There is very little chance that you have not at least heard the word 'Blog' by now, if you aren't already familiar with what they are and have one of your own. Blogs, as a contraction of the words 'Web' and 'log' are, by their most basic definition, online journals or diaries kept by either individuals or entire communities. Entries in a blog are referred to as 'posts' and are traditionally organized with the most recent post displayed at the top of the page followed by each previous post.

Beyond this very simple definition, the uses and purposes of blogs are as wide and colorful as the people who use and read them. Following are some of the many purposes that blogs serve:

These are only a few of the ways in which blogs are used. Because it is incredibly simple to create and write in a blog, we are seeing an explosion in online exposition and information exchange that is hailed by many as both a boon and a curse to the Internet.

Blogs have an enormous power in public and academic spheres. It was, for example, a group of bloggers who brought to light the possible fallaciousness of papers held by CBS news during the 2004 Presidential campaigns regarding the military service record of President Bush. Other news sources like CNN have special segments devoted to what is being discussed in the "blogosphere." The [ http://technorati.com ] Technorati Website tracks millions of blogs, mining them for information and the topics that people are discussing online. Blogs have definite sway over public opinion and have become one of the best ways of swiftly publishing information

Following are lists of ideas for the use of blogs by our campus community.

For instructors:

For students:

For Departments:

There are two basic methods by which blogs are created and maintained:

The following sections will introduce you to them both.

Blogger is perhaps the most well-known of all the blogging services. Created in 1999 by Pyra Labs, a small dot-com startup, it was later bought by Google, which has since refined its interface to make blogging very simple. Users who have no experience with blogging or with any form of online publishing can get started in minutes with Blogger. Blogger is a free service funded by Google's Adsense, but people with access to outside Web publishing space (like our campus community) may customize Blogger to publish to this space without ads.

This document will introduce you to the elements of a Blogger-powered blog and teach you how to set up a Blogger account. You will be able to alter the publishing settings so that the blog posts on your University Web space and customize your blog with a visual theme of your own liking.

Following is a screen capture of a sample blog provided by Blogger. It represents one of their default layouts or templates and makes use of the most common blog elements. Each of these elements is numbered and defined below the image. These elements apply to blogs created using Blogger. Other blogging services may have different elements but there will be similarities.

Now that you're familiar with the basic elements of a blog, you will learn how to create your own Blogger account.

Begin by pointing your browser to http://www.blogger.com, preferably in a new window or tab so you can continue to refer back to this document.

You should see a screen similiar to the following:

select the orange arrow labeled Create Your Blog Now. You should now see the following screen:

Fill in all of the fields listed, following the directions next to each of them. Just for clarification, the first field, User Name, is the name that you will use to login to Blogger from the home page. This is the only time you will use this name; don't confuse it with your Display Name, which will be used to sign all of your posts to the blog. These names can be anything you want, but be certain that your Display Name is a name or a word that you want displayed prominently on your blog.

Once you've filled in all the fields, select the checkbox at the bottom of the screen to accept the Terms of Service and select the orange arrow labeled Continue. On the next screen, scroll down and select the link labeled Advanced Blog Setup.

Following is the screen you will see after selecting Advanced Blog Setup. Although Blogger provides clear steps, we've numbered each of them and, below the image, have provided information you'll need to know to complete the setup to publish your blog to your University Web space.

Next examine the first two letters of your Onyen and enter as follows:

For example, if your Onyen is jdoe, the full path you will type is /afs/isis.unc.edu/home/j/d/jdoe/public_html/blogger.

After you've completed these steps, select the orange arrow labeled Continue.

On this next screen you'll have the option of choosing one of several pre-fabricated visual styles or templates for your blog. Scroll through the list until one appeals to you. To see a larger view of one, simply select the link below its thumbnail labeled Preview Template.

When you've decided on a template, select the circular button below its thumbnail. Then select the orange arrow labeled Continue.

If you've followed all the previous steps correctly, your browser should spend a few moments processing all the information, and then you will see the following message. You're now ready to begin blogging! Select the orange arrow labeled Start Posting.

You should now see the Blogger post interface, as it appears in the following screen:

Be sure to give an appropriate title to the post in the small text box above. To create your first post, simply type what you'd like to say into the large text box. If you want to allow people to comment on the post, you may select this option below the text box. When you're finished, select the button labeled Publish Post. You will be asked for your FTP Server Password, which is your Onyen and password.

After validating your Onyen and password, your browser will spend a few moments processing the post and, if all went successfully, you should see the following message:

Select the link labeled View Blog to see your new blog! Now, let's see if we can find some more good looks for your blog . . .

There are several Web sites with alternate Blogger templates. If you run a Google search for "blogger templates," you'll come up with lots of different sites with templates. Probably the best of these is [ http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/ ] http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/.

When you go to this site, you'll see a left and right pane. In the left pane are the most current blog templates and in the right pane are links to archives of the past templates.

To change your blog template you need the code from that template. You don't have to actually edit the code yourself; you'll only have copy it into the Blogger control panel. To do this, select the link below the template thumbnail labeled Get the Code (No Navbar).

You should now see a box with code in it similar to the following image:

Place your cursor inside the box and select all the text by pressing Ctrl and A at the same time, or, if you're a Mac user, substitute the Ctrl key with the Apple/Command key, which should be located on either side of your space bar. Then, to copy, press the same key combination as you did above, but substitute A with C.

Go to Blogger.com and login, if you aren't already. Once logged in, select the gear icon labeled Change Settings, as shown below:

Select the tab at the top of the screen labeled Template. Once in the template editor, erase all the code inside the box and paste the new code for your new template by pressing Ctrl and V or Apple/Command key and V if you're a Mac user. Then select the button labeled Save Template Changes.

In the resulting window, you'll see buttons labeled Republish and Republish Index. Make sure you select the button labeled Republish only. You've now learned how to change your blog template!

Because the majority of blogs are completely unfettered by the editorial process that newspapers, magazines, television news, radio news, etc. are subject to, they ought to be considered far less reliable. The Internet has always been a place where anyone can publish anything; with the advent of blogs, this fact is even more relevant.

Also be aware that whatever you write online can be read by anyone else unless it is password protected. Therefore, be careful of what your write. More than a few people have gotten in trouble for their online writings and several people have been fired from their jobs for it or not hired at all.

It is also their public nature that should make you wary of what you reveal about yourself, your friends, and your family. Once something goes online, it almost always stays online, whether or not you think you've deleted it. There are many search engines and groups that archive the pages in their databases, so that even after you go offline, the information remains and is easily retrievable. Be cautious in how much you reveal about yourself to the world, for indeed the world is your audience.