A communal blog for ENGL 3177/5177: Web Logs and Wikis
morgan's office
course wiki

 
I had thought it was due to netscape browser, but later, i tried in Deck Lab. I found both IE and Netscape allow me edit our wikis.
posted by jing at 9:48 AM

 
does anyone know why we cannot edit our wikis from the library? i'm in the small mac lab on the main floor of the library and the only browser available is netscape. i remember having the same problem last semester too.
posted by mackenzie at 3:14 PM

 
I decided to start working on a wiki and realized I didn't know how to start. I do know I want one that others can't edit. I'm planning to do it as a two treed piece, with some sort of home page giving simple info about me and one tree heading off into interconnected pieces of writing having to do with teaching and the other tree leading into my own creative nonfiction and poetry--with hopes I will see new links there that I don't already.
posted by Mark at 2:16 PM

 
It is impossible to edit Wiki in the library of BSU--my discovery!
posted by jing at 1:33 PM

 
Can I have a place for my "participant wiki?" Please? Just thought I'd ask...
posted by Jessica at 9:57 AM

 
anyone have views on Elderly Rights and the loss of said rights when dealing with health care services? I am seriously trying to find some view points for a friend of mine...I posted a letter I received on this subject on the 28th...
Karl
posted by peppergreen4 at 4:23 PM

 
Yeah, I have given a lot of consideration to voice. On my site I have a rather long post about the history of my online voices. I posted the questions posed by the class and then went back laters and filled in the rest.
posted by Rowanstaff at 4:14 PM

 
Web Log Voices | Theory | Species

Our discussion yesterday got me thinking (at 4:30 am, naturally) about how to locate yourself with respect to blogging - and more generally writing on the web.

Of course, others online are discussing the issues we encountered (and the discussion is still open, nothing's settled), so if you're interested, have a look at some of the material that's being collected and worked with on Weblog Kitchen. Weblog Kitchen is a public wiki - much like the one we're using - that you can contribute to.

- Personal Voice. A starting point for commentary on personal voice in blogging, setting our friend Blood next to Mark Bernstein and others.

- Weblog Species for a budding attempt to make sense of the variety of web logs out there.

- Weblog Theory for an annotated set of links to a variety of perspectives on web logs. We'll be reading one of these (Blogging Thoughts) next week.

posted by morgan at 7:58 AM

 
Nice thoughts Crusty. Things that make you go "Hmmm."
posted by Don at 12:29 AM

 
I just rolled in from Hibbing and driving the BHS gymnastics team to a meet. It was kind of tiring, but I got my homework done during the wait time, and conjured up a few new ideas on blogging while I was driving. It's too bad I couldn't tap them off on a keyboard on the road. Some of them fly away by the time I get to sit down and work on them.
posted by Don at 12:22 AM

 
The radio broadcast was called War of the Worlds and was written by H.G.Wells.
posted by mackenzie at 5:45 PM

 
Would the reader know you were a fictional character writing, or would they think you were you? I am thinking now of that old radio broadcast (I forget, offhand, it's name) that caused mass hysteria because people thought aliens were really invading Earth. That, in my opinion (and who else's would I be referring to), is good writing. You could make each day a gentle progression from a "normal" life into one riddled with the intrigue, suspense, (and even body count, if you had a bent) of any other genre. That could really be fun.
posted by Joshua at 2:01 PM

 
Actually, I think that's a great idea, Josh, probably better than the one I had. I was thinking of one person writing a fiction story all by themselves... logging as though you were a fiction character perhaps (a fiction diary type blog thinger) or just writing fiction ... like a story in small installments... does this make sense?
posted by Chi at 11:17 AM

 
thanks for the heads up on the work in progress blog. could be interesting, could be pretty elementary too.
posted by mackenzie at 10:59 AM

 
bad link, sorry mates. perfeclty norml
posted by mackenzie at 10:56 AM

 
Well, my post just messed up. Big. So here it is again. I didn't close the quotation marks last time, oops.
posted by Joshua at 10:04 AM

