Posts tagged ‘warlick’
Day 26: Tag, you’re it.
Today’s challenge revolves around one of those concepts in blogging that is often misunderstood: tags. Tagging is more of an art than a science, but it does serve a few very specific purposes. Not every blog employs tagging, nor would I say that it’s absolutely required, but understanding how tags work and what they can do for you is certainly knowledge that every blogger should possess.
At it’s most basic level, a tag is a keyword that you create that serves as an identifier or link for the purposes of searching and/or filtering. By strategically tagging your posts, you provide visitors yet another way to filter through your entries without creating 100′s of categories. For example, while you may put a blog post in the Web 2.0 category, you might tag it with each individual tool and technology mentioned or referred to. Categories are generally higher level and more strategic, tags are typically used in a ‘the more the merrier’ type of approach. You’d never get criticized for using too many tags, unless you’re applying tags that have nothing to do with your post.
One of my early experiences that really drove home the power of tags was when I was doing a search on technorati for “education” and found out that the related tags were Policies, News and…. Warlick? Yes, Warlick was clearly identified as a related tag whenever somebody did a search for “education”. Why? Because he was diligent about tagging every blog post of his with the keywords “education” and “Warlick”. Look up education and you’ll find Warlick. Makes sense, doesn’t it? If you blog regularly about mobile devices in education, by adding those tags along with your name and your blog name to your posts you create ways for you to be associated with those topics in searches.
Another purpose for tagging is to add in the keywords that you may not have mentioned in your post. For example, if you’re discussing a new report about social networking, it’s entirely possible that you may not have included some words which might be pertinent to people searching for such information. You may have mentioned that the report covered common social networking sites, but never mentioned any specifics. With this in mind, you might be interested in tagging the post with Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and other social sites. That way, if people search for “education” and “Facebook” they have a chance to find your post, even if you didn’t specifically mention Facebook in your text.
One last purpose that I’d mention is it has become common practice for people to use unique tags to track posts revolving around an event or topic. A perfect example of this is Warlick’s Hitchhikr site. Look up any conference there and you’ll find suggested tags to use. So long as everybody that posts about that conference includes that tag, then sites like Hitchhikr will be able to aggregate them together. It’s becoming increasingly common on microblogging sites, as more and more posts are being created with hashtags.
Some people have much more eloquent explanations of what a tag is and how it’s used. For example, Sue Waters (have I referred to her enough during this challenge?) has an excellent post comparing categories and tags. If you look at the comments on that post, you’lll also find a real gem there. Also, it seems a little cliche, but Wikipedia can always be counted on for some good information.
So what’s the challenge? Simply this, KNOW thy tagging system. Most blogging engines have a way to tag posts. Different versions of WordPress (and Edublogs) have a Tags field below the main content box. Other sites, have it off to the side or down near the bottom of the page. However, just because you add tags to a post, doesn’t mean that they’ll show up there. My current template was not set up to display the tags I added to a post through WordPress. When I realized that none of my tags were showing up, I went into the code of the template and added them in. Take a good close look at your blog engine, determine where the tags go, and start using them in your posts. Remember, you won’t get fined if you use too many tags. But if you use too few, then you may be preventing people from finding your content in searches.
One last related tip. Not all blog engines do have a way to add tags to a post. If not, that’s ok. Just type them in yourself:
Tags: toys, slinky, metal, spring, stairs, fun, cat
Technically, that’ll be enough for search engines to pick up on them. However, you can get bonus points by linking them up to Technorati searches for those keywords. It’s pretty easy to do and Technorati does have instructions. But basically, you put the tag into your post in the following format: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/TAGNAME" rel="tag">TAGNAME</a> Copy that into your blog post as many times as you need, and then just substitute in your tags for the TAGNAME slots. Consider that the poor man’s tagging method!
Ok, one more idea, just because I thought it was pretty novel. While doing some searches on tagging, I found a post describing how he put a tag cloud onto his site’s 404 page. So whenever somebody found a dead link (we don’t have any of those anymore though, do we?), instead of just getting a “The page you are looking for could not be found” error, they get a little paragraph explaining things and a tag cloud of all the content on his blog. That encourages people to dig a little deeper to find your potentially missing content, instead of just getting turned away. Love the idea. Just may have to try that one myself!
Do you tag your posts? How do you decide what tags to use? Have you ever found particular benefit to tagging, or is it just a habit at this point? When you visit somebody’s blog and want to explore, do you head off to the categories or the tags first?
Tag image by Amergioland
When does Average Joe become Joe Expert?
The other day somebody referred to me as an expert in the field of internet safety. While it’s true that I’ve done many presentations on the subject and have some very strong ideas about it, it got me wondering exactly when I became ‘an expert’? At some point, there was a line drawn on the ground. On one side, I was a nut with some crazy ideas about kids and the internet. On the other side I was an expert voice that has spoken to thousands of people on the topic. When did this change miraculously occur?
