By now you know what blogs are. Here are a few blogs that are either astoundingly popular, or of possible interest to you:
- BoingBoing: The most widely-read blog, it chronicles lots of the weird and wacky, as well as tech/gadget/web stuff.
- The Budget Fashionista is a very popular fashion blog, with daily deals and trendy tips. See Jack Shop is the men’s version of the site, and they just launched The Budget Casa for home goods.
- Librarian.net is a blog about being a librarian. Like what you see? Check out a slew of more library blogs here.
- There are also blogs dedicated to children’s literature and librarianship. Probably the most widely-read one is Fuse #8, which started out as independent but is now published by School Library Journal. She gets paid to blog!
- brotherhood2.com: A video blog! In which 2 brothers (one of whom is YA author John Green communicated via video for a full year. Very funny.
That’s just a teeny sample of the smorgasbord that’s out there. You can see the most popular blogs right now, according to Technorati. Scroll through the list, see if anything sounds interesting, and click on it!
So here’s the fun part, where you get to play around with blogs! Don’t be scared—it’s just reading. And we all like to read, right? Here are your tasks:
- Click on one (or all) of the above blogs and read a few posts. Notice the layout of the pages, the other links and info along the sides, and how the posts go from newest to oldest. Poke around the archives and see if you can find the first post on that blog. When was that blog born?
- Nothing up there calling to you? Search Technorati for a subject that does interest you. Believe me, there is a blog about everything under the sun! Still can’t find anything? Google what you are interested in plus the word ‘blog’ (e.g. “fishing blog”, “knitting blog”, “music blog”) and see what comes up. I highly recommend this blog if you want to laugh.
- If you are feeling really brave, leave a comment on one of the blogs you read! Not all blogs allow anonymous comments, so you might have to join and/or sign in first. Most blog services protect the privacy of those who comment, but if you are at all concerned, just don’t do it. No big deal.
- Write to me! In the comments field of this post, tell me what blog you liked or didn’t like. Tell me something that you learned from reading that blog. Tell me that after looking, you decided that you hate blogs. Just tell me something, so I know you know your way around blogs and comments now. Be sure to identify yourself so you get credit for participating this week - see the About WCPL Learning 2.0 section for a reminder of how to do that.
- Are you really really brave? Do you have something you don’t mind sharing with the world? You don’t have to create a blog for this segment, but if you want to (it’s really easy!), Blogger, WordPress, and LiveJournal are some easy, free ways to express yourself virtually.
Knock yourself out! And if you do make a blog, and aren’t too shy about it, put the address in a comment here so we can read all about you!
One last thing to know about blogs, which hopefully won't put a damper on all the blog fun: Any blogs or other web presences created for WCPL need to be done through official county channels. Contact your branch or region's representative to the library web team for more information.
51 comments:
I really enjoy reading the blog Wee Wonderfuls. Mainly focuses on sewing but I don't even sew and I still love it!
Lynn @ WRL
I checked out a couple of the blogs--read the comments on the I "pirate" music t-shirt on the BoingBoing blog. I have to agree that there's a little hypocracy goin' on there.
Sorry to say that the cutesy language on the cat blog made me cringe so hard I tore a muscle.
helen @ wrl
I really like the blog "Bookshelves of Doom" she focuses primarily on YA literature. And of course, many authors are now blogging. Scott Westerfeld is one such YA author who blogs.
I am totally stoked that WCPL Librarians are getting this opportunity to play at work. I started blogging back at the beginning of 06 due to an awesome presentation by ERL's Kathleen. My blog is called Zee Says, it's zeesays.blogspot.com, and it deals with movies, books, and being a teen librarian. Or you can click on my name to get there, too. I love blogging because everyone gets a voice. Probably my favorite non-librarian blog is the the Threadless update I get every week to tell me about the last t-shirts.
Sorry for being mysterious, this is Lindsey @ Eva.
I followed a very interesting discussion from librarian.net to tinfoil+racoon on issues concerning Kindle and Amazon's TOS. Seems some systems want to buy and lend Kindles, a costly idea.
Clare@CAM
I read the Budgest Fashionista. I answered a poll on whether I would wear a pair of shoes that were gorgeous but very uncomfortable (NO). I also learned that ground coffee and green tea are turning up in beauty products this year because they can fight wrinkles among other things. I knew I loved coffee!
Katherine @ SGA
Well, I'm trying to love blogging, I really am, but.... who has the time? I barely have enough time to read the books I'm interested in, keep up with my home email account, read the Runner's World daily blog. Aha, you caught me - I do like some blogs. I followed the Arianna Huffington blog to some interesting comments about McCain/Clinton/Obama. I'm just afraid spending so much time online has begun to impact my reading time.
