Welcome to Your Seton Hill Weblog (MT 4.0)

1. Introduction

A weblog (or "blog") is an easily-updated website. You don't need any programming skills to write a weblog -- you just fill in some blanks and push a few buttons. (This document explains exactly what you need to do.)  If you'd like to learn more about how SHU students have used their blogs, try this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article: "Freedom of speech redefined by blogs: Words travel faster, stay around longer in the blogosphere."

If you've found this page on your own, you'll need to ask the site administrator for a blog. (From your Seton Hill University e-mail account, send an e-mail to Dennis Jerz, and request your blog.)

If you're looking at this page after you have already received your ID and password, your blog has already been created, and you are about to finish the setup process.

2. 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 it after the semester is over.

Remember that your blog is public -- anyone can read it. Your family members, the ex you complain about, your landlord, and your future potential employers or customers. Don't post anything that you wouldn't want permanently attached to your name.

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.

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.)

3. Video Instructions

I've posted a 15-minute tutorial on how to log in to your blog and post an entry.  You'll need to wait until I e-mail you with your username and password before your blog will work, but the video will give you an idea of what to do.  You can also see the same material as a written tutorial. After you get your username and password, post a test blog. (If you've already blogged for me before, you're welcome to start posting you response/position papers on your blog.)

SHU Blogging Tutorial (80MB)  | SHU Blogging Tutorial (20MB)
Choppy sound over a slow connection?
Right-click and "Save As" to your computer.
Cick on the file when it finishes downloading.

If the above are too slow for you to download, try this version, which may begin playing faster. It's in three parts, which should load automatically one after the other. Blogging Tutorial (part 2 and part 3)

4. Text Instructions

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

If you are reading this after having contacted the blog administrator, you are probably already have a user ID with a default password.

By default, your login ID is your first name and last name, as they appear in the official list that the administrator receives (usually through J-Web), but with no spaces. Thus, "Zebediah Sackworth Butterfield III" would have a UserID "ZebediahButterfield" (with no quotes). The password is initially your first name... in this case, "Zebediah".

1. Log in to your blog by pointing a web browser to http:///blogs.setonhill.edu. Type your user ID and password in the boxes, and press "Login." (The user ID and passwords are case-sensitive.)
2. Complete your profile. (You will only have to do this once.) Click on "Hi [FirstnameLastname]" (near the upper right corner of the screen).
1. Leave "Username" as it is.
2. If you wish, you may change the "Display Name" according to your preference. SHU policy requires bloggers to post under their own names, but you can change "Elizabeth" to "Beth" or otherwise personalize your "Display Name." 
   
3. Enter your correct e-mail address.
4. The Website URL is optional.
5. Click on Change Password and fill in the boxes in order to change your password from the default "Firstname" to something more secure. (I won't be able to recover a forgotten password, though I can send you an e-mail message that will let you access your blog.)
6. Change your password to something you will remember. If you complete your profile by filling in your e-mail address and a password hint, the system can send you your password if you forget it.
   
3. Select your Blog.
   You may have access to more than one blog.
1. If there is no black triangle to the left of the "Write Entry" button, you have only one blog, and can skip down to "Posting an Entry."
2. If there is a black triangle to the right of the "Write Entry" button, click on and select the blog you want to use. If your are blogging for a class, your instructor will probably tell you which blog you are supposed to use.
1. If you are joining a group blog, you should see the name of that blog.
2. If you asked for or received a personal blog, you should see your FirstnameLastname user ID in the menu.
   
3. You may also see "New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University," which is a group blog to which all SHU bloggers can post.

Posting an Entry

1. Very simple really -- just click the "Write Entry" button. You will see a page with a few blanks.
   
2. In the long horizontal blank line, type a meaningful title for your entry. You can try "Hello World" or "My First Blog Entry" for starters, but in the future, try to give your posts meaningful entries. "Chapter 2" or "Day 3" are boring titles. Your title will appear as a link in various places on your blog and on the internet. Use your title to describe what the reader will find if they click the link, and give them a reason to click the link. (But avoid writing "Read this!" or "Click here!" -- most readers are turned off by that kind of language.)
3. If you are writing a very long entry, if you wish, you write the first few paragraphs in the area labeled "Body," and then click "Extended" to write the continuation. (Visitors to the blog will see the first few paragraphs, followed by a link that says something like "Read more."  When they click on that link, they will see your full entry.)
4. If your entry is short, you can just put it all in the Body section.
5. When you click "Save," you will publish your entry for the world to see. You may want to click "Preview" first, and test the links to see whether they work.
6. Additional Notes and Troubleshooting
   
1. After you have saved your entry, you can view it by clicking the link that says "View published entry." Or, to view the front page of your blog, where your entry should appear, click the icon that looks like a window (to the right of the icon that looks like two curved arrows).  A new window will open up, and you will see the home page of your blog.
2. The internet works as well as it does because of links. You can easily add a web link to your postings. Select the words you want to turn into a link, then click the button that looks like three chain links -- between the icons that look like an S and an envelope. A window will open up, into which you should type the URL of the page you want your readers to see when they click the link.
3. You might see occasional error messages, citing an "unblessed reference" or something similarly cryptic. You probably haven't done anything wrong. I am still tracking down some minor glitches, but I hope the site will still be useful.
4. If anything seems wrong with your blog, try republishing all the pages. Click the icon that looks like two curving arrows, and then click "Publish."  In a minute or so, all the pages on your site will be refreshed; that usually clears up most problems.
5. If something seems strange, please send a message to me, Dennis Jerz, and I'll see what I can do. (If you can include the text of an error message or the URL of a page that doesn't seem to be working right, that will help me figure out what the problem is.)

 

5. Final Notes

You write your entires by going to "http://blogs.setonhill.edu" and logging in with your UserID and password.

Your readers will visit your site first by going to "http://blogs.setonhill.edu/Blogname".

• If you have received your own personal blog, the address of the main page is http://blogs.setonhill.edu/FirstnameLastname" (The capitalization and spacing are both significant.)
• If you are joining a group blog, whoever is leading the group will be able to tell you what the address is. 
  

The contents of your blog's home page will change as you add new material to your blog; the older entries will slide down the page, and eventually move to an archive. 

• Each individual entry on your blog has a permanent address, which is always longer than the address of the blog's main entry page. 
  
• If you want to e-mail somebody to invite them to look at a particular entry you have written, give out the address of an individual entry on your blog (such as http://blogs.setonhill.edu/nmj/021779.html or http://jerz.setonhill.edu/teaching/EL227/2007/10/newswriting_peer_review_guidel.php) rather than the address of your blog's home page (such as http://blogs.setonhill.edu/nmj or http://jerz.setonhill.edu/teaching/EL227). 
• Your readers won't be able to see the editing screens that you use after you have logged into the site, so don't ever try to send readers to a URL that looks like http://blogs.setonhill.edu/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=21779&blog_id=1&saved_changes=1. Your readers would need your ID and password in order to see anything at that address, so it's actually pretty much useless.
  

If you are curious about your blog's advanced capabilities, after you have logged into your blog, just look for the word "Help" in the top row of menu items, and you will find plenty of technical details and how-to information.