Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Lesson 2: Defining the Blogger
Before defining the term blogger, let's review Lesson 1. According to Merriam-Webster, a blog is
a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site.
So what exactly are the contents of a blog? There are a few basics:
- Introduction: Short biography of blog creator(s) and/or contributor(s)
- Posts: Original or linked text, images, or videos
- Comments: Reader responses
- Blogroll: A list of other blogs with similar themes
- Widgets & Gadgets: Small, user-focused applications such as polls, weather reports, and links to social networking sites
Of course, blogs can be personalized to no end, with varying background colors and images, as well as different layouts and themes. But what really makes a blog unique is its content, and if the contents of a blog are a blog, then it follows that submitting reader comments constitutes blogging.
Therefore, it is my assertion that those who frequent blogs and those who create blogs are bloggers just the same.
In fact, call it waiting for inspiration or just plain laziness, but it seems that Americans are more drawn to viewing and commenting on blogs than we are to creating them. According to a 2012 study by Blogging.org, Wordpress.com hosts 42 million blogs but attracts 329 million viewers who view 25 billion pages per month.
So what does all this mean for libraries?
For starters, it means that there is indeed a market for blogs, if only organizations would create them and update them regularly. The Blogging.org study agrees, reporting that while 60% of all businesses have a company blog, 65% of those businesses haven't updated their blogs in a year or more. That means that companies (and libraries) are failing to provide access for a large group of people eager to blog.
In Lesson 3, we will begin to uncover the reasons for this eagerness by briefly exploring the history of blogging and looking at how changes in our culture have impacted the blogging industry.
Because yes, blogging is an industry.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Lesson 1: Defining the Blog
Your mom has one.
The Taylor Swift addict next door has one.
So does that strange man across town with the parrot.
But we’re not talking about a library card, folks.
We’re talking about a blog.
We’re talking about a blog.
According to Merriam-Webster.com, a blog (derived from the combination of the words “web” and “log”) is
But is this all a blog can be?
Over the course of twenty years, blogs have gone from being the playgrounds of angst-ridden basement-dwellers to being key players in pop culture, business, and politics. Today, many corporations, non-profit organizations, and individuals use blogs as a way to connect with users in order to promote their products (and themselves) and provide regularly updated information about events and practices.
Not to be left out of the loop, libraries large and small have also adopted blogs as a way to introduce patrons to library staff, rate and review books & AV materials, and keep followers in the know about library services.
Also, after the press's rather recent interest in the new generation of librarians, blogs about librarianship have cropped up in numbers rivaling those of unattended children at the library on school holidays. These blogs cover a range of topics, including helping new graduates find jobs, reporting library news, challenging stereotypes, and coping with day-to-day life as a librarian.
Library blogs serve many of the same purposes as commercial or personal blogs: they transmit information to people in hopes of gaining a following and therefore drawing in more people to partake of their services. The difference with library blogs, though, is that they aim not to reach the masses, but to reach their specific communities, whether they be colleges, small towns, or special populations like the hearing-impaired.
Localized blogs such as these have the potential to create a niche in blogging: that of a community forum in which the followers may actually meet each other in real life. Promoting libraries as community hubs is a project near and dear to my heart, but in order to do that, we must first consider two questions:
Blog [Def. 1]. (n.d.). From Merriam-Webster Online, Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog
a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site.
But is this all a blog can be?
Over the course of twenty years, blogs have gone from being the playgrounds of angst-ridden basement-dwellers to being key players in pop culture, business, and politics. Today, many corporations, non-profit organizations, and individuals use blogs as a way to connect with users in order to promote their products (and themselves) and provide regularly updated information about events and practices.
Not to be left out of the loop, libraries large and small have also adopted blogs as a way to introduce patrons to library staff, rate and review books & AV materials, and keep followers in the know about library services.
Also, after the press's rather recent interest in the new generation of librarians, blogs about librarianship have cropped up in numbers rivaling those of unattended children at the library on school holidays. These blogs cover a range of topics, including helping new graduates find jobs, reporting library news, challenging stereotypes, and coping with day-to-day life as a librarian.
Library blogs serve many of the same purposes as commercial or personal blogs: they transmit information to people in hopes of gaining a following and therefore drawing in more people to partake of their services. The difference with library blogs, though, is that they aim not to reach the masses, but to reach their specific communities, whether they be colleges, small towns, or special populations like the hearing-impaired.
Localized blogs such as these have the potential to create a niche in blogging: that of a community forum in which the followers may actually meet each other in real life. Promoting libraries as community hubs is a project near and dear to my heart, but in order to do that, we must first consider two questions:
Who blogs? And why?
References
Blog [Def. 1]. (n.d.). From Merriam-Webster Online, Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog
Monday, February 4, 2013
Welcome!
Welcome to Ars
Blogetica, an avenue for exploring the practice of blogging, focusing on
the use of blogs by libraries and librarians. Ars Blogetica features
- In-depth looks at the different types of blogs
- Examples of the impact of blogs on popular culture
- Scholarship concerning the use of blogs in academic, public, and special libraries
- Historical perspectives on blogging
For all those interested in how libraries can (and do)
utilize blogs to improve customer relations, recommend books, and even
catalogue, read on.
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