My RMIT blog and its interlinkage with this blog and my website

Well in the essence of my final assignment for Network Media, I am interlinking my RMIT blog with this research blog and my website as an ode to the notion that "weblogs are densely interlinked" (Mortensen & Walker, Blogging Thoughts, 2002, p 259.) Additional links to several other blogs, search engine results and websites inter-connected with this project can be found on the above link to my RMIT blog and through the blogs in this Blogger site and by looking at the blogs I am following which can be seen in my profile!

in reference to: Clare’s Blogging Blogs!

(view on Google Sidewiki)

A site discussing issues with inbound link counts for bloggers

The article is addressing the Technorati link counts system and the possible implications of this.

in reference to:

"In the morning session during the session that was essentially about inbound link counts for bloggers. After 45 minutes of intense anger and frustration from many audience speakers in the room toward Technorati link counts and top 100, I suggested we create a community based algorithm, based on more complex social relationships than links. It's something I've been working on for few months, trying to frame, about what this problem is and how we might solve it. But it's a complex issue and I'm also busy. So it's taken a while. However, my blog post is almost done, and I do plan to put it up in the next day or so.

So.. the first session was a debate about "playing by the rules" which refers to the inbound link count rules, where A-listers who've been around for a long time have so many links, and get the most attention and credibility due to the Technorati Top 100 list."
- Blogher: Observations, gratifications and goals.. | Napsterization (view on Google Sidewiki)

Again from Axel Bruns blog

Interesting information in a summary from the AOIR conference in 2005. In particular there were a number of speakers discussing the topic of "What is the level of converstion in Blogs" with much discussion on linkages between and within blogs.

in reference to:

"The most heavily linked blogs were contained in the catholic cluster, in this case. Blogs can also be analysed depending on the ratio of in- versus out-links - this can indicate the level of conversation (an uneven ratio would mean simple one-directional linking, and thus the absence of conversation).
Ben Clark now takes over. For each blog, references to other blogs in posts and comments were coded in the content analysis, distinguishing references within and outside the sample; Ben now shows some examples of such references showing different types of linking (direct or indirect reference to the blogger of blog, etc.).  In the end, the study coded some 582 conversational units, with 135 references in posts to other bloggers; 48% of these were hyperlinked, with another 10% through trackbacks.
In the sample, none of the references replied to another post in the sample. Comments replied by definition, of course, 83% directly to the previous post, the rest to an earlier post in the same thread. There was also a significant amount of referencing specifically from respondents who were already on the blog roll of the blog they responded to. (Sorry, this is getting complex, and I may not necessarily capture all the details here.)"
- Approaches to Blog Analysis | Snurblog (view on Google Sidewiki)

Axel Bruns blog on "research, rants and random thoughts"

Is very useful research tool in relation to communications and blogging, in addition to being a well-maintained and extensively structured blog which has links to other papers, books, other blogs and other academics.

in reference to: Approaches to Blog Analysis | Snurblog (view on Google Sidewiki)

Tips on finding blogs

Building incoming links from Blogs advice and mention of the "one way links" that blogs provide...

in reference to:

"Build Incoming Links From Blogs
I will show you how to build incoming links from blogs within a matter of minutes. It is a simple process to increase your link popularity.
The biggest bonus with blogs is it creates one way links, no need to link back, and finding blogs related to your website theme is a big plus.
How to Find Blogs
There are many ways to to build incoming links from blogs, but finding them can be a pain.
Problem solved with Google Alerts , if you do not have an account then create one, it’s free. Then all you do is type in a keyword, select blogs, type your email address in and choose daily, weekly or monthly updates.
Then every single day, week, month your inbox with receive a list of blogs that have been posted live on the internet that match the keyword you entered."
- Build Incoming Links From Blogs (view on Google Sidewiki)

Jilll Walker's book "Blogging"

Here is the link to amazon where Jill Walker's book "Blogging" is being sold and you can read several pages.

in reference to: Amazon.co.uk: Books: Blogging (Digital Media and Society) (view on Google Sidewiki)

Searching for blogs and "one way links" in blogs

http://www.seo-web-design-services.com/build-incoming-links-from-blogs.html
This site was interesting in noting how to find blogs and receive updates regularly from blogs with a set keyword, wish I had found this a few weeks ago!
As below states:
Build Incoming Links From Blogs

I will show you how to build incoming links from blogs within a matter of minutes. It is a simple process to increase your link popularity.

