Weblogging can be as simple or as complex as you choose to make it. I hope that the technology will become more and more transparent as it evolves. This will allow greater access to knowledge-sharing, knowledge-accessing features by people who are now underserved (i.e, those who have substantive interest but low technical interest/skill).
In this entry I share with other webloggers, some of them new to the enterprise, a partial listing of the kit of tools that I am presently using. I list and explain each feaure, I then describe my own present and projected uses for each feature. I hope that in so doing I help others use their own weblogs more fully. <p>
[Warning: this is a "brand specific" and, to a lesser degree "purpose specific" write-up. Since I use Radio Userland's Weblogging software (almost exclusively), this entry will be about what I do and/or think can be done with Radio to forward the knowledge-making, knowledge-disseminating enterprise. Further, it's a changeable, evolving "work in progress"; depending on my interest and experience any given facet that I discuss below may, or may not, get further attention. Responses and/or questions would tend to encourage further attention to a given feature :o] !
Whether there is much or little discussion with readers I will have served an important personal purpose; writing this entry will have reminded me of all the tools I have for achieving my weblogging goals].
(12/1 edit)Cleaned up some of language/thinking and added some detail
| Tool |
General Purpose of Tool |
My Present Usage |
Other Possibilities |
| Radio's
Weblog (Link is to an introductory 'how to' article in O'Reilly) |
By itself: journaling with others -- the centerpiece of a complex of powerful knowledge-building tools. I should mention that it is free to try for 30 days... and then costs 39.95 (US$) for one year of use. Renewable at same rate for subsequent years. |
As a journal (some) as a small (growing?) public, yet personal, workspace to develop and make known thoughts in areas of my concerns and interests. | As an interface to a fuller individual or group knowledge making set-up. Weblog gives appetizer; Plone and wiki give main course. A Plone site with included wiki (Zwiki) as workspace for one or more co-developers. The weblog, in this case, would be the space in which more finished products are summarized and discussed in general sense. More substantive and/or technical criticism and support would be drawn to the organized group spaces in plone where it would affect the quality, the fullsomeness of a cooperative or individual end product. With plone the sequence of knowledge production could be more complex, could involve group or individual action and yet could interface meaningfully with general public via a weblog. |
| Radio's Trackback | Gets you a
record of when a blog entry has been used (by you or another). Enables
follow-up |
Read other entries (if trackback not mine). Respond directly or incorporate into a blog item. | More systematic use of trackback as a means of enchaining related developments as per interests of developers. |
| Allows readers
to engage you in conversation over one or more of the points you have
made. |
Source of Critical/ Developmental Input. Process involves reading and thinking: ultimately some amount of rethinking occurs followed by a written response draft, and some level of editing. (Must admit, when faced with quality of product other bloggers put out, that I have to do better copy-editing). | Still within the more comprehensive group/individual knowledge development enterprise, comments would remain technically the same but would now be one of several means for giving feedback to germinating knowledge artifacts. | |
| Blogstreet/ Technorati Sitemeter etc. | Web
applications, three amongst many, which track web traffic to my site. |
Gives me a chance to find sense in my web readers preferences amongst my writings. | Would provide grist for analysis: are respondents and repeat participants people who would benefit from/utilize the knowledge product being constructed. |
| Radio's News (Rss) Aggregator | Collects entries
from webloggers and news sources and puts them in one place for your review. |
I used my aggregator to collect entries in one place, as stated to the left. Over time--as I have developed knowledge of my own repeatedly demonstrated (as opposed to theoretical) interests the aggregator collection has been modified, at least as I use it, to reflect the changing (hopefully more focused and sequential) focus of my own knowledge-making enterprise. |
Will try to get aggregations to be categorical so that I may focus my readings on only one category at a time.
Much mental sorting needs to be done and information is lost. Would like to lose that inefficiency. |
| Radio Outliner | While outlines themselves are seen as a great personal thought/ knowledge organizer, the Radio Userland outliner is an underused ( Or so it seems in the set of Radio bloggers that I read.) online knowledge-building, knowledge-disseminating tool . (There is also Radio's Instant Outliner. This has the potential for being used by members of a common workgroup. Each member working on different aspects of a task and subscribes to the outlines of other group members. AIM or Jabber can be used to instantly notify subscribers to the fact that your outline has been updated.) |
In general terms: I use the outliner to create and publish an articulated complex of ideas and use blog, email or a static site to point out (and link to) it's existence.
I have not yet deployed the Instant Outliner with fellow workers on a common task.
