Description
To create the blog posts needed for INF330 I needed to learn how to use the tool, CSU Thinkspace. I first began looking at others blog post this included popular ones found in google, local libraries and other students. Looking for patterns and similarity, while also comparing the difference between new and professional bloggers. Once I had a theme and design in mind, I then visited the How To page of CSU Thinkspace and followed the tutorials and tips and created my blog INF330.
What did you learn?
Blogs began in the mid-1990’s with the term blog making its first appearance in 1995 (Wilde, 2007, pp. 401-403). With blogs being the first movement of average web users creating their own content, which makes blogs the first step to social media today (Wilde, 2007, p. 401). As an only occasional Facebook user, blogging was utterly new to me, but with the easy to follow Thinkspace tutorials I was able to create a basic blog. These tutorials guided me through the whole process of learning the settings, to choosing a theme and adding visuals (CSU Thinkspace, n.d.). I also watched Judy O’Connell’s (2014) YouTube video which taught me the importance of organising a blog and how to use categories and tags. An organised blog will make it easier in the future to locate a previous post.
How was the activity relevant to your professional practice working with children and/or young adults?
In today’s technology-driven world, social media and online tools are the primary way to collaborate and communicate (Salim & Mohammed, 2017, p. 22). Blogs can be a powerful tool for libraries to be used in marketing, to establish a flow of information and to connect to their patrons (Oguz & Holt, 2010, p. 174). Blogs allow librarians to engage in discussion with their user, but also allow users to engage with each other (Oguz & Holt, 2010, p. 174). Blogs are also a popular tool in school libraries, being used by teachers and student in class and assessments (Salim & Mohammed, 2017, p. 22). Blogs provide a different way to deliver information and feedback to students, while also creating a digital achieve of information that students can update or build on continually and access in the future (Salim & Mohammed, 2017, p. 35).
What gaps in your knowledge were revealed and how might you fill those gaps?
While learning how to create a blog, I also researched how a library measures a blog success find one of the main ways being comment and discussions. With commenting and discussion being a vital part of a blog’s success, spam comments can be highly damaging (Oguz & Holt, 2010, pp. 174-175). Spam comments usually provide links to websites or unrelated text, with contents usually considered offensive (Oguz & Holt, 2010, pp. 174). The main target for blogs is teens aged 12-17 yrs, making spam comments dangerous and damaging to a library reputation (Oguz & Holt, 2010, pp. 175). Though I was aware that spam existed as an adult, I know what to look out for and how best to avoid it, a child or teen lacks the same knowledge and experience needed to properly avoid spam. There are many options to help prevent spam, these options generally in some way affect patron comments and using these prevention methods may discourage user to comments (Oguz & Holt, 2010, pp. 175-176). The battle to protect young blog user from offensive spam is a continuing battle, to understand more of this battle I also research some of the prevention methods (Oguz & Holt, 2010, pp. 175-177).
References
CSU Thinkspace. (n.d.). Getting started. Retrieved from http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/getting-started/
O’Connell, J. (2014, March 15). Managing your subjects in csu thinkspace (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sslCiaLfoA
Oguz, F., & Holt, M. (2011). Library blogs and user participation: A survey about comment spam in library blogs. Library Hi Tech, 29(1), 173-188. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1108/07378831111116994
Salim Said, A. K., & Mohammed, N. A. (2017). Utilizing blogs within library and information science curriculum: A case study of the department of information studies, oman. International Research : Journal of Library and Information Science, 7(1) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1923720004?accountid=10344
Wilde, E. (2008). Deconstructing blogs. Online Information Review, 32(3), 401-414.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1108/14684520810889691