 
Juanita, if I have your idea correct, you want a blog that is a work in progress that more than one person can write about. I love the idea. A similiar site was created a few years back by a few students of mine (climbers). Check it out

 
mackenzie.lindahl@st.bemidjistate.edu is up and running. so is

 
Stacey's blog is changing titles and is going to stick with a definitive focus on things related to my College Writing II course this semester. It seems this is the safest approach to take in a classroom blogging setting.
posted by Stacey at 12:14 AM

 
Hi all! I'm finally into the system...this could be interesting, very interesting. First of all, I want to thank all for your kind thoughts for myself and my father. They are greatly appreciated. Other than that, see you all tomorrow, and happy blogging!

posted by Jessica at 11:09 PM

 
I guess I was referring to an ongoing fiction story by one blogger as they have the time to do it, but the round robin sounds fun!
posted by Chi at 9:25 PM

 
Jing Tong - The test my child took was a spelling test that they take each week with different words. The words are getting harder because he is getting older and he does well IF he practices, but if he doesn't, he will spell several of them wrong. I think it's important for him to learn how to spell the words correctly because his vocabulary will grow and it will help him in the future in school.

posted by Chi at 9:23 PM

 
I don't understand what Juanita means by an ongoing fiction blog. Does this mean we comment on someone elses on line work or do we throw something out as a start and each blogger adds say one paragraph or? When I read Juanita's question I was thinking of a "round robin" of situation.

I have been reading textbooks till my brain is on meltdown. I am trying to work up the courage to do something technology is scary.
posted by Faith at 7:32 PM

 
School of Hard Blogs

Another hectic blog ressurection day, another lesson learned. I tried adding a java script newsfeed to my site. Unfortunately this script destroyed all the settings in my template afterward. Eeek! Lucky for me I had a back up. Whew. Site fixed.
posted by Rowanstaff at 5:44 PM

 
Hi, Juanita. I am interested in American education system. In The Voice of a Child, Your kid did very well in his spelling exam. He must be a smart boy.However, I wonder how many exams the children will take in a semester? How many courses the children should take? Are their academic records important? Is there any similarity with Chinese education system?
Now, what I know is American college education is totally different to Chinese.
posted by jing at 4:12 PM

 
That's a good idea, Caroline, I think I may buy a twist and spell game.... or two. Thank you!
posted by Chi at 2:06 PM

 
Bravo to Jing Tong and her efforts in sonnet writing. Also, welcome back to school, Don. Here's an interesting tidbit - 40% of the students at BSU are nontraditional. It's a great place to come back to school after being out for more than a few years. It sounds like
Don is jumping right into his studies with writing a biography and volunteering to recruit for the History/Geology Lewis and Clark Trip.
posted by Renee at 11:19 AM

 
Hello to all of my fellow Saturday Nite Shut-ins here in the frozen northland. Us old folks are stayin' home watchin' a pay per view tonight – "K-19, The Widowmaker". It's kind of scarey for someone who lived through the time period. With a blank stare and wrinkle brow, my wife said, "I remember this!" It makes you wonder how often we come close to total world distruction like this, and never find out about it.
posted by Don at 10:10 PM

 
Hi, guys, did you ever write sonnet? Tell you how I write one. First, write a paragraph.Second, divide it into 14 lines.At last, count the feet, and check the rhyme. :)
Don't laugh at me.I tried all my best.
I feel very inconvinent for "abab cdcd efef gg" and some other regide requirement. To find an exact word at the end of each line, I used up all my wits.
I love blank verse!
posted by jing at 3:20 PM

 
The voice of a child is a cute blog about the sturggles of a mom with her kids. I liked it. As a mom and full time student, the frustration with your kids and their study habits is a long and arduous one. I found that my nephew was struggling with his spelling, so I bought him a Twist and spell game. My brother loads the spelling list and then Jon works on his list all week long, and has greatly improved his tests.
posted by caroline at 3:15 PM

 
Found out friday morning: if you have keyless entry and you need to jumpstart your car, take out the keys!
I didnt, my doors locked, and I was taught a $35.00 lesson. All hail technology...I want a horse!?!
posted by peppergreen4 at 11:45 PM

 
Row, row, row yer boat...

Hiya all! Rowanstaff / Jeremy here. I got shown how to use the new mail and it works. Rejoice! Well, off to work on my blog. Seeya!
posted by Rowanstaff at 10:46 PM

 
Jessica, I just read your blog. This is what I have to say to you. I know you can I know you can I know you can!

You are tough and funny and smart and determined. You care and it shows. Los Angeles, Seattle or any point in between you will make a good life for yourself. That comes from within, it isn't bestowed, and girl you got it!


posted by Faith at 10:41 PM

 
hey, just to let you bloggers know...my name is spelled gibbins....there is no O....if you want to change it -great...otherwise if it's to much trouble..its cool with me. thanks
posted by crystal at 9:57 AM

 
Renee
Blogger went down yesterday as I was tweaking my blog. You probably ran into them having to fix their servers or some other catastrophe they had.
posted by Ayleen at 8:41 AM

 
I think I've found one of my purposes for blogging. I'll work on linking and maybe add another blog this weekend when I have some more time, but check out my blog if you have any interest in history or geology.
posted by Don at 12:04 AM

 
Renee, how can you loose your blog??
posted by Faith at 10:05 PM

 
I have been checking out other blogs as they come up on the right hand side. Usually it is the name that intrigues me. But oh my, I think I really don't understand much about life out side of the cold comfort zone. Some blogs are interesting, some are fun but a lot of them are just creepy. eww ish .
posted by Faith at 10:04 PM

 
I can't believe I lost my blog.
posted by Renee at 9:45 PM

 
Oh, Ayleen, I did check out your cheatsheet and I just don't get it. I think it has to do with all the punctuation and whatnot. I will get it, but it may just take some time.
posted by Andrea at 8:34 PM

 
Psst.. Andrea, check out my earlier entry today, the HTML cheatsheet should help you.
posted by Ayleen at 7:26 PM

 
aha! I made it, with folded-eyes!
posted by jing at 7:26 PM

 
I haven't the textbook till now. But I should do something before the arrive of the book. Now, I want to try how to link.
posted by jing at 7:24 PM

 
I have finally figured out my BSU email and I have the ability to post to this blog - Yay!

Now can anyone help me add links to my blog? I must just be missing how to do it; I can't seem to figure it out even with the books' help.

Also, if anyone was wondering what was up, I added my fiance to my blog team. I thought it would be interesting to see if he ever posts since this isn't a grade thing for him.
posted by Andrea at 7:18 PM

 
Mark, I posted about audience in my blog today, after a good comment by Russ after class. I don't want to repost it here, but take a look if you'd like. Also, I believe the other Josh had some comments on the subject. I hope this helps.
posted by Joshua at 7:13 PM

 
Add On's and Suggestions

Add a site search engine to your page
Very easy to set up. May need to know a little HTML or how to use Dreamweaver/Frontpage

Webmonkey: A place where you can find answers to most of your problems or find interesting new ways to work on your HTML

I suggest printing this out
You can use this HTML cheat sheet for your blog entries.

My suggestions

blog your entry in a word processor for spelling checks
make links that are imbedded in your text pop up in a new screen “_blank”
make the text of your blog the meat of the site, I.E. first thing you see
A schedule for blogging can be good if that is the push you need
don't always listen to what the books say, it's your voice you are typing, not theirs.
don't always listen to my suggestions, the books may say they are bad *grin*

posted by Ayleen at 6:30 PM

 
The possibility of a better grade will cause me to blog more than I journal. The real test of how much this blogger will blog comes after this semester and blogging isn't attached to a class.
posted by Renee at 5:50 PM

 
I realized that I hadn't posted to my blog yesterday. This reminds me of one of the drawbacks I used to perceive in journal/diary writing: this sense that I was obliged to enter every day. I got over that, and so now I write in my journal only when I feel the desire.

