Through evaluating some libraries’ blogs in my previous posts, I have had an in-depth understanding of a blog. Here I’d like to give an outline of a blog.
Nowadays, a blog is becoming so popular that a lot of people use it to express their opinions about politics, culture or whatever they want. However, it is the first time for me to know the blog in detail. Please don’t laugh at me, but it is really my first blog so far.
Here, I will have to ask a question firstly. What is a blog? Although I had come across blogs before, I did not really think about how they worked. The core course, LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology, pushes me to look into all kinds of social interaction tools, especially a blog.
A blogging expert, Jason Calacanis also gives a precise definition. “There are three main features of a blog: the first is reverse chronological order, the second is unfiltered content — the second somebody filters or edits the author it’s no longer a blog — and the third is comments.”
“Libraries are using blogs to share information, to encourage feedback from library users, to highlight services or new materials, and so on. Many libraries feel that blogs can be great marketing tools, and a fantastic way to become more ‘real’ or ‘approachable’ to users.” (cited from LIBR 500-Module 6 [Part 2], library 2.0 Tools & Services-Blogs)
My understanding of a blog: it’s an unlimited virtual community platform where people can share their opinions and useful information with each other.
Before setting up a library blog, we must ask important questions: What is the purpose of the blog? How will this blog encourage patrons to participate online? The Libraries and Librarians Rock blog gives helpful suggestions for what purposes a blog should serve for your library. These include generating conversation, growing community, listening to what users want, highlighting the collection, and spreading the library news, and so on.
