You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Uncategorized' category.
Please be aware that we will be upgrading Plymouth Blogs tomorrow morning, Wednesday, June 4th. This is a significant upgrade which brings with it many security and user features that many of us have been waiting for. Although the user interface is quite different, it is far more intuitive than the old interface and should actually be easier to use.
Just remember the three basic functions: Write, Manage and Comment
A detailed user manual will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, please direct any questions to me. For those interested, I’ve included a screenshot of the new dashboard below.
Happy Blogging!
Related items
As the world of blogging keeps on evolving, we’ve made a lot of changes recently which will make our blogs far more useful to our campus community.
New features include:
- New themes - We’ve added a ton of new themes, all of which provide support for widgets. What are widgets you ask? Read on!
- Widgets! - Widgets are a means for you to add new features to your blog such as RSS Feeds, Flickr pics, del.icio.us bookmarks and so much more. Now that our themes support widgets, you have the flexibility to move things around to suit your needs and goals.
- Content restricted to myPlymouth users - If you have a group or community that could use a blog, but don’t need or wish to share your work with those off-campus, this feature allows you to specify by role (any PSU user, staff, faculty) who will be allowed to view your content.
- SVN support - This doesn’t mean much to you, but to us in the back room, this will allow us to ensure that all of our themes and widgets get updated automatically thereby ensuring the highest level of security and reliability for you.
If you are interested in blogging but would like more information on how to use WordPress, check out this great tutorial by Kary Boan, a technology specialist for Landrum Middle School in Houston Texas.
If you’ve created a blog, but haven’t seen it in a while, come on back and check it out. If you’ve thought about blogging but haven’t been too sure about what it can do for you, contact John Martin at jemartin AT plymouth DOT edu or at x2926, or better yet start your own blog now!
Related items
After a TAG meeting yesterday, it was determined that the blog pilot should be reopened. This is good news for any of you who are interested in trying out blogging at Plymouth State University. Simply click here to create your blog.
At the moment the signup process is not as smooth as we would like it. When you click the link it will ask you to authenticate with myPlymouth. After you do this, your blog will be created and then you will be redirected to the login page for the blog server (sorry no single sign-on yet). Once you’ve logged in here with your regular username and password you are ready to start blogging.
Keep in mind, this is a pilot project so you may experience some bugs or difficulty. Please report any problems you are having to the Help Desk and they should be able to provide limited support. Remember, this is a pilot project, we are all still learning!
Related items
The blog pilot project, previously referred to as alpha testing, has been capped to only include the currently existing blogs and users. This means if you want a Plymouth State blog… you’ll have to wait…
We are now determining the best course of action moving forward. Does this mean PSU will never have blogs? Absolutely not! Many people are working now to determine policy and support structure around blogs. There is the possibility that research will determine blogs to be more trouble than they are worth, but we think this is the unlikely edge case.
Over the course of this fall semester, blogging is intended to be a high priority topic for TAG. Out of these discussions, a clear direction for blogging will be established. If you want your input heard on this, let someone know. Good people to talk to include: your favorite IT person, the help desk, a faculty member, a friendly staff member, or leave a comment,. The person you talk to may not have influence on the process, but they can pass your words along to the right places.
Related items
We’ve started to get a good set of emerging blogs in this alpha test! Now seems like the ideal time to highlight a few of these.
chialpha.blogs.plymouth.edu - Chi-Alpha is a student organization who is reaching out to their membership with news of upcoming events, past events, and things of interest to the membership. An ideal usage of a blog for a student organization! We hope to see more like this. Plymouth State has like 200 student organizations?
library.blogs.plymouth.edu - The library is using their blog to draw attention to things going on in the library. In addition, they are using this medium to draw your attention to publications in the library which you may not have known about or found on your own. This is a great way for everyone to become engaged with the library and explore further.
dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu - Dwight Fischer, Chief Information Officer, is providing up to date entries about Information Technology Services (ITS) initiatives, concerns, and tips. Curious where the leader of ITS is leading them and the campus? Follow Dwight’s blog and you’ll have all the insight and interaction you desire.
wpopac.blogs.plymouth.edu - WPOPAC is a software initiative lead by Casey Bisson. Casey has created an online public access catalog based off of WordPress. This innovative service is garnering Casey and the institution significant recognition. If you want to know how this project is coming along, follow this blog and you will have the inside story.
As a recap, we highlighted a student organization, a campus department, a staff member, and a campus project. If you have a similar idea or situation, following one of these models can get you started. However, you are not limited to what these others have done. WordPress is a powerful blogging tool which all of these sites have only begun to explore.
Missing in this list are good examples of student, faculty, and alumni blogs. Personal blogs from these groups could be substantial, but no one in these majority groups has stepped up and proved they have the interest and unique perspective to captivate an audience. If you are in one of these groups, step up and be heard! We want your involvement.
Related items
Plymouth State University is currently exploring blogging as a service we can extend to our faculty, staff, students and alumni. We currently have open registration for anyone with an account at the institution.
A evaluation team assessed potential solutions and determined that Wordpress MU would be the best solution for us at this time. The combination of features and internal institutional familiarity made Wordpress stand out from the competition. Hopefully this will prove to be the right solution and serve us well for years to come.
Keep in mind this is an alpha test. There is no guarantee this will remain open for registration or continue to exist beyond the alpha testing.