The biggest bonus with blogs is it creates one way links, no need to link back, and finding blogs related to your website theme is a big plus.
How to Find Blogs

There are many ways to to build incoming links from blogs, but finding them can be a pain.

Problem solved with Google Alerts , if you do not have an account then create one, it’s free. Then all you do is type in a keyword, select blogs, type your email address in and choose daily, weekly or monthly updates.

Then every single day, week, month your inbox with receive a list of blogs that have been posted live on the internet that match the keyword you entered.

Technorati

Technorati
Well Jill Walker mentioned this site in her blog and so here I am linking it in my research blog. This site is a search engine for blogs so you can search under topic and find endless amounts of blogs relevant to your chosen field. There are also items like "blog of the day", tips to blogging and survey information about blogs.

As this blog site, is a research forum for examining blogs being "densley interlinked" and blogs as research tools and reflections (Mortensen and Walker."Blogging Thought: Personal Publication as an Online Research Tool." Researching ICT's in Context. Ed. Andrew Morrison. Oslo: University of Oslo, 2002. 249-79. p259), this is clearly the case with my experiment in examing this reading through conducting online research and publishing it in the first instance on a research blog and then linking to that blog from my website.

The comment that "links are like roots, tendrils, reaching out between fragments, creating a context for bits and pieces that at first glance may seem to be unconnected fragments" is also evident once you start researching a topic online and through blogs. As with the above link, that I discovered on Jill Walker's blog, which I found from the above-mentioned reading, but I then navigated to another blog from the comments section on Jill Walker's blog, which ended up referencing her video on blogging 'Blogging as learning', which took me back to her blog and the video, which I watched and then below the video was a list of tips and references for blogging, which mentioned the blog search engine site Technorati, which is where I went to and then via Google's sidewiki tool bar, I published this post with the link to Technorati automatically placed into the Blog.

Now I have discovered this I will now face the challenge of how many more blogs I can read before I start publishing my research onto my website before Monday morning! The "roots" are growing much further than I first anticipated and I may need to obtain some form of online 'round-up' product to cease the blog tendrils at this point and publish my website before I am eaten up by research blogs from every direction in my fragmented online existence.

Jill Walker's video on blogging

This video on Blogging from the author of 'Blogging Thoughts' (2002) which I am writing a hypertext essay on is quite interesting in relation to the writing of blogs within a "network of other learners".

in reference to:

"28/9/2009

[blogging as a tool for reflection and learning]


This spring, I recorded a short video lecture on how to use blogs in teaching for the Virtual Book online course on E-Pedagogy for Teachers in Higher Education, which is produced by Høgskolen in Bergen and planned and edited by Anne Karin Larsen and Grete Oline Hole. My short talk summarises the main advantages of blogging as a learner (or researcher!) and gives concrete suggestions on how to help support students as they move from writing for just themselves and their teacher towards writing in a network of other learners, using blogs."
- jill/txt » blogging as a tool for reflection and learning (view on Google Sidewiki)

Jill Walker's blog 'Jilltxt' operating since 2000

This is the other author from the article 'Blogging Thoughts" and has also maintained her blog as a research tool and teaching tool since it's discussion in the above mentioned paper, written in 2002.

in reference to:

"this season on jill/txt
I'm Jill Walker Rettberg, an associate professor at the University of Bergen, and I do research on how people tell stories online. I'm affiliated with the Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies. I've been a research blogger since October 2000."
- jill/txt (view on Google Sidewiki)

