Ross Thomson Halton District School Board OLA SuperConference 2012.

Using a Blogas your library Web Site

Ross ThomsonHalton District School BoardOLA SuperConference 2012

My talk today: Welcome! Feel free to leave! Ask questions anytime!

The back story Pros & cons: Blogs vs. HTML Considerations before you begin Tour of my library blog site Step-by-step demo of how-to create

your blog site

The Back Story

E.C. Drury High School Library

Website 1.0 [2001 – Straight HTML] Website 2.0 [2007 - HTML/First Class] Website 3.0 [2010 – Blogger]

1.0: Straight HTML

Making changes:

Open editor Open file Make changes Save file Upload file Test live Close editor

Simple WYSIWYG

Editor

(Claris Home Page 3.0)

2.0: HTML/First Class Blend

Making changes:

Open client Open file Make changes Close file Test live Close client

Simple Document

Editor

(First Class Client)

Disadvantages of HTML Time consuming Labour intensive Requires specialized knowledge Requires ongoing training /

awareness Product more static than dynamic Change / edit hassle Difficult to generate Web 2.0 content Difficult to gather feedback

Advantages of a Blog Easy to add / edit content Changes reflected immediately online Easy, seamless integration of

multimedia SEO friendly (faster crawling &

indexing) Offer easy integration of web 2.0

features (feedback, RSS) Automatic formatting for mobile

platforms Analysis available (traffic / page

views)

Why “Blogger”?

Familiarity & experience Ease of use Integration with other Google apps

used(eg: Picasa Web)

[Research & choose what’s best for you]

E.C. Drury H.S. Library Demo

Blog-based ECDHS Library Web Site:

TextStill PicturesSlideshowsEmbedded

VideoExternal Links Internal Links

How do I do that?

1. Go to Blogger.com2. Get a Google account / sign in3. Start designing your home page4. Add static pages5. Add content6. Add / edit content as required7. Repeat Step 6

Before you do that…

Board rules for “school” websites?

Does content need to be hosted on a Board server?

Can you link externally to the blog site?

Can you redirect your current URL to the blog site?

Check policies before you invest time!

Let’s do that! A start-from scratch, do-it-yourself

demo!

We did that! A start-from scratch, do-it-yourself

demo!

Using a Blogas your library Web Site

Ross [email protected]

ecdhslibrary.blogspot.com