You will need to have your blog set up and running by the end
of the
first week
of class. In general, excuses for technological difficulties will be
allowed through the
second
week of class.
We will use Google’s
blogger.com as the blogging
technology for this class. As a Web 2.0 application, Blogger.com is
designed to be especially easy to use even if you do not have much
experience with internet technology. More or less, the process is
self-explanatory. However, there are a few specific things that you
need to make sure that you do while setting up your blog for the
purposes of this class:
- Create your own blog for this class.
Go to blogger.com,
press the button that says “Create a Blog,” and follow the
instructions. You will be guided through setting up a Google Account if
you don’t already have one. Important for the purposes of this class:
Please make sure that you use your actual name (first and last) as the
“display name” when you are asked to provide one. Also make sure to use
your first and last name as the title for your blog.
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___ |
Do this step right away. |
- Leave your URL on my blog. Once
you set up your blog, make sure to visit my blog and leave the URL to
your blog in a comment on my blog on the post titled “Leave Your Blog URL Here.”
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|
Do this step right
away.
|
- Turn off “word verification.”
Finally, while setting up your blog, you should go under "comments"
(one of the tabs within "settings") and select "no" for the option
"Show word verification for comments?" Not doing this will
discourage people from leaving you comments by making it a little more
difficult to do so. You need to do this by the end of the second week
of class or you will lose a letter grade on the commenting project
because of how annoying it is.
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|
Do this step right away.
|
- If you set your blog to private, add your
classmates as readers. If you would like to restrict access
to your blog (click the link that says “dashboard,” select the
“settings” tab, then select the “permissions” tab”) you will need to
invite the members of this class as readers. I will provide the class
with a list of the members’ email addresses. If you set your blog to
private without inviting all of the members of the class as readers,
you will lose up to one letter grade off your final grade, taken out of
the grade for your commenting portfolio, because they cannot read or
comment on your blog without having access to it. You need to add your
classmates as readers within one week of setting your blog to private
or you will lose up to the full credit of the commenting project.
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|
Do this step within one week of setting
your blog to private, if
you set your blog to private.
|
- Become a reader of the blogs of each of your
classmates who set their blog to private. You should receive
an invitation in your email to become a reader for everyone’s blog who
chooses to restrict its access. You will need to click on the link that
it contains and follow the instructions. Without doing this, you won’t
be able to leave comments.
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|
Do this step as invitations arrive in your
email.
|
After you set up these basic essentials, you should you play
around
with things and adjust the settings and layout to personalize your
space. In particular, you should upload a profile picture. You will
have to play around with things to figure out how they work. Learning
to post, for instance, is not difficult at all. After that, you can get
to the real work by starting posting and commenting.
Useful links: Google,
Blogger
Support,
how to create a blog with blogger,
how do I control who can view my blog?
(YouTube video).
Netiquette: If
you get stuck at any time, instead of asking me for help
right away, you need to try to find yourself an answer to get yourself
unstuck. In internet etiquette, or netiquette, it is
considered very rude to ask for help before trying to find the answer
on your own through the many
resources available for those who look (such as the
"Useful Links" above). If you still need help after doing some serious
looking, I will be more than willing to help. Shoot me an email or come
by my office.
