Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Creating a blog part 2

The anatomy of a blog

By the end of this e-torial, you will be able

to:

Tell the difference between a blog and a

static website by looking at the structures

Decide how you want to structure your

blog

Decide where to blog

This e-torial make use of the following

programmes or tools:

Browser: Internet Explorer, Firefox

A blogging platform: Blogger , Edublogs,

Wordpress

Outcomes

Tools

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Creating a blog: Structure and platforms

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Index

Before you start

What does a blog look like?

The blog title

The blog address

Your title tagline

Pages and Posts

Pages

Blog Posts

Comments

Blog themes

Your blog Banner (header)

The sidebar(s)

The sidebar Essentials

Choosing a blogging platform

Self assessment Rubric

To return to this index page, click on

on the top right

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Before you create your blog….

If you have not done so before,

first work through the Why and

What of blogging e-torial

So this means that you….

Already have a purpose for

your blog (personal, class,

organisational…..)

Have completed the first 2

steps of your blogging action

plan

Purpose

•What is your blog going to be about?

•School? Personal? Organisational?

•Who is your audience? Learners? Parents

Ideas

•What posts have to be included?

•Ideas Folder

•Look for opportunities.

Create

•Where are you going to create it?

•Choose a theme

•Insert feeds, widgets, interactivity

Maintain

•Update regularly

•Look after comments

Action plan

Remember: Creating a blog without a clear idea of why you want to do it, is like

writing a book without a topic.

DownloadAction plan

Template

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

What does a blog look like?

A blog consists of…

A web address

A blog title

A header banner with/without

page links (Upload your own)

A blog post where you can:

Write, embed videos,

pictures, slideshows…

A sidebar where you can

store lots of widgets like:

A search window

A calendar

A place to subscribe

Previous blog posts

………..

A place for others to leave

comments

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

The blog title

Your blog title will be the most

important decision that you will

make about your blog

It is the headline that will pull

your audience in (or push them

away)

It sets the tone for your blog

and what you are going to

write about

It should capture the focus of

the blog

1. Discuss what the blogs to the right are all about

2. Click on the pictures to see if your assumptions were correct

3. Read the Marketing Loop’s blogpost on the importance of a blog title

4. Decide on a blog title that will support the focus of your blog

I ACTIVITY

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

The blog address

What does the blog address reveal about the

person/blog?

A blog address consist of:

The part you choose

It can be your name

http://maggie.iblog.co.za

It can be your class

It can be your blog title

The platform that hosts your

blog

Eg Blogspot, Wordpress

1st prize

Your chosen blog address might not be available……

Try to link the address to your

blog title!

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Your title tagline

Your tagline must support your title and blog focus!

Which of these taglines grabs you the most and

why?

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Pages and Posts

For the rest a blog page and post look exactly the same

Title Body Comment space

Some blogging platforms allow you to

create separate pages.

This is cool……

You can have dedicated places for

more static information

(info that does not need to change

often eg About Us, Contact Us,

Training)

It makes it easier for visitors to find

dedicated information

You can create a website with

pages

Posts usually appear on the

Frontpage (start/home page)

In reverse chronological order

Blogger (Blogspot) does not allow

you to have pages, only posts!

What is the difference

between a pageand a post?

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Pages

Make sure that your pages have information that “age” well, as we often tend

to forget about updating our static pages………

What pages should I have?

Enduring information

Important information

Links to blog posts

supporting the page theme

……..

What do I put in/on my pages?

1. Create a list of pages that will support the focus of your blog

2. Decide what you will put on each page

I ACTIVITY

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Blog Posts

A blog posts consists of a….

Title

Who authored the post

In which category it is saved

Tags to find it again

A link where you can edit it

Date it was posted

The actual post (or article)

An automated book–marking /

sharing widget

A link to comments (If you click on

this you will also see a comment

form at the bottom of the post1. Visit a few blog sites and check if they ALL have these elements!

I ACTIVITY

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Comments

Sometimes the blog author can choose to first moderate the comment!

How do I see comments and make

my own?

