Monday, June 25, 2007

Introduction to Blogging

I'm wondering if there's enough interest locally to justify an Introduction to Blogging adult education course at the local community college. The target audience would be people who are interested in blogging but have not yet sat down and started a blog.

I was running through a potential syllabus in my head as I mowed the lawn over at my house. Here's a list of topics that could be covered:

  • What is a blog?
  • Types of blogs
  • Who blogs, and why?
  • How to get started
  • Free sites
  • Pay sites
  • Choosing a blog name
  • Registering your name
  • Creating your blog
  • Your first post
  • Blog layout
  • How to get readers
  • Comments beget comments
  • Blogrolls: one-way and reciprocal linking
  • Linking
  • Making friends with the most popular kids in school
  • The dangers of blogging
  • Getting "Dooced"
  • Sniping and trolling
  • Flame wars
  • Dishing on family and friends
  • In cyberspace, everybody knows you're a dog
  • Real names and birthdays as usernames
  • Copyright infringements
  • Invasions of privacy (including your own)
  • Libel, slander, and other fun stuff that can get you in trouble
  • Adding photos, video, and music
  • How to get rich with your blog
  • Am I a blogger now?
I doubted that there would be much interest in this, but then I saw that there is a continuing education course called "Introduction to Journaling" - which might complement this course. Now, I just have to figure out how to run this past the powers-that-be at the community college near my house. Even if it flies, it won't pay the bills. But it's...something.
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2 comments:

  1. whimsical brainpan6/25/2007 9:39 PM

    I bet that there are some who might be interested, especially if you tout it as an online way to journal or do creative writing and get feedback.

    Um... What is Getting "Dooced"?

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  2. D.B. Echo6/25/2007 9:46 PM

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Armstrong

    A blogger by the nom de blog of Dooce got fired for blogging about her workplace. So "to be Dooced" means "to be fired for writing something online about your workplace." That's something I always refrained from doing, even after losing my job there. It's a pretty good policy in general not to blog about your workplace. It's probably a good idea not to let anyone you work with, or indeed anyone at all, anywhere, know that you have a blog, in order to avoid complications.

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