Establishing a Weblog on Your Organization's Intranet June 7, 2005

Transcription

1 Establishing a Weblog on Your Organization's Intranet June 7, 2005 Sabrina I. Pacifici Founder, Editor, Publisher, Web Manager LLRX.com ( the unique, free, independent webzine on legal research, resources, applications, and technology for librarians and legal professionals, since & Author of bespacific ( Accurate, focused law and technology news, updated daily, since Dennis Hamilton, dennis.hamilton@kzf.com Information Services Manager, KZF Design, an architectural, engineering, interior design and planning firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dennis began KLINKS, his internal blog, August Presentation Overview Why blog Blog stats Blog apps Blog features Blog guidelines Blog facts What to blog about Got Content! Blogging Essentials benefits, people, time, cost Elements/components of good blogs Content creation and management Marketing and branding, inhouse and to the public Blogs as knowledge management tools Adjunct to portals, websites, intranets Examples of focused, topical blogs More reasons you should blog Tech companies lead the way in corporate blogging News and resources on corporate blogging Blog biblios

2 Why Blog? Inexpensive, non-techie, easy/quick to launch Capture, annotate information Indicate document relevancy, provide taxonomy, create info relationships Make info visible that would otherwise be overlooked Document management tool, from micro to macro (personal, departmental, organizational) Excellent adjunct/alternative to overload Leverage your research and ability to disseminate it Create and promote key relationships within and across departments, groups and services Expand services to those across your organization Increase productivity and info exchange through better time management and resource allocation Seamless access via internal network Read the website, receive RSS feeds or updates through Promote internal marketing for individual, group/dept. and/team initiatives, projects (long and short term) Content is searchable, browsable, archived and users can comment Alternative to vast, impenetrable file folders of s valuable database is created and expanded continuously Inexpensive, practical KM system that does not require lots of $

3 The Viral Nature of Blogging from a posting on IBM developerworks, May 16, Behind the scenes, a small handful of technical innovators developed and deployed an internal blogging service that has grown in a period of just 18 months to just shy of 9,000 registered users spanning 65 countries, 3,097 individual blogs, 1,358 of which are considered active, with a total of 26,203 entries and comments -- all of which has been put together strictly through word-ofmouth promotion. And it's still just a pilot. Enterprise collaboration with blogs and wikis, 3/25/05 Because BlogCentral is searchable and because you can easily see the latest postings across BlogCentral as a whole, it can help you discover colleagues throughout the company with interests similar to your own, Gruen says. We ve seen people using blogs to diary their daily experiences using a new technology or building a new kind of system, monitored by others as a sort of real-time virtual apprenticeship, which lets them observe events as they unfold and see the issues that arise and how they are addressed.

4 From Dave Pollard's How to Save the World The Knowledge Process,

5 How many blogs are there? According to Technorati. According to Perseus Development Corp., 31.6 Million Hosted Blogs Growing To 53.4 Million By Year End

6 According to The Blog Herald And According to McDonalds 50 million customers in more than 119 countries served each day..but no blogs

7 Stats on Corporate Bloggers: October 17, 2004

8 Blog Software Comparison of selected user-side installed options Key hosted blog sites

9 Software Considerations Hosted services vs. stand-alone. Commercial vs. Open Source. Might require extra help to load. Audio and video can be supported. RSS is available. Blogging Tools Start To Catch On In The Business World - March 7,

10 Blogs can they replace an intranet? Movable Type: Powerful Business Blog Tool

11 CyberJournalist.net has created a model Bloggers' Code of Ethics May 16, 2005 posting by James Snell, a member of the IBM's Software Standards Strategy Group announcing IBM s blogging guidelines

12 Yahoo! Employee Blog Guidelines

13 Sun Policy on Public Discourse Thomas Nelson Blogging Guidelines

14 bespacific archive on Blogs Facts about blogs *Easy to publish/update *Simple design *Permanent links no link rot if well sourced *Allow comments *Easy to disseminate

15 Anatomy of a blog consider which features to use *Picture of author, company/department logo *Calendar of dates when content was posted *Links to archives *Content displayed with most recent entries first *Add links to outside sources books, web links, photos, audio/video *Readers can comment *Topics read all postings about a subject *Recommended links: to inhouse docs., resources and to externals sources Chronology January Began hearing about weblogs and thinking I might be able to use one for the library. March During goal setting for the coming year, determined weblog would be useful for the entire company, plus a tool to promote the library. April Began researching weblogs, concentrating on enterprise weblogs. May Attended webcast titled Using Weblogs To Promote Library Services: It s Easier Than You Think by Darlene Fichter of the University of Saskatchewan Library. Decided on weblog s name: KLINKS. June Attended SLA conference in Nashville, hoping to find programs on blogging, but was surprised there weren t any! Made commitment to Solo Librarians Division to present a program in Toronto. July Purchased software and made arrangements to have it loaded. August Posted first article to KLINKS.

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17 KLINKS - Types of Articles Announcements Community related Did you know? Employee news Facility news Florida office For fun General architectural news Internet websites KZF events Library news Media coverage Project related Useful tips

18 Images Images can add much to article, and they are easy to use. Image software is needed. Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop Elements. Reduce the image size so that it will comfortably fit in the space provided by your weblog at a resolution of 72 dpi. Photos are best as.jpg files and graphics are best as.gif files. Store images in a directory within your weblog directory.

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22 Steps taken to post an article Write article. Review. Review again. Place in Preview mode. Review. Publish. Review.