You can find the comments in 2

ways:

Look for the comment link above

or below the blogpost

Click on the blogpost title you

will then see the post, comments

and comment form where you can

insert your comment

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Themes

Pick the theme that will satisfy all your requirements! There are lots of themes

to choose from

Blog Themes provides blogs

with a distinctive “look and

feel”. Once you have registered

for a blog you will be able to

customize your blog by

choosing a theme! A theme also

determines:

How many columns &

sidebars (1 or 2)

If you can insert widgets

If you can upload your own

header banner

2 columns, 1 sidebar

right, No custom header3 columns, 2 sidebars

right, Custom header

3 columns, 2 sidebars

(left & right)

No custom header

4 columns, 3 sidebars

(on right)

Custom header

Depending on if the “look and feel”

(known in blog-world as “Theme”)

allows you to upload your own header

picture, you can customize your blog

with a neat visualisation!

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Your blog Banner (header)

Make sure that your banner picture fits in with your focus and colour scheme!

Why should I upload a header banner?

It will personalise your blog

It will give “visual learners” a quick

way to relate to your blog

It will brand your blog “look and

feel “ in support of your focus!!!

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

The sidebar(s)

Sidebar widgets are updated automatically making your blog look fresh and

vibey!

The sidebar of your blog allows you

to “mash” and embed lots of

interactive widgets and feeds from

all over the internet! Now the fun

begins……!!!!

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

The sidebar Essentials

Don’t overcrowd you sidebars!

It can also have standard entries

which you can activate:

Recent Posts

Tell visitors what you have

blogged about recently

Blogroll

A link list to your favourite

blog writers blogs

Categories

Divides your posts into

more manageable “folders”

Search window

Visitors can search for anything

in your blogposts!

Post archives - Links to past

posts

Subscription option –Get a

following

Meta data

Allows you to log into your

blog

Link to your blogs feeds

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Choosing a blogging platform

For a detailed comparison, see http://pulsed.blogspot.com/2007/07/blogger-

wordpress-chart.html

There are quite a few free blogging

platforms (tools) around. Here are

3 to choose from:

Blogger (Blogspot)

Wordpress

Edublogs (a must if you will be

doing an educational blog)

and are powered with a

Wordpress engine

Wordpress Blogger

Pages and posts Only posts

No e-mail posting Send blog posts via e-mail

How do I choose a place to blog????

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Choosing a blogging platform

You will also be able to export between the two platforms

For purposes of our blog creation

tutorials, you can choose between 2

blog platforms:

Wordpress

If you are going to create a

business, organisational, or

personal blog

Edublogs

If the focus of your blog will be

educational

You can create separate

blogs for your learners where

you can be added as an

admin!

MMMmmm where must I create my

blog!!!!

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Making decisions

You will also be able to export between the two platforms

1. Go to the following blogs and

compare the blog platform

structures

• http://maggiev.edublogs.org

Edublogs

• http://studyopp.blogspot.com/

(Blogger)

• http://vale24.wordpress.com/

(Wordpress)

2. Choose a blogging platform that

you here you want to create your

blog.

3. Complete your blogging action

plan

I ACTIVITY

DownloadAction plan

Template

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Self assessment Rubric

Assess your level of skill: 1 MMMmmm still need more thought/practice;

2 Getting there! 3 Cool- No problems!

You know what the focus of your blog is going to be 1 2 3

You understand the structure of a blog 1 2 3

You have a blog title that support your focus 1 2 3

You have chosen a suitable blog address URL 1 2 3

Your blog tagline enhance your blog focus 1 2 3

You know the difference between Pages and Posts 1 2 3

You have decided what pages your blog will have 1 2 3

You know how blog posts are structured 1 2 3

You know how to find and make comments 1 2 3

You are familiar with different blog themes 1 2 3

You know what a blog Banner is 1 2 3

You are familiar with different sidebar widgets 1 2 3

You have chosen a blogging platform where you will create

your blog 1 2 3

This tutorial was developed by maggiev

for the Department of Education for use

by subject advisors, teachers and learners

All e-turials can be found on the

Thutong portal:

www.thutong.org.za

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

About this Presentation information

For more blogging resources, see:

http://groups.diigo.com/groups/blogging

101

It forms part of a online learning pathway

and is a self study tutorial

Part 1: Blog: What? Why?

Creating a blog

Part 2:The anatomy of a blog

Part 3: Registering for your blog

and creating posts and pages

Part 4: Making your blog look

good

Part 5:Making your blog

interactive with widgets and RSS