Another article by T Mortensen ;Weblogs and the Dilemma of Academia"

This article discusses personal publication and public attention involved in this 'new' form of personally creating ones identity and life through an online forum and array of Web 2.0 applications now available.

in reference to:

"Weblogs and the Dilemma of Academia
The Internet brings that which never before was visible into the light of the day, mingling public information with private tidbits from which the public should perhaps be spared. Particularly, weblogs have been said to be private journals and diaries exposing what should rather have been kept in a drawer (Orlowski, 2003). This article is dedicated to this twilight zone of intimate confessions and professional information, and the political implications of the current academic debate concerning personal publication."
- Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs: Personal Publication and Public Attention (view on Google Sidewiki)

thinking with my fingers

thinking with my fingers
is Torill Mortensen's blog that was created shortly before the research article "Blogging Thoughts" and is still 'live' and updated regularly here in 2009.

Inspirational quotes from blogs in 2008

The above site is another post by 'The Future Buzz' team (who submitted the statistics) and it references all of the famous, favourity or inspirational quotes that they have found in Blogs during the last year.

in reference to:

"Peter Kim
From How To Set An Ego Trap
“The old saying tells us, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”  Let’s update that for today’s world and recognize that the way to a blogger’s keyboard is through their ego.”"
- 22 Smart, Inspirational Quotes From Bloggers In 2008 (view on Google Sidewiki)

Statistics on Web 2.0 and its usage rates

Focusing on Blogs, Facebook and Digg the above statistics add much weight to this discussion on a paper on Blogs that was written 7 years ago.

in reference to:

"Blogosphere stats
133,000,000 – number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002
346,000,000 – number of people globally who read blogs (comScore March 2008)
900,000 – average number of blog posts in a 24 hour period
1,750,000 – number of RSS subscribers to TechCrunch, the most popular Technology blog (January 2009)
77% - percentage of active Internet users who read blogs
55% – percentage of the blogosphere that drinks more than 2 cups of coffee per day (source)
81 - number of languages represented in the blogosphere
59% – percentage of bloggers who have been blogging for at least 2 years
source

Twitter stats
1,111,991,000 – number of Tweets to date (see an up to the minute count here)
3,000,000 – number of Tweets/day(March 2008) (from TechCrunch)
165,414 - number of followers of the most popular Twitter user (@BarackObama) – but he’s not active
86,078 – number of followers of the most active Twitter user (@kevinrose)
63% – percentage of Twitter users that are male (from Time)
Facebook stats
200,000,000 – number of active users
100,000,000 - number of users who log on to Facebook at least once each day
170 - number of countries/territories that use Facebook
35 - number of different languages used on Facebook
2,600,000,000 – number of minutes global users in aggregate spend on Facebook daily
100 – number of friends the average user has
700,000,000 – number of photos added to Facebook monthly
52,000 – number of applications currently available on Facebook
140 - number of new applications added per day
source
Digg stats
236,000,000 – number of visitors attracted annually by 2008 (according to a Compete survey)
56% - percentage of Digg’s frontpage content allegedly controlled by top 100 users
124,340 - number of stories MrBabyMan, the number one user, has Dugg (see updated number here)
612 - number of stories from Cracked.com that have made page 1 of Digg (see all 41 pages of them here)
36,925 – number of Diggs the most popular story in the last 365 days has received (see story here)"
- Social Media, Web 2.0 And Internet Stats (view on Google Sidewiki)

The new "web trend" of blogs discussed in 2002

The context of the article by Mortensen and Walker (2002) really needs to be considered as it is seven years ago when they were discussing this 'phenomenon' and that is eqivalent to numerous more 'humans with the internet' years.

in reference to:

