100% moss-free

Travelblogs

2005-05-06T12:42:00.000-03:00

Photoblogs, moblogs (mobile blogs), edublogs, litblogs ... and travelblogs. A weblog for every purpose. Here are some links to dip into:

BootsnAll Travel Blogs
Guardian Unlimited: Travelblogs; Travelblogs: Ten of the best travel blogs - and how to start your own
Travelblogs.com: "where you'll find travel writing and photography that's insightful, fresh, and teaches us something."
DisabledTravellers.com
TravelBlog: Free Inspiration: "Travel Journals, Travel Blogs, Diaries and Photos"
LonelyPlanet.com: great travel guides and much more

Minimizing frustration/maximizing fun

2005-05-06T01:57:00.000-03:00

A few tips:

Familiarize yourself with Blogger. Visit all the pages; click the buttons. Play around.
Use Blogger help. It really is useful when you have a question or problem, and can save you time.
You can save your unfinished posts as drafts and come back to them later.
To avoid the dreaded lost post, you might want to compose in a word processor and then paste to Blogger, particularly if it is a long piece. (This has the added benefit of allowing you to spell check).
Some people save all their posts on their hard drives, just in case.
When you start to feel more brave, you can customize the look of your blog, if you feel artistic. Start small: change the colours, say. But if you want to get into it, the sky is the limit. Look what one UNBSJ student did with his Blogger account: you won't find anything like this in the standard templates. If you get interested in design, you might want to look at this site on website usability (thanks to Jertz's Literacy Weblog for the link).

Blogging is conversation

2005-05-06T01:43:00.000-03:00

Weblogs are so much more than journals or diaries, or they can be. They are designed to be interactive. Readers may comment on your posts or email them to friends by using the icons at the bottom right of the post. You, in turn, can continue the conversation in the comments or future posts. You can also link to other people's blogs within your own posts. When you do this, be sure to link to the "permalink" for that post (often found in the date).

Another way of extending the conversation is through your links. You can add or change links manually on your template. You can also use Blogrolling.com, a free program that simplifies adding blogs to your sidebar.

Read lots of other blogs. See what's out there, and what others are doing. Get a sense of a particular community or forum before you leap in, however. Link generously when you post, and when visiting others' blogs, be sure to leave comments. Blogroll your favourites. In no time at all you will find yourself within a vibrant, online community of people with similar interests.

Final note: be sure to credit your sources. Not because you will get nailed for plagiarism -- this isn't an academic assignment. However, you will get nailed for rudeness: the technology enables anyone to see who has linked to what, and if you rip off someone's material without at least a nod, you may hear about it. But if you play nice, people will welcome you into the conversation.

Posting photos

2005-05-06T01:27:00.000-03:00

When travelling, they say, "leave nothing but your footprints; take nothing but pictures." Those pictures will make a wonderful addition to your blog: your friends and family at home will be able to see some of what you see, and you will have a record of your travels.

If you have a digital camera or camera-phone, it is easy to upload pictures to your blog. Windows users can use Hello, a free program that takes a lot of the trouble out of posting photos; Mac users have a variety of options. Flickr is extremely popular. Here is the Blogger help page that discusses uploading images.

What is blogging?

2005-05-06T01:18:00.000-03:00

Here are various resources for you to explore:

Weblogs or Blogs: MEGA-links.

Dr Jill Walker's definition of a weblog (and she should know)

Blog—definition, information, sites, articles. Start here.

10 Tips on Writing the Living Web by Mark Bernstein

Blogs by Jay Cross: "Learn to blog, blog to learn." From an instructor's perspective.

Rebecca Blood: weblogs: a history and perspective: good overview. See also her Weblog Ethics.

Here Come The Weblogs from Slashdot. "News for nerds. Stuff that matters."

Meg Hourihan: What We're Doing When We Blog

What the hell is a weblog? and why won't they leave me alone?: a personal opinion by Derek M. Powazek

What the hell is a weblog? You tell me: forum hosted by Derek M. Powazek.

Wired News: Blogs Make the Headline

About Blogging

How to Blog

How Users Read on the Web (They don't)

What The Difference Between A Blog And A Website?

Here is an entry from Klastrup's Cataclysms with links to various articles about blogging. Thanks to jill/txt for the link.

Blogging @ UNB: resources; links

Browse through theses pages. Follow the links. And find new stuff. Remember, Google is your friend.

Welcome!

2005-05-05T11:24:00.000-03:00

Welcome to 100% moss-free, a site designed to be your resource for blogging while you are abroad. Once you have your own blogs set up, send me the URLs and I will post the addresses here. You, in turn, will then post the addresses of your colleagues to the sidebars of your own blogs, and the conversation can begin. I will monitor this blog and help you with any blogging issues. I will also post things that seem interesting, from time to time. Phyllis Power will also monitor this blog, so feel free to use it to address other issues to do with your trip. (She will also be reading your blogs, as will I).

Have a great trip! I look forward to reading about it online.

Dr. Jones