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.

1. Mike Roy

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

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

• who can have a blog?
  • faculty
  • staff
  • students
  • departments (may need multiple ones for a department - its, helpdesk, academic computing)
  • wsa groups
  • special projects (reacredditation, business continuity)
  • research (psych labs, science labs)
• comments
  • do they need to be vetted? or can any authenticated user comment?
• alphabetical listing of blogs
  • do we want to list all blogs
  • if so, do we need wording explaining they are not all official?
• Rights to the Postings
  • Harvard uses creative comons
  • Harvard says Harvard can use the postings
• the selling of online advertising space to non-University entities
  • many policies include this
• violation if linking to others
  • some say this (seems more than we want) A web page may be considered in violation of content policies if it contains links to pages that violate the policy
• include text re: not approved by university
  • some want the inclusion of a statement like “The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author(s). The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by…“

• archival
  • By using the blog service, authors grant Willamette University non-exclusive rights to archive blog content in any format.

• service expectations
  • The blog service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. The University does not guarantee that it will provide ancillary software, such as databases and script languages, that authors may wish to use in their blogs.

• can not use the university logo
  • “You may not use the Amherst Trademarks without valid, written authorization from the College. Additionally, you may not use the Amherst Trademarks in any manner that (a) will likely cause confusion about the source of any product or service, (b) implies that the College sponsors, endorses, or is affiliated with any third-party activity, or © disparages or discredits the College or any of its officers or personnel. You may not register any domain names containing any Amherst Trademarks without the College’s prior written consent in each case.”

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

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

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

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

1. Moveable Type http://www.movabletype.org/
2. WordPress Multi-user http://mu.wordpress.org/
3. Drupal http://www.drupal.org
4. 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.

1. Blogger http://www.blogger.com
2. TypePad http://www.typepad.com/

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.)

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.

<iframe width='1000' height='400' frameborder='0'src='http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pLglBzHAsINLvaaX--L-2DQ&output=html&gid=0&single=true&range=A1:B7'></iframe>

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:

• A collection of scholarly essays on academic blogging
• academicblogs.org is a user-created wiki that indexes academic blogs
• Crooked Timber hosts a directory of academic blogs organized by discipline
• BlogScholar also has an academic blog directory