Twoamysh's Blog

Jackson Middle School Library

twoamysh — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:36:42 +0000

Here’s a neat example of a school library using WordPress as a way to share information:

http://jmslibrary.wordpress.com/

Which Brings Us to the Point…

twoamysh — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:58:11 +0000

What do libraries use blogs for?

The library where I work uses a blog to post information for employees, who work various hours and days and may rarely be in the same room together.

Other libraries are using blogs in more creative ways. An example of WordPress being used within a library website is Digital Forsyth. This is a WordPress generated blog that was set up for the Forsyth County Public Library, Winston Salem State University, and Wake Forest University in North Carolina in 2008. These libraries were given a grant to set up a community-based digital photo archive in which both the libraries and individuals who lived in the area could develop a collection of photos that pertain to the history and evolution of their local. Overall, they were quite satisfied with what they were able to construct by using WordPress.

Here’s a blog post about using WordPress as an OPAC. This blogger feels that WordPress is a great platform because it’s open source, customizable, and has a spam filter. (This is the WordPress.org service we’re talking about here).

Blogs could also be a way for libraries to connect with their communities – if the library has the staff to keep the blog up to date.

Look Who Else Uses WordPress!

twoamysh — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:57:55 +0000

The Library of Congress’ WordPress blog!

But What’s It Good For?

twoamysh — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:55:00 +0000

Like everything else, this service has it’s advantages and disadvantages.

WordPress.org Service:

Advantages:

Because of the open source nature of WordPress, users can easily access programs and templates that allow them build blogsites in and efficient and affordable manner. It is open and available to everyone regardless of the nature of the blog. It is one of the largest Blogsites available today.

Disadvantages:

Due to the nature of open source software, the material offered in WordPress is constantly being upgraded. The speed at which these upgrades occur does not necessarily coincide with the upgrades and changes that occur with the blog templates offered in WordPress. If the user does not keep abreast of the software upgrades and their compatibility with the template they selected for their blog, functioning error may occur.

WordPress.com Service:

Advantages:

Free, easy to use, pretty intuitive. Setting up a WordPress.com blog does not take much time or effort.

Disadvantages:

WordPress.com is less customizable than WordPress.org.

Here is what Matt Mullenweg has to say about WordPress:

System Requirements

twoamysh — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:49:32 +0000

There are not too many system requirements need in order to use WordPress.org. One needs PHP 4.3 or greater. This is a general, rather all purpose scripting language program that can be embedded within HTML. The other major requirement is MySQL 4.0 or greater. This is an open source database which is part of LAMP and is an alternative to more popular, expensive software. In addition to these basic requirements, WordPress recommends that either Apache or Litespeed as the most appropriate servers.

To use the free blog offered by WordPress.com, you apparently just need a computer, internet access, and a browser.

Here’s a link to an article about the differences between the two services: http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

A library without the books – The Boston Globe

twoamysh — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:40:29 +0000

A library without the books – The Boston Globe

Posted using ShareThis

The History of the Service

twoamysh — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:23:14 +0000

WordPress is an Open Source project that has developed significantly since its naissance. It started as a small outfit in 2003 and is now one of the largest blogging tools in the world. The blog site truly started to gain momentum and popularity in 2005 with the launch of its 1.5 version and then the 2.0 version later that year. Considering that WordPress is free and accessible to everyone, regardless of the nature of their blog, the growth of this project has grown approximately 15 fold since the launch of the 2.0 version.

Since this vast expansion of usage, a conference series entitled World Camp was started in San Francisco in 2006 to accommodate those involved with this project. Today, World Camp conferences are offered monthly all over the world.

WordPress was created by Automattic, which was founded by Matt Mullenweg, who was the founding developer of WordPress.

Michel Valdrighi founded b2 , a blog tool on which WordPress based its idea.

According to WordPress.org, these are the people who maintain the service:

Lead Developers:
Ryan Boren
Mark Jaquith
Matt Mullenweg
Andrew Ozz
Peter Westwood

Contributing Developers:
Michael Adams
Nikolay Bachiyski
Donncha O Caoimh
Austin Matzko
Joseph Scott
Andy Skelton

Documentation and Support:
Mark Riley
Lorelle

Our reason for blogging…

twoamysh — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:24:18 +0000

We decided to create a blog on WordPress in order to illustrate what we have learned about the service.

First, you can find this site at:

http://wordpress.com/

WordPress also has a site at:

http://wordpress.org/

The second site seems to be more appropriate for people who really know what they’re doing… the user must download software from WordPress, and must have a Web host. According to the site, the free blog available at WordPress.com is less flexible, while the service at WordPress.org is completely customizable.

We have used the service available through WordPress.com

More later… but for now, I will try adding a poll:

Take Our Poll

Some books at home

twoamysh — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:03:52 +0000

Some great books!

Hello world!

twoamysh — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:45:55 +0000

This is the first post on our blog. We hope to learn about blogging, the difference between blog sites, and the options we have to share our thoughts and opinions with the world.