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Blogs

A Weblog (a.k.a. "Blog") is an easily created and easily updated Website that allows you to read and write from any internet connection. Blogs have many applications and the "blogosphere" is increasingly used in educational endeavors (e.g., to create class portals, online filing cabinets for student work, and collaborative space for course assignments). Schools and churches are using blogs to post materials, to solicit feedback and conversation, and to host church Websites. There is an ever increasing number of weblogs on theological and religious topics, e.g., New Testament and Ancient Judaism.

Examples of Weblogs

There many weblog softwares that are available for free (e.g., Moveable Type) or for purchase (e.g., Manila). One of the most popular is Blogger.com (owned by Google), which allows for quick creation of blogs with archives, comments, and links to other blogs, podcasts, and other online materials. The instructions provided here are for creation of a blog at Blogger.

Creating Your Blog

1. Go to Blogger.com and Select "Create Your Blog Now." Follow the directions provided to register, name your blog, and select a template.
2. When you select a blog name from the "dashboard," you will be taken to the page where you can create and edit posts. Select "Create new post" to draft or publish a post to your weblog.
3. You can now publish to your blog directly from Microsoft Word. Download the "Blogger for Word" software at http://buzz.blogger.com/bloggerforword.html).

Configuring Your Blog

There are a number of ways you can configure the appearance and availability of your blog. It is recommended that you browse through the different options under the "Settings" tab and refer to the Blogger "Help" as needed. Here are recommendations for using blogs in educational collaboration:

1. Go to Settings --> Comments. Here configure how you want you comments to work. There are three options. For a classroom setting, you might prefer the third option: "Only members of this blog."
2. Go to Settings --> Members. Here add team members. Enter the emails of individuals you want added. They will receive an email inviting them to join the blog.
3. Go to Settings --> Site Feed. Here you can allow people to "subscribe" to the content of your blog.  Under "Publish Site Feed," select "RSS." Under "Description," select "Full." 
4. To make a blog roll (i.e., to link to a number of blogs), Go to the “Template” Tab, and search for this line of HTML code: <h2 class="sidebar-title">Links</h2>. Beneath this line you will see a link to Google news, which you can use as a template for creating additional links. Hint: Saving a copy of the original HTML code in a Word document will allow you to return to the original appearance of your blog in the event you make a mistake.
5. To add pictures to your blog, go to Posting -->Create and then click on the Add Image Icon. You can add images from your computer or the Web. You may need to edit the image before uploading it. Before adding images found on the Web, make sure that you have permission to do so.

Finding Hosting Services for Blogs

For a list of other blog hosting services, check out the options listed at the end of the Wikipedia article on blog hosting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog_hosting_service