I Blog, U Blog, Web Log
Thomas Lawrence Long, PhD
Associate Professor-in-Residence, School of Nursing, University of Connecticut
(photo by
Jim Long, Verge New Media)
Perhaps one of the more famous (and sometimes infamous) recent features of the World-Wide Web is a form of Internet communication and connection called a Web log, or “blog.”
Blogs are typical of “Web 2.0,” a term coined by Darcy DiNucci and popularized by Tim O’Reilly, which is characterized by ease of production and speed of publication and interactivity.
In its origins, the Internet’s World-Wide Web involved static content published by means of several layers of tec
hnology: HTML code editing, file-transfer protocol (FTP) software, Internet cable or phone connection via modem or Ethernet with a computer. Visitors to a Web site could read the static content, but interacting with its author occurred, if at all, privately only by means of email exchange.
Web 2.0, typified by the blog, allows anyone with a connection to the Web (including wireless computer connection or wireless cell phone or mobile device connection) to create content relatively easily and to publically interact with other content creators. Typically readers of a blog can comment on content posted by the author or by other readers. My Space and Facebook are well known examples of Web 2.0. Twitter is a kind of micro-blog.
Blogs are now used by people to convey ideas, persuade readers, inform audiences, rile citizens, express feelings, and connect families, friends or people with similar interests.
Blogs can include text, images, audio, and video, as well as links to other Web sites.
Nurses might create and maintain blogs for a variety of reasons:
- To create an on-line public forum of one’s ideas and observations.
- To create an on-line public workshop of one’s writing, the first draft of longer or more formal work.
- To provide valuable information and a place to exchange ideas for colleagues or like-minded people.
Bloggers have two options in creating a blog site: They can pay for a personal domain name and Web server, or they can use one of a variety of free blog services.
For example, my personal blogging occurs at TheLongView.tv, a purchased domain name (requiring an annual renewal fee) and a site that is hosted by Web service with whom I contract annually.
However, the blog NursingWriting, a service that I created for my colleagues in the School of Nursing at the University of Connecticut and for nurse writers globally, is hosted for free by the WordPress organization, at http://nursingwriting.wordpress.com. The advantage of using WordPress is that it provides the blogger with rich statistics about the use of your blog site (the number of visitors, the articles that visitors read, the keywords that visitors used, the external links that visitors followed, the external referrers who lead your visitors to you blog). These statistics help you to tailor your blog to readers’ interests. For example, I have learned that many visitors to NursingWriting are interested in creative writing (poetry, personal narratives, fiction).
Arthur Engler, another professor in the UConn School of Nursing, created a blog for nursing students in the study abroad program during their clinical semester in Cape Town South Africa in the fall of 2008. More recently he has created a blog for nurse educators, http://lifeasanurseeducator.blogspot.com/ on the free Google-owned Blogger site.
Nurse editors, nurse scholars, and nursing specialty organizations might also find blogging a useful and easy way of staying in touch with their constituencies, keeping them abreast of news and important developments or inviting their comments on an issue.
Some cautions, however, are also in order:
- A blog is a very public forum. Don’t say on the blog anything that you wouldn’t say to the faces of colleagues or supervisors, or that you wouldn’t want a future employer to read.
- The First Amendment to the Constitution protects your right to express yourself without government interference, but it does not protect you from employment disciplinary action if you say something derogatory about the organization or institution that pays your salary.
- HIPAA applies! Patient confidentiality must not be compromised on a Web site.
- If you allow public comments on your blog, “spam” may appear in the comments section. These are typically advertising messages with Web links (often to “adult entertainment” sites) that are posted automatically as comments on your blog. Make sure that your blog site allows you to manage or moderate comments.
A tool for nurse writers and editors, the blog is an easy way to extend your reach globally and to disseminate important ideas and information.
Posted: November 22, 2009
Last update:
November 23, 2009