Blogging a Conference

There are many ways that we might take NECC to new dimensions through its wireless access to the World Wide Web, especially version two of this digital space. But perhaps the simplest and most potent way is by blogging the sessions that you attend. So here are some steps and pointers for blogging a conference session. I’m just thinking off the top of my head here, so please comment with additional suggestions.

1. Set up a blog. There are many ways to do this, but Blogger (http://blogger.com) is probably the easiest way. Of course, there is the potential for embarrassment when people can click to other blogs from your blog page. Many educators are using James Farmer’s EduBlogs tool. I’ve recently worked up a handout on setting up an EduBlogs blog for educators. You can download it at:

   http://landmark-project.com/workshops/handouts/edublogs_setup.pdf

2. Even with a powerful blogging tool, it may make more sense to actually write the copy of your session blogs with a text or word processor, and then copy it into your blog. I use Mac’s Textedit, which also includes spell checking. Plus it will read your text back to you, though I don’t recommend that during the session.
3. If you will be live-blogging (sometimes called MoBlogging or mobile blogging) its a good idea to add a shore note at the top of your blog explaining that the entry is being written live. You see, people believe that all good teachers are also good spellers, that the two go together. Of course, that ain’t so. So a note such as:

   <tt>This entry is being written in real-time, so please forgive misspellings and awkward wording.</tt>The enclosing <tt> tags cause the text to look typed, setting it apart from the rest of your entry.

4. Don’t just blog your notes. The new web is not just about idea reporting. It’s about idea building. Type your notes on what is said and shown in the session, but also add your insights and comments. Be sure, though, that you distinguish your comments from the notes. A good way to do this is to italicize your comments. You can accomplish this by enclosing your insights with emphasis tags (<em></em>) or italics tags (<i></i>) — like this:

   idea idea idea idea <em>What a cool idea</em>

5. Hopefully, the presenter will suggest a tag for your blogged session notes. If not, just use the last name of the presenter or first and last name if it’s <em>jones</em>. Although EduBlogs treats its categories as tags, it is still a good idea to insert tag links into your blog. If you are in one of my sessions, you would take your blog by inserting the following text at the bottom.

   Tags: <a xhref=”http://technorati.com/tag/warlick” mce_href=”http://technorati.com/tag/warlick” rel=”tag”>warlick</a> <a xhref=”http://technorati.com/tag/necc” mce_href=”http://technorati.com/tag/necc” rel=”tag”>necc</a> <a xhref=”http://technorati.com/tag/necc06″ mce_href=”http://technorati.com/tag/necc06″ rel=”tag”>necc06</a>Simply replace references to warlick with the last name of your presenter.

2¢ Worth!