- look for the CC symbol. It's becoming more and more common, licences are free and can be constructed using the CC website.
If you want to use CC material from flickr this really useful tool will sort out all the citation for you: http://www.imagecodr.org/get.php
Thanks Ange, That's good to know. Didn't want to get into all sorts of unforeseen trouble due to my ignorance.
ReplyDelete