What is blog?
What is podcast?
How do I read your blogs?
How do I listen to your podcasts?
What does this 
icon on your Web page mean?
What does this 
icon on your Web page mean?
Why do you blog and podcast?
Where do I learn more about blog and podcast?
What is your blogging policies and guidelines?
Whom to contact if I have a question?
The word "blog" is short for "Web log." A blog is a single Web page of text blurbs or entries. A blog usually has a sidebar containing links, categories and archives. The entries on a blog are organized in reverse-chronological order, which means when the author adds a new entry, it goes at the top, pushing all the older entries down and into the archives. Readers can search a blog and contribute to it by commenting as a guest or a member. Originally serving as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual, blogs have become increasingly popular with institutions, such as libraries, to enhance their services. The action of posting entries to a blog is blogging, and the one who does so is called a blogger. The Internet invironment for blogs to exist is known as blogsphere," and a collection of links to other blogs is nicknamed a blogroll.
The word podcast is a portmanteau of Apple’s iPod and broadcasting. A podcast is an MP3 audio file uploaded to a web server along with an RSS file. The RSS file makes it possible for listeners to subscribe to podcasts using one of several podcatching software or podcatchers like, Doppler, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Yahoo! Music Engine with podcasting plugin. You can either listen to a podcast from your computer using one of the podcatchers or download them to your MP3 players so you can listen to them at your convenience. Since other MP3 players can also be used to download podcasts, efforts have been made to redefine the word "podcasting. Blogcasting and audioblogging are two of the early examples.
Just click a link like this one as you do with an ordinary Web page. A blog is, in fact, a Web page with characteristics as above mentioned. Or subscribe to it and read it in a blog reader, or aggregator, as described below.
How do I listen to your podcasts?
Subscribe to a podcast feed so you can listen to it either using a podcatching software like iTunes on your computer or a MP3 player such as iPod that you sync to a podcatcher.
What does this icon on your Web page mean?
This icon indicates a feed of our University Libraries Blog. You can subscribe to it and read a blog it points to with your favorite blog reader like Bloglines. When you click on the icon, you will be prompted to copy the URL given to you. Copy it and paste it to the blog reader’s subscription window.
What does this icon on your Podcast Web page mean?
This icon indicates a feed of our University Libraries’ Podcast. You can subscribe to it and listen to a podcast with your favorate podcatcher. You may also use the podcatcher to download the podcast to your favorate MP3 player. The MP3 player iPod works only with the podcatcher iTunes. Compatible with other podcatching programs like Yahoo! Music Engine, Doppler, and Windows Media Player are other MP3 players. To subscribe to our podcast, click on the icon. Copy the URL and paste it to your favorite podcatching software’s subscription window.
University Libraries always seeks to enhance its services with cutting-edge information technologies. Blogs and podcasts give you more options to use our web-based resources and services. They enable you to access our relevant Web content whenever and wherever you want them.
Where do I learn more about blogs and podcasts?
- Blog (a definition from Wikipedia)
- Blogging Basics
- Blogrolling
- Blogs (an article by Jay Cross, CEO of eLearning Forum)
- Podcast (a definition from Wikipedia)
- How to Create Your Own Podcast – A Step-by-Step Tutorial (from About.com)
Whom to contact if I have a question?
If you have a question concerning the UL Blog, contact Haiwang Yuan, Web Site & Virtual Library Coordinator, or members of the UL Blog Planning Task Force. If you have a question concerning Podcast, contact Haiwang Yuan.
What is your blogging policies and guidelines?
Here is a document of the UL Blog Policies, Guidelines and Procedures in PDF format.