1. New kid on the blog

I'm entering the bloggersphere for the first time with a weekly account of my learning experience in Digital Information, Technologies and Architecture (DITA), a module of my MSc in Information Science.

Blogs are Web 2.0 technology as they are user content driven; similar to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Blogs allow people to communicate topics in detail. For example, I follow blogs such as the UK Freedom of Information as it's a subject I'm interested in.

I chose Blogger after considering WordPress and LiveJournal. Blogger won because it's simple to use; perfect for a beginner like me. I quite fancy WordPress, should I ever become a professional blogger, as there are numerous features to play around with.

I've added functions such as a search box and display of tags/labels to make it easy for visitors to find items. I'll also be building up a library of bookmarks using Diigo, where the references can be exported into Blogger. Social bookmarking contain metadata, which I will be learning more about on my course.

To attract visitors, a blog needs to make an impact, or else it will get lost in cyberspace. You need to understand your audience and how much they know about the subject. Adding a touch of humour and images might improve the format. I like the style of the Wired Science blog; the way the author manages to be succinct and his use of hyperlinks to define points.

With Blogger, I hope to make use of the html (hyper text markup language) editing option, embed images and video clips and add hyperlinks to websites that provide definitions or to illustrate particular points. You can keep up with my DITA lab exercises on my website.