If you’ve been a member of the blogosphere long enough, then you probably can play the “I remember when” game. For example, I remember when David Warlick recorded his first podcast (altho I can’t find it online anymore). I remember when Will’s blog engine of choice was Manila. Heck, I even remember when the term Web 2.0 was coined!
But the most interesting thing to me has been watching blogger after blogger after blogger sit down at the keyboard, type up a few posts invariably to a non-existent audience, and struggle to be heard. The incredible thing is how many of those people are now experts in every sense of the word. Particularly in my role overseeing the DEN community for Discovery, I see it happening constantly.
I’m not surprised that these people have become experts. I still believe that every teacher is a rock star waiting to happen. But what’s fascinating to me is being able to watch somebody who considers themselves to be an average Joe all of a sudden realize that they have hundreds of people following them in Twitter. Or that they got 10 comments on a blog post of theirs. Or that people from 5 different continents have visited their blog.
While some people have been launched into the spotlight in a blaze of glory, most find themselves struggling to find their audience. I vividly remember what it was like blogging in a perceived vacuum. It’s rough to keep posting when you feel nobody is listening. And yet so many educators have persevered and found their niche in the blogosphere, becoming ‘famous for 15 people‘.
I looked up ‘expert’ on Wikipedia, which is an interesting irony in itself. However, the post did contain an interesting tidbit called Germain’s Scale. It is “a measure of perception of employee expertise” and contains 5 objective expertise items (the first five) and 11 subjective items.
1. This person has knowledge that is specific to his or her field of work.
2. This person shows that they have the education necessary to be an expert in his/her field.
3. This person has knowledge about his/her field.
4. This person has the qualifications required to be an expert in his/her field.
5. This person has been trained in his or her area of expertise.
6. This person is ambitious about their work in the company.
7. This person can assess whether a work-related situation is important or not.
8. This person is capable of improving himself or herself.
9. This person is charismatic.
10. This person can deduce things from work-related situations easily.
11. This person is intuitive in the job.
12. This person is able to judge what things are important in his/her job.
13. This person has the drive to become what he or she is capable of becoming in his/her field.
14. This person is self-assured.
15. This person has self-confidence.
16. This person is an expert who is outgoing.
Some of them are rather fascinating and clearly debatable. Items 9 and 16 in particular. I’m not going to point fingers, but their are several prominent educational experts that I would hardly consider to be outgoing or charismatic. However, I do understand why these qualities would be included in the list.
Other items make perfect sense. In particular, the expert to be really does need to have the DESIRE to become an expert. If they don’t have that desire to share and be heard, then nobody will ever know about it. While many experts claim that they are blogging solely for their own personal reasons. Were that true, why not take it offline? If you’re making it public then at some level, even sub-consciously, you want it to be heard. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
One last rambling thought on the matter. There are so many people that I consider to be experts in my network. Some are experts at global collaborative projects, or experts at integrating mobile devices into the classroom, or experts at using Web 2.0 tools for classroom communication… Do their friends, families and colleagues have ANY idea that they are experts? Do they give them the recognition that they deserve? I know that among my friends and family, very few have any idea about my online activities, nor that I present in front of thousands of teachers every year.
Mark Twain once said that an expert is “an ordinary fellow from another town.” Is that really all it takes? Someone you don’t know saying something that feels right to you? Maybe it’s really as simple as that.
I’m very curious to know how you determine who qualifies as an expert. And is it really even all that important? Chime in and I will forever consider you to be an expert on the topic of ‘defining expertise’!
Two podcasts for the price of one!
I can’t even tell you how excited I am to bring you this podcast. Ok, to be honest, every podcast is pretty exciting for me, but this one is really something special in my mind. Dave Warlick, the same person who has brought you tools likeCitation Machine, PiNet Library, and Blogmeister, agreed to do a joint podcast with me about something quite personal that we have in common; we are both adults that have been diagnosed with ADD. There is a stigma attached to ADD. It is by many to be an affliction, or a disability. Parents whose children have been diagnosed as ADD are often concerned about the impact it will have on their education and future endeavors in life.
In this podcast, Dave and I provide our own thoughts on the matter. We discuss our own personal experiences and attempt to shed some light on the situation that ADD children face in traditional public schools. It may sound a bit biased, but keep in mind that the thoughts and ideas being expressed in this podcast are coming from two people who have had a lifetime of experience with it.
I hope that you enjoy this podcast. It was certainly a pleasure creating it. And I’d like to publicly thank Dave Warlick for participating in this discussion with me. I look forward to the day when we actually meet face to face and I have the opportunity to shake your hand and thank you in person!
Enjoy the show!