"The Blog Phenomenon
02.05.02



 
Total posts: 141

by John C. Dvorak
A recent overlooked Web trend—overlooked by the mainstream media, at least—is the proliferation of public diaries, generically referred to as Blogs. The term originated from "WeB log" and was further promoted by pyra.com as a Blog at its www.blogger.com site, although www.pita.com is considered the original source of easy-to-use Web logging. People who "Blog" are called Bloggers, and right now there are hundreds, thousands of Blogs on the Net.
The vanity page is dead; long live the Blog. The vanity Web page has lost momentum. People who posted one have already done so, and the growth has slowed. Most are uninteresting and uninspired. Cat pictures dominate too many of them. A Blog is the next iteration, and most vanity site mavens have gravitated toward these things. Serious vanity site developers have gone into posting hobby or special-interest sites, having learned by experience how to make an attractive Web page. This is, indeed, progress."
- The Blog Phenomenon - Columns by PC Magazine (view on Google Sidewiki)

Research paper by Daniel Chandler: Personal home Pages and the construction of identities on the web

This paper is surrounded by media and communications theory and the impact of personal home pages on this discourse.

in reference to: Personal Home Pages and the Construction of Identities on the Web (view on Google Sidewiki)

History of Blogs growth and development from 1999-2000

This is a really interesting article to gain the context of the period in which blogs were being introduced and it gives a societal perception of what power and usages they may actually give back to the previously unpublished members of the community.

in reference to:

"We are being pummeled by a deluge of data and unless we create time and spaces in which to reflect, we will be left with only our reactions. I strongly believe in the power of weblogs to transform both writers and readers from "audience" to "public" and from "consumer" to "creator." Weblogs are no panacea for the crippling effects of a media-saturated culture, but I believe they are one antidote.

rebecca blood
september 2000

citation: Blood, Rebecca. "Weblogs: A History and Perspective", Rebecca's Pocket. 07 September 2000. 25 October 2006. <http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html">."
- Rebecca Blood :: Weblogs: A History And Perspective (view on Google Sidewiki)

Anatomy of a Weblog

Helpful information describing each component of a standard blog site.

in reference to:

"It seems lately that you can't turn around without finding a blog on the Web. But what exactly is a blog? Depending upon who you talk to, a blog is a personal Web diary, a collection of short, dated discussions with commentary, or a way of publishing news and information. Well, now the Web Design/HTML site has a weblog and it is fairly similar to all the other weblogs you may have seen out on the Internet. But if you're not familiar with weblogs, you may not understand what all the pieces of the puzzle are. In the screen shot in the upper right of this article, I've detailed the primary sections of a weblog. A through D are found on every post to the blog. E, F, and G are found at the bottom of the main blog page. Parts of a Weblog A - The entry title This is the title of the blog entry. Most weblogs start their entries with the date and time it was posted. About's style is to post the entry title first. The entry title is always followed by a short paragraph or two about the entry. Sometimes their will be links within the context of the blog entry, and other times, the links will be called out afterwards. B - The date of the entry This is hyperlinked to a page with all the blog entries for that day. If you're interested in when most posts are published, you can go to this page to see the time. If you visited the Web Design/HTML site on a specific date, and want to review what was live then - you can go to that date via the calendar listed on any date entry page. C - The permalink A permalink is a permanent link to that blog entry. If you want to bookmark or link to a weblog, you need to link to a page that isn't going to change all the time. The permalink gives you something steady and constant. At the Bottom The other parts of the Weblog screen capture are at the bottom of the page. They are also common on most weblogs, but their location is not always certain. E - Syndicate this site If you have an RSS Aggregator or a tool that can read RSS, you can syndicate any site with this option. This means that you can place the weblog information on your Web site or read it with a special RSS newsreader or content aggregator. F - XML icon The XML icon is a graphical representation of the syndicate this site link. It points to the actual RDF or XML file that can be used for syndication. This is found on most sites that run syndicated weblogs. G - Read archives The big advantage to weblogs is that anything that is placed on the weblog will be archived. The archives are very interesting to read and give a good sense of how often the blog is updated and if the content is interesting to you. Other Items The About Web Design/HTML weblog doesn't include other items that are common on many blogs. Such as:calendar - while there is a calendar, it is located on the archive pages not on the front page of the weblogtime stamp - as mentioned above, the About Web Design/HTML blog is time stamped only on the archive and dated pages, not on the front page. But many weblogs are updated extremely frequently, and so need the timestamp on the front page.blogrolls - this is a list of other weblogs that the blog author reads. Some of the Web Design blogs I read are listed in my Web design blogs subject.