Does the potential for a real audience other than self cause us to blog more than we journal?
posted by Mark at 3:21 PM

 
I need to get to your sites and start blogging them! And, according to Stauffer, start using capitals. :) Did anyone else drown in chapter 8? Yikes.
posted by chad at 11:54 AM

 
My blog is up and I am starting to figure out how this stuff works.
posted by Jason at 9:00 AM

 
Thanks everone for the introductions today. It feels better to put a face with the names of the screen. I'll try to get into the swing of things better this weekend.
posted by Don at 12:25 AM

 
hi, prehen. Your website is much better than mine,but... Can you use a bigger size for the font?
posted by jing at 10:23 PM

 
The meeting is beginnig? I hope I am not too late.
posted by jing at 9:25 PM

 
Make that a trip to the Mall of America with my sisters all of whom love to shop.
posted by Faith at 8:15 PM

 
Must be all this talk about Walmart. I went tonight for the first time in months. Helped a young man shop for some clothes. That store just exhausts me. I am the worlds worst shopper anyway and the bigger the store the more I try to avoid it. I sound like an old crank (which is not totally incorrect) internet shopping and catalogs are the the next best thing to candy. My version of hell would include a trip to the Mall of America.
posted by Faith at 8:13 PM

 
My daughter's boyfriend worked at WalMart for two years when he was in highschool. He said they had good benefits and Christmas bonuses. A few years ago my parents moved to Montana and now both work for Sam's Club, another part of the WalMart machine. Life would be easier if everything political, social and moral fit into neat little boxes with tidy little labels . . . contents of this box are right, contents of this box are wrong.

If you are having troubles setting up your BSU email account, go to the computer help office in the tunnel, where the bookstore used to be years ago, and they will give you an envelope with all your account information. Including a little card with your user name(which might be different from your address name), etc...

posted by Renee at 3:27 PM

 
I find Wal-Mart has fallen into the same category as Microsoft! It seems everyone has a problem at times with it. Yet in the end we all end up using some form of their services! Even die hard Mac users have to interface through the Gates that Bill controls...
posted by peppergreen4 at 2:08 PM

 
Where else can you go in Bemidji for food, fun and entertainment at 2 am? I love Wal-Mart

posted by Joshua at 1:45 PM

 
Stacey's blog is up and hmm, not so much running as it is an awkward shuffle.
posted by Stacey at 8:04 AM

 
Renee's comment about the BSU professor's wife at WalMart made me laugh. I also taught in the section Renee speaks of. I heard the peroration about WalMart. My wife shops there--shamelessly. She even drags me along sometimes. She uses guilt trips to get me to go there, where I then feel guilty for being present.

Moral conundrums.
posted by Mark at 7:31 AM

 
My blog has begun. I'm intending to build it around teaching and learning writing. To visit, click here.
posted by Mark at 7:25 AM

 
Caroline's blog is up and running.
posted by caroline at 6:42 PM

 
Diarist.net (link picked up via Ayleen's college life.

Would someone blog diarist.net | awards for us? Visit the site, see what it's all about, let others know if it's something they might want to submit something to.

I'll start inviting participants to this collective blog this week.
posted by morgan at 1:24 PM

 
A network is growing

People are posting to their blogs, and visiting others and crosslinking.

Both Joshuas - Joshua Murry at Joggua, and Joshua Pageua at UA, I've been Josh too long have posted about each other. Renee Loud has been taking care of a sick girl at Walk Away Renee and building her blog roll.

I'm adding blogs to the Daybook blog roll as the addresses come in.

