Table of Contents

Blogs

Note: Since we are evaluating blogging software, we're keeping our running notes on a blog at http://wesblogevaluations.blogspot.com/ . This page will contain a summary/synthesis of what we write in that space.

Members of Working Group Doing Evaluation

  1. Mike Roy
  1. David Phillips
  2. Manolis Kaparakis
  3. Beth Labriola
  4. Jennifer Carlstrom
  5. Jane Jylkka
  6. Pat Leone
  7. Adrian Cooke

Plugins to Consider

From Flickr: Note: Wordpress users, your API Endpoint is http://your.blog.address/xmlrpc.php

Policy Questions (what to consider in a policy)

Conflucence Users

UC Davis - https://confluence.ucdavis.edu

Cornell - http://services.dfa.cornell.edu:8080/confluence/

Policy Examples

Here are some examples of universities using blogs and their policies.

1. College Web Editor http://collegewebeditor.com/blog/

2. Harvard Law School - blog policy http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/home/terms-of-use

3. UThink- UMN blogs http://blog.lib.umn.edu/ – policy http://blog.lib.umn.edu/service.html

4. NC State http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/library/RUL02.61.01.php

5. Willamette Univ policy http://blog.willamette.edu/blog-policy.html

6. Western Kentucky Libraries Blog policy http://blog.wku.edu/library/?page_id=136

7. Liberty Univ policy http://www.liberty.edu/media/1616/blog_policy.pdf

8. Amherst https://cms.amherst.edu/about/terms_conditions

9. Oberlin (draft) http://dokuwiki.wesleyan.edu/doku.php?id=its:blogs:oberlin-draft

10. Colby http://www.colby.edu/info.tech/policies

Wiki vs Blog

http://confluence.rave.ac.uk/confluence/display/SCIRCDoL/Protocols+for+Communication

http://confluence.rave.ac.uk/confluence/display/ITIS/ICT+communication+via+Blogs%2C+Forums%2C+or+Wiki

Candidates for Wesleyan Blogging Service

  1. WordPress Multi-user http://mu.wordpress.org/
  2. Journal LX (http://learningobjects.com/products/campus-pack/journallx.html ) , a Blackboard Blogging Tool

It is our sense that we will need to provide both the Journal LX tool for use within blackboard, and another tool for general purpose blogging. We will however look hard at Journal LX to see if it could serve as both.

Hosted Blogging Services We Might Recommend

For some uses, we may want to recommend that our clients choose to use an externally hosted solution. Both blogger and typepad are viable candidates for that function. (We need to define when we would want to make that recommendation.)

Blogging Requirements

In addition to the general requirements for all of the web 2.0 applications that we've developed, we have developed the following list of requirements that are specific to blogging:

1.use content management system to create ad hoc groups Ideally, we will be able to use either the content management system or Active Directory to allow the creation and maintenance of ad hoc groups, rather than relying on the group functions within the application.

2. ability to create blogs for invididuals by request with caveats Individual faculty, staff, and students should be able to create blogs by request, in an automated way. We would need to develop policy about what to do with blogs that have become inactive and/or obsolete.

3. subscribe to comments via email and RSS It should be possible to subscribe to comments via email to allow people to track on-going conversations taking place on the blog and/or on individual posts witin a blog.

4. exportability The data within the blog should be exportable so that it can be imported into a new system should we decide to change systems.

5. no anonymous comments As a policy, we think it makes sense to not allow anonymous comments.

6. moderated comments The owner of a blog should be able to allow/disallow comments, and if allowed, choose whether or not comments need to be moderated before appearing.

WordPress Evaluation

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Examples of Blogging in Higher Ed

We're storing our examples at http://wesblogevaluations.blogspot.com/2007/01/academic-examples.html for the time being.

You might also want to check out the links at delicious under http://del.icio.us/tag/BloggingAcademicExamples

where else?

Entry in NITLE blog pointing to a specific blog assignment.

Some resources: