Blogs
Blogs are on the horizon at UM-Flint. Along with the campus-wide implementation of the UM-Flint Sharepoint Collaboration Portal in March of 2005, ITS began investigating the phenomenon of blogging. What is a blog? For more information, please consult the What is a Blog? flyer.
History of the UM-Flint Blog Project
A blog workshop was held at OEL's Faculty Development Day on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, where blogs and wikis in Blackboard were discussed. A Technology Brownbag entitled "Venturing into the Blogosphere" was held on November 16, 2005.
In Winter 2006, ITS began participating in the mBlog pilot http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/. UM-Flint students, faculty, and staff may create a blog using their uniqname and UMICH (kerberos) password and register their blog in the Homepage Gallery. Read about the mBlog phenomenon in the Michigan Daily article "Blogging revolution reaches University".
In March 2006, ITS began blogging its newsletter at http://blogs.umflint.edu/its/. Subscribing to our blog's RSS feed is a great way to easily keep up with the news in ITS. To better help the campus community understand what an RSS feed is, ITS has created a "What is RSS?" flyer. Check it out on the "What is..." flyer page! By Winter 2006, ITS plans to assist interested departments, staff, and faculty with creating a blog.
A second Technology Brown Bag about blogging was held on Wednesday, November 29, 2006. Dr. Mark Perry, a professor of finance and business economics in the School of Management, discussed the mechanics and pedagogy of publishing his faculty blog, "Carpe Diem" at http://mjperry.blogspot.com/.
In Fall 2007, ITS upgraded the blog pilot to the newest version of WordPress MU. Departments were encouraged to begin publishing their department news using a blog. Workshops were offered to faculty and staff to introduce them to the features of the new blog system. For current news on blogs at UM-Flint please refer to the UM-Flint Blogging News.
To coincide with the brownbag, ITS announced a blog pilot, utilizing WordPress MU, a multi-user format, and located at http://blogs.umflint.edu. UM-Flint faculty and staff may create a blog using their uniqname and UM-Flint LAN password, and may also register their blog in the Homepage Gallery.
Organizing Blogs
If you would like to organize the blogs you read, there are many free sites and software downloads. Google Reader or Newsgator.com are online sites that assist you with organizing your feeds or try Attensa Online for free or Attensa for Outlook, which has a free trial.
Technology Blogs