Jean@CAM
I found an interesting blog using Google and even left a post. They didn't make me register to leave a post. Melissa@ERL
I agree with Helen. Most of blogs make me cringe. Also, who has time to blog? Teenagers, shut-ins and creepy people as far as I've seen.
There may be a few exceptions, a very few.
Looked at Lolcat (shiver), Seth Godin (from Technorati - boring), Librarian.net (is Jessamyn the daughter of Celeste?), and finally, for some real fun, LetsPolka ("set your Tivos, ‘Weird’ Al is making a cameo appearance on The Simpsons this Sunday night (8/7c), January 27th, 2008. This will be his second appearance on the show, putting him in an elite club of multi-time guests such as Stephen Hawking and Thomas Pynchon!) Gotta break out of the ordinary.
Kathe@WRL
I love blogs. Moderately addicted to them--mostly the trashy ones, like Wonkette and The Comics Curmudgeon. But, I do read librarian blogs: Librarian In Black is a good one, as is Information Wants To Be Free (http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php). RSS is a godsend if you become a blog junkie; folks who haven't heard of that yet, get ready! It's awesome. -Katie at CRY
Alright, I am a fully functioning member of the 21st century. I came. I saw. I conquered. I, too can blog! Now give me a good way to find blogs pertinent to my interests that I can add to my RSS.
Valerie @ SER
I checked out This Blog. I'm always in the mood for a laugh. Is it wrong to want to correct their spelling?
Natalie @ FUQ
I went to this blog and it was delightful and silly.
That was Colleen @ FUQ
I checked out some blogs. I did think the cat blog was rather cute....even liked some of the cat pictures (although I am NOT a cat person!) However, I do have to agree with Helen from WRL: the cutesy language DID make me cringe!
Oh my gosh that was fast! Look at you all. I feel like a proud parent.
Blogging and reading blogs is certainly not for everyone, and I didn't mean to imply that. If the medium speaks to you, great, but it doesn't speak to everyone. Just like all media.
I agree that reading blogs can get overwhelming, and I would never want anything to cut into my reading time either, so mainly I read work-related blogs (mainly about kids lit) at work (and by read, I mean power-skim via RSS for actual news, skip the fluff), and skim a few of the personal-interest variety ones on the weekends.
But that's just me.
Keep on writing, folks!
Kathleen @ ERL - author of the blog stuff
I think blogs can be a wonderful way to share ideas and learn new things. I looked at the Budget Casa blog. It didn't seem to have many comments. Librarian.net appears to be a treasure trove of information. However, because blogs can be more personal, I feel the sites and bloggers sometimes lack the credentials to be considered a news source.
The blogs I read most often are Bookshelves of Doom and Fuse #8. I don't keep up with it as much as I like, but RSS helps! I liked looking through the Budget Fashionista. I have heard of it, but never gone to the blog itself.
Rita @ CRY
Looked at Boing Boing--laughed at the posting about the dj at a radio station who burned it down after they messed with his playlist. Took a look at the archives and believe BoingBoing began in January 2000---
janet@WRL
Blogs are interesting, but a great time sink for me. I can get caught up in reading them and never get anything else done.
I've got a silly little LiveJournal blog going that I started to keep people posted on my cancer treatments. I think it's gotten rather boring now, but my friends want me to keep it up.
Jean Sch.@CRY
I really enjoy reading blogs, especially those on a specific topics like genealogy. It is an easy way for people to share information, since it is impossible to keep up with the new stuff being introduced all the time. This has been a great introduction to blogging. And when we get to the week about RSS, we'll see that keeping up with blogs isn't hard at all!
Pam @ Duraleigh
If you are feeling brave, you should check out the world of the videobloggers (vloggers). They tend to be one of the more intense online communities, it's almost like a cult.
Check out Rocketboom, RyanIsHungry, and Human Dog (my personal favorite) for some examples.
Sarah @ SER
Boing Boing is a hoot. A bunch of random offbeat facts and news stories. Love it.
Heidi @ WRL
I was very interested in this week's subject since I plan to begin a WCPL blog soon. It will be a limited-time blog related to the Ben Franklin exhibit we're about to host here at CAM. So, it will be a real learning experience since I've never done anything like this before. Wish me luck!
Sue Scott @ CAM
I liked the blog Fuse#8 it is about children's books and a librarian. It is a good blog.I also liked The Budget Fashionista. Has some neat stuff on it.
I love Boing Boing - they always link to such interesting articles. Brotherhood 2.0 is also another favorite, as I am a huge fan of John Green and his wonderful YA books. One of my favorite YA/Children's lit blogs that wasn't mentioned is Bookshelves of Doom - http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com - it's a great resource.