At this point I write/edit/update various outlines.. save in my outlines folder and they are published as html via Marc Barrot's activeRenderer (see below) |
Subsequently, its changes can be pointed out--probably automatically--though I don't know how to do that-- to those signaling interest. Example: I keep an outline of major ecological principles in my outlines folder (translated into html by activeRenderer-described on next row) changes in outline are automatically published because part of my Radio site. Rss aggregators could collect the full outline if date of content is within, say, past week. |
| activeRenderer | A set of subprograms and routines that translate a Radio outline into various forms of html.
Author: Marc Barrot |
I'm really attached to this feature-- for nonsubstantive reasons. Marc's formatting of the outline allows people to consume content as their level of interest and knowledge dictates. In the case of activeRenderer in html form.. The user clicks on any given heading to get an expanded presentation. A simple explanation can be expanded to a full-fledged training manual (or anything in between)--at the discretion of the reader. My present uses: class notes, syllabi, links etc., and any other idea sets that I consider important and or 'evolving'. Others-- link sets by category, ecological protection hypotheses, system theory statements and hypotheses, etc.
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For an explicator (e.g., writer of training manuals for complicted consumer products) or an educator.. this can be a the difference between huge success and more of the same (i.e., the manual is not lost in some pile of nonused items... and crucial use skills aren't developed). Create a few usage conventions (e.g., high level headings have the least complicated, yet still useful, explanations . The lower the level the fuller [and more complex] the explanation) and you have the possibility of a knowledge access device that is "one size fits all". that is: multiple levels of expertise may derive meaningful information for growth from the same document.
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A multipowered outliner with great interface (however, for Mac only). Can be used to make outlines for publication and to edit those already in your outlines file. Will save in html format for those using other blogging tools which don't have outlining built in. Once saved in html format can be used in similar fashion to that I have described for Radio outlines (See Inspiration and/or Pivit for Windows systems.) |
Wonderful expansion of my knowledge-making, knowledge-disseminating, etc. efforts Why? Works with Word, works with Radio. Will also save directly to html. Because it allows full-screen and attractive interface I have come to prefer editing and composing outline material here (as opposed to using Radio's bare bones outliner interface). |
Interfaces nicely with activeRenderer. Would allow adding bells and whistle to the structural (but bare bones, esthetically) excellence of activeRenderer produced web learning documents. |
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An on the fly topic generating and sorting engine for Radio's weblog. Auther: Matt Mower |
Allows me to generate 1 or more categories or, even, tohave the software suggest categories based on content of the entry. I will occasionally have to recategorize entries based on developments that I couldn't predict. Also, I may end up consolidating categories when I see that I've put generated duplicates of categories under a synonymous label. |
I would like to move to a more general universal category generator. i would be willing to consider some variation, for example, on the Library of Congress, the Dewey Decimal or other premade category system. I am willing to add new categories but want my search of web material, and others' search of mine, to have more hits than, I think, will be produced by an on the fly system with only one individual generating extemporaneous categories. |
| BBEdit | While definitely not Word, Nisus or Word Perfect, etc. BBEdit is a capable partner in the weblog writing process: a)allows big window for work., b)will check or provide common standards-compliant html, c) has a spelling checker. BBEdit lite is good too but lacks several of the editing features that help my efforts. |
BBEdit comes in several forms. BBEdit lite is free. But it doesn't check your html for you. BBEdit -- full version--also allows edits (even on separate servers)of site materials fetching, editing and replacing painlessly. Thus you have saved the price of 'Fetch' or 'Transport' in the process of acquiring the full BBEdit |
I will do more as I
learn more html. BBEdit is a natural companion for Dreamweaver(see below); the linkage has been built-in.
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| Dreamweaver | A major piece of software, but, the most expensive of this collection as well. Interfaces well with all browers and with BBEdit (above). Has built in access to the multiple programming languages, scripts, etc. for making professional grade material for publication on the web. Did I say Expensive? |
When I want to work on a complex table or position a graphic "just so", etc. This will leave less to chance than trying to do it in Radio or Radio + BBEdit. Did I mention expensive? I don't know if I would purchase even with its extreme capabilities if I were only weblogging |
Since I use Dreamweaver
for non-weblogging activity anyway (part of instruction online) I will
use.
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| Omnigraffle | All purpose
graphics program. Re weblogging: allows the production and insertion of
pictures in weblog(however, for Mac only (see Inspiration for Windows
systems). Subitems in picture can link from portion of picture to ANY
meaningful web content [with an address- see box to right]. (e.g., ideas
to which you refer in your entry). |
I now use Omnigraffle to illustrate processes in my weblog and/or to capture and then add to (i.e., label, annotate) illustrations found elsewhere on the web | Better drawing skill seems to be developing.
Am looking forward to some adaptation of mind mapping with links to develop/explain ideas |
