Blogging:What I've learned in the last two months

I work in IT and thought that I was on the leading edge, if not the bleeding edge, of what was happening 'out there' in the internet and with the latest technology. After all, I've have my website for over 5 years and have been working professionally for a while now. That being said, I must admit that I have learned a lot of new terms (blog, IT-related and not) over the course of the last two months or so that I've had this blog. Here's a list of terms that I've learned (in no particular order):

• trackback--when one blogger pings another target blog notifying them that another blog has commented on the original post. SixApart, creator of TypePad which I'm using for this blog, invented this. That's pretty cool.
• citizen publishing--I've first heard this term at Ripples. That's a different way of looking at blogging, self-publishing and getting your message out, I thought.
• lifehacks--Those easy little tips that improve your everyday activities so that you are more productive. I think I first came across it at Lifehacker.
• RSS/ATOM--This Real Simple Syndication allows an aggregator to download just the headers of articles, saving you tons of time when reading internet articles (or blog posts!)
• GTD--I've had my copy of Getting Things Done for over two years, but I had no idea of the almost cult-like following that David Allen's book has on the web.
• Moleskine--I had no idea what this was, but saw it mentioned in a lot of blogs. I think the first occurrence was 43Folders. Now, I'm looking for one of these cool notebooks when I stop shop downtown.
• del.icio.us--a social bookmarking service that's really pretty cool.
• social networking--the variety of tools now found everywhere on the web that allows friends and business partners and other individuals to connect.
• Attention Deficit Trait--first seen at engadget.com here. I think I have this and you probably do, too.
• Picasa--a really cool photo application that you should try out.
• Flickr--a Canadian couple's dream of making a web game that ended up being one of the best online photo-sharing and photo management sites on the web. Definitely worth checking out, too.
• Creative Commons--I started noticing that some of the blogs that I read had this little button on their sites. It's a site that offers 'flexibile copyright for creative work'.
• Wikipedia--a friend of mine had sent me this link a long time ago, telling me about the online encyclopedia, but I never really checked it out or got into it, until I started this blog. Now, I love the ability to look up new terms and new learn stuff so easily.

The list is not exhaustive, although I should be with the information overload. However, I firmly believe in continuous learning and am happy with the progress that I've made so far. I'm looking forward to learning even more and more, now that I'm part of the 'blogosphere'.

What have you learned lately?

Comments

[Karen]

Thanks Eric for the comment.

As I wrote in the post, I was listing some of the new things that I learned in the first two months of blogging. Half of my intention was a sort of 'holy cow, I can't believe all the new stuff that I've learned about blogging and how much stuff there is to learn and how much I don't know' and the other half was as a learning tool for those people who read my blog, in order for them to learn something, too.

As a case in point, even though I work in IT and have many friends in IT, some of them had never heard of a blog before. So, that's when I did my post on RSS and aggregate readers - to teach some of my friends who might read my blog, just because they are my friends, but wouldn't necessarily read anyone elses. I was trying to help them.

Additionally, my posting about Picasa and Flickr has actually helped one of my friends with her wedding pictures.

It's all about spreading the word about 'items that I think are interesting, cool or thoughtful'.

If you want to make a post about what you've learned about blogging since you started yours last July, great. I'll read it. It would be great to learn from someone who has more experience so that I could avoid some of the potholes.

[Eric Jones]

I started a blog because of where i worked (used to work at socialtext and now at tribe.net ) and it quickly became a pasttime for me. So interesting how my perception of the blogosphere and how I should/do participate evolved.

One thing I still can't understand though is why bloggers insist upon striking out words like in this post you wrote. I mean I understand it underscores the informal way people are communicating but maybe you can explain how you see the value in it.

Just some harmless curiosity.

[Karen]

Colleen,

"Born to blog"? I think you were born to write. Writer's write, which is what you said on your blog (http://www.americannewsreel.com/scripts/mt-tb.cgi/2295). You definitely have a leg up on the rest of us who have not had the good fortune or the writing ability to be publshed. The technology part is the easy part! From what I've read on your blog, you have the most important part (the writing) down cold. The technology will come with time and your interest to learn it.

Thanks for checking me out and for your comments.

Karen

[colleen]

Hi Karen, I've learned that I was born to blog. But I'm technologically challenged. So I don't even know how to list blog links myself at this point. I've had a webpage for a couple of years and my blog is only a few weeks old! I just finished writing about blogging as well...why I'm doing it etc. If you want to check it out. (I think you already read the "speaking bloggish" post.