Assignment 1

In this assignment, we will experience an blog application with Blogger, along with the study in depth on a selected topic of Web 2.0.

This assignment has two phases:

1. In the first phase, you will create your blog. Due: Feb. 11
2. In the second phase, you will visit the blogs created by the other students and post your comments on the content of their blogs. Due: Feb. 25

For the first phase (due: Feb. 11),

• Get your own account in Blogger: Go to http://www.blogger.com/ to create your own blog with Blogger.
• Get to know about Blogger: Navigate the Blogger to be familar with the features provided (take a few days at least) - what you can do with Blogger. There is a help page in Blogger: help.blogger.com We may discuss here to expand your informaiton about the features and to share with other students.
• Decide what to post: You should choose a theme/subject/topic/issue concerning Web 2.0. Think about an appropriate title to represent the theme/subject/topic/issue you pick. For example, future of blog, blog as a new media, Wiki-based Search engine*, social tagging as a social media.
• Identify/explore at least three blogs that are currently discussing your chosen topic: The blogs don't have to be in Blogger only; you are very welcome to find any blog site elsewhere. In your exploration with the identified blogs, read recent postings and try to understand what's going on: What are hot sub-issues? How they are concluded? What are suggested?
• How to find blogs: (1) inside Blogger; (2) blogsearch.google.com (http://blogsearch.google.com/); (3) Technorati (http://technorati.com/ ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technorati).
• What to prepare for your blogs with identified blogs: Give an brief introduction/backbround (no more than 500 words) on your theme/topic/issue, and provide three summaries (one for each) describing the result of your exploration on the content of the three blogs. Each summary must be no more than 300 words.
• What is the next: Email me your title and link to your blog by Feb. 11.

*: See the articles below if you are interested in the topic
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/technology/07wiki.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1201534031-vd7l8+DS1wmF5oo7/x6KjQ
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/015875.html

For the second phase (due: Feb. 25),

• Visit at least three students' blogs and leave your comments on the issue: You may need to study their contents first and give your feedback on the issue and/or selected blogs. You can find out/provide other blogs related to the issue and/or describe how they are similarly or differently discussed.
• Your reponse to the comments your blog receives is not required: But it is recommened.
• Limitation of participation: For even participation to students' blog, I'll limit the number of other participants in each student blog to 3. That is, each student need to provide comments on three different students' blogs, and the size of students participated in one blog is 3 (therefore, its' first come first served). To prevent confusion, I'll post a list of issues at the our discussion board when they are ready, and let you pick your interesting issues in the discusson board (first come first served).
• Length of each comment: No more than 300 words.

Evaluation:

• Quality of introduction (20%)
• Quality of summary (50%)
• Quality of comment (30%)

Considerations for extra points:

• Demonstration of your awareness of the features in Blogger
• Implementation of visual/audio features, such as your own created podcast, images, vodcast
• Design of your blog
• Quality of feedbacks to comments

Write your questions and comments, if any, here using 'comments' feature: Click the 'comments' link (next to the pencile icon below) to leave questions/comments.