Week 3

Sept. 6 * * *

TOPICS: Blogging your work, linking techniques, tags, del.icio.us, RSS feeds. Politics of linking and citing online. Use of Google Reader.

DUE at 9 a.m., via e-mail: Audio 1 (see assignment)

READ (1): Blogging isn't a publishing strategy, by Kevin Anderson (Nov. 12, 2006)

READ (2): Virginia Tech bloggers: Approach and confirm, or link and disclaim? by Robin Hamman (April 17, 2007)

READ (3): Five things all sane people agree on about blogs and mainstream journalism, by Steven Johnson (Aug. 1, 2006)

READ (4): Staff journalists who blog: Two cases, by Mindy McAdams (Aug. 24, 2007)

Take notes as you read the four assigned blog posts. Bring your notes to class.

Questions to Think About Before Class * * *

  1. Do you read any blogs regularly? Why or why not?
  2. Do you have stereotypes about blogs (and bloggers) in your mind? If so, what are they?
  3. Are journalist blogs different from other blogs? If so, how?

Disclosure * * *

The first three blog posts linked above came from this list, compiled by British journalist blogger Shane Richmond: Journalism's essential blogposts (Aug. 17, 2007).

Always give credit where credit is due.

Today in Class * * *

You will create your new blog for this class DURING the lab. (You do not need to take any steps toward creating the blog before class.)

Note * * *

Although I prefer Google Reader for RSS feeds, some people prefer Bloglines or Netvibes. I don't care which one you use, but choose one and USE it!

Bonus * * *

Online Journalism Ethics: Guidelines: Linking -- from a 2006 conference at Poynter. A team of online journalists from across the U.S. created this set of guidelines for doing ethical journalism on the Web.