Blogging Communities November 7, 2006
Check out a new way to blog at Vox.
Read this account of “Ripples of bitterness” at Electrolicious.
Group blogs and blogging communities:
Gather
Zaadz
Mama says Om
Mommybloggers
BlogAsheville
blogs that cook:
baking sheet
101 cookbooks
ben bakes a cake
vegan lunch box
52 cupcakes
arts & crafts blogs:
daretodream
in the garden of pink shadows
drawn!
paper thoughts
Some Authors who Blog October 18, 2006
Joshilyn Jackson at Faster Than Kudzu
Aimee Nezhukumatathil (poet)
Michelle Cunnah, Whitney Gaskell, Alesia Holliday, Beth Kendrick, Eileen Rendahl, Lani Diane Rich at Literary Chicks
Sara Zarr at Stories of a Girl
Blogs With Themes October 10, 2006
We meet again tomorrow evening at 5:30.
We’ll set up blogs and discuss blogs with themes. Here are some to check out:
cupcakes by chockylit
wee wonderfuls
craftlog
domicile
Chocolate & Zucchini
my little kitchen
yarn harlot
Our First Class October 3, 2006
Welcome to Carnegie Bloggers.
We will meet tonight in the computer lab in the Carnegie Center from 5:30-7:00 p.m. for an introduction to the world of blogging. We will discuss the creation of on-line identity, a brief history of blogging and why people do it, and the practical matter of blog hosting. If you don’t already maintain a blog, you’ll have an opportunity to get started.
Below are some links we will explore during tonight’s class.
About blogging
Weblogs: a history and perspective from Rebecca’s Pocket
Why we Blog by Sandhill Trek
Why I Blog by Dr. Drew
Blogging 101
A Brief History of Weblogs, Columbia Journalism Review
Examples of blogs (personal journals)
California Fever
My Topography
Finslippy
Tequila Mockingbird
Mingle Freely
Jill’s Notebook
ljcblog
Amanda Johnston
Rude Cactus
Blog hosts
Blogger
WordPress
Typepad
Free e-mail providers
hotmail
yahoo
Blog search engine
Google blog search
Answers to a blogging meme
by Jill
by Marilyn
Please leave a comment on this post and tell me a bit about yourself, what you hope to learn from this class, and why you’re interested in blogging.
I would like to post our links on the sidebar of this blog. Please leave your blog URL in the comments here, if you authorize it to be posted. If you wish that your blog not be linked on the sidebar, you can email the URL to me.
About the instructor September 29, 2006
I began blogging roughly four years ago. I had a job that required I sit at a help desk, in front of a computer, with not much to do. One afternoon, I received an e-mail from a friend containing a link to a blog she had started as a way to stay in touch with her friends and family. I knew nothing about blogging, but my friend used Blogger so I went straight there and signed up for a blog of my own. I gave no thought to my title. (I called it Lori-Lyn’s Life.) I e-mailed my URL to several close friends and started posting. I wrote about anything and everything on my mind, confident that only those in my inner circle were checking in. As my addiction to blogging grew, however, I discovered how huge and encompassing the world of blogging actually is. I learned of a whole world of blogs with creative titles, blogs that were intentionally crafted with purpose in mind. I discovered themed blogs and group blogs, and I wished that I’d spent a little more time thinking before I’d begun publishing mine.
Blogging is the high-tech equivalent of the court house square. It is instant empowerment, allowing the blogger to assert his or her voice without censorship. When we blog, we have an audience for our thoughts, and a community to provide feedback. Just as it is in the rest of life, most people are kind, but some are not.
In my early blogging days, I became leery of trolls , and I chose not to reach out to new readers. I began to be self-conscious in my posting, worried about offending others. Over the past four years, however, the way I think about my blog has evolved. I blog The Dream Life now on Typepad, and I participate in group blogging activities that certainly do bring new people to my site. I have formed genuine friendships through blogging and I have learned much about myself. I have learned to trust and respect my voice. I have learned what I’m willing to share with the world and what I’m not willing to share. I’ve learned when to take risks and when to protect myself. (And, I have learned practical things like how to sew a wee.) I hope that you will enter the world of blogging armed with information and an open mind, and that blogging will enrich your life the way it has mine.