And who says weekends have to be dull, huh?

posted by morgan at 5:01 AM

 
Ayleen -

Your name is currently (as of Sunday am) listed as the newest member on PotentKnowledge - Beer College = PotentKnowledge. The site looks ambitious. I wonder how long it's been up and who contributes to it - and what it might become.


posted by morgan at 9:16 AM

 
Ayleen wrote -

P.S. When you said we need to "blog other blogs" do we do it here or on our own blogs? I do it often, but most of the time I'll just link it to one of my sidebars if I stumble on a blog I like.

As a way of getting started, I'd like everyone to visit a few of their colleagues' blogs and comment on them on their own blog. This means that everyone will have to visit everyone else's blog to see if they've been blogged. Clever? Perhaps.

Later in the week, when I have everyone invited to the Daybook, I might ask everyone to post a description of their own blog to the Daybook: what's on it, what to watch for, how it's going...


posted by morgan at 12:37 PM

 
Wired.com <---Fixed link

I ran into a site that seems to be more of an interest to myself - sarcastic and funny in my own sense of humor. PotentKnowledge is an interesting collaboration between college students and I have already become a member to delve a bit deeper. The comments that can be made are more of a social convention for all the members that can join. Even if some of the material may be lacking in reason or good taste, this does bring together a lot of kids to compare their ideas and websites they stumble on. I have come across a weather announcer built into the blog, other gadgets. This is almost like your homepage in Yahoo, where you set the settings for it to give you the information you want. There are more attachments to this website that I initially suspected.

P.S. When you said we need to "blog other blogs" do we do it here or on our own blogs? I do it often, but most of the time I'll just link it to one of my sidebars if I stumble on a blog I like.
posted by Ayleen at 2:22 PM

 
This story at wired.com is frequently blogged as a sign of the power of blogging. Word is that bloggers broke the Trent Lott trouble story before the media got hold of it, and so Wired's punning: Blogs Make the Headlines
posted by morgan at 9:51 AM

 
Pop Culture Junk Mail

I noticed this blog while looking for well-defined projects.

Pop Culture Junk Mail According to the author, Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, the blog "features links to pop-culture-themed web sites. Favorite topics include trashy TV, British royalty, the 1980s, toys, movies, cats, makeup, weird food and more." It's an extensive site - with regular and well-linked postings. You only get a sense of how extensive it is by reading a couple of months' entries. This is blog as scrapbook in the largest sense.

But it also turns out that Gael is from St. Paul, went to St. Thomas, and was an online editor for the Strib (have a look at her bio page

Gael's written a short essay on Why Weblogs? that's worth a look in comparison to Blood, chap 1 and Stauffer, chap 1.
posted by morgan at 6:29 AM

 
Write This: an online community for freelance writers and editors

I bumped into WriteThis! while looking for sites that are using blogs semi-commerically. The site makes good use of Categories and a News area. It looks as though visitors can register to post comments. However, it doesn't look as though there's been much action since July, 2002. This is an example of what's possible with a blog - and what's already being done - in freelancing.



posted by morgan at 7:49 PM

 
Pepys' Diary is proving better reading than I remembered (spring quarter, St Cloud, 1978). In part, it's because I'm also listening to extracts from Claire Tomalin's Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, on BBC Radio 4; and in part it might be because I'm reading it differently.

Phil Gyford is getting his 15 minutes of fame at the BBC, as well. He deserves it - and I hope his fame lasts all year and beyond. Putting the annotated diary on line is a noble project.

And then the Beeb is getting on the bandwagon by highlighting Sex, lice and chamber pots in Pepys' London: a version of a social history of the period aimed at tweenies.

I forsee a Pepys Revival...
posted by morgan at 6:46 PM

 
Why this: Scott Yang's Playground? It's a well-developed blog index page: declaration of identity, lists, longish entries that look outward into the world.
posted by morgan at 6:22 AM