Bloggery

I've added a couple more links to useful bibliographies about weblogs.  Most of these links are now dated.  I've come across very few up-to-date articles on the state of the blogosphere in the last year, especially for libraries.  Perhaps the hype is over.  It appears the years 2003-2004 were the years of growing awareness about the increasing number of blogs.  I, myself, have been blogging since 2000 so it's rather amusing to have read the hype surrounding the phenomenon.  I remember reading something on a website about blogs - the new online medium.  What is it? I asked myself.  It's like an online journal.  Great! I thought.  I was simply transferring my thoughts from paper, as a diary-writer, to a computer screen.  I thought no more of it.  Blogger back then was even more of a nightmare to use than it is now.  It's improved a lot but it should have improved a long long time ago.

I've rambled somewhat, thinking back on the past.  What I'm also finding difficult to find at the moment are up-to-date statistics on the adoption of RSS.

Again, if you see anything, do let me know.

I discovered today that an unpublished thesis I printed out last year and didn't really take much notice of at the time, is very very useful for the slightly different slant I'm adopting for my research this year.  I'm glad I printed out as much as I did.  It would be a pain to have to find them all again to re-read them.

Enough for now.  I've spent too much time browsing, again, when I should be refining my topic.  The trouble is, when I read about blogging, it makes me want to blog!

Yes, it's been almost a year since I was last here.  I finished the Research Methodology paper and had to do a couple of others before embarking on my actual research.  That time has now come so it's back into it in earnest.  A lot has happened in the blogosphere since I researched it a year ago.  There are a LOT more library weblogs.  I think many libraries are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon.  Web 2.0 is what they call the interactive websites and technology we now have, from, obviously, blogging, to wikis, podcasts, community websites such as Myspace and Bebo, etc.  Libraries want to get in on this but are they doing it successfully?  Last year I could only find about 2 library weblogs in New Zealand.  Now there are over 10 and that's just from ones I've been told about.  I haven't seriously searched for others yet, but I'm sure there are a lot more.  They are probably in response to the library conference in November last year in Wellington, which focussed on Web 2.0 technologies and encouraged libraries to start blogging.  This makes my research easier - it's now time to evaluate the blogs created and see if they're meeting the needs and expectations of users and libraries.

I came back here to check on the links I'd collected and actually remembered my password!  I didn't think I would remember, so updating this blog was not on my list of things to do today.  So hello!

It's been a bit difficult getting back into the swing of things.  With such a long gap between reviewing the literature and writing a proposal, to actually starting the research, it's meant time spent reviewing everything I wrote last year.  My focus has changed a little and there has since been another research project undertaken locally by another MLIS student.  Thankfully for me, her research was more of a content analysis.

I may be back, but can't promise anything.  I changed libraries and my new work keeps me busy, with later hours. I barely have time to come online, let alone keep up with changes.  If anyone sees anything written about library weblogs within the last year, do let me know!