23 Issues to Consider What type of blog (content and scope)? Will you be the author, or someone else, or a team? How often will you post? Write for your audience (Enterprise is to a closed audience). Politics. Don t criticize your company or the professions of your company. Always remember the bottom line. Can you justify the weblog? Confidentiality. Tool for new employees. Encourage employees to submit ideas for articles. Look to the future. Blogging Essentials benefits, people, time, cost Is a blog the app you should choose Who are you trying to serve, and why Needs assessment Have a specific goal, review progress and assess value Who is responsible for maintenance/updating Blogs can be back-office or front and center Determine scope or niche Establishing and populating the blog(s) with content review resource options with key members of departments, practice groups or areas whom you wish to serve. Obtain stakeholder buy-in Demo the service, request suggestions, comments and input Respond quickly by adapting the blog to incorporate additional data narrow or expand content and specifications Is one blog sufficient, or do you need multiple blogs? Address usability, functionality, value for time spent Stay on message focus, focus, focus readers have limited time Verify, vet, validate content choose your source materials very carefully

24 What to Blog About? Share the Knowledge new or ongoing projects close the loop new services, or current ones that require better promotion/info dissemination KM initiatives Evaluation, design, implementation, roll-out, testing Tasks group/departmental Organizational tool, management tool Password database, subscription database, calendar of events training presentations topical/subject specific research practice development clients virtual reference, electronic services, cataloging from topics specific or broad, it is up to you! What Does Blogging Involve Got Content! Assignment: monitor, track, locate (through all avenues available fee and free) find needle in haystack and make it look easy! validate, verify, analyze review, edit, append info as req d (PDF, Word docs, Excel, graphics, audio, video) seek feedback, comments, contributions publish, disseminate, update (the updating part is the real kicker) commitment is key! don t start what you can t continue Feed the Blog! time management is essential

25 More Reasons Why You Should Blog Identify and target your users Provide channels of information Choice/selection in data stream From the general to the granular, your readers can choose if you offer them a range of content Supplementing info/data/resources from websites, e-newsletters, paid subscription services, online databases Aggregate your current publishing formats Intranet Portal Websites Handouts/brochures Power Point presentations s Newsletters Branding/marketing vehicle for your library good PR Offers tangible, ongoing documentation of work product Justify resources, staffing, additional services Where is that report, news article, survey, training manual? Promote, maximize internal collaboration, knowledge base management of resources, tasks and projects Real time publishing Direct, no intermediary req d You are the expert Blogging will focus and expand upon your skills Level the playing field minimize barriers and increase visibility, communications, integration of resources Think about products and services informing and supporting users A Product Blog "By announcing a new product on a blog you are creating an invitation to a discussion about your product. On-line press releases don't allow readers to post comments to provide feedback or to ask questions. As more and more blog readers use newsreaders, people are very apt to grab an RSS feed for a blog they find interesting. That creates an opportunity for the blog to continue the discussion that starts with a new product announcement.

26 Blogs facilitate organization of, and access to, relevant data by topics Archives: depth of coverage

27 Browse content by month/year How to Find and Monitor Relevant Blogs

28 Library Weblogs Directory of law related blogs

29 EU Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Law Firm Librarian s Blog Firm branded

30 Boeing Flight Test Journal

31 Example of a very focused topical blog: GM Smallblock Engine Blog Government News for Montana

32 Example of a topical blog with broader focus but still subject oriented stays on message. Vice President, Marketing, Boeing

33 Consider the options, value and flexibility offered by RSS Feeds Really Simple Syndication News feeds help you get the word out about updates to your blog In-house or to the public Offer your readers/community an alternative to only, or as a supplement to it for those who opt-in Review websites you use that offer feeds To locate feeds, look for the orange icon or button that says RSS, XML, Syndicate or Atom. Sun Embraces Blogs Sun Microsystems promotes employee blogging more aggressively than any other technology firm.

34 Microsoft has over 1400 employees blogging (2.5% of total) Bloggers from Sun Microsystems

35 CEO s Who Blog From the WSJ Free Features, March 1,

36 The Latest Tech Initiative in Congress: Blogging Links to State Legislators' Blogs and Legislatures with RSS Feeds

37 RSS - Bloglines Law Journal Feeds

38 Yahoo Directory RSS Feeds CompleteRSS: search for and subscribe to thousands of RSS feeds

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40 News and Resources About Corporate Blogging Blogging for Business With readers flocking to their Web postings, execs are finding blogs useful for plugging not just their products but their points of view. Business Week, August 9, Blogging With The Boss's Blessing More companies are helping employees to speak freely -- and bond with customers. Business Week, June 28, Blogging behind the firewall InfoWorld s internal Weblog started as an experiment. Already, it s indispensable. InfoWorld, May 24, The Corporate Blog is Catching On, New York Times, June 23, Google sees benefits in corporate blogging, Company says internal blogs can be used to track meeting notes, share diagnostics information and code. InfoWorld, November 18, HP quietly begins Web log experiment Hewlett-Packard Co. has become the latest IT vendor to dip its toes in the wild world of Web logging, or blogging. IDG News Service, 23 Nov 2004, See bespacific.com s regular updates on blogging at Blogging policy examples Charlene Li,

41 How Non-Profit Organizations and Local Governments Can Use Blogs to Communicate with the Public

42 BlogBib - An Annotated Bibliography on Weblogs and Blogging, with a Focus on Library/Librarian Blogs Using Content To Create Connections Among People