Hi all. I'm looking at blogging software as a possible tool for building online communities for a small voluntary agency specialising in community development and training issues. The goals are to facilitate better connection between dispersed individuals with shared issues / interests as well as to build techincal confidence. Does anyone have experience in setting up / managing group blogging software with non-techinical users? Thoughts / recommendations apprecated.
Michael Smith
2 Responses
Blogging Software
Hi Michael,
I have recently fallen in love with Blogger (http://www.Blogger.com). The interface couldn’t be easier for setting up truly impressive blogs in just minutes. In addition to the ease of use, it’s great if you have a hosted website already because you can post blogs straight to your site…so it really becomes a seamless part of the site experience, where others make you leave your own website to go to the service’s site.
I have set up quite a few blogs for various sites and various uses: some for internal communication, others for customer interaction. This service and the response has been incredible. It’s the best investment my company has made in content delivery (Especially since it’s 100% free!).
If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an e-mail!
Sean Higby
seanhigby@learningpipe.com
Head of Development
Learning Pipe – Online Learning Made Easy
Blogger rules, for now
I’d agree that since Google acquired it, Blogger seems to be the best option out there, particularly since Movable Type changed its business model. Blogger now offers many customisable templates, is free in its (very generous) basic form, and is almost idiot-proof. You can host with them for free or host on your own server. The only downsides of using the free Blogger-hosted product are that it does not yet support RSS directly (it uses Atom) and it does not allow you to upload graphics or photos. BUT you can get around the RSS issue by using a free intermediary such as Feedburner AND you can get around the images issue by using the (also free) service of Hello which allows you to upload and manipulate images and links automatically to your blog. If you want to customise a template you need a little HTML ability, but the most common tweaks are well documented in Blogger. And because it is CSS based, if you get bored with your look, you can totally change it by switching to another template without losing your content. Here’s my Blogger-based learning&technology blog: Parkin’s Lot. And here’s a photo blog I put up in less than half an hour to share a bunch of photos from a major Harley Davidson event here in DC Rolling Thunder 2004, — just a few of the 300,000 Harleys that converge on the Pentagon and the Mall every Independence Day to honor military vets and MIAs
Godfrey Parkin
MindRise
http://www.mindrise.com