Week 4: More on Blogs (June 21-27)

Now that we have our blogs established, it's time to get connected. For Thing 4, you'll be commenting on and following some of your colleagues' blogs, in addition to tagging the posts you've created so far. First, choose at least three of your colleagues' blogs (see the sidebar on the right), and comment on their first or second post. Commenting on blogs allows us to ask questions of one another, make suggestions, or simply to reply to what has been written or posted. I will be commenting on various blogs throughout the 13 Things program. Once you've commented, you should then "follow" those blogs. Oh, and "follow" this blog (13 Things @ Coe), too. As you can see in your own blog, I have "followed" you- so you can now see my picture on your blog's sidebar. Now when I log into my blog and look at the Dashboard, I can see what's been updated on the blogs I'm following! Cool, right? Also, let's "tag" the posts you've created so far. Tagging allows you to categorize your posts, which is really helpful if you blog regularly.

To "tag" your posts: go into your old posts by clicking "edit posts" on your dashboard. On the bottom of the edit box, you'll notice a place for labels. As you start to create labels, you can click "show all" if you have trouble remembering the name of your tags (tags and labels are the same thing).


Discovery Exercise

• Take some time to explore a few of your fellow participants’ blogs (listed on the right). Leave a comment on 3-4 different blogs.
• Follow the 13 Things @ Coe blog AND the blogs you've commented on.
• Use key words to tag the posts you've created so far.
  
• Post to your blog. Why do you think commenting is important in online communities? What might this mean for students who share their writing online? Write something about who you're following and the tags you've used.

Just for fun (optional): check out Technorati; Technorati is a search engine for blogs. According to Technorati's self-description:
Technorati.com indexes millions of blog posts in real time and surfaces them in seconds. The site has become the definitive source for the top stories, opinions, photos and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business. Technorati.com tracks not only the authority and influence of blogs, but also the most comprehensive and current index of who and what is most popular in the Blogosphere.
Scoll around - note the top risers or fastest fallers. Check out the top 100 or blogs with most recent posts. Technoriti ranks based on links compared to other blogs with similar content.