I. The Impact of Blogs

• "'Blog' Picked as Word of the Year" (BBC News, 1 Dec 2004)
• "Bloggers Influence the Publishing Industry" (NPR, 10 Nov 2004)
• "Blogs Make the Headlines" (Wired News, 23 Dec 2002)
• "The Blogs Must Be Crazy" (The Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal, 17 Feb 2005)
• "The State of Blogging" (Pew Internet & American Life Project, Jan 2005)

II. Characteristics of Blogs

• Regular Postings - Relatively Short with Titles and Dates - to a Web Site
• Reverse Chronological Entries
• Links to Other Sites
• Archive of Posts
• Comments from Readers
• RSS/Syndication

A. Definitions/History

• Webopedia Definition
• Wikipedia: Definition/Commentary
• Web Logs Glossary (About.com)
• Meg Hourihan: What We're Doing When We Blog
• Rebecca Blood: Weblogs: A History and Perspective

III. Varieties of Blogs

• Specific Content vs. General
• Professional/Business v. Personal
• Link-Oriented v. Commentary
• Single Author v. Multiple Authors
• High Frequency v. Moderate/Low Frequency

IV. Creating Blogs/Blog Hosts

• Blogger
• Bloglines
• LiveJournal
• MSN Spaces
• Movable Type
• Radio UserLand
• Typepad
• WordPress
• Xanga

A. Free Blog Hosting Services

• About.com: Free Blog Software/Hosting
• Before You Choose Your Weblog Software
• Top Free Blog Software/Hosting
• Review of Blogger.com
• Review of LiveJournal
• Review of Movable Type
• Review of Xanga

V. Creating a Blog Using Blogger

A. Blogger Tour (General Review of Blogs)

B. Create an Account

• User Name/Password
• Display Name
• E-mail Address
• Blog Name
• Web Address for Blog
• Template

C. Create a Posting

VI. Finding Blogs

A. General Blog Search Engines

• Fagan Finder: Blogs and RSS Search Engines
• Technorati

B. Subject Directories (Examples)

• Internet Public Library (Various Subjects)
• Blawg Republic (Law)
• Library Weblogs (Libraries)
• Medlogs (Medical)

C. Links on Blogs (Blogrolls)

VII. Monitoring Blogs

A. News Aggregators

• About.com: RSS Feed Readers/News Aggregators
• About.com: RSS/Atom and Content Syndication
• Fagan Finder: All About RSS
• About.com: Review of Bloglines

B. E-mail Updates

• Bloglet

VIII. Blogs and Employment/Blog Policies

• Example of a Corporate Blogging Policy: Feedster
• "Blogging About Work is Risky Business" (InternetWeek, 25 Feb 2005)
• "Have a Blog, Lose Your Job?" (CNN/Money, 15 Feb 2005)
• "The Weblog Question" (InformationWeek, 31 Jan 2005)
• "When Blogging Gets Risky" (WashingtonPost.com/MSNBC News, 11 Feb 2005)

IX. Books on Blogs

• Blog On: The Essential Guide to Building Dynamic Weblogs [005.72 Stauffer]
• Essential Blogging [005.72 Essential]
• We Blog: Publishing Online with Weblogs [005.72 Bausch]
• The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog [005.72 Blood]