Danielle @ CAM
I've seen icanhascheezburger before, and liked boingboing a lot (especially since the first story was about audio Sci-Fi short stories online). I also explored for blogs about Sci-Fi & Fantasy books and found a couple that seem good: http://www.sffaudio.com/ and http://sfsignal.com/ were pretty good. Can you tell I've just started a Sci-Fi / Fantasy book club here at WRL? Of course, I'm into more than just that ... http://www.graphicnovelarchive.com/
~ Dan @ WRL
I don't look at blogs all that often, but I checked out BoingBoing and it was really random and funny. I usually read Disney blogs (big surprise!)
Jenn @WRL
Hi! THis is Sarah at EVA. I am a big fan of Blogs and I would like to invite everyone to look at my work. I mostly use it for work related things, but often update it with stuff from my normal life. You can find it at:
darkfaerielibrarian.blogspot.com
Yes, blogging can become a time gobbler just like anything else. I read my blogs through RSS when I have time. Most of the ones I read are, in fact, work related. I found it's a great way to keep up on those book reviews we are always talking about after no book selection. I also keep up better on current events. You can also shmooze and network with folks from other libraries.
Spending time on blogs is not something I've done much of. I've just never taken the time. I looked at This Blog and enjoyed the laughs!
Bridget @ WRL
As a Disney fan, I just had to check out thedisneyblog. I sure wish I had time to read it all the time
Tess @ RBH
I love to read the Kids Lit blogs. It helps me to stay on top of the newest and hottest titles. And they always have the scoop on what books are going to be made into movies and other fun stuff.
I couldn't resist the Budget Casa blog, thanks for the link :) I also like the Home Goods blog at http://openhouse.homegoods.com/
-Denise Chachula @ CAM
There are so many blogs out there! Technorati is a great way to get into it. I loved 'Can I has Cheezburger' - hysterical! Thanks for the lesson. I also found www.blogcatalog.com, this site was easy to search for blogs by category.
I have a bloglines account for my RSS feeds & subscribe to about 75 blogs. I read a lot of kidlit blogs, like Fuse #8 & Planet Esme, but i also have several cooking, crafts, environmentalism & music ones too. A good one for librarians to check out is "The M Word: Marketing Libraries" http://themwordblog.blogspot.com/
Maryjo@WRL
The budget casa for home goods caught my eyes so I checked it out. I loved those colorful tomatoes and corns in veggie gardening tips.
MA@EVA
I like the Huffington Report because of the politics.
I thought the pics at This Blog were cute. I saw that I could add them to my myspace or facebook pages. I did leave a comment. I don't normally read blogs. I don't really want to spend the time. I did check out a blog for moms and read a discussion about preschools since I also teach preschool 2 mornings a week.
There are a TON of blogs that take up my time.
I love Neil Gaiman's blog, and have been following it for years.
I also follow a couple of graphic design blogs: bittbox and pixel2life.
Penny Arcade is a classic for gamer geeks.
Wil Wheaton (a.k.a. Wesley Crusher) has his own very entertaining blog. One of my new favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson (who has recently been chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series), has his own blog, to which he posts annotations to his books, reviews and even a free novel in progress.
There is one library blog that i follow regularly: http://freegovinfo.info/. A great site for government information transparency.
Jason @ CAM
Oh, I almost forgot Strange Maps!
And you can see what I'm reading here. (Be warned: some of the posts I read contain graphic language.)
I loved Lee LeFever's video about blogging, so I checked out his blog at http://www.commoncraft.com/blog. There is a very interesting post on VizThink, and a truly wonderful post about having an old dog. I don't even have a dog, but I loved this. I also like Read Roger, by the editor of the Horn Book magazine at http://www.hbook.com/blog/. (I would have liked to link to those blogs instead of spelling them out, but how do you do that??)
I went to http://icanhascheezburger.com/page/2/ since so many people liked that page. I don't understand the comments. OMG I guess I'm too old. I also looked at the blog from the School Library Journal Web site. That will be helpful. The NYPL made a post, even though they're not a school, so it looks like a wide range of info can be found there.
My two favorite blogs are: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ and http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/
Post Secret posts new secrets every Sunday and about a million people read the page per week.
Go Fug Yourself is all about celebrity fashion and has been online since 2004!
I'm excited about setting up RSS feeds for Go Fug Yourself. That will save me time.
Thanks, Suzanne
WWI Doughboy is a pretty interesting blog following the life and experiences of a British doughboy. Beth@CAM
WWI Doughboy is a pretty interesting blog following the life and experiences of a British doughboy. Beth@CAM
OMG! I LOVE lifehacker.com... up until now I have not been that enthusiastic about blogs... but boy... I can't stop picking thru lifehacker... whee!
not a huge blog fan but love monkeytime.org and that blog- todd mormon from reader's corner and the independent- is full of interesting stuff.
deborah @SER
I'm finally going through everything at once. I have to say that I don't think that I have enough time in the day to deal with blogs. I thought the web could be addictive, but blogs could keep you inside forever. There is no end to posting and commenting.... Robin@NOR
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