TOP FIVE TIPS FOR NEW BLOGGERS

This is part of the first assignment in NET11 The Internet – Communications. The idea here is to list five tips for new bloggers.

As the assignment is a running log for the entire Study Period, I am not going to post five tips for new bloggers in general, but five tips in relation to setting up the blog required for this assignment. This is because the blog required for this assignment is a different category to the general blogs posted on the internet.

I haven’t had much experience with blogs, this is the first one I’ve written, and I don’t generally read them, because most of the blogs I’ve come across don’t hold any fascination for me. This blog, and the blogs of my fellow students are being written for an academic purpose – to show that we can use the tools, to allow us to show how we have gone about solving problems, distributing “hints and tips” we have found, to describe our other assignments and to show the path our learning in this subject has taken.

TOP FIVE TIPS

1. BREATHE!!! – It generally assists your marks if you are breathing while you are studying. The likelihood is that the instructors don’t like to give marks to those who stopped breathing at the first assignment. If necessary, taking deep breaths while walking around the room wondering:
• whose bright idea it was to start studying again?
• what on earth do I have to do?
• where do I start?
• why am I worrying – I CAN use all the tools they are telling us to?
• where have my family gone and why is the cat cowering on top of the fridge?
can be useful as you then have all the stress out in the one place. Try hard not to take the stress back inside again.

2. Familiarise yourself with the settings – Once you have settled on a site (or a number of them if you really feel masochistic), go through it all and play with the settings. After all, what’s the worst you can do to the site? Just don’t forget NOT to hit the one that says something like “delete my blog” BEFORE you have your marks at the end of the Study Period. There’s nothing worse than having hours (days/weeks/months) of work deleted at the touch of a button simply because you misread the label or pressed it because it got in your way. Back up all of your posts with text files, just in case the little internet gremlins get into your system (or theirs) and remove your posts. At least then you can repost long enough to get your marks.

3. Don’t overload your site with “features” – Just because the site CAN do it, doesn’t mean you HAVE to! Think about your target audience. Will they all really be able to read the flashing red gothic writing on the fluorescent green background? Will they appreciate the fact that you’ve made the cursor spit out stars as it moves across the screen, and turns into an explosion whenever they click on a link? If you have sound linked to your blog, do you really think they’ll all love the Sex Pistols blaring out “God Save the Queen” every time they open your blog as much as you do (alright, I’ve just shown my age)? Don’t forget that even now, in the broadband age, there are still people with slow computer connections, and every single “feature” that you put into your blog not only distracts from the information you are trying to post, but can also cause problems for the person trying to open your blog.

4. Be careful about personal information you post – Don’t forget, these blogs aren’t being posted in a “closed” forum. Anyone around the world can stumble onto your blog, and not everyone out there is “user friendly”. Just because the site says no-one can see your personal information, doesn’t mean they can’t. There are people around who will take that as a personal challenge to their skills (which can be very useful at times) and will attempt to break the security just for the hell of it. If you want to put private information into your blog, that’s your decision, but just be aware of what you are telling people. After all, does everyone really need to see the pic of the aftermath of the office party last Christmas when you were discovered face down on the photocopier?

5. Relax and try to have some fun with the blog – It will not help your marks if it takes the instructor 2 packets of No-Doze and a share in Gloria Jean’s Coffee House just to read through your intro. The aim of the blog is to show that you have understood the concepts and can use the various tools, but that doesn’t mean it has to be dry and boring. Don’t try to step outside of your comfort zone with your postings, but do still try to post to your blog in an informative and interesting way.

First post

Ok, this is my first post on my first blog and I'm not sure I enjoy the experience. But, seeing as it's a requirement for NET11, I suppose I just have to "swallow" my misgivings and do it.

My next post will be the Top 5 Tips for New Bloggers. I haven't nutted any of that out yet, I've been too busy trying to chase around problems in another subject I'm studying to actually think about much here, but I hope to have them posted by tomorrow.