Web Design PathBeginning HTML and Web DesignSuggested ReadingBlog FAQHow to Use a Blog for Non-DiaristsContent Management for the MassesFrom Other GuidesWeb Clip Art: Blog Templates
Related ArticlesUsing Weblog Software to Post Your Web PagesMSN Spaces Blog - Create an Entry on MSN Spaces BlogLittle Web of Horrors - Scary Web DesignsWebsite Usability - Test Your Site and Learn Website UsabilityWeb Design Design Gallery - Web Design Ideas Blog"
- Anatomy of a Blog: The About Web Design Weblog (view on Google Sidewiki)

Early Weblog discussion in 1999

A 'weblog' Camworld discussed the new concept of 'weblogs' back in 1999 and the above definition is simple and useful frame to discuss blog and blogging.

in reference to:

"Published: 1.26.99
<-- Last Rant




 


Anatomy of a Weblog



Weblog.

A few months back, I heard the term weblog for the first time. I'm not sure who coined it or where it came from, so I can't properly credit it. Typically, a weblog is a small web site, usually maintained by one person that is updated on a regular basis and has a high concentration of repeat visitors. Weblogs often are highly focused around a singular subject, an underlying theme or unifying concept."
- CamWorld: Journal: Rants: 1.26.99 (view on Google Sidewiki)

A weblog project about online learning...

This blog by Marcus O'Donnell is a project weblog about online learning in particular reference to education, journalism and blogging.

in reference to: marcusodonnell.com: blogsperiment (view on Google Sidewiki)

Blogs and RSS enable more effective group research and shared learning online

This research paper discusses the combination of RSS and blogs as a tool to "enhance research menthods for student" (S. Jeff Cold, 2006)

in reference to:

"A combination of RSS and personal web files can be used for student group projects to connect the students and share research over the Internet."
- Using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to enhance student research (view on Google Sidewiki)

Blogs as tools for online collaboration

The functionality of blogs as tools for online collaboration is also a contributing factor in enabling blogs to be used as online research tools. This artilce by Robert Godwin-Jones discusses this notion.

in reference to:

"Recent innovations--blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds--may be less familiar but offer powerful opportunities for online collaboration for both language professionals and learners."
- Emerging Technologies: Blogs and Wikis Environments for On-Line Collaboration (view on Google Sidewiki)

Blogs as Market Research Tools

This research article by Dean Carson discusses the use of blogs as a market research tool.

in reference to:

"There may be particular value in a blog based market research tool because the content is provided in a less artificial setting than in surveys or interviews. The research examined different sources of consumer generated web content about travel to Australia's Northern Territory and evaluated the authorship and readership as well as the nature of the content itself. The findings suggest that valuable data can be drawn from travel blogs, but that locating and analysing relevant content is time consuming."
- The `blogosphere' as a market research tool for tourism destinations: A case study of Australia's Northern Territory -- Carson 14 (2): 111 -- Journal of Vacation Marketing (view on Google Sidewiki)

Research from Bonnie A. Nardi, Diane J Schiano, ichelle Gumbrecht, Luke Swartz

This paper "Why we Blog" discusses numerous aspects of the act of blogging and references the articel being examined in this blog site 'Blogging Thoughts: personal publication as an online research tool" (Torill Mortensen & Jill Waker).

in reference to: Why we blog (view on Google Sidewiki)

Research from Renata Suzuki

This article discusses the use of blogs as online qualitative research tool and its subsequent advantages "in the domain of action research".

