| ultrastudents.co.uk |
student
researchers at |
for
and by
|
 |
| welcome | join | students | blogging | resources | bookclub | newWiki |
|
||||||||
|
the ultraversity researchers' website, associated with the ultrastudents e-mail list | |||||||
| We're going to show you how to set up
a free weblog of you own, and how to setup your computer so that you can
read all the latest news from your favourite 'blogs easily without having
to keep checking lots of sites.
But first of all, go and have a look at some of the blogs which have sprung up in and around ultraversity and then come back here. |
   |
|
|
|
|
|
Blogging.
Ultraversity researchers are expected to keep a Learning Journal, right
from the start and some of us used blogs for this. A blog is a web
log, a kind of online diary but it gets more interesting than that
when you have visitors who leave comments on your blog. Then there are
ways to read news from lots of people's blogs all in one go, without having
to check them all individually.
|
Questions and Answers |
||
| Q) Do I need to install new software - is it complicated? | ||
| A) No you don't. You can create and update your new blog by just typing into a form in your web browser eg Internet Explorer. The idea is to make it as easy as possible so that you can get into the habit of writing regular articles, whenever the fancy takes you, wherever you can have access to the internet. Most people who blog are primarily writers rather than techies. You can subscribe to newsfeeds via the web also, but you may find an installed newsfeedreader more fun. | ||
|
Q) Why bother with any of this? |
||
| A) Because it's an important development on the net which you need to be aware of,, and because it's fun.Whether you are someone who doesn't know what a blog is, someone who has been using one as a learning journal for some time, someone who wants a guestbook, or who already uses RSS to keep in touch with the latest blog entries there is stuff for everyone to learn, to experiment with and to exchange ideas about. | ||
| Q) Where can I sign up for a free Blog? | ||
|
A2) For now, if you haven't got around to signing up for a free blog
to try out can I urge you not to use the one I chose originally,
( blogger at blogspot ) but instead to use the more popular blogdrive
http://www.blogdrive.com/ This
will give you facilities to allow people to visit your blog and leave
comments, and will make linking up much easier. There are other possibilities
you may wish to explore, for instance you might want to try one of the
other commercial blog providers such as LiveJournal.com.
or Blogger Whatever you choose,
make sure it has the following essential features: |
||
| Q Why all the fuss now? | ||
| A Because some of the researchers & LFs & technical Ultralab people have started using blogs recently.Lots of conversations are now going in them. For example Martin hasn't disappeared he's just moved his 'firestarting' to a blog. | ||
| Q What else - RSS?
A Another thing you can do is to make use of a feature called RSS ( Really Simple Syndication ). Each blog that complies with this creates a special file which you can use to read only the latest unread articles from your favourite blogs. You can do this online in your browser by using a service such as bloglines or download a program called a news feed reader, which wqill give you a little more control and efficiency. For Mac download NetNewsWire Lite For PC use Feedreader Then you just need to find the RSS feed on each blog you want to Here are some others andy's blog
RSS feed When you visit sombody's blog, it's nice to leave a comment. You will also get the chance to leave the address of your own blog with your comment, so that other visitors and the blog writer can make the return visit. This is how bloggers with similar interests begin to form into a kind of many-to-many community - but structured around individuals rather than forums. |
||
| Q How do I find the RSS feed for a blog I wish to follow? | ||
|
A Look in the side bar of the blog for the phrase "Syndicate",
"Syndicate this site" or a button like this
http://www.jamieoliver.com/diary/index.html You wouldn't know from reading the site that there is an RSS feed available which you can subscribe to, but if you manually change the URL in your browser from http://www.jamieoliver.com/diary/index.html to : http://www.jamieoliver.com/diary/index.xml and go there, you discover the useful feed - By just replacing the .html with .xml You can use this same technique with all blogs at blogdrive eg http://lindasgb.blogdrive.com/index.xml http://maureenslack.blogdrive.com/index.xml
Q Who else ? |
||
|
||
|
Find out more: |
or perhaps 
. Click on it
and you browser page will fill up with a load of gobbldegood code. Don't
panic, that's fine. What you want is the URL to this gobbledegook, which
you can copy from the address bar in your browser ( or by right clicking
on the button and selecting "copy link address" or "copy
shortcut" ) This is what you then paste in to the 'subscribe dialogue'
in your newsfeed reader.