Welcome to the Seton Hill Blogging Community

You're reading a weblog. It was generated by software called MovableType. Everything I know about MovableType I learned from the help file (which you can access easily once you have logged in... just look for the word "Help" in the top row of menu items.) But this posting will get you started quickly.

Background Info

Seton Hill University offers weblogs to students and faculty. SHU paid a modest licensing fee. If you are given a weblog for a class, you can keep them after the semester is over. If you're graduating, and you want to keep your blog, I hope to be able to move you to a fairly priced pay site.

Students tend to get the most out of their blogs when they feel they can post whatever they want. Just remember that your blog is public -- anyone can read it. Your family members back home, the ex you complain about, your RA, your landlord, and potential employers years in the future will be able to read it. So far there is no censorship policy on blogs.setonhill.edu, but common courtesy, common sense, and a bit of forethought should guide the decisions you make about what you publish.

If you're going to be blogging for a class, you're welcome to start right away -- but you won't be expected to learn it all on your own. My students all tell me the blogging ended up being a lot easier than it looked at first, and most felt it was more rewarding than they expected. Several students who hated using J-Web's threaded discussion lists praised weblogs as being much better. (I'll let you decide for yourself.)

Setting up Your User ID (you'll only have to do this once)

1) Go to http:///blogs.setonhill.edu.

Login ID and passwords are case-sensitive.

If you have already contacted the blog administrator (see the instructions at blogs.setonhill.edu) and recieved a response, your personal ID and personal blog have already been created.

By default, your login ID is your first name and lastname, as they appear in J-Web, but with no spaces. Thus, "Zebediah Sackworth Butterfield III" would have ID "ZebediahButterfield" (with no quotes). Your password is your first name... in this case, "Zebediah".

2) Type "FirstnameLastname" for the Username and "Firstname" for the password.

The first thing that you should do after you log in is change your password. Click on "edit your profile". Change your password to something you will remember. If you fill out your e-mail address and your birthplace, the system can send you your password if you forget it. (I won't be able to recover it for you.)

You may also wish to change your login ID, perhaps to "Z. Sackworth Butterfield" if that's what you prefer, but your blog will still appear at "blogs.setonhill.edu/ZebediahButterfield".

3) After logging in, you should see a menu that includes the name of your personal blog (for example "ZebediahButterfield"). You should also see "New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University," which is a group blog to which all SHU bloggers can post.

If you see your name, click on it.

If you are logging in for the first time...

3.1.) Click on "Weblog Config" (from the left menu) (and set Timezone to "UTC-5 (Eastern Time)

3.2.) Click on "Save Changes". (The screen will change... don't worry about "Rebuilding" yet.)

3.3.) Find the word "Preferences" near the top of the screen, and click it.

3.4) Set "Langauge for Date Display" to the appropriate language (for some reason, it defaults to "Czech".

3.5) Scroll down a bit, and set "Default Post Status" to "Publish". (If you don't do this here, you have to remember to do this manually on each posting when you want the outside world to see it.)

3.6) Near the bottom, check the box "Auto-link URLs."

3.7) Click "Save Changes."

3.8) Click "Rebuild My Site" and select "Rebuild All." When you see "view site," click it.

Readers will visit your site by going to "http://blogs.setonhill.edu/FirstnameLastname".

You will edit your site by going to "http://blogs.setonhill.edu" and logging in with your UserID (which defaults to FirstnameLastname) and the password you selected. (If you forget your password, I won't be able to help you recover it.)

4) Optional Personalizing

if you like, you may change the name of your blog, but don't mess with the path and URL fields on the "Core Options" page. Later, you can add a description for your blog, or fiddle with the other settings on this page.

Some bloggers find it convenient to separate their work into categories -- for instance, "American Literature," "Music Reviews," "Random Links" and so forth. If you'd like to do this, the help file offers detailed information about categories, but this section will get you started.

Still within the "Configuration" submenu, click on "Archive Files".

Check the box next to "Category".

In the vertical menu bar on the left of the screen, click "Categories."

Here is where you can add categories to help organize your entries. Your instructor may ask you to create a specific category ("Writing" or "AmericanLit", for example). You are welcome to add other categories as well. You can file the same post in more than one category; if you can't figure it out on your own, ask a more experienced blogger to show you.

If you'd like to make your weblog display the categories so other people can see them, and you're feeling moderately ambitious, see this page:

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/nmj/000281.html

And if you'd like to start personalizing your weblog, try these pages

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/nmj/000261.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/nmj/001604.html

If you see something you like on a peer's blog, post a comment asking them how they did it.