in reference to: TESL-EJ On the Internet: Diaries as introspective research tools (view on Google Sidewiki)

Research from Dr. Igor M. Sauer

This abstract was found online as an extract from Artifical Organs, Volume 29 Issue 1, pp 82-83, 2005. It is highlighting the functionality of weblogs as research tools.

in reference to:

"ABSTRACT
Abstract: Appropriate software tools may improve communication and ease access to knowledge for research groups. A weblog is a website which contains periodic, chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage, whereas a wiki is hypertext-based collaborative software that enables documents to be authored collectively using a web browser. Although not primarily intended for use as an intranet-based collaborative knowledge warehouse, both blogs and wikis have the potential to offer all the features of complex and expensive IT solutions. These tools enable the team members to share knowledge simply and quickly—the collective knowledge base of the group can be efficiently managed and navigated."
- Wiley InterScience :: JOURNALS :: Artificial Organs (view on Google Sidewiki)

Finding the "Blog This" tool bar mentioned in Blogging Thoughts

I was intrigued to find the 'Blog This' function for my browser that was mentioned by Mortensen and Walker in their article Blogging Thoughts: personal publication as an online research tool (2002). The function apparently allows a blogger to comment or link straight to a webpage that they have found online instantly on their blog. This tool was used substantially by the above mentioned bloggers in their research practice and as such I was attempting to find it so I could utilise this method also and track my online research directly as blog posts. Finally I found this google tool bar that is now called "Sidewiki" and seemingly allows the same functions as labelled "Blog This" way back then in 2002. I have installed the tool bar now and will attempt to weave my way through the tool bar and hopefully start adding posts to each new research source I find online, in relation to my assignment which is discussing the paper Blogging Thoughts. So watch this space for all the exciting online research I find in relation to this examination of blogs as research tools.

Using Blogs as a research tool_Mortensen and Walker...Discuss

Well this is the basis of my final assignment for Network Media @ RMIT. I will be discussing the paper Blogging Thoughts:personal publication as an online research tool by Toril Mortensen & Jill Walker (2002) as the basis for this assignment. As a result, I will be utilising this new blog as a tool to collate my research for this assessment and as an examination of a number of key points addressed in the above mentioned paper. Topics such as; the act of blogging and the functionality provided in blogs effects the writing styles and thought process of the author, the concept that writing a blog enables a more focused act of research, blogs can be used as a tool for online research and the connection between the private and public spheres that exists in bloggers blogs, are discussed in the paper. I will be focusing on the below extract;

"Weblogs are densely interlinked. This anchors blogs in the public
arena, as part of a communal discourse. Posts to a blog can be very
short and unpretentious. The threshold for publishing a single post is
very low. This allows single, small, insignificant ideas to be expressed
and formulated. Sometimes these thoughts are left as they are. A
paragraph is enough and there is no more needed. Other times, the
ideas grow. Someone links their site to the first post, comments on it,
and a conversation grows forth. The initial post, or follow-ups, are
linked to a web site or a newspaper article or something else. Links
are like roots, tendrils, reaching out between fragments, creating a
context for bits and pieces that at first glance may seem to be
unconnected fragments."

(Mortensen, Torill, and Jill Walker. “Blogging Thoughts: Personal
Publication as an Online Research Tool.” Researching Ict’s in Context.
Ed. Andrew Morrison. Oslo: University of Oslo, 2002. 249-79. p.259.)

The fact that this blog "lives within the same frame"(Mortensen & Walker p273) as the online tools being examined (as was the basis for Mortensen and Walker's act of blogging) is highlighted by using this blog as a tool to examine precisely what it is and what others like it can be used for. As such, this blog is now evidence in itself of blogs enabling and being research tools in themselves and my research obtained to analyse this assignment will be published here for that very reason. The interlinkage between this blog and my RMIT blog and my project website and between the blogs I am following is the essence and primary purpose of this blog.