Category Archives: Blogs
All things blogging
Posterous
The main idea behind Posterous is to let bloggers blog using email. Simply email your articles to Posterous and they do the rest. If you insert image or video links, they will show up as embedded!
The simplicity makes Posterous the best blogging service today for people that are not that “tech savy”.
Great for:
– blogging
– photo sharing
– cross-posting
Blogger – Googles Blogging platform
Blogger (same as Blogspot) is Google’s own blogging tool. Easy to use, comes in many languages and very competent. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com
Google have created a strong set of support resoruces associated with Blogger: http://bit.ly/H4Ydkk however below is my playlist of useful youtube videos to help you get started
Blogger has the following limitations on content storage and bandwidth, per user account*:
- Number of blogs = Unlimited
- Size of pages = Individual pages (the main page of a blog or archive pages) are limited to 1 MB
- Number of labels = 2,000 unique labels per blog, 20 unique labels per post
- Number of pictures (hyperlinked from user’s Picasa Web Album) = Up to 1 GB of free storage
- Size of pictures = If posted via Blogger Mobile, limited 250 KB per picture; posted pictures are scaled to 800px[14]
- Team members (those that can write to a blog) = 100
- Stand-Alone Page = Limited to 20 stand-alone pages
* Retrieved from Google support – http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42348
Blogging through WordPress
WordPress is a fabulous facility that allows any member of the public to create their own blog / website. A blog is a personal journal published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. There are a selection of tools available to help you with your blog; the most common of which is “WordPress”.
There are two different sites – WordPress.com and WordPress.org
WordPress.org is the website where the free WordPress software can be downloaded. For no charge, WordPress.org provides downloadable blog software, community mailing lists, community support forums, documentation, and free themes and plugins.
WordPress.com is different. You do not have to download software, pay for hosting or manage a web server. When you sign up for a WordPress.com blog, you will get a URL like “andy.wordpress.com” or you can map a domain so your blog is available at “example.com” without the “.wordpress.com” portion. You do not control the software or the database; FTP and shell access are not included. As a result most first time bloggers opt for wordpress.com. For more information on the differences between wordpress.com and wordpress.org please click the link below
http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
The selection of video tutorials below are taken from YouTube and will help you to set up your own blog through WordPress.com. Click on the small box in the bottom left of the youtube screen to get the full list of youtube tutorials available through this list
I also have collated a series of links related to blogs and they are available through http://www.diigo.com/user/markglynn/blogs
TVs did not destroy Cinemas, e-books will not destroy paper based books
When TV’s were first introduced, people speculated that this will be the end of cinema. In actual fact there are more cinemas now in Dublin than ever before. A fact that will more than likely apply to most capital cities in Europe . So why do people think e-books will remove the need for paper versions of books. While I’m disappointed by Apples recent announcement on e-books – I’m not surprised. But e-books are the way of the future for education. We just need to find the best way to get them into our classroom to enhance the learning experience of our students. The challenge that I would put to teachers is e-publishing has became so much easier in recent times – so create your own book. The benefits will be immense – once you get see your first book finished you will get the bug and want to produce more and more.
Mahara – “how to…..” guide
Here are a selection of screencasts that will help you perform some of the more basic tasks in Mahara
How to create a “view” in Mahara
Create your resume skills and goals
Managing your view once it is created
How to manage an assignment through Mahara
Technology